DevCon Developer 5.5 Release Reviews?

[Moon]

I haven't seen any opions expressed here on the Developer 5.5 preview released to DevCon attendees. Could any of FM Forums moderators or others who got a copy present their feelings on the new version? Also, is there any word yet on what an update from v5 will run?

[Kurt Knippel]

The problem is that technically we are under non-disclosure since Developer 5.5 is not in a public release, unlike normal Filemaker 5.5

Suffice it to say that they did some really neat stuff, and I think that now EVERY developer (corporate or independant) should invest in a copy of developer 5.5, even if you do not develope stand alone solutions.

Developer 5 added some cool features that were of use to all developers and 5.5 continues to expand on this with a bunch more.

If I say any more, they may send the secret police after me.

[Jodin]

i agree with kurt, FM *FINALLY* is giving us developers a toy or two that truly assists us in developing professional solutions.

i can't tell any more than anyone else but i have been playing with the beta and it is something like i would have released (well, half of what i would have done) "if i was in charge" ;-)

i think pricing will be around the $300-$500 range and if you write anything near a complex solution it will probably be worth it.

i hope they throw some new features into the binding aspect of everything - the beta didn't get into that stuff. but it's good and you guys should really like it.

jodin

[Moon]

I hadn't thought about non-disclosure. Thanks for the opinions, even if you cannot go into detail. I am waiting eagerly for the update, and hope that it will not cost an arm and a leg.

[JerrySalem]

OK the cat is out of the bag.

How about a quickie review now?

Jerry

[Kurt Knippel]

Well, I guess that we can talk about it now.

As you know from the announcment:

"FileMaker Developer 5.5 includes all the powerful features and

functionality of FileMaker Pro 5.5 together with the following brand new

features and updates:

"Database Design Report for documenting the structure (including fields,

scripts, relationships, layouts, and database passwords) of FileMaker Pro

database solutions. Developers can choose to view and navigate the time

and date stamped report as a FileMaker Pro database, or in XML format.

Using the Database Design Report, orphan links and redundant objects of

past and present FileMaker solutions can now be easily located.

"Script Debugger for the systematic testing of scripts within a FileMaker

solution. By inserting breakpoints (pauses) in the script, Developers

can step through each script, line by line, and view and compare the

anticipated results."

Basically, there are now 2 parts to the developer version. One is a Developer Tool, similiar to what we already have. I have not worked with this yet so I cannot comment on it. The other part is a special version of Filemaker 5.5, which includes 2 cool new features. First is the ability to export an Analyzer-like database/xml file that is basically a report of everything in your database or databases selected. This is soooooooooooo cool, watch for the new version of Analyzer, which makes use of this functionality for some serious database documentation! This new version also includes the ability to debug scripts, by setting breakpoints, allowing you to step through one step at a time, to the next break point, and so on. Nice feature as well.

This is all that I can think of right now...

[Jodin]

yeah Kurt hit the main points. we've had a copy for a few weeks and although i attempted to impose a strict "no using beta software for development" rule it's just been impossible to not fire up the script debugger for tricky scripts and to run a few database reports for keeping track of our 3 developers and 30-file solution.

overall we are very impressed and hope that this is a sign that FM is finally taking us developers seriously. i hope developer 6 adds more tools, like for instance a register/buffer in the script debugger would be great. also, more (should be) small things to make a developers life easier, like an auto-updating "AllFields" layout and some sort of template system for headers and footers.

but in general you should like it, and i wouldn't complain about the price if you plan on developing any solution bigger than FM's built in templates. the debugger alone saves me at least an hour a day of adding then deleting "showmessages" to debug scripts. i have barely started using the DB Report but what i've seen is great. it has all the cool features of the 3rd party documentors without making you jump through any of the hoops that the 3rd party ones do.

jodin