My client has a database that has slowly built up over the last 20 years. Right now they are using FileMaker Pro 10. We are going to port this to MySql. I'm trying to figure out where I go to find the schema for this database. I do understand that FileMaker is much more based on its GUI than SQL databases, but I assume there is someway to see a list of tables, and their fields?

I do not have FileMaker Pro Advanced.

And then how do we get the data, so that we can import it into MySql?

Hello Lawrence, welcome.

The key to "under the hood" is to have credentials for full access that allow you to get to File>Manage>Database. This is where you'll see all the tables/fields.

The Relationship Graph (although not an ERD), is where you can see the relationships.

File>Export is how you'd get the data out one table at a time. FM also supports XML.

This system was developed before 2004 and thus before the release of FileMaker Pro 7.0, and thus, all of the files have just one table in them. However, I am running FileMaker 10 and all of the files have been updated to fm7 format.

I open one file, which contains one table. I turn on the status bar. On the right, I see a "manage" button that lets me get into layout mode. I create a new layout that contains all the fields in the table. The table has 158 fields. I export that. Now I have the schema. Success! Fantastic!

Now I open the next file. I turn on the status bar. This does not have the "manage" button on the right. I am not able to get into layout mode. I can not get to the schema.

What am I doing wrong?

Is this a permissions issue? Should I talk to the administrator?