The Separation Model – Part 4

by Matt Petrowsky

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It was 2002, and I remember working with FileMaker 5/6 and the concept of the Data Separation model being discussed at the annual FileMaker Developer conference. I remember thinking, back then, that FileMaker just wasn't the tool to even consider this concept - even though you had multiple files for one database. While an avid FileMaker user/developer, I was rapidly becoming familiar with PHP 4 and knew that true separation was similar to what you found in a PHP setup - a backend (mysql), middleware (php) and a frontend (web browser). FileMaker always had to have those "extra" calculations somewhere in order to make your user interface even halfway decent.

Today, however, it's a completely different situation. In fact, I might go so far as to say the Data Separation model should be your first consideration when starting any new FileMaker solution. The reason is pretty simple - it's even more possible today, than ever before, to keep things clean and organzied. There are functions and methods to keep your data file close to 100% clean of extra fields, calcs, scripts and other "extra" stuff that just comes along with developing in FileMaker.

In this video, I showcase how I address one of my own self-imposed problems and also remind myself of the one custom function which, when used with script triggers, can answer a ton of the issues you have when wanting to display things in the interface. This especially applies when you formerly had to add a lot of that "extra" stuff to make your FileMaker solution work the way you want.

If you're missing that one piece of knowledge keeping you from a clean data file, then this video will certainly have what you need!