Filemaker Pro

[Jerry Stoner]

Anyone familiar with this product? Ive got a potential customer but he seems stuck on using Filemaker Pro. Is it a decent program? Is it as good a solution as access for a small business (optomitrist) scenario? Any opinions greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jerry

 

[moss]

Well I have used it and I think it is better than Access.

 

[Jerry Stoner]

In what way

can you give me more details on why?

Anyone else?

 

[Rowena]

I, also, have used Filemaker, and I think it is a lot easier to figure out intuitively. Not so much fiddling with code.
Your mileage may vary.
Rowena

 

[Jerry Stoner]

Ok thats 2 for, any vets out there with an opinion?

One of my concerns is the mileage may vary statement. OK it may be easier to set up but is the functionality there to allow me to customize or is what you see what you get?

 

[Rowena]

I have Filemaker on my home machine, and I have been able to make it do pretty much what I want it to. I have not, however, tried to do anything as complicated as the Access database I am currently banging my head against. I have been told by friends of mine who should know that Filemaker is a true relational database, and I infer from that comment that it should be possible to do all sorts of nifty things with it. I say your mileage may vary because I, personally, have only done relatively simple things with it.
I was able to set up my home database (a glorified address book at this point) without resorting to a textbook, which I think is a plus. Access, on the other hand, was totally incomprehensible until I procured a textbook. But we use it at work, so I am doing my best to learn it!
Form and report design in Filemaker is fairly quick and easy, and once you've learned the controls, not that different from Access.
I hope this helped,
Rowena

 

[Jerry Stoner]

Thanks Rowena

ok just read a whitepaper
www.filemaker.co.uk/downloads/pdf/fm_access_comparison.pdf

comparing the two programs and it seems they both have there plusses and minuses but the one that scares me is that with Filemaker you have no VBA equivelant. What you see is indeed what you get. You can add scripts but they must be PURCHASED. You cant write your own functionality!

Is this correct?

 

[Jerry Stoner]

Thanks Pat

Very well put. The article is very biased and unfortunatly I believe that will hurt my case with the client. Since I posted Ive found out why he wants to use Filemaker. He "knows" the program, wants to do the bulk of the work himself and wants me to "develop a scheduler" which he cant do then "integrate HIS app "seamlessly" with quickbooks! I think not. Dont need the work that bad. When it fails it would undoubtedly be my fault. So Im going to develop a small sample to show him what I can provide in Access. If he still wants to do it his way Ill have to decline and he is on his own.

 

[moss]

Re: In what way

can you give me more details on why?

Anyone else?

Moss here again, well u can open up any application and get data from it, wether its a word or some other data. u can open up a spread shead and pick a cell to get data from.
its brill.

Now Im trying to get data from a cell in excell to import it into a record and i havent go t a clue.. MS is poo