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Provides: Create Runtime versions of your flat and relational databases
Developer: FileMaker, Inc.
Requirements: Mac OS X v10.2.8
Retail Price: $499

Released concurrently with FileMaker 7, the Developer version of this great program continues to impress. In this review, I will be covering the key functions of the developer version of the program. If you are unfamiliar with FileMaker or with changes in the new version for the program as a whole, or if you just want a "catch up" on FileMaker information, please read my recent review of FileMaker Pro 7 and then read this review to continue.

Note that databases created with FileMaker Pro 7 Developer, like FileMaker Pro 7, are not backwards compatible with previous versions of FileMaker. Thus, if you want to continue creating runtime solutions that are compatible with OS 9 and/or previous versions of FileMaker, you should not upgrade. If you open and work on a database made with a previous version of FileMaker Pro with the new version, a copy of the database is automatically created so you will end up with an old and a new version of your database. Any changes made in the new version will not be functional in previous versions of FileMaker Pro.

For those unfamiliar with the Developer version of FileMaker, it is simple to explain the differences by the "extras" you get with the Developer version over the Standard version of FileMaker Pro.

Developer Utilities

This is probably the most important part of FileMaker Developer: the ability to create runtime versions of your database. Normally, when you create a database and people wish to use that on their computer, they must have a copy of FileMaker on their computer. What FileMaker Pro Developer can do is create a runtime version of a specific database. This means that you, the creator, can give, sell, or lease copies of your database that are fully functional and do not require the user to purchase FileMaker Pro. On the other hand, the runtime version can only open the database with which it is merged and cannot do any layout, scripting, or development on the database. The user can do no more than basic database operations unless restricted by access privileges. (That is, if the access privileges prevent entry and/or editing, the user can do no entry and/or editing.)

FileMaker Pro 7 Developer has the first big change in creating a runtime version since the developers' version was released (and I want to say that was around FileMaker Pro 1 or 2, but I'm not sure). Prior versions restricted the user to create the runtime program from a separate program called "FileMaker Developer Tool." Now, finally, this has been incorporated into FileMaker itself and can be found from the File menu under "Developer Utilities."

In past versions of runtime creation, the user selected the process and the end product, then selected the files to which he wanted everything applied. This has been flipped to a more logical order of first selecting the files and then telling the program what one wants done with them.

Of particular note is the change to the bind key. In the past, an arbitrary 6 figure number was automatically set at "123456." This has been changed to the current date and time of the runtime solution's creation which makes it less likely for databases to get mixed with wrong runtime programs.

The actual production of the runtime database is amazingly quick; it's mostly dependent upon the speed of your processor and hard drive, but should be done in a minute or two. To make a Mac runtime, one must be running the program on a Mac. To make the PC runtime, one must be running on a PC (Virtual PC works just fine). The FileMaker Pro 7 Developer CD is a hybrid CD containing both Mac and PC versions.

Script Debugger

Script Debugger is initiated by a simple "on/off" toggle selection in the Script Menu.

Once "on," when you initiate a script you are automatically placed in the Debugger palette:

From here you can continue each step of a script on a step-by-step basis. If your script isn't working, this is a spectacular mechanism for finding out where the problem is located. I recently had a script that wasn't working, and it turned out to be I wanted the contents of a field copied. The problem was that I didn't have that field in the layout in which I was working. Simply adding a few lines of the script to go to the layout that had the field and back to the layout where I needed the data solved the problem. It was easy to find the problem when I could see the steps of the script proceed one-by-one.

Database Design Report

Have you ever made a database for someone and years later that person wanted you to update it and you couldn't remember what you did on the database? Or have you given someone a database and assumed that this person was not going to make any changes so you didn't bother to set up account privileges? Then, later on, that person asked you to fix the scripts that were now trashed and you no longer had an original version of the database? Well, I've done all those things and have spent many a lost hour trying to go back in time to recreate what once had been.

The Database Design Report simply creates all the details of your database in one collection of data.

Once you select or deselect your options, you click the [Create] button and a wonderful summary of every aspect of your database is completely spelled out for future reference. This includes accounts (you'll have to keep a list of the passwords separately if you chose to keep them), script steps, fields, relationships, the works. New in version 7 from version 6 are "Custom Functions" (described later), Privilege Sets, Accounts, File References, and Extended Privileges.

My only complaint is that the output can be two (xml) to five (html) files. When you click on the Create button, there is a next step to save the file. Let me warn you that there is no automatic option to create a containing folder. If you want one, create it before tapping the Save button.

File Maintenance

New to FileMaker Pro Developer is a simple command that only provides two options, Compact and Optimize a file.

Compacting a file is just like performing a "Save As..." command. If a file has grown too large, performing this can remove the excess space created by FileMaker files. Optimizing the file is just like de-fragmenting the file so that its physical order matches the logical (described) order.

Custom Functions

This feature, also new to FM Pro 7 Developer, lets you create custom functions that can be reusable anywhere in a database just as any built-in function can be reused. They can be used in field specifications, calculations, etc.

Once you have created your functions, they show up right in the Calculation palette ready to use for any type of calculation need. While it doesn't seem you can place your custom function into other databases, you do have access to copy the main block of text that creates your function and paste that anywhere you'd like.

I would like to tell you a lot about this obviously powerful addition to FileMaker Pro Developer, but I have to admit I'm still wrapping my head around what it can do and how it can be used. Sadly, FileMaker help is still poor, and the manual that shipped with FileMaker continues to be very limited in assistance. The help file achieved from the Help menu (a Help Viewer file) is shockingly poor.

When the first version of FileMaker Developer was released, the purchaser received the same copy of FileMaker that everyone got and the separate program that created the runtime solutions. I believe it was with FileMaker 5 when the functionality of the basic program was expanded beyond the standard FM Pro. With FileMaker Pro 7 Developer, FileMaker is proving to supply the professional database designer with superb tools needed to create powerful database solutions in an efficient manner. My only complaint is the documentation. FileMaker should not be so dependent upon 3rd party books, support services and outside help. This update to the Developer version of FileMaker is as good as the update to the regular version of FileMaker.

___________ Gary Coyne has been a scientific glassblower for over 30 years. He's been using Macs since 1985 (his first was a fat Mac) and has been writing reviews of Mac software and hardware since 1995.