Newbie 3

[Swi]

I am a VB programmer. I have purchased the following book but have not received it yet.

FileMaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual
By Geoff Coffey, Susan Prosser
First Edition September 2005

Are there any other web sites, books that you would recommend? Thanks.

Swi

 

[TStriker]

Yep. There quite a few free videos of Filemaker techniques on this website:

http://www.filemakermagazine.com/

I have the book "Special Edition, Using Filemaker 7..." and that book is pretty good.

What brings you to Filemaker after VB?

-Striker

 

[melmitts]

This is a very good and very active site with a lot of knowledgable people.

http://www.fmforums.com/

Mel

 

[Swi]

Thank you both for the information. I am starting a new job and the employer currently uses a consultant to maintain their FM application and they want me to make changes so they do not need to rely on the consultant so much.

Swi

 

[TStriker]

I think you will enjoy working with FM once you get over the learning curve. To me Filemaker seems to be easier-to-swallow for people with no programming experience than it is for folks like you. In the end you will probably find FM to be easy and quick to develop with but frustratingly lacking in some areas that mainstream programmers find so basic.

Best of luck to you.

-Striker

 

[Swi]

I was taking a look at FM8 tutorials and you are right, some of the new features are things that a programming language like VB have had for years. I however am going to be using FM6 at the company I will be working for.

Again, I appreciate the information and I am sure that I will have some further questions when I fully start diving into FM.

Swi

 

[TStriker]

Swi,

Version 6? Yikes! You should be aware the version 6 and version 8 are radically different versions. The foundation of the product changed with version 7. You are really going to be hog-tied with v6 in many ways. A word of advice; when you make posts to this or any of the other FM boards make sure that you mention that you are on v6 up front. The answer to many questions will be different.

-Striker

 

[Swi]

Thank you again for the tips. Actually my new empolyers exact words were [red]Our server is currently running Filemaker 5.5 and all the desktops are running 6.0.[/red]

I would think that this would maybe cause some problems since the server is running a version of FM that is older than the desktops but he did not specify any issues they were having.

Swi

 

[TStriker]

The server/client mismatch in this case is fine.

Write back if you have any questions or problems.

-Striker

 

[Swi]

I really appreciate your willingness to help. They have said something about upgrading so I am wondering if they plan to upgrade to 7 or 8.

Swi

 

[CryoGen]

They'll likely be upgrading to FMP8.5, or if they wait until the end of the year perhaps FMP9. Either way TStriker is right, the differences are great. Depending on the size of your solution upgrading could be quite a chore. If you become the stuckee for the conversion, I recommend FMRobot, which will help a lot.

 

[Swi]

Thanks CryoGen for the info.

Swi