Sally L. Donaldson said
Product Review
BY: Sally Donaldson, Alaskan Apple User Group Member
Product: FileMaker Pro 10 The Missing Manual
Author: Susan Prosser & Geoff Coffey
[...]
Company: Pogue Press(tm) - O'REILLY®
[...]
PRO: This book explains well from the beginning to the finished product.
CON: I don't find anything to complain about.
MOOSE RATING: 5
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My experience with spreadsheets has been limited to filling in grade sheets that someone prepared for me.
First I had to begin with vocabulary. Spreadsheets have a vocabulary of their own that is not used for anything else. I'm not working on committing that to memory, but to absorb the meaning of each word and how to apply them to practical use. Fortunately, this book begins with the vocabulary, linked with its use. I was surprised to learn that one must use the numeric pad ENTER key in order to transfer the new data you just entered to the other spreadsheets in the database. That knowledge alone makes my reviewing this book worth my time. I had become very frustrated that the info I inserted into the In-Put Sheet did not flow to the other sheets. I tried several methods that work in other situations, but didn't accomplish this feat until I read instructions in
The Missing Manual.
There is a List of keyboard shortcuts, plus simple instructions to check the View Menu if you forget the shortcut symbols (and who doesn't?).
Fortunately for me, prior Membership Chairpersons had already set the Database up and,
as in my past use of spreadsheets, I had only to in-put information. However, differing a long way from my past use of spreadsheets, which consisted of only one sheet. Our Membership Database has seven separate sheets, each of which is used for a different purpose. However, the basic information which we insert in the In-Put sheet, also needs to flow into all other sheets. That's what I learned to do.
A whole Chapter is devoted to creating and building a new database. I need to understand the process of building layouts, then start by building a basic layout before I move on through The Missing Manual to using Advanced Layouts.
Important features of every spreadsheet are Calculations. After learning about and understanding how to use tables, fields and relationships, we can advance to learn how calculations can make your database total invoices, analyze trends, calculate dates and times, and so on.
Calculations are not only for numbers! They can pick text apart and rearrange it in various forms, such as linking a Web address to a customer's address map. Some other applications for which we can use math and figures together are by using the math to figure how old someone is based on his/her birth date. You can figure how long someone has worked on a job and many other things.
This book covers Advanced Calculations and Scripting plus sharing info. ~END~
Stephie Smith said
I was disapointed in this book. It didn't teach me anything I didn't know and there was nothing about instant web publishing in it, except how to set the database up for IWP, which anyone can figure out on their own. I find my old book, Special Edition: Using Filemaker 7 a better reference than this one. Unfortunately, I have Filemaker Pro 10 Advanced so my old book doesn't cover all the new features. I should have looked for the latest edition of that one.
Jerry Saperstein said
The Missing Manual series is, overall, quite good with few misses. "FileMaker Pro 10 - The Missing Manual" is no exception to the generally high quality of the series.
I've used FileMaker since its very first version when it was produced by a company called Nashoba Systems. FileMaker has always been an excellent product, but with each new version, new features add another level of complexity. The early Nashoba and Apple documentation was excellent, but bit by bit the standards slipped. Printed manuals gave way to online help.
A mini-industry developed as publishers introduced new titles. It was never a tsunami, but there were a number of books on various aspects of FileMaker, some very well developed references.
The Missing Manual neatly fills the gap.
Starting with the basics, you are guided through the basics in the first three chapters. In reality, many people will not need to go beyond this point. There's enough here to get you through the creation and maintenance of simple FileMaker databases.
Beginning with Chapter 4, on layouts, your knowledge will quickly expand. FileMaker was among the first, if not the first, microcomputer database product to allow you to design layouts to meet your needs. Since those early days, the power of the FileMaker layout engine has grown almost beyond comprehension. You can create whatever layout meets your needs - and you can have multiple layouts per database. The Missing Manual does a superb job of showing you how to create very sophisticated layouts. It is important to understand that a FileMaker layout differs considerably merely creating a user interface: in FileMaker, the various fields are also components of the database. For example, for summaries, you use a particular field and have to create a formula to manage it. The Missing Manual explains all this quite nicely.
The remaining nine chapters lead you into more complex areas of database design in general and FileMaker in particular. In order, the chapters cover using multiple tables and relationships and then advance relationship techniques. These can be difficult concepts to grasp and even more difficult to implement. The book helps you along, though it doesn't really get into very complex relationships.
The next four chapters cover calculations. You can create FileMaker fields that perform virtually any computational task. One of the reasons I've used FileMaker for so many years is because I can use it to rearrange, recombine, sort and do all manner of things with text. Though I don't it use it much for mathematical calculations, it has every function you might reasonably need. Obviously because four chapters are devoted to it, there's a lot to FileMaker calculations and the book is thorough in its approach.
Two chapters on scripting follow. Over the years, FileMaker scripting has progressed from being a hair-pulling experience to being occasionally frustrating. If you're developing databases that must perform for relatively unskilled users, scripting is a must. Only your imagination and the sometimes confusingly documented or undocumented FileMaker feature set will stop you.
The last four chapters are the ones that will be the least used. Most people simply will not need information on adding security to your database, sharing data with other systems, sharing the database itself and using developer utilities.
Overall, "FileMaker 10 - The Missing Manual" follows its earlier editions in being almost a model for a solid technical manual. If you own FileMaker 10, you need this book. It is not the only FileMaker book you'll need, since there are others that are more suited to the reference role, but it is essential.
Jerry
Victor Montesdeoca said
This is a great book, easy to follow, with easy language... and project files in the website, it works...
Mark A. Harrison said
When I picked up Filemaker Pro 10: The Missing Manual, I was looking for a book that would help me get a jump start on building a relational database with multiple many-to-many relationships. So far I have completely redesigned one database I had created and creating a new one.
I haven't found every detail I was looking for, but this is a big book! I am learning that FileMaker Pro 10 is quite capable of doing most anything I'd want. One of the things I like about it is that it explains database concepts. I took a course in metadata for Internet-based database systems and I wish I had had this book going into that class because the book really helps a person understand the process of designing an information management system: tables, relationships, etc. It is very easy to overcomplicate the whole thing, and this book tells you what questions to ask yourself along the way.
The Missing Manual guides the reader through creating a database, designing layouts, working in calculations, including logical functions (if...then), and much more. I am sure I'll be referring to it and learning something new for many months to come.
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