FAQ�s for File Maker Pro 3.0
File Make Pro is a relational database software. This is very similar to Access and is lot more user friendly than Access. This is by Claris corporation and to know more details about the product you can reach them at http://www.claris.com. Relational Database is an efficient method of storing and accessing the data. In this method details are categorized and stored in different files and accessed using keys, which link all the different files.
We have the File Maker Pro 3.0 software residing on the Server FS_21. This is on the Apps volume (G) of the server. The path for the executable of the File Maker Pro software is -- G:/win95 apps/fmwin95/FileMakerPro.
Usually there is a shortcut put up on the desktop or on the Program menu to the executable of the software. Just by double - clicking on it or by choosing it the File maker pro fires up. If there is no such shortcut to the application we might make one with the path given above. As it fires up we need to select among three options. We are using the file maker pro to maintain a Contact Manager. In this case we start off choosing the option Open an Existing File. Then hit OK. It pops a screen asking for the file to be opened. We have to Browse to H:/users/public/FilemakerProWin-95/Contacts. The file Contacts opens up the contact manager.
The Contact Manager is the Database of all the contacts that are made by various people. This database stores all the details such as Name, Address, Phone number, fax, e-mail, All possible modes of contacting a person is provided in this database. It has a simple interface for data entry and the records are automatically saved as the next record entry is chosen.
The Data Entry part has various input fields like the Personal Title, First Name and Last Name etc. Once we are done with the data entry if we click on the Next Record button we would have saved this record and opened into another window ready for the new set of details or record. The method of insertion is by selecting a particular group, which the person belongs. For Eg. PDNG- is the group name for the Paso Del Norte and all the contact persons from this group are tagged with PDNG group name.
At the top menu bar we have 5 buttons. One of them says Reports. By clicking on this we will a report generation window. With the current facility we can generate 5160 and 5162 Avery standard labels. We can also have an address book and a phone book. By selecting the right icon for the labels/address we get the desired reports in the pre-designed format. All we do is sort them according to the Last Name or the First Name and then get a Preview of how the report looks like and then print them.
To Search a record on the main window of the Contact data Entry we have a button saying Find Contact. This is to search for a particular record. We can search by various options, like the First Name or the Last Name or the Zip Code or the Group name. On choosing the button Find Contact we get a window with input boxes where you enter for e.g. The last name of a person and hit Find. This will fetch you all the records, which have that particular Last Name. Similarly for the other field values. If we wanted a report on a specific group or a specific set of Last Names, we can do a search on them following the above procedure and then choosing the Reports button at the top and repeating the report generation process.
The data that is entered is stored in different files. These files are related and the data even though entered in a single interface is stored in files like Contacts.FP3, PhoneNumbers.FP3 and other files. The Contacts.FP3 is the file that holds the major part of data.
This has been a frequent problem. When one of the user opens up with the FileMaker Pro and the Contacts file, if he doesn't have his machine setup to open the file in multi user access mode, anybody who tries to open this file will get a error saying that the file is not found or the file has been opened in a single user mode. This is the most common error that is encountered. The solution goes this way:
These are all the possible machine settings. The way to verify is open the Contact manager and go to File Menu, which says wheather, the file is Single user or Multi User. If it still is in Single User Mode click on it and toggles to Multi User Mode. To check the other files' mode of opening, we need to go to the Window Menu and select different files one by one and check what the File menu says about this file�Single/Multi.
10. All About Scripts
File Maker Pro works on a lot of scripts. All the queries are done in terms of scripts. The process of automation is done with the aid of scripts. To access the Scripts we need to choose the Script Menu on the Menu Bar at the top. Then the Script Maker which leads to a listing of the existing scripts. We can have a look at the built-in scripts, which are used to sort, update and other functions. We can make changes to the script to suit our requirements. The script goes in a point and click way and is straightforward.
11.About crashing and recovery of files?
The files crash every now and then as this is the process of consistency maintenance. Some reasons for crashing are:
To recover these files, We need to choose the File Menu and the option Recover. This prompts for the file that you want to recover and we just select the files one at a time and recover them. It is not good to keep doing this often.
12.Something About Relations?
The way File maker pro manages the relations is with the help of Key fields, which is very similar to the other Database Softwares. Each File has a key field in its set of fields. The relations are specified in the File Menu where we have an option Relationships. This allows us to specify the relations with the various files. For e.g. if we wanted to relate the Contacts with some other file, we can do so by choosing the Relationship option in the file menu and say a new relation and select the file with which it is related. Then we can select the specific fields through which they are related by.
13.About Different modes, Layout, Browse, Preview�.
If we take a look at the data entry interface we see a pop-up menu, which says Browse, Layout, Preview and Find as its options. The Browse option is the data entry option. We can just use it as the Data Entry Tool and here we can't do any design changes. To do all the design changes we need to switch to the Layout mode. Here we can move around the Input boxes and make it more colorful and also introduce fields if needed. The Preview mode is like the Print Preview option in any standard editor. The Find mode is where we can search for a particular record/s. We can enter any one of the field or some of the fields and search for them using this mode.
14.About Mail Merge?
Mail merging with Word is an easy process. We can take a look at an e.g. and learn about it. Say we wanted to have merge the addresses of all the PDNG members with a letter. Go to Find Contact and search for all the PDNG members and then in the File Menu we have Import/Export option and choose Export option. This prompts for the file name that the data should be in. Give a file name and also choose the extension .MER. Then it prompts for the different fields to be merged. After selection of the fields we can open up Word and use the Mail Merge option on it. The mail merge asks for the data source and here we have to select the .MER file that was saved. Then on it is the choice of fields that you want to be merged with the letter. This way the Mail Merge with the FM Pro data is done.
15.About Setting Password.
The process of setting password to the database is also easy. The File Menu has Access Privileges option. The Define Password option under the access privileges will take us through the process of setting the password for the database. We can have different groups with different passwords.
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