FileMaker Pro 6 review

The thin feature list in FileMaker 6 is even more surprising when you think what could be on it. Some of the things that might win favour among professional developers would be transaction support, stronger relational features, native SQL support within FileMaker scripts, and event handling on forms so you could trigger scripts on entry or on exit. The script language is overdue for a major reworking - it still lacks support for variables other than global database fields. ODBC and JDBC drivers are a start, but Windows users would like to see OLE-DB or even ADO .NET drivers, and FileMaker could be made far more flexible as a client for external data.

Future releases

The initial release of FileMaker 6 is in the Professional version only. FileMaker server, which scales up to 250 simultaneous users, won't change significantly, but supports all the FileMaker clients from version 5 up to and including 6. FileMaker Developer will now come with version 6, but developer features such as CDML are little changed. FileMaker Mobile 2 is a separate product that allows Palm OS users to synchronise with FileMaker databases, and an update that also supports Pocket PC PDAs is promised later this year.

On the desktop, FileMaker will retain the loyalty of its users because it's unmatched within its particular niche. Even supposedly easy-to-use products like Microsoft Access or Lotus Approach are far more challenging for those who aren't database professionals and, even more importantly, the applications that FileMaker generates tend to inherit its high usability.

It's also worth noting that for mixed Mac and Windows networks, FileMaker is by some margin the easiest route to creating cross-platform database applications. Using Web Companion, Linux or other Unix clients can also be supported. Even so, the FileMaker 6 release is a minor update and the product will fall behind if it doesn't address some fundamental shortcomings.

Author: Tim Anderson