FileMaker Pro 11 and FileMaker Pro Advanced 11

By William Porter, Macworld
March 09, 2010 10:41 AM ET

A year after the release of the FileMaker 10 database program, version 11 has arrived, with new tools and great new features that make it even easier to use. FileMaker 11 also puts many cool database tricks within the reach of ordinary users. FileMaker 11 may be the best FileMaker ever.

For the uninitiated, the the database half of FileMaker family consists of FileMaker Pro and its big brother, FileMaker Pro Advanced. FileMaker Pro Advanced has a few utility features that matter to full-time database developers: a debugger, a database analysis tool, the ability to create custom functions, custom menus, and more. Otherwise, Pro and Pro Advanced are very similar products--in fact, FileMaker Pro remains a remarkably powerful development tool.

In the rest of this review, everything I say about FileMaker Pro should be understood to apply to Pro and Pro Advanced. (There are two server products, FileMaker Server and FileMaker Server Advanced, which are not covered in this review.)

UI improvements

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The most obvious changes to the user interface in FileMaker Pro 11 are found in Table View, where you see fields as columns and records as rows, much like you would in a spreadsheet. Table View is now the default view for new databases. As soon as you name a new database, you start defining fields right in Table View. And since you are actually working in browse mode, you can start entering data at the same time. (ProVue's Panorama database has had this for a long time.)

As a data-modeling fanatic and notorious killjoy, I worry that FileMaker Pro 11 may have made things easier here than they should be. You can't create a new table or define a relationship working this way. I will bet a plate of barbecued pork ribs that somebody is going to make a mess of a new database using this new user interface, since it really doesn't require much thought. On the other hand, careful do-it-yourselfers building flat-file databases (i.e. fairly simple lists) will surely be grateful for the running start that the new interface provides. Experienced developers will probably continue to do things the old-fashioned way, using the Manage Database dialog.

Another neat enhancement to Table View: You can now quickly show or hide fields without having to edit the underlying layout, which wasn't possible before.

FileMaker Pro 11 expands upon dynamic subsummaries, which were introduced in FileMaker Pro 10. With dynamic subsummaries you can total sorted groups of records while you continue to edit data. To set up a dynamic subsummary in FileMaker Pro 10, you had to define the summary calculation (say, count of records by state) in the Manage Database Dialog, then you had to switch into Layout Mode and use a couple of dialogs to set up the subsummary display. In FileMaker Pro 11, you can do all of this on the fly (so to speak) without leaving browse mode. You tell FileMaker Pro what you want to summarize and how (count by state, average by total sales, etc.) and FileMaker does the rest for you: creates the summary field and the subsummary layout part, and displays the results immediately. However, there is one potential gotcha--if you create a subsummary total this way, you won't be able to format the result, so you might see "7.333334" when you would prefer to see "7.3." For experienced developers, these changes are not a big deal, but for ordinary do-it-yourself users, they represent a real step forward.