FileMaker Pro 13 The book that should have been in the box® Susan Prosser & Stuart Gripman Beijing | Cambridge | Farnham | Köln | Sebastopol | Tokyo FileMaker Pro 13: The Missing Manual by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman Copyright © 2014 Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman All rights reserved Printed in USA Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use Online editions are also available for most titles (http://my.safaribooksonline.com) For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com July 2014: First Edition Revision History for the First Edition: 2014-06-18 First release See http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=0636920033271 for release details The Missing Manual is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media, Inc The Missing Manual logo, and “The book that should have been in the box” are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media is aware of a trademark claim, the designations are capitalized While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained in it ISBN-13: 978-1-4919-0079-6 [QG] Contents The Missing Credits ix Introduction xv Why FileMaker Pro? xvii About This Book xviii Macintosh and Windows xix About the Outline xix What’s New in FileMaker Pro 13 xx The Very Basics xxiv About the Online Resources xxv Safari® Books Online xxvi Part One: CHAPTER 1: Getting Started with FileMaker Working with Your Database A Very Quick Database Tour Opening and Closing Database Files Adding Data to Your Database 11 Navigating Your Database 17 Finding Records 20 Sorting Records 25 Same Database, Different Views 29 Saving Your Database 33 Using FileMaker’s Help Menu 35 CHAPTER 2: Organizing and Editing Records 37 Views 37 Advanced Find Techniques 43 Editing What’s in Your Fields 57 Changing Text Appearance 63 Checking Spelling 68 Preview Mode and Printing 71 iii Part Two: CHAPTER 3: Building Your First Database Creating a Custom Database 77 Creating a New Database 77 Creating and Managing Fields in Form View 79 Understanding Layouts 86 Customizing a Layout 91 Creating a New Layout 111 Arrange and Align Tools 114 CHAPTER 4: Adding Power to Your Database 119 Creating a Simple Calculation 119 Creating a Related Table 125 Creating and Using Portals 134 Using Tab Controls 143 Adding Merge Fields 151 Writing a Basic Script 154 Creating a Dynamic Report with the Assistant 160 Creating a Trailing Group Report 164 Creating Charts in Table View 166 Changing the Default Account 167 Summing Up 170 Part Three: CHAPTER 5: Thinking Like a Developer Creating and Managing a Relational Database 173 Understanding Relational Databases 174 Modeling Your Database 175 Creating a Relational Database 193 Using Relational Database Power 201 Lookups 209 Reviewing Relationship Concepts 217 CHAPTER 6: Field Options 223 Understanding Field Types 224 Auto-Enter Field Options 227 Validation Options 234 Storage Options 240 Beyond Text: Container Fields 247 iv Contents CHAPTER 7: Layout Mechanics 253 Layout Types 253 Layout Parts 257 Formatting Fields 271 Advanced Field Controls 276 Tab Order 288 Creating Layouts for Printing 292 CHAPTER 8: Layout Design 299 Layout Themes 299 Touch Themes 300 Styles 300 Grids, Guides, and Dynamic Guides 304 Screen Stencils 310 Data Formatting 311 Merge Fields 323 Merge Variables 325 Tooltips 326 Autosizing 328 Buttons 339 CHAPTER 9: Understanding Calculations 349 Understanding Calculations 349 Using a Related Field in a Calculation .367 Understanding the Specify Calculation Dialog Box 369 Auto-Enter Calculations 372 Validate Data Entry with a Calculation 375 Commenting in Calculations 377 CHAPTER 10: More Calculations and Data Types 381 Number Crunching Calculations 381 Going Beyond Basic Calculations 385 Text Calculations 388 Date and Time Calculations 401 Containers in Calculations 406 CHAPTER 11: Understanding Scripts 409 Understanding Scripts 410 Your First Script 410 Shortcuts to the Edit Script Window 422 The Importance of the Layout 423 Running Scripts 424 Organizing Your Scripts .428 Branching and Looping in Scripts 431 Script Triggers 440 Contents v CHAPTER 12: Exploring Script Steps 453 Go to Layout 453 Go to Object 454 Scripting for Fields 457 Working with Records 473 Finding Records 482 Sorting Records 492 Working with Windows 493 Working with Files 501 Printing 503 Other Script Steps 503 Part Four: Becoming a Power Developer CHAPTER 13: Applying Developer Utilities 509 Copying and Pasting Database Structure 510 Script Debugger 513 The Data Viewer 521 Disable Script Steps 525 The Database Design Report 526 Custom Functions 532 Custom Menus 538 Developer Utilities 551 File Maintenance 556 CHAPTER 14: Advanced Relationship Techniques 559 Advanced Relationships 560 Portal Filtering 567 Understanding Table Occurrences 570 Table Occurrence Groups 575 Understanding Graph Arrangements 586 Connecting Database Files 587 Using Multiple Relationship Techniques 592 CHAPTER 15: Reporting and Analysis 597 Summary Fields and Subsummary Parts 597 Web Viewer Objects 608 Conditional Formatting 614 Basic Charting (Found Set Charts) 619 Chart Formatting 625 Charting and Reports 628 Advanced Charting 631 vi Contents CHAPTER 16: Advanced Calculations 639 Understanding Boolean Functions 640 Using Storage Options 643 Logical Functions 648 The Let() Function and Variables 655 Recursion 658 Plug-Ins .663 CHAPTER 17: Advanced Scripting 667 Commenting Scripts 667 Importing Scripts 669 Communicating with Database Users 670 Creating Modular Scripts .678 Script Parameters 684 Script Variables 687 Handling Errors 689 Advanced Script Triggers 693 Putting a Complex Script Together 700 Part Five: Security and Integration CHAPTER 18: Adding Security 725 How Security Works .725 Privilege Sets 727 Managing Accounts 745 Extended Privileges 750 Managing External File Access 753 Scripts and Security 756 CHAPTER 19: Sharing Data Using FileMaker Server 761 Understanding Database Sharing 762 FileMaker Network Sharing 762 Working with a Shared File 765 FileMaker Server 769 Server Hardware 789 CHAPTER 20: Sharing Data with WebDirect and FileMaker Go 791 Understanding WebDirect 792 Enabling WebDirect in a Database 795 Opening a Database in FileMaker Go 798 Connecting with a Web Browser 802 Designing for WebDirect and FileMaker Go 804 Designing for Go 807 Designing for WebDirect 808 Contents vii Customizing the WebDirect Home Page 810 Sharing Databases on the Internet Without WebDirect 810 CHAPTER 21: Sharing Data with Other Systems 813 Sharing Your Data with Others 813 Snapshot Link 819 External SQL Sources 821 Exporting Data 832 Importing Data 838 Import Data Sources 850 Importing and Exporting in a Script 857 Part Six: Appendixes APPENDIX A: Getting Help 861 Getting Help from FileMaker Pro 861 FileMaker’s Installed Extras 865 Getting Help from the Community 871 APPENDIX B: File Conversion 873 Compatibility 873 Understanding Conversion 874 Start with a Test Run 875 Converting a Single File 875 Converting Multiple Files 878 APPENDIX C: Using the Insert Commands with Container Fields 879 APPENDIX D: FileMaker Error Codes 881 Index 891 viii Contents ... 8: The Missing Manual by David Pogue WordPress: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by Matthew MacDonald Your Body: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew... 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