Some assembly requiredĭo-it-yourself developers will be pleased that it’s now possible to create a FileMaker database by importing a Bento “library.” It’s also easier than ever to create a new database from an Excel spreadsheet. Might be time to consider opening up your solutions a bit and taking advantage of what FileMaker gives you in the UI department for free. One quick note to developers: Your end-users won’t be able to access saved and recent finds if they don’t have access to the Find command and/or if the status toolbar is hidden and locked. And best of all, developers won’t have to do a thing to most databases for this feature to be available to end-users.

The saved-and-recent finds feature is user-specific-that is, Larry in accounting can have a different set of saved finds from the ones that Lisa in sales has. And if you want to keep a find around permanently, you can simply save it, the way you might bookmark a favorite Google search. The recent finds feature is a bit like the list of recently-opened databases in the File menu or the history feature in your Web browser. Do you define the same finds over and over again-for example, Q4 sales, or unpaid invoices, or your favorite contacts? FileMaker 10 keeps track of your finds and lets you re-execute them without having to switch to find mode and reenter criteria over and over again. The status toolbar saves at least do-it-yourself developers some effort by providing a wider array of buttons than previous versions had it’s also somewhat customizable.Ī less cosmetic, more substantial improvement in FileMaker 10 is a new saved-and-recent finds feature.

The status toolbar provides ready access to more tools in an updated location that new users will find familiar from other applications. The most obvious example of this is the application’s new Status Toolbar, which replaces both the status area (on the left) and the toolbar (at the top) of previous versions. Or to put it differently, if you’re an end-user, you may be able to see some of these benefits without needing to call the developer at all. One thing that makes this a compelling upgrade is the fact that, if you’re the developer, you’ll be able to pass on significant advantages to end-users with little or no effort. Here’s what to expect from this FileMaker update, based on an initial look at version 10.

Filemaker pro 10 updates