FileMaker Pro® is a computer program (sometimes called an application) which is produced by an American company, FileMaker Inc. If you should need to contact them, FileMaker Inc.'s street and web site address are set out below.

FileMaker Inc.
5201 Patrick Henry Drive
Santa Clara CA 95054-1171
www.filemaker.com

Install the trial version of FileMaker Pro

If you do not have a copy of FileMaker Pro on your computer, start Windows Explorer (Windows key and E) and  navigate to our course CD-ROM and to a folder called Trial Version. Then, double click on the file fmp_7v3_trial_win.zip. This is a self-extracting file and will automatically install a 30 day trial version.

What's a database - our definition

"Databases are used to store information that an individual (or a company) might require. They commonly contain very large amounts of information important to the operations of the company, and their major advantage over other methods of storing information, is the speed with which relevant information can be recalled and displayed in useful form."

What's a database - FileMaker's view!

If you open the FileMaker help file and look under FileMaker Pro basics and at the "about databases" page, it suggests that:

"A database is a collection of information, or data, that you can organize, update, sort, search through, and print as needed. A FileMaker Pro database is a file or files made up of one or more tables. A table consists of records and fields, which store and display your data.

Each FileMaker Pro database file contains information about the file's structure, like fields and their definitions, passwords and access privileges, calculations, layouts, and scripts. A FileMaker Pro database file also contains the data you enter and work with." 

The above is in our view, much too mysterious for beginners, as it is full of jargon terms which are quite specific and apply to advanced database programming. In this course, we will introduce you to databases much more slowly than the FileMaker help file, and try to avoid the use of jargon.

Let's show what FileMaker can do!

We find it easier to demonstrate, rather than to describe, what FileMaker can do; so we make small movies which will play on your computer screen and illustrate concepts.

	Click here to play a movie which shows (very simply) what FileMaker can do.
You do not have to do anything while the movie plays; just watch the screen. There is no need to move or operate your mouse while the movie plays.

Relational databases

FileMaker in its present form, is an example of what is called a relational database. Relational databases are quite sophisticated and are certainly more powerful than the database functions contained in 'flat file' databases such as Excel which, when used as a database, is really a list manager. We will have much to say about this word 'relational' later in this course, but early versions of FileMaker Pro were essentially 'flat file' databases like the database function in Excel.

What's a flat file database?

A flat file database is really a list manager with some sophisticated searching a sorting capabilities built-in. The flat file database function in Microsoft Excel® can be used to sort and manipulate quite large lists of text information.

Click here to play a movie which shows Excel being used as a flat file database.

You already use many databases

Even though you are unaware of it, many databases are encountered in our daily lives. A shopping list for example, is a tiny database; your address book of contacts (your little black book) is another simple database. The telephone directory or 'Yellow Pages', are all examples of (much larger) databases. There is a computer program behind the storage of that all that information, although we mostly use them in a 'manual' (printed) sense. 

This situation is changing. You can now purchase, even from the newsagent, a copy of the telephone book on CD-ROM and use it instead of the paper copy. Since many of us use a Google search to find a telephone number, you should make sure that your company telephone number is prominently displayed on the your home page of your web site.

Why use a database on a computer?

A database program on a computer offers many advantages over a manual database. If you were restricted to 'manual' methods and wanted to find a list of hairdressers in your suburb, you might find your copy of the 'Yellow Pages' telephone directory. You would open it, go to "hairdressers" in the index, then go to the hairdressers page and then search for those in your suburb. This can be a time consuming process.

If however, Yellow Pages was an electronic database created using a database application program such as FileMaker Pro, you could start the application on a computer, type in the word "hairdresser" and then the name of your suburb - for example, "North Adelaide", and a list of all hairdressers in that suburb would appear very quickly indeed. 

The ability of the database to respond to a specific query and find the information from a vast array of information and display it quickly, is its real strength.

The Yellow Pages database search facility facility is of course available on the Internet - www.yellowpages.com.au

Advantages of FileMaker

FileMaker's ease of use is its main selling point. The program hides much of the complexity that can daunt beginner database users and provides some excellent templates that can help create a database application in a very short space of time.

Summary

So, the real power of a FileMaker database lies in its ability to help you quickly build a computer application (database) which will allow the user to find specific information speedily, and to sort, group and present that retrieved information in a variety of ways.

Let's now begin our FileMaker journey. We hope that you will enjoy learning to use it effectively.

FileMaker Pro now allows the storage of a wide variety of different data types besides text. It imports and exports 'objects' such as movies, music, QuickTime, Portable Document Files (PDF)s, various documents in Microsoft Office format such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and so on.

Our aim

In this course, we want take you on a journey so that by its end you will understand what a powerful relational database FileMaker is and what it can do for you. We hope that you find learning to use FileMaker Pro both satisfying and enjoyable.

Running the course

As we have mentioned at the outset, the course consists of a series of linked modules which should initially be taken in sequence. Modules may be quite long, (especially when complex concepts need to be explained,) or as short as a one-page note.