Mackin, Christopher
CMackin at Quiznos.com
Mon May 3 11:44:42 CDT 2004
I remember a good one, the "ID" field in FileMaker Pro was an "AutoNumber" and it held data like GH125, GH126, etc.. The data type in FileMaker Pro was set to a number, but FileMaker Pro doesn't take data types literally. The ODBC connection saw a numerc field and brought in the numeric portion 125, 126 etc. Needless to say this was a real PITA when the ID fields didn't come over correctly (setting the ODBC property to treat all data types as Text did solve this) Upon furhter investigation, data types are virtually meaningless in FMP, "FileMaker Pro has No Data Integrity" is accepted in Date fields, Number fields and text fields (of course their acceptance depends on how many characters you limit the field to, you can have a 255 character Date). You can set up varying degrees on enforcing the data types, but even with the strictest I was able to write data into the system without causing errors. This applies both to "Unique" values and value of the incorrect data type. If I can do anything else to further rant about the poor quality of Filemaker Pro, please let me know. -Chris Mackin -----Original Message----- From: Mackin, Christopher [mailto:CMackin at quiznos.com] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 10:22 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: RE: [AccessD] Access vs. Filemaker Comparison Reference? Access can read info from FMP, but you MUST have FileMaker Pro open and the specific File (table) that you are trying to read open for the ODBC connection to work. They have: -No queries, but calculated fields in tables -A UNIQUE property for fields that does not actually force things to be unique. It adds incermentally to a field, but if you enter a value that already exists it won't raise an error I really forget all the details since it's been a while, but I remember there were about 4 or 5 very basic things about it that flew right in the face of the relational datbase model. Luckily i was working ona small system that only had 1 primary table with de-nnormalized data and a few lookup tables, anything more than that would've been a nightmare. In it's favor it does have cool graphics for forms, but that's about the only good thing I can say about it. And of course, take this with many grains of salt as I am totally biased against it. -Chris Mackin -----Original Message----- From: Dan Waters [mailto:dwaters at usinternet.com] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 10:00 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: RE: [AccessD] Access vs. Filemaker Comparison Reference? Come on Chris - Let's hear the original version! ;-) I looked through the comparison, and they said that FM had something called a Creation Option that was their equivalent to an AutoNumber. It also seemed like to have additional tables you needed to create a separate file for each additional table. It sounds like you're saying that Access can't read data from FM. It that correct? Dan -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Mackin, Christopher Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 9:51 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: RE: [AccessD] Access vs. Filemaker Comparison Reference? RUN FOR THE HILLS! I recently finished a project that involved data being transfered between FileMaker Pro and Access. FileMaker Pro is HORRIBLE, you CANNOT uniquely identify a record, you can therefore figure out how good FileMaker Pro acts as a relatoinal database. I'm not even sure they claim to be a relational database, it's certainly THE choice if you want your database to look pretty. And this review is the polite version. -Chris Mackin -----Original Message----- From: Dan Waters [mailto:dwaters at usinternet.com] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 8:37 AM To: Database Advisors Subject: [AccessD] Access vs. Filemaker Comparison Reference? Hello to all! I may have an opportunity to work on a project where the company has part of what they need already done with a Filemaker database. Where could I find a comparison between the two databases? Thanks! Dan Waters ProMation Systems -- _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- _______________________________________________ AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com