Database Engines

There are a number of database engines around. I’ve seen some really bad ones (Access anyone?), that eat your data, and scale like a rubber band (eventually they SNAP!). I’ve become very intimate lately with a database engine that initially I wasn’t too fond of, FileMaker. Now the reason I wasn’t too fond of it was because I’m a bit of an SQL guy, and FileMaker seemed a bit of a toy, but as I’ve used it more, and started to write little applications using it, I’ve found it’s made a place on my dock, and in my tool chest of solutions.

FileMaker Pro

FileMaker is what I would probably call a graphical database (I don’t think that’s my term), which basically means you design layouts to enter and display information. The latest version of FileMaker lets you create multiple tables in one file where previous versions (pre FileMaker 7) were limited to one table per file (although you can still do it like this, and in some cases it can be easier).

One of the reasons I’ve increasingly become a fan of FileMaker (currently using version 9) is because of the usability in terms of client side (GUI) development, as well as the power in the backend. FileMaker now has ODBC access from the server where previously it was a client job only, and even better is XML or their PHP API which I’ve sub-classed to allow really fast development time.

For the unfamilar with FileMaker, it’s great for small business, and small enterprise. FileMaker allows up to 250 simultaneous client connections via their FileMaker Pro client application, and up to 100 simultaneous client connections to their web publishing engine. This means you little office database can be shared across many sites, and not eat your data because it’s scheduling system is great, so it dutifully backs up your database when you’ve told it to.

If you would like to find out more about FileMaker Pro, and what it can do to help your business head on over to FileMaker Australia and check it out!

Totali can interface your existing FileMaker Pro 7, 8 or 9 application with an awesome website. If you would like FileMaker development you should check out Digital Fusion in New Zealand, they make a range of custom solutions, and the Reactor plugin which lets you imbed HTML into your FileMaker application!