FileMaker Developer
I’ve been working with FileMaker before it was FileMaker. It existed under DOS as Nutshell before the Macintosh existed. Through the years, it’s been a great example of well designed Macintosh software. FileMaker has always had a terrific balance between power and ease of use. Several years ago they took it cross platform. That feature made it The choice for mixed environments.
Databases can be used to track anything. Sometimes the need is simple and sometimes it’s complicated. The example that I would like to share is the most complex set of databases that I created. I admit that the interface looks a little outdated. This project was started in 2000. It was created for an independent yellow pages company. In 2007 they were purchased by YellowBook who closed them down. (YellowBook bought them for their market share.) Before the sale, we were close to starting a redesign. This was to improve the internal structure and efficiency as well as the look and feel. The key change with FileMaker was to move related tables into a single file. At the time that this project was started, the relationships were with separate files.
The following screen shots are of the three key files. There were several other files that helped supply and/or move information. This starts with the basic customer information and All of the possible address & phone numbers.
The next big step was to create listings. This was all the variations that a client would have. The screen above shows many phone numbers. The screen below shows the same customer using only 3 phone numbers. This could be because of different locations or different headings.
The third screen brings it all together: what publication, what listing, what ad size, what heading(s), and other essential tidbits of information. When it was time to produce a book, we would find all of the records from this file and export them. The exported file had the customer information and formatting tags. We then imported this into Quark XPress. We used an XPress add-on called Autopage (by KyTek - www.kytek.com) to layout hundreds of pages in a few minutes – complete with ads, listings, and filler. It was Amazing!
Most people do not produce something with FileMaker like this phone book, but every business needs to keep track of something and FileMaker is a great tool to do that. This type of work can be hourly or on a project basis. Let me know how you would prefer to work, I’m flexible. I would like to be your FileMaker Developer.
To learn more about FileMaker, please go to www.filemaker.com.
FileMaker Developer
Fairfield CT 06824
