ISO FileMaker Magazine

One of the best parts of learning to develop within FileMaker is you have a great sense of "full control" over the data you want to manage. This applies to situations even as simple as a hobby or something you enjoy. In fact, these "hobby databases" are some of the best ways to expand your learning about how to both structure and present data. If you haven't before, you should give yourself a challenge with something you enjoy!

In this video, I decided to break down the series of steps I took while simply creating a game tracking database for managing a hobby sport of mine. Pickleball is a fast-growing sport which seemingly sits right between tennis and table tennis (ping pong). I wanted my own solution to manage some games and decided to take a few hours to create the needed structure. Yeah, there's software out there, but I really like that "full control" feeling.

The solution developed quickly and I saved versions of the file as I went along. The benefit of your time investment in this video is, hopefully, a good explanation of how to approach the process of structuring and presenting your data. Along the way you may pickup some useful tips which may help your current and future database systems.

When your average knowledge worker starts developing with FileMaker Pro, there’s a lot of background and history which may be missing. Especially, when it comes to making certain decisions about schema. We’ve all been at that level at some point in the learning curve, and the process of reworking things is just par for the course.

The FileMaker environment makes it so easy to simply add a new calculated value. It’s even part of our mental processing. “Oh, I need to calculate this.”

The problem, however, with FileMaker’s simplicity can be its detriment to performance. It’s far too easy to sprinkle in unstored calculations all throughout your database systems.

In other database environments, the notion of an integrated calculation doesn’t even exist. The database is simply the storage part of the whole equation and may not offer much logic at all. You might have stored procedures, but these aren’t part and parcel with the whole environment like they are within FileMaker.

In this video, I go over some of the tools and tricks I use in order to evaluate the performance level of any given database. Using this knowledge helps you to create more efficient systems which will perform better as time goes by. Remember the saying “Less is more.”? It may benefit your database when it comes to fields and layouts.

When first learning structure and schema within any development environment, including FileMaker, the question of “Am I doing this the right way?” always seems rear its ugly head. The answer to that question, however, is not “Yes” or “No” but the more frustrating “It depends”. The reason for this ambiguous response is that the needs of the solution often dictate how it should be structured.

True, there are common pitfalls which should be avoided when planning out the structure of your database. Also, understanding fundamentals, like using a join tables, and how to get at the data you wish to display always depend on where the data resides. In this video, I showcase one of many approaches to managing groups of people. Information about how breaking down a common sentence of requested features can reveal a lot, and how to formulate your angle of attack.

If structuring data is something you’ve always had an issue with then this video may have the insight to help move you along.