Comments for Cimbura.com LLC Technology

Comment on I Hate FileMaker by Jaywill Sands

Jaywill Sands — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:57:55 +0000

Love the comments and the article. I have been developing FileMaker solutions since 94, and Im not just saying this without dabbling into other systems, of which I have done so over several years. With that said I must say that FileMaker is an awesome product and will continue to be since they have strong backend support by Apple, the worlds largest company. The product will continue to be upgraded and improved on a regular basis. They listen to the developers feedback, and it shows.

I recommend any Client or company thinking about using FileMaker to make sure that you get a real developer and not a hack, who just wants the billable hours, and decorates the system with bells and whistles. These guys run away from a real system since they really couldn’t grasp the overall structure, and schema. They are the real culprits of giving FMP a bad name in certain situations.

It is a mid to low volume solution, and no it doesn’t cluster to increase performance as the database gets larger, nut archiving is a solution. I have had some issues remotely with our London and Japanese offices, my work around was to use virtual desktops using Aquanet. I predict they will release an Enterprise edition one day which will help with the 10 questions above, and when that happens lookout!

Jaywill Sands
Systems Developer
NMA Group/Corbis

Comment on FileMaker and Mac OS X Lion by Tim Cimbura

Tim Cimbura — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:38:31 +0000

That sounds like a known issue with FileMaker 10 http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9710 and Lion. I would recommend upgrading and doing a clean install of FileMaker 11.0v4 for the best Lion compatibility. The only stated know issues with that version of exporting pre-Excel 2007 .xls and Lion’s resume feature. You should always quit out of FileMaker before putting your computer to sleep or restarting. That way FileMaker can nicely close the database and you don’t risk file corruption.

Comment on FileMaker and Mac OS X Lion by Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:25:22 +0000

Hi Joost,

We are getting Kanji characters with 22 and 24 at the end of our dates (only in the year). I agree this should be fixable, but wanted to know how you addressed it. We’re in the process of fixing. Thanks.

Matt

Comment on I Hate FileMaker by Daniel Harlow

Daniel Harlow — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:51:49 +0000

Others reasons that I have heard this from my customers are:

1 – Typically the solutions are not well documented as they are were done on the fly (not really a FileMaker problem)

2 – There is no version management, and many version control systems do not work well with FileMaker

3 – FileMaker Server has unique requirements for the setup of the server

4 – FileMaker Server does not virtualize well

5 – FileMaker does not scale well

6 – FileMaker is slow for remote users

7 – Not Part of our “Standard”

8 – We only use .Net

9 – We can not cluster it for DR (Disaster Recovery)

10 – FileMaker is not an Enterprise App

The list goes on an on, essentially they will give you any excuse in the book. The key to getting them to accept this is to address their concerns on each item they give you why they “hate FileMaker”.

Oh in terms of the 2.5 million spent, I have several clients that have blown way past that in trying replace FileMaker solutions.

Daniel Harlow
-
Harlow Technologies Inc.

Comment on I Hate FileMaker by Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:26:07 +0000

I hear you, Tim. The other reason I hear “I hate FileMaker” a lot is because a particular solution wasn’t built correctly. I’m humble enough to recognize that I am sometimes a contributor to those problems, especially in my younger and less experienced days; however, I certainly can’t take credit for most of the issues I’ve seen.

FileMaker, like any other RAD environment, is a tool. It’s like a person whose house isn’t built correctly deciding that he hates hammers. It’s not the tool that most people hate; it’s what people do—or fail to do—with it.

Comment on Bento vs. FileMaker by Tim Cimbura

Tim Cimbura — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:52:52 +0000

More than likely, you’ll do better with FileMaker…though it will be more complex to create a database than with Bento. If you like to do things yourself and cost is an issue, you could start by using Bento and upgrade to FileMaker later when you outgrow it. Remember, Bento is only for Mac users and has limited sharing capabilities. Bento is better suited for the first time database creator as well. It’s simpler…so depends on your skill level. It’s a small investment to give Bento a try…and you can transfer the data to FileMaker later.

Comment on Bento vs. FileMaker by Simon

Simon — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:15:10 +0000

Hi,

I’m a church minister and need a database to manage members, non-members, contacts, counselling issues, leadership meeting minutes and agenda’s, etc.

Would i be better off with Filemaker or will Bento cover this?

many thanks!

Comment on FileMaker Super Script Optimization by Michele Olson

Michele Olson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:56:52 +0000

Thanks for sharing Tim.

I liked following your logic in thinking through what was and wasn’t needed and the part indexing played — and the 1 to 1 final result — a very good example of when that technique is a win-win.

Comment on FileMaker Super Script Optimization by HOnza

HOnza — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:54:56 +0000

By the way, do you really need to have the change log indexed? I imagine that you could index just company ID and creation timestamp in that table…

Comment on FileMaker Super Script Optimization by HOnza

HOnza — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:51:24 +0000

Hey Tim, good job and great example of how big the difference between slow and fast solution can be in FileMaker. Keep up the good work!
Now imagine that you can achieve the same speed-up not in a script that runs over night, but in one that’s used thousand times per day – the bottleneck of your solution (http://fmbench.com/bottleneck?ref=157).
Then you will not only feel like doing miracles, but also your users will perceive you so.