Leopard and FileMaker Pro 6

On 2007-11-07, at 03:10, hartley wrote:

> I use FileMaker Pro 6 to maintain a database from which I earn a
> small bit of money. The earnings are not significant enough to
> warrant upgrading FileMaker Pro. Here's the rub, I'd like to
> upgrade to Leopard (and get all the great Leopard e-books to help
> me install it properly), but if it prevents me from using 6 by
> breaking it somehow, I'll have to do without Leopard.

FileMaker 9 has issues running under Leopard. From my brief tests
the crash-on-launch also affects FileMaker 8.5 (including any
runtimes), but not 6, 7, or 8.

<http://www.filemaker.com/support/leopard.html>

I haven't seen any issues on the FM mailing lists, but FM 6 + Leopard
+ early days = may be too soon to tell.

Best option is to test it yourself by installing Leopard onto an
external drive, copying your solution to a Mac with Leopard, etc.

Cheers


--
FileMaker, SAS, AppleScript, and more.
<tomtomrobinson.co.nz>
+64 21 172 1020
<http://www.tomrobinson.co.nz/>

On Nov 6, 2007, at 09:10, hartley wrote:

> I use FileMaker Pro 6 to maintain a database from which I earn a
> small bit of money. The earnings are not significant enough to
> warrant upgrading FileMaker Pro. Here's the rub, I'd like to upgrade
> to Leopard (and get all the great Leopard e-books to help me install
> it properly), but if it prevents me from using 6 by breaking it
> somehow, I'll have to do without Leopard.

Can't say about 6 . . . but 5.5 works fine. Looking at the Filemaker
site; even the latest version has issues but the problems all appear
to be in the web sharing of a database area.

I haven't tried everything in 5.5 . . . but I have a couple of
databases that I use several times a week and all of them appear to
work as they should.

On 11/6/07 9:10 AM, hartley <hartleyiglou.com> wrote:

> Anyone have experience with Leopard and FileMaker Pro 6?

Used that configuration this afternoon with no problems.

---
Tim J. Buck

On 2007-11-07 6:01 AM, Neil Laubenthal wrote:
>
> Can't say about 6 . . . but 5.5 works fine. Looking at the Filemaker
> site; even the latest version has issues but the problems all appear
> to be in the web sharing of a database area.
>
> I haven't tried everything in 5.5 . . . but I have a couple of
> databases that I use several times a week and all of them appear to
> work as they should.

Beware if you are using an Intel machine, though. The Mod function will
definitely not work on an Intel computer using FMP <7, and other
mathematical computations may also be inaccurate.

kazar

On Nov 10, 2007, at 06:26, Datatude wrote:
>
> Beware if you are using an Intel machine, though. The Mod function
> will
> definitely not work on an Intel computer using FMP <7, and other
> mathematical computations may also be inaccurate.

Only higher math functions . . . or basic arithmetic as well? Most of
mine don't use anything more complex than addition and subtraction.

I have a few Filemaker Pro 6 programs that I wrote and they are all just working great. I have not had any crashed or anything like that whatsoever. I also have 5.5, 7.0, 8.0, as well as 8.5 along with Pro 9. I just don't get what all of the hullabaloo is about. I know that Filmaker made its announce ment earlier this week or late last that they would no longer support anything before 8.0. Also, they left 5.0 as well as 8.5 in the lurch and seem to want to push everyone up to 9.0. Nice way to make a lot of extra money but also a way to make a lot of new enemies who, rightfully so, would just dump FileMaker altogether for their recent policies. I think that it would serve Filemaker to just update everyone from 8.0 up to 8.5 (while simultaneously dumping 8.0 to reduce maintenance costs) and let those who want to move to 9.0 do so without FORCING them to do so en masse. Anyse

I'm puzzled by the comment about intel machine and calculations. Can you elaborate?

Charlie

"I have a few Filemaker Pro 6 programs that I wrote and they are all just working great. I have not had any crashed or anything like that whatsoever. I also have 5.5, 7.0, 8.0, as well as 8.5 along with Pro 9. I just don't get what all of the hullabaloo is about. I know that Filmaker made its announce ment earlier this week or late last that they would no longer support anything before 8.0. Also, they left 5.0 as well as 8.5 in the lurch and seem to want to push everyone up to 9.0. Nice way to make a lot of extra money but also a way to make a lot of new enemies who, rightfully so, would just dump FileMaker altogether for their recent policies." (Anyse)

That I am, a new enemy. By what could I replace FileMaker? It may be a simpler program, but it must be able to import all my FileMaker documents.

Peter Wesly

On 2007-11-12 5:04 AM, Neil Laubenthal wrote:
>
> On Nov 10, 2007, at 06:26, Datatude wrote:
>>
>> Beware if you are using an Intel machine, though. The Mod function
>> will
>> definitely not work on an Intel computer using FMP <7, and other
>> mathematical computations may also be inaccurate.
>
> Only higher math functions . . . or basic arithmetic as well? Most
> ofmine don't use anything more complex than addition and subtraction.
>
>

I can't say that I've tested. I only worked briefly with an FMP 'base on
a MacIntel computer and noticed right away that my log-in password
encryption algorithm no longer worked ... it used the Mod function. I
asked a trusted colleague the same Q you just asked, and he answered, "I
think it was on other integer functions (subtraction, for example). It
was a problem in Rosetta, not FileMaker." I generally take this guy at
his word -- but, again, have not tested.

I seriously suggest that any FMP 'bases left in versions earlier than 7
(well, than 8 ... although even 8.5 and 9 have bad potentially
data-destroying bugs, even in 9.0v2, AFAIK) be *rewritten* in FMP 8.5 or
9 or Servoy or something else. Do no rely, especially, on an FMP <=6
database functioning correctly on a MacIntel, and before long PPCs will
be [ok, fellow PPC lovers, "for the most part"] history.

kazar

PS: If you want one example of a data-destroying bug in FMP 9:
<http://network.datatude.net/viewtopic.php?t=543> "Import fails after
adding new fields" in The FileMaker Consortium's "Unexpected Behaviors
Reference"

On 2007-11-16 9:01 AM, hartley wrote:
> I'm puzzled by the comment about intel machine and calculations. Can you elaborate?
>
The discussion was concerning FileMaker versions <7 running in Rosetta
on Intel Macs.

I don't have that setup available to me at the moment so I cannot give
you a specific example. The error I ran into myself was that the Mod
function was returning completely erroneous results. I have also heard
that other "integer" mathematical computations can also return
inaccurate values (so I guess this might include the Int function, Floor
[if FMP <7 had the Floor function] and so on) .

Does that answer your q?

kazar

On 2007-11-16 9:08 AM, peterw314 wrote:
> "I have a few Filemaker Pro 6 programs that I wrote and they are all just working great. I have not had any crashed or anything like that whatsoever. I also have 5.5, 7.0, 8.0, as well as 8.5 along with Pro 9. I just don't get what all of the hullabaloo is about. I know that Filmaker made its announce ment earlier this week or late last that they would no longer support anything before 8.0. Also, they left 5.0 as well as 8.5 in the lurch and seem to want to push everyone up to 9.0. Nice way to make a lot of extra money but also a way to make a lot of new enemies who, rightfully so, would just dump FileMaker altogether for their recent policies." (Anyse)
>

If by "they left ... 8.5 in the lurch" Anyse meant because at first they
implied they would not be patching it for Leopard, that has all changed
now (after popular uprising, I suspect). There has been an announcement
that an 8.5 updater for Leopard will be made available in December:

<http://filemaker.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/filemaker.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6703>

Within that KB article is a link to subscribe to FileMaker News (to
which anyone who depends upon FMP should subscribe) and there is also a
Notify Me link if you wish direct email notification of the updater's
release. The article warns that IWP will not, however, be upgraded to
work with Leopard by this upcoming patch. [FileMaker Inc. seems to be
trying a bit harder lately about issuing information and devising
info-delivery mechanisms to give their developer and customer bases
some sense of "what is to come".]

> That I am, a new enemy. By what could I replace FileMaker? It may be a simpler program, but it must be able to import all my FileMaker documents.

This was one big reason (among several, the biggest being the glacial
speed of transforming FMP, version by version, into something that
really qualifies as a professional application development platform) why
I changed my tool of choice several years ago -- I prefer to deal with
an application platform that uses a SQL back end, standard scripting
language, etc. FMP is the easy-to-use database but it is certainly not
an "easy-to-escape" database platform! It was some time after realizing
the scope of what was involved in making the leap from FMP 6 to later
versions, that it just made most sense to rewrite in something else at
that point.

kazar

>>> Beware if you are using an Intel machine, though. The Mod function
>>> will
>>> definitely not work on an Intel computer using FMP <7, and other
>>> mathematical computations may also be inaccurate.
>>
>> Only higher math functions . . . or basic arithmetic as well? Most
>> ofmine don't use anything more complex than addition and subtraction.

I've heard that the problem is with division of negative integers. This
would affect the MOD function.

Dmitri Borovoy

Kazar said

>I changed my tool of choice several years ago -- I prefer to deal with
>an application platform that uses a SQL back end, standard scripting
>language, etc.

May I ask what application platform you're using now ?

- Hank

On 2007-11-19 12:43 PM, Hank Harken wrote:
> Kazar said
>
>
>> I changed my tool of choice several years ago -- I prefer to deal with
>> an application platform that uses a SQL back end, standard scripting
>> language, etc.
>>
>
> May I ask what application platform you're using now ?

Servoy, which horrifies those who are looking for a "mac-like"
application because it runs in JRE.*

For the "advanced" FMP developer, Servoy is much quicker to build in,
and is completely xplat including Linux. Uses javascript to code the
logic, is highly extensible using beans (just paste 'em onto a form),
deploys via Java WebStart (or simply via web browser with no extra
coding, like "FMP's Instant Web Publisher on steriods"), re-use forms
within other forms, and is fully event-driven (not one event in FMP
yet), completely separated data and logic/presentation, highly secure
... I could go on and on. One more tidbit: Servoy application server is
free as compared to $2500+ for FMS. *Works with any back end.* Discovers
existing schema or create/modify schema via Servoy's IDE.

The IDE has lagged far behind the feature set, but they are rewriting in
Eclipse, so the IDE should be much better as of Servoy 4 release next year.

Like I said, I could go on and on. Check the forums (link in sig), very
heavy FMP-vs-Servoy comparisons there.

kazar

I wrote:
>
> Servoy, which horrifies those who are looking for a "mac-like"
> application because it runs in JRE.*
>

But I should add that many Servoy developers (including those at Servoy
BV itself) use Macs as their main platform, and they are very committed
to the platform. Also, just to clarify, I was talking about the
developer IDE, not the user interface when using Servoy Client. Client
users on Mac will find (if the developer has done her/his work properly)
a Servoy application to be quite "Mac-like".

kazar