FileMaker Pro is a cross platform Database application from FileMaker Inc., known for its combination of power and ease of use. It is also noted for the integration of the database engine with its GUI-based interface, which allows users to modify the database by dragging new elements into the layouts/screens/forms that provide the user interface. This results in a quasi-object development environment of a kind that is still largely unique in the industrial strength database world.

FileMaker was one of a handful of database applications released on the Apple Macintosh in the 1980s.

FileMaker is available for the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems, and can be networked simultaneously to a mixed PC and Mac user base. FileMaker is also scalable, being offered in desktop, server, web-delivery and mobile configurations.

=History=

FileMaker started life as a DOS-based product known as Nutshell , developed by Nashoba Systems of Concord, Massachusetts, Massachusetts around 1982 or 1983. Nutshell was distributed by Leading Edge, an electronics marketer that had recently started selling PC compatible computers and software.

With the introduction of the Macintosh, Nashoba combined the basic data engine with a new forms-based GUI, creating a program that was dramatically easier to use. Leading Edge was not interested in the product, preferring to remain a DOS only vendor, and kept the Nutshell name. Nashoba found another distributor, Forethought, and introduced it to the Mac market as FileMaker . When the Macintosh Plus was introduced, the next version of FileMaker was named FileMaker Plus to go with it.

Forethought was purchased by Microsoft, who were then introducing a series of products that are today the core of Microsoft Office. Microsoft had their own database product, Microsoft File, so the rights to FileMaker were reverted to Nashoba. In 1988 they introduced FileMaker 4 under their own name.

Shortly thereafter, Apple Computer formed Claris, a wholly owned subsidiary, to market software. Within months they had purchased Nashoba to round out their software suite. By that time, Leading Edge and Nutshell faded from the marketplace because of competition from other DOS and later Windows platform database products, whereas, in spite of competition from Microsoft File, FileMaker continued to succeed on the Macintosh platform.

Claris changed the name to FileMaker II in order to be compatible with the naming of their other products, such as MacWrite II, but the product was changed little from the last Nashoba version. A slew of randomly numbered minor versions followed, when things finally settled down with the release of FileMaker Pro 1.0 in 1990. At this point, FileMaker was still a Mac OS-only application.

A significant milestone in FileMaker s history came with the development of a seamlessly cross-platform Windows and Macintosh version. This gave it a very strong position in the marketplace and has continued to be one of its key advantages. Version 3.0, which followed, was a significant upgrade with new relational and scripting features.

By 1995 FileMaker was the only product in Claris line-up that had continued strong sales; other classics like MacWrite and Resolve (a re-labelled Informix Wingz) had been milked for many years before being updated far too late to have any impact in the market. In 1998, Apple dissolved Claris, abandoned many products, moved a few under the Apple brand (AppleWorks) and created FileMaker, Inc. to further develop and market FileMaker and clarify its position in the market.

Version 4.0, which was introduced in 1997, added the interface to plug-ins much like PhotoShop. One of the bundled plug-ins was the webcompanion which allowed the database to act as a web server.

Since its emergence from the Apple fold , FileMaker Inc. has invested substantially in software development. Version 7 of FileMaker Pro, released in March 2004, supported file sizes of up to 8 terabytes (up from 2Gb in previous versions). Individual fields could hold up to 2Gb (up from 64k in previous versions) and FileMaker s relational model was enriched, offering multiple tables per file and a graphical relationship editor which displayed (and allowed manipulation of) related tables in a form which in some respects resembled the familiar Entity-relationship model format.

On August 29, 2005, FileMaker Inc. announced the FileMaker 8 product family.

FileMaker 8 offers the developer a raft of new features, such as local and global variables, tooltips, enhanced debug features and the ability to create custom menus while retaining FileMaker s famous ease of use.

=Description=

A defining characteristic of FileMaker is that the database engine is integrated with the forms (screen, layouts, reports etc) used to access it. Most database systems separate these tasks, concerning themselves primarily with organization and storage of the data. Until recently, each table of a FileMaker database system was stored as a separate file (with relational links to other files) and each file had its own in-built interface capabilities. Version 7 introduced the capability to build multiple tables into one document. Compared to other RDBMS products, it is fairly easy to develop quickly and to make changes on the fly as the data structure is altered; however this approach does carry some drawbacks in the design and support of very complex relational solutions.

FileMaker also provides an interface (API) for integration of third-party tools, making it highly extensible. In addition there are a variety of web publishing options suited to both low-end and larger scale project requirements.

=Version history=

= See also =

*New York FileMaker Developers Group

=References=

= External link=