I’ve been fortunate enough to use FileMaker Pro Advanced v11 and have been testing it since the 2nd week of February. Per an email from FileMaker Inc, version 11 boasts the following top new features:

1. FileMaker Charts – Create eye-catching reports using bar, line, area, and pie charts.
2. Quick Reports – Make reports in a spreadsheet-like format. Group and summarize data on the fly.
3. Enhanced Layout/Report Assistant – New streamlined interface guides you step-by-step in building reports with grouped data.
4. Recurring Import – Automatically import Excel and text files every time you open your database.
5. Snapshot Link – Save a specific set of records at a point in time. Preserve the same layout, view, and sort order.
6. Quick Find – Search for information just as you would in a web browser.
7. Inspector – Manage your layout tools all in one convenient place.
8. Invoice Starter Solution – Create, manage, and print customized invoices for every order.
9. Improved Quick Start Screen – Create a new database, manage favorite files, or find helpful resources – all from one screen.
10. Layout Folders – Organize all your layouts in folders – just drag and drop.
11. Portal Filtering – Specify related records based on calculations.
12. Improved security – A new security scheme has been developed to prevent unauthorized field access in older versions.

Features new to v11 Advanced are:

1. Enhanced Custom Menus interface
2. Copy, paste, and import Custom Functions.
3. Improved Script Debugger to debug scripts attached to buttons and Custom Menus and powerful Data Viewer.
4. Modify and maintain databases with ease using the advanced Database Design Report and Multiple Table Import.

So here goes an exploration into the new features.

First and foremost, you are now greeted with an updated color scheme. If FileMaker were a man, it would certainly be getting down with its metrosexual self. If it were a woman, it would be out for a night on the town. The purple, pink, and black scheme is more edgy and helps in determining what files have been associated with the new version at a glance.

New Startup & Quick Start Window
After installation and on startup, a newer version fo the Quick Start window greets users. There is some minimal productivity benefit from this for developers and users who access the same set of files and servers repeatedly. In addition, it serves as a decent funnel into basic video tutorials at FileMaker’s Resource Center. I’ve always disabled this view and will probably do so with this new version as well.

Quick Reports & Enhance Layout/Report Assistant
The new Quick Reports feature puts summary, new field/column, new record/row, and basic formatting functionality within one or two contextual clicks rather than being layered under the Manage Database window and various menu options.

There’s a new plus sign on the last blank row to indicate you can click to create a new record and there is a new plus sign on the right-most column (as shown above) to indicate you can create a new field. William Porter of MacWorld acutely notes:

“I worry that FileMaker Pro 11 may have made things easier here than they should be. You can’t create a new table or define a relationship working this way. I will bet a plate of barbecued pork ribs that somebody is going to make a mess of a new database using this new user interface, since it really doesn’t require much thought. On the other hand, careful do-it-yourselfers building flat-file databases (i.e. fairly simple lists) will surely be grateful for the running start that the new interface provides.”

For complex databases, I’d be surprised if developers give this kind of new field access to general users so I’m not so sure things are easier than they should be; however, new users with Define Field access can surely go astray and create unnecessary columns.

On top of this, a contextual click on any column header in Table View gives users the ability to add sub-summary rows to sorted/grouped data as a trailing or leading summary part, change summary part color, hide columns easily, and more. What’s important to note is that you can add summary data without actually creating a summary field. So for all the times where you need to update the database schema to add summary fields to a report, this is a welcome addition and should save the database administrator from that kind of tedium. UPDATE: I have learned direct from FileMaker and stand corrected, you still need to have Full Access privileges in order to add fields to the database.

This kind of functionality is duplicated in the enhanced layout and report assistant whereby you can create a new report and add summary data without needing to go to the Manage Database window. It’s worth noting that in this part of the application, you don’t have to be in Table View in order to create these summary parts. So any new List View-based layout can use this v11 feature as well. This is also a welcome addition but it will be nice to see how we can add this to our existing List View layouts without actually creating an entirely new layout. If you happen to know the answer, feel free to chime in in the comment section. You can also see a demo movie on this feature by FileMaker Inc. here.

FileMaker has put Excel and its ubiquity squarely in the crosshairs since the advent of Table View and version 11 definitely has FileMaker going in for the proverbial kill. If it wasn’t self evident from the Quick Reports functionality, it certainly is from v11′s charting functionality. Previously charting was only available through complex calculations, web viewers sending data to Flash-based charts, web-viewers sending data to web services such as Google Charts, plug-ins, or exporting data to use in other programs such as Excel. With v11, all of that has changed.

Charting
This clearly is v11′s “killer feature” and what may sway most other users and developers to the v11 upgrade. Performance is pretty good and in preliminary tests, a bar graph on 73,000+ records came in at just under 33 seconds. This is on an MacBook Pro 2.2ghz and accessing this data locally (rather than from a FileMaker server). Don’t holler at 33 seconds, as Excel is no speed demon with such large sets of data, but FM v11 certainly manages itself well; however, I did slow my system to a crawl when I accidentally passed a more complex series of data in a 62,000 record set.

Regardless, the feature works well and as advertised giving simple, unadultered bar, pie, area and line charts of different styles, all without leaving FileMaker. If your data can use this kind of basic visualization, you’ll appreciate this feature. It also leverages the new component of v11 that it can calculate on summary data without having to add Summary fields to the database schema.

Not surprisingly, this feature has a heavy reliance on indexing so if your fields are unindexed, you’ll see the above progress dialog. FileMaker has a decent movie that displays the basics of the new charts feature here. All in all, if you’re tracking statistic data (vs large chunks of textual or container data), this feature can definitely be interesting and worth investigating.

Recurring Import
This feature is the functional equivalent of ESS, using Excel/CSV/tab files as a backend database. For those unfamiliar with that description, it basically means you can setup a FileMaker database to pull data from Excel spreadsheets, each and every time you open the database. It’s an interesting idea and is technique that is useful for both weaning users off of Excel and penetrating Excel-centric data that, for one reason or another, isn’t being migrated to FileMaker. Again, this clearly shows that FileMaker Inc. has set their sights on the desktop mantle of Excel, but if you don’t deal a lot with Excel, this may not be relevant. There’s a video introduction by FileMaker Inc, here.

Snapshot Link
This feature is useful for FileMaker-centric organizations where one user wants to relay a particular found set to another user, within FileMaker and without having to generate a PDF. This simply creates a .FMSL file which saves the IDs of each record displayed and attaches it to an email in your email program. This can be helpful, for example, in organizations where a FileMaker guru/admin can narrow down a particular record set for less experienced users, without any fancy technical wizardry. Not a bad idea and surely something more and more users will find themselves using in moderate to heavy duty FileMaker use.

For the more advanced and new features of version 11, read Part 2