What do all the good FileMaker girls and boys want for Christmas?

Tiz the season to be jolly and all that. So What is on the good Filemaker developers wish list?

Layout Includes. The ability to embed one layout within another. I don’t swallow the technically too difficult line because multiple windows works
Rename triggers as events and then add ‘proper’ database triggers. Triggers in the classical database sense would allow maintenance of data across the database from one point rather than in the UI
Access to the SQL engine without resorting to plugins
Import into the current table. For example when duplicating a bunch of records it might be easier to simply import them into the current table
Arrays. Key/Value pairs rather than the repeating option within variables
The ability to create a ‘distinct’ list. Similar to the current list function but with the added benefit of ignoring duplicates
New server admin console. That doesn’t spit the dummy when Java version changes
Thin client. You always have to put thin client in these lists
PHP API not reliant on layouts and fields on layouts. And the ability to pass parameters to FileMaker scripts and returning .
Database partitioning. Similar to MySQL partitioning, allowing the ability to add complete or partitioned tables to the relationship graph
Two levels of coding. Keep the scripting engine for simpler tasks but add a more complete environment. Could be JavaScript or even a Python based

That lot would considerably reduce my daily headaches and would add some pretty powerful USPs to what is probably the best RAD development environment out there.

Damian Kelly

Damian has been a database developer with Linear Blue since 2007. During this time he has developed complex FileMaker solutions in a broad range of industries from Finance and Investment to Manufacturing to New Media Promotion. Damian graduated in Production Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire in 1996, attained his Masters of Engineering from Kingston University in 1997 and MBA from Heriot Watt in 2006. He holds certification in FileMaker versions 7 through 12 and in Oracle MySQL 5.