I am developing in Filemaker 5.5. How difficult is it to upgrade to
Filemaker pro 8 advanced? I only have 15 tables and was able to convert them
but have not had a chance to actually run the scripts to see if they work
correctly. Are there any gotchas?

Will version 8 permit viewing variables and/or modifying them from within a
script?

Flower Gardener <ngeti (AT) optonline (DOT) net> wrote:

If you work very neatly, you can upgrade the files. But then you have
your 5.5 solution running on 8, which is slower. If you'r going to FM8,
you better redesign the solution, using the new FMP 7/8 tools, and
transfer the data.

You can put a variable in a calculation and thus show it in a dialog
box. However, if you want to see it on a layout or need to user to put
in or change value, you still need a field.
--
http://clk.ch

On Jun 4, 1:00 pm, c... (AT) freesurf (DOT) ch (Christoph Kaufmann) wrote:
Actually in FM8 advanced, there is a 'watch' window that you can put
fields, globals, $variables, and other expressions into and watch them
change as you step through a script using the script debugger.

-regards,
Dave

"Christoph Kaufmann" <clk (AT) freesurf (DOT) ch> wrote

scripts using FM8 language or something more complex?

I'm a little surprised at this redesign advice. By the way, by
redesign, they mean that you should rethink all of your tables,
fields, relationships and scripts and rebuild them all from scratch.

I spent about 3 months getting my solution translated (it had 80
files) and although it was somewhat hellish and I'm still cleaning up
some of the 8.0 issues, I couldn't imagine recreating the whole thing
from scratch.

I would also think very carefully about combining all of your files
into one, which 8 now allows. If you do that, all of you layouts will
be in one large list. All of your scripts will also be in a gigantic
list. I actually prefer to keep separate parts of the system in
separate files, although I am sure I will consolidate some of my files
over time.

You can learn the new stuff when you add new features, there's plenty
of time for that.

Hey Christoph-
I noticed you said this:
What exactly is slower?

You suggestions make a lot of sense to me. I agree that putting everything
in one table would be a nightmare. What would happen if there was a crash of
some kind and a single record got corrupted. How could anyone sort out the
mess? This is a major problem with Microsoft Access including leading to
poor performance.

My application appears quite difficult and took the former programmer a year
or more to finish. All I want to do is add some minor fixes; not rewrite the
entire application.


"Paul Bruneau" <paul (AT) ethicalpaul (DOT) com> wrote

My input here... I would completely redisign the solution. You can leave the
files seperate, but with the new table integration you can have as many
tables as you need in one file. Then you will have a couple of relationships
between your files, with 8 you have a far advanced version, with much better
and more complex possibilities. You will be able to use new things like
variables (far better then storing your short-lived temporary items then
global fields).

Really it will be most usefull to learn all the new stuff and use them.

Keep well, Ursus

"Flower Gardener" <ngeti (AT) optonline (DOT) net> schreef in bericht
news:_hg9i.75$ZX5.24 (AT) newsfe12 (DOT) lga...
Flower,

Although a conversion may work (or not as the case may be) it would be far
from optimised. And you still have to learn version 8. The consensus is not
to integrate ALL files, but have a mix. But if a conversion does what you
need just leave it at that. Remember to convert ALL files that belong to
this solution in one go. Hope they all reside in one folder. Highlight them
all, drag-drop them onto filemaker. Afterwards do some optimizing yourself.
goto file > define > file references. Remove all references that are
outdated. Previous versions couldn't do this and made a mess. It really
speed things up when you spring-clean this for all files.
I work with 7 and 8 since they came and until now I haven't had a single
crash, corruption or whatever for problem. It really is far more stable and
reliable.

Keep well, Ursus