Hello, FileMaker Pro 10 Advanced has been sitting on my shelf for the past
three months -- today is the day I'm going to install it!

Can someone please give me the lowdown on backward compatibility? How far
back can one go with FM versions and still be able to open databases that
have been modified by FM 10? Many thanks...




Rick A.
Pleasanton CA

Rick Altman <ricka (AT) NOSPAMaltman (DOT) com> wrote:

FileMaker Pro 10 uses the same file format as FileMaker Pro 7 (file
extension is ".fp7" to remind you), so in principle you can mix versions
7, 8, 8.5, 9 and 10.

Earlier versions had a different file format (.fp3 or .fp5) so going
from 6 or earlier to 7 or later is a one way trip.

Even within the 7-10 range, the official policy is that older versions
aren't guaranteed to be able to work safely with databases modified by
newer versions. There can be some compatibility issues so you should try
to avoid doing this if possible, especially between widely different
versions.

My experience is that it seems to work OK as long as you don't make use
of script steps, calculations, object types, etc. introduced in later
versions. I haven't done any particularly complex databases, so there
may be issues I haven't encountered.

--
David Empson
dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz

In article <1j9dq87.x3cgz96gxsvbN%dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz>,
dempson (AT) actrix (DOT) gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

I've built databases for myself and clients using FMP 7, 8, 9 and 10.
Each version can open and use databases built with any of the other
versions. However, if you incorporate script steps, layout features and
other elements that were introduced the later versions, the earlier
versions will not be able to use those new features. This is not an
issue for single-user databases, where the user has the newer version.
It IS an issue in a multi-user environment, where some users are still
using earlier versions. In those latter situations, you have to limit
your design to use only features that are in the oldest version the
users are using.

Significant examples:
No script variables or tabbed layouts in FMP 7.
No data URLs before FMP 8.5
etc.

I encourage my clients to upgrade to newer versions where possible.