I have built my very own first relationship database (FM 8.0) with
twelve tables, various one-to-many and three many-to-many
relationships. My collegues have very enthousiasticly started using the
database and now have reached "stage two", in which they have numerous
issues to be solved.

I am happy to work on a new version of the database, but after I'm
finished, the data from the "operational" database has to be migrated
to the new version. I see no way of doing this at once for all tables.
Or am I missing something?

In FileMaker 8 Advanced, you can import multiple table *definitions* at
once, but they are brought in as separate entities and do not contain any
records. If you want to bring the data/records in, you must do one import
operation for each table.

If all your colleagues are working on the same dataset -- for example if
they are working on a networked file -- this would be a one-time operation.
If they are all working on their own separate copies of data then you can
script the import process so that it appears to the end user as if it is a
single step.

Bill

"Paul Overtoom" <overgeentoom (AT) worldspamonline (DOT) holland> wrote

I think you may need to shut down the operational database when the time
for migration comes. The good news is that you can plan for this and
minimize the shutdown's impact. But there are many things to consider,
including your current design, including the version of FM8 you're
using. For example, the Advanced version allows you to import tables
into a file. You could build a method around this as an alternative to
importing data from the old version.

One data suggestion: I assume you have an auto-entered serial number
field. When you complete your next (or any subsequent) version (and
thoroughly document what you've done), give the records a new starting
serial number. For example, your v1 SNs might start with "10000001",
v1.1 could use "11000001", v2 "20000001" and so on. Reason for doing
this: if something goes wrong, you can easily identify which records
were entered when. I know you could use your auto-entered timestamp for
this, but doing so requires you to remember what you did when. I find
that reflecting versioning in the SN is very easy.

Also, I assume you're making ample use of the Comments and other
built-in documentation features so you can later understand the
rationale for doing various things.

Abbott

In article <438a2254$0$24571$dbd49001 (AT) news (DOT) wanadoo.nl>,
Paul Overtoom <overgeentoom (AT) worldspamonline (DOT) holland> wrote:

On 2005-11-28 14:00:08 +0100, Abbott Schindler
<abbottnospam (AT) nospamkbase (DOT) com> said:
as I can.
constructed my first working relational dbase, and now I am going to
have to take it serious, too!
I'm very much afraid you're right, but of course I haven't done
anything of the sort yet.

On 2005-11-28 00:07:21 +0100, "Bill Marriott" <wjm (AT) wjm (DOT) org> said:

to do the regular importing-of-all-the-data-from all-the-tables at
night. Thanks for confirming this.