FileMaker Pro is a menu driven tool which is hailed as one of the "easiest-to-use" individual or workgroup database solutions... and, because there is drag and drop importing of Excel files, results can be obtained in minutes. Its been around since the 1980's, started life as a Mac application and was eventually ported to Windows. Its interface is still a little Mac-Centric but eh, I'm not saying thats a bad thing, its just a little quirky tis all. FileMaker, Inc's aim is that the product remains "the database management tool for mere mortals as opposed to database programmers."

The latest release, FileMaker Pro 8, sees some major improvements added which were compelling enough to pique my interest. I first came across Filemaker Pro in 1999 at University and enjoyed using it immensely ... even the task of scripting in CDML to build website solutions. Lets take a look at the new features in Version 8:

• the ability to create Adobe PDFs to more readily share information
• not only can you import Excel, but there is an export option as well ... more information sharing
• send emails to everyone in your database utilising any or all fields ... did i mention information sharing
• a new fast send feature allows the contents of one field to be emailed instantly ... enough already with the information sharing, I think we get it
• new layout alignment tools allow you to select multiple fields/ titles and align them all at once
• an improved relationships graph allows you to see instantly how your databases are related to each other
• an auto-complete feature allows you to select info from previously entered data
• a visual spell checker, much like Word, underlines perceived spelling errors and offers suggestions of the correct spelling

It seems that FileMaker is trying to make its software a more serious contender in the rapid-applications-development market, because a lot of the new features are aimed at developers. Alot of windows developers have never taken Filemaker Pro seriously because of its Mac origins ... perhaps that will change with this release, who knows. But back to those features aimed at developers:

• variables can now be defined inside scripts (both local and global) so developers no longer have to define temporary storage of values. FileMaker's ScriptMaker suddenly looks more professional.
• the new Tab Control makes it easy to create matched sets of tabbed pages on a form for displaying different categories of information. FileMaker let developers create tabs in the past, but each one had to be custom designed.
• tooltips can now be attached to any database field or layout object. Providing a mouseover effects when a user hovers a field or object. The tooltips can be either static text or a calculated value.
• there is a new custom menu creation feature allowing adding, deleting and renaming standard FileMaker menus and menu items to create a custom application.

Filemaker Inc., have devised a product which is ideally suited to small businesses. FileMaker Pro 8 is menu driven and easy to use for both novice and expert users. However, if I were a novice user, I would expect to battle a small learning curve before embarking on any application developing utilising the product. I give the product a definite thumbs up though as it is a refreshing change from those other more "serious" database applications.