Developer’s Guide

Distributing runtime database solutions 33
During the recovery process, the runtime application:
1 creates a new file
1 renames any damaged file by adding Old to the end of the
filenames (for example, Contact Manager is renamed to Contact
Manager Old)
1 gives the repaired file the original name
If users experience unusual behavior in the recovered files, they
should revert to a backup copy that was made before the file became
corrupt, or contact you for technical assistance.
In your documentation, you should tell your users what to do after a
file has been recovered. Tell your users to:
1. Recover the damaged solution file using the method described
above for the type of computer they are using.
2. Open the recovered solution file in the runtime application.
3. Choose File menu > Save a Copy As.
4. In the dialog box, choose compacted copy (smaller) from the Save
a
(Windows) or Type (Mac OS X) drop-down list, name the file, and
click
Save.
Give the compacted file the same filename as the original file.
5. Make a copy of the original database and import the data from the
recovered file into it.
Providing user documentation
You should provide documentation for your database solution,
whether it is a database that must be opened in FileMaker Pro or
FileMaker Developer, or a standalone runtime database solution.
There are several ways that you can provide documentation for your
solution, including a printed manual, an online Help system, and an
About layout that is available from any layout in the solution.
Create custom About and Help layouts that document what your
database solution is, how to use it, and where users can go for more
information. Then use the Developer Utilities to attach scripts to
menu commands that open the About and Help layouts.
Note The FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Developer Help system is
not available in runtime applications. However, Status bar Help
(Windows) and Help tags (Mac OS X) are available.
Creating an About layout
For runtime database solutions, the FileMaker Developer license
specifies that you must create an About layout that provides
information for your users on how to contact you for technical
support. FileMaker uses the About layout to distinguish databases
created by developers using FileMaker Developer rather than users
of FileMaker Pro.
For more information about what is required to appear in the About
layout for runtime database solutions, see
“Your responsibilities as a
developer” on page 35.
To create an About layout:
1. Choose View menu > Layout Mode.
2. Choose Layouts menu > New Layout/Report.
Example of an About layout