Technical Brief

FileMaker Go 1.2.1 Technical Brief
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Network
WiFi and 3G networks will work; Edge networks are not supported.
FileMaker Go cannot discover FileMaker Server hosts available through LDAP or view and use SSL certificates from
LDAP hosts.
Noteworthy Supported Features
People familiar with using and developing for FileMaker Pro will immediately be struck by the fact that FileMaker
Go is FileMaker Pro. There is wide support for most FileMaker Pro features, and to list them all would be both
tedious and redundant. FileMaker Go is a full-featured client that works much the same way FileMaker Pro does,
minus the development features. There is no Layout mode or other database development tools. You can work
with databases, but not create them or modify their schema. Likewise some users may be familiar with Bento®
and, from years past, FileMaker Mobile. Both of those products rely on a limited synchronization model for sharing
data; FileMaker Go instead delivers a live connection to FileMaker Server and its hosted databases or the option
to copy complete database files to and from the iOS device.
This section highlights important FileMaker platform features and explores how they differ on FileMaker Go. If you
need an orientation to the interface in FileMaker Go, please refer to its documentation at:
For iPhone: http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-go/for-iphone/help/1/index.html
For iPad: http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-go/for-ipad/help/1/index.html
Entering Data & Committing Record Changes
As with FileMaker Pro, users can enter a field in Browse mode, make changes, and commit those changes to a
database opened either via a network connection or local to the device. When a record is committed, record-
level script triggers, auto-entry functions, field validation, and index updates all occur as they do in FileMaker Pro.
Tapping out of a field in FileMaker Go is exactly the same as clicking out of a field in FileMaker Pro.
When a user attempts to edit a record that is locked (in use) by a different user in a hosted environment, a
FileMaker Go user can send a message to the other user. While the user interface is different, the functionality and
user experience is exactly the same as in FileMaker Pro.
Text
Entering text in a field is fully supported, but there are a few differences when compared with the experience in
FileMaker Pro.
When selecting text in FileMaker Go—by double-tapping on text when the keyboard is present—users can cut,
copy, paste, and apply spelling corrections using iOS text controls. Note that this mechanism is analogous to the
Edit menu commands and spellcheck features in FileMaker Pro.
Users will only be able to edit approximately 64,000 characters of text. In the unusual case of a text field containing
more than 64,000 characters, the iOS text control tries to gracefully truncate at a word break as users approach the
limit. An error message appears if users try to edit or select text in a field that exceeds 64,000 characters. The text
is properly displayed and readable in FileMaker Go, but editing beyond 64,000 characters can only be done in
FileMaker Pro.