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Accessing external data sources
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 554
5. To enhance performance, you can filter the list of external tables or views that are available
for you to add to the relationships graph. The default is to list all the tables from the data
source.
• For Catalog name, enter a name. Otherwise, tables from all catalogs are listed.
• For Schema name, enter a name. Otherwise, tables from all schemas are listed.
• For Table name, enter a name to list only that table.
6. You can filter the list of tables by type: Tables, Views, or System table.
Note If you want to include other types, deselect all the Filter by Type options.
7. Click OK.
Setting up an ODBC table in the relationships graph
After you have added an ODBC data source, you can work with ODBC tables in the relationships
graph and on
layouts as you would other FileMaker tables. You can retrieve, add, update, and
delete data in the ODBC table interactively, in real time.
1. Choose File menu > Manage > Database.
2. In the Relationships tab in the Manage Database dialog box, click .
3. In the Specify Table dialog box, for Data Source, choose ODBC data source.
4. If you are prompted, enter the user name and password for the ODBC data source.
5. You see a list of the external tables for that data source.
6. Select the table you want and click OK.
The external table appears in the relationships graph. The table name appears in italics. For
information on linking to and working with tables in the relationships graph, see
Working with the
relationships graph.
Tip To identify whether a table in the relationships graph is a FileMaker table or from an ODBC
data source, move the pointer over the arrow in the table header. You might want to add a color
to ODBC tables in order to identify them more easily.
After you add a table to the relationships graph, FileMaker adds a layout with that table name to
the
Layout pop-up menu and the table is listed in the Tables tab. The table name appears in
italics.
Columns from the ODBC table appear in the Fields tab. The field names appear in italics. You
can remove fields if you do not want FileMaker
Pro to display them within your solution. These
columns are not removed from the external SQL data source table schema, only from the
FileMaker
Pro representation of that table’s schema. See Updating data between FileMaker and
ODBC data sources for more information.
Considerations before you begin working with ODBC data sources
• Decide whether you want to work with ODBC tables interactively in the relationships graph
or through “static” ODBC imports. For an overview of the various ways of working with
ODBC data sources, see
Using ODBC and JDBC with FileMaker Pro.
• Determine which tables you want to access, and which data sources they are in.
• If FileMaker cannot automatically determine a table’s primary key, you will be asked to
select the columns that comprise a unique key. FileMaker requires every table to have one
or more columns that have a unique value for each row.