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Accessing external data sources
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 560
All applications that support ODBC recognize a basic subset of SQL (Structured Query Language)
statements. SQL is passed through the ODBC interface to the data source, performing queries such
as
SELECT first_name, last_name FROM customers WHERE city=N'Paris' and
making updates such as the creation of a new record with
INSERT INTO customers
(first_name, last_name) VALUES (N'Jane',N'Smith')
.
Note Because Microsoft SQL Server supports both Unicode and non-Unicode field types, you must
prefix all Unicode strings with an uppercase “N” (which stands for “National” in the SQL-92
standard). Otherwise, when a Unicode string containing non-English characters is passed to
Microsoft SQL Server, you may lose any data that doesn’t exist in the Microsoft SQL Server code
page.
To query an ODBC data source from FileMaker Pro:
1. In FileMaker Pro, do one of the following:
• To import into an existing FileMaker Pro file, choose File menu > Import Records >
ODBC Data Source.
• To create a FileMaker Pro file from the data source records, choose File menu > Open.
In the Open dialog box, choose ODBC Data Source for Files of type (Windows) or
Show (OS
X).
2. Choose your data source and click Continue.
Most server-based ODBC drivers require the data source to be open, but the requirement varies
depending on the driver.
3. Enter the user name and password (if any) for the data source you chose.
To skip this dialog box in the future, select Save user name and password (this option is only
available if you’re importing into an existing FileMaker
Pro file).
4. Click OK.
The FileMaker Pro SQL Query builder dialog box appears.
5. Construct your query. See Constructing an SQL query for importing via ODBC for details.
You can execute the query immediately, or copy and paste it into a field for later use. Use the
Import Records or Execute SQL script step to execute a query stored in a field. See
Storing an
SQL query in a field for details.
6. Click Execute.
• If you are importing data into an existing file, FileMaker Pro displays the Import Field
Mapping dialog box. You map fields from the data source to fields in your FileMaker
Pro
database file. See
Setting the import action and mapping fields during import and
Importing data into an existing file.
• If you are importing data into a new file, FileMaker Pro puts the imported records into
your database file.
Note ODBC import, the Execute SQL script step, and external SQL data sources are not supported
in runtime solutions created with FileMaker
Pro Advanced.
Related topics
Using ODBC and JDBC with FileMaker Pro
Configuring an ODBC client driver