Installation and New Features Guide (Windows)

5-2 FileMaker Pro Installation and New Features Guide
ODBC support in FileMaker Pro
With FileMaker Pro 4.1, you can either import records into an existing
database or create a new database by opening an ODBC data source.
Not all ODBC functions are supported by FileMaker Pro 4.1.
FileMaker Pro supports ODBC as a requesting application, but not as a
data source. You can use FileMaker Pro to import data from other
ODBC data sources, but there is no ODBC driver that allows other
applications to access data in FileMaker Pro 4.1 via ODBC.
Note ODBC import is not supported in Windows 3.1, Windows for
Workgroups, or 680x0 Macintosh computers.
Structured Query Language
or SQL
A programming language that controls and interacts with a
DBMS (for example, is used by ODBC to access data).
Data source The specific data that you want to access, including the
DBMS that is storing the data. For example, a DBMS can
be an Oracle database on a network or a text file or
Microsoft Excel table from your hard drive. Each data
source must be registered with the ODBC driver manager
before FileMaker Pro can import the ODBC data.
Query Requesting, and then receiving, data from a DBMS.
Column An attribute in a table, similar to a field in a FileMaker Pro
database.
Row A collection of attributes in a table, similar to a record in a
FileMaker Pro database.
Join Combining data from two or more tables into a single set of
records.
Driver manager The control panel that manages communication between
requesting applications and data sources. When an
application makes a request via ODBC, the driver manager
routes the request through the correct driver to the correct
data source and returns the data to the requesting
application. All ODBC drivers and data sources to be used
on that computer are registered with the driver manager.
Driver The ODBC driver translates an application’s SQL queries
into commands a particular DBMS can understand. It
processes ODBC calls, submits SQL requests to the data
source, and returns the data back to the driver manager,
which then routes it to the requesting application (for
example, FileMaker Pro).
Term Refers to