Quick Start

30 Getting Started Guide
1 An option to change the pointer to a hand when it’s over a button
in Browse and Find modes.
Record-by-record access privileges
FileMaker Pro 5.5 extends data access control to individual records.
You can now specify calculation formulae to restrict browsing,
editing, or deleting individual records, based on the user’s password.
For example, a management-level password can be given privileges
for the records of all employees in that manager’s department. At the
same time, non-management password privileges can be limited to
browsing only an employee’s personal records.
This option is also available for databases published on the Web.
Scripting improvements
Scripting improvements include:
1 Comments in script steps now print in italics for increased
visibility.
1 The Allow Toolbars script step lets you hide toolbars and disable
the related menu items.
1 The new Set Next Serial Value script step allows you to use a
calculation expression to determine the next serial value of a field
defined as an auto-entry serial number field. This is helpful if you
want to import records into a FileMaker Pro 5.5 database with an
auto-entry serial number or if you want to delete multiple serialized
numbers from a FileMaker Pro 5.5 file.
1 In the Mac OS, the Send Mail script step now supports Microsoft
Outlook Express 5 or Entourage.
New logical, design, and status functions
New logical, design, and status functions make working with fields,
files, and layouts easier than ever. The new functions are:
1 GetField(fieldname)
1 FieldIDs(dbname, layoutname)
1 GetNextSerialValue(dbname, fieldname)
1 LayoutIDs(dbname)
1 RelationIDs(dbname)
1 ScriptIDs(dbname)
1 ValueListIDs(dbname)
1 Status (CurrentFieldContents)
1 Status (CurrentFilePath)
1 Status (CurrentHighContrast)
1 Status (CurrentHighContrastColor)
1 Status (CurrentLayoutAccess)
1 Status (CurrentODBCError)
Select to
change the
pointer to a
hand cursor
Limit
Edit records
and Delete
records
privileges for
this password