Tutorial

8 FileMaker Pro Tutorial
Database concepts
What is a database?
A database is a method of organizing and analyzing information.
You’ve probably used several databases recently without realizing it. A
date book, a parts list, and even your own address book are databases.
Why use a database?
Storing information in a database file has many benefits. A database
doesn’t just hold information—it helps you organize and analyze the
information in different ways. For example, databases allow you to
group information for reports, sort information for mailing labels,
count your inventory, or find a particular invoice.
Computerized databases offer many additional advantages over their
paper-based counterparts: speed, reliability, precision, and the ability
to automate many repetitive tasks.
How is a database organized?
A database file is organized into one or more tables. Tables store
records. Each record is a collection of fields.
Imagine your address book is a FileMaker Pro database file. Each
listing in your address book is one record in an Address Book table.
Each record has information, such as name, address, city, and so on.
Each of these pieces of information—name, address, and city—is
stored in a separate field.
How is field data displayed?
FileMaker Pro displays fields on layouts. Each layout is based on a
single table, and displays records from that table.
Imagine that your database has a Tasks table in addition to the
Address Book table. A layout based on the Address Book table will
display fields and records from the Address Book table. A layout
based on the Tasks table will display fields and records from the
Tasks table.
FileMaker Pro basics
FileMaker Pro is a cross-platform application. Files created on a
Mac can be opened in FileMaker
Pro on a computer running
Windows, and vice versa.
Unlike most word processing or spreadsheet programs,
FileMaker
Pro saves your work automatically. Consequently, it’s
important to carefully consider your actions when making sweeping
changes to your files, especially when deleting records. Once records
are deleted, they are completely removed from your database.
As you will learn in lesson 13, you should back up your files on a
regular basis. Backups can save you many hours of unnecessary
work and worry in the event that your files become lost or damaged,
or records are inadvertently deleted.