User manual

Chapter 6
Converting FileMaker databases from previous versions
Because FileMaker Pro 7 and FileMaker Pro 8 share the same file
format, FileMaker
Pro 8 can open FileMaker Pro 7 files without
converting them. You can even use FileMaker
Pro 8 files with
FileMaker
Pro 7. However, new features might not work as expected
when you open the file in a previous version.
For example:
1 Auto-complete: If you open the Field Format dialog box (now the
Field/Control Setup dialog box) for a field that is set to auto-complete,
the auto-complete feature is cleared when you click OK.
1 Drop-down calendar: In the Mac OS, if you open the Field
Format dialog box (now the Field/Control Setup dialog box) for a
field that is set up as a drop-down calendar, the field style switches to
radio button set when you click OK, even if you haven’t made any
changes.
1 Tab control: A layout containing tab panels will open, but the
objects that were on the tab panels will appear on top of each other.
1 Importing data: FileMaker Pro files from pre-7.0 versions of
FileMaker
Pro need to be converted to the .fp7 format before
importing.
FileMaker recommends that, once you have created or opened a file in
FileMaker
Pro 8, you do not make database design or layout changes
using an earlier version of FileMaker
Pro, particularly to features that
have changed in FileMaker
Pro 8.
Converting FileMaker Pro 6 and earlier files
You must convert files created in FileMaker Pro 6 and earlier to the
.fp7 file format.
The conversion process makes it possible for you to use files created
with pre-7.0 versions of FileMaker
Pro with FileMaker Pro 8, but it’s
important to note that:
1 Manual corrections may be necessary. You might need to correct
items in the converted file that did not convert properly. In some
cases, you may need to correct items in the original file and then
convert the file again. After you convert any file, you should review
the Conversion.log file for items that may need to be corrected.
1 You should test the converted file. The Conversion.log file may
not indicate every item in the file that needs to be corrected. Before
you begin using a converted database solution, you should test it
thoroughly to make sure every aspect has converted successfully. For
example, make sure every script works as you expect, and that
accounts and privilege sets provide the required file security.
1 You may want to migrate files to FileMaker Pro 8. When you
convert a multi-file relational database, the converted files aren’t
optimized for use with FileMaker Pro
8. The files are still related, but
they are not combined into a single file with multiple, related tables,
which may be desirable if you want to make better use of the new
features in FileMaker Pro 8. You may want to go a step beyond
conversion and
migrate your files to FileMaker Pro 8, which you can
do by either manually combining your files after conversion, or re-
creating your database in FileMaker Pro
8 and then importing the data
from the original files. After converting, you can import data from
separate files into new tables in one file.