ISO FileMaker Magazine: FileMaker Video Tutorials, Templates, Help & More

by Matt Petrowsky

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There are many ways to solve most data problems. The biggest problem, however, is getting stuck within a certain mind set of any given approach. FileMaker provides a powerful tool to solve complex data problems. However, it may be limiting you. It does this by providing a default way of approaching the solution.

This approach can be summed up into two words "Form View". When most users and developers start creating a FileMaker solution the approach is to simply add fields to the table that is the most specific to what's in mind. If you're a teacher, you're dealing with students. If you're in business, you're dealing with customers. If you're a consultant you're dealing with clients. You simply add fields to your respective table, add them to its respective layout and away you go.

Guess what, students, customers and clients are all the same! This is what you need to realize when creating a flexible data structure. This video will highlight the direction for an optimized data structure that focuses on generalization and not the specifics you should be avoiding.