FileMaker Pro 12: The Missing Manual

I recommend this wonderful book. I have quite a bit of experience using Filemaker, an application for which I have great admiration. Filemaker is about the easiest relational database available. It doesn't take much effort to create something really useful, but Filemaker is also a very deep and polished application. You can explore deeper and deeper into this cave if you choose and you will be rewarded at every step for having done so. But you need a guide beyond the Help system built into the app. My first preference for a guide into Filemaker software is the excellent world of video courses available by subscription on Lynda.com and VTC.com (VTC primarily for John Mark Osborne's wonderful Filemaker video series). But sometimes a book can take you places even the videos do not. And that is the case with this great book by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman. For example, I have never felt the need to learn how to do Custom Menus or even Security and Privilege sets, but now that I am going to put some of my Filemaker databases on our company's server, I thought it time to do so. This book has taught me exactly how to do these two things - and now I can do something I could not do last week. Learning is always hard work and it is important that your teacher lead you in baby steps that are perfectly connected and result in success. I love the examples in this book and the fact that you can download the software sample databases in the examples for free (the "missing CD" -get it?) from the publisher's website and follow along with the instruction. The writing is clear and precise. I find I am not running into typos or missing steps. Someone has really reviewed the instructions before this book was released to make sure the instructions were complete. Just for your information, I go back with Filemaker to version 3.0. I have even attended two annual Filemaker Developer Conferences in Phoenix and and Orlando. I am a Filemaker "enthusiast" but I work by myself. I don't know anyone else who even uses Filemaker so I am totally dependent on outside instructions, but I use Filemaker every day. I write stuff for our law firm and Filemaker is an essential core to our practice. Don't be put off by the dumb name of this application "Filemaker" -- I put it up there with Word, Excel, and Photoshop as some of the best software ever written for the computer. This book can help you master Filemaker Pro 12 (even Filemaker Pro 12 Advanced) and belongs on your shelf!

FileMaker is a wonderful Data Base program with great diversity and depth. The book, multi pages long, presents the matter in a logical order; but in many cases it assumes great computer knowledge than the reader has! The whole idea of a manual like this is simplification and step by step directions which are clear and well defined. The missing manual fails in this in many instances...the amount of information available in the manual is mind boggling; but often confuses the fact rather than answering. Good but complicated!Jamesgb

I volunteer for a small nonprofit organization that needed a database. I also needed database software for my own online movie business.While researching various software packages, I downloaded Amazon's sample from FileMakerPro12: the Missing Manual. The book's opening pages persuaded me that FileMakerPro12 (FMP for short) would do the job. I then ordered the software and the book, which I downloaded to my iPhone.Although FMP has been around a long time, I had never used it. While the program is user friendly, it's also complex and somewhat intimidating at first. My approach to mastering any sophisticated technology product is to combine trial-and-error with studying a manual.I had successfully used other books in the O'Reilly "missing manual" series. I therefore expected a lot from this one, and I was not disappointed. The guide covers the subject in a clear, systematic way, mixing in subtle humor that was frosting on the cake.Reading a book with many illustrations and cross references makes iPhone reading a bit more difficult than having a printed book in hand. Still I was able to keep track of where I was, and I found the illustrations helpful.I've now been using the software for about a month, and I believe that FMP12: the Missing Manual greatly sped up my mastery. The software's Help material also comes in handy; the two resources make a solid instructional package.I definitely recommend the Missing Manual to anyone who wants to learn FMP12.

The print is too small for me to read without a magnifier. I bought the download for iBooks and can now read the manual on my iPad. I am happy with the content and would recommend the download but not the book.

I usually like the Missing Manual books. Most of this book is of terrific use for an advanced database creator. The first part of the book starts slow so if you don't have a working knowledge of what a relational database is, then you need to know what's in this book before you spend your money on the FileMaker database. I want to make a simple database for my movies, music, etc. I always want more than what I need as far as what I initially plan and now I know, from this book, that I can go as far as I want to for fun. Yes, I said "fun" because I love databases and this book let me know that I can have the fun that I want.

I did learn a lot with this book and was able to create the DB I needed. The goal is met.However, sometimes the details are so basic that you can't avoid thinking they just wanted to add pages.Overall, and considering teh alternatives, I would still buy it.

Database manuals are by nature are complex as are the databases they cover. I am new to Filemaker (have some experience in other database programs) but found the manual covered the topics in a logical manor, easy to read and contained sufficient examples, screen shots etc to convey the technical nature of the workings of Filemaker. I have read the complete book and have dogeared many pages as a reference as I develop new components. Book highly recommended.