I come from a traditional RDBMS environment, mainly SQL servers, where we are given a lot freedom and functionalities that don't have a direct/easy translation into Filemaker DBs. As a result, I am having difficulties implementing and architecting the Filemaker database. Basically, I need to achieve the following functionalities:
For this example let us use a traditional HR portal to illustrate what I want to do.
1) Be able to use Foreign-Keys to designate hierarchy from the same table... i.e. An employee's supervisor
1.1) Given that Filemaker forces me to create a separate table for this, will the second table have to be maintained independently from the original table? Will the data from the original table transfer automatically and transparently?
2) How to develop/implement the concept of Generalization in filemaker? i.e. An employee get assigned different Work-Assets (PCs, cellphone, backpacks, cars, etc)
Thank you all in advance,
Regards
Hi,
you may have a view at Zero to Awesome - Predevelopment Data Structure - ISO FileMaker Magazine
This video will highlight the direction for an optimized data structure that focuses on generalization and not the specifics you should be avoiding.
The post is old, 2008, but may be helpful.
FileMaker does things differently, but once you figure out how it works, you realize it's a very good product.