If you’re looking for the inside scoop on the latest version of FileMaker, you’ve come to the right place. Authors Scott Love and Steve Lane are FileMaker experts who were involved in the development of FileMaker 8, and they bring that knowledge to you in Special Edition Using FileMaker 8. Frequent tips, case studies, and thorough examples show you how to avoid mistakes and save time in developing databases with FileMaker 8. This is the comprehensive reference that every database developer needs on their shelf.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 8 Ratings

An Extensive FileMaker 8 Book - 2006-11-27
Reviewer Rating:
"Special Edition Using FileMaker 8," is 890-page book packed with extensive information on FileMaker Pro 8. The book was well written and is well laid out. The publisher makes good uses of icons, colored text, and text boxes to draw your attention to important items throughout the book.

The authors of the book gave the reader a quick introduction to FileMaker and quickly moved on to more advanced features. I highly recommend that beginning users look at a different book if they are not experienced in using FileMaker. The focus of the book is for people who are going to be developing FileMaker Pro databases. A more beginning user might look at the book "FileMaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual" by Geoff Coffey & Susan Prosser.

The book is written for both Mac and Windows users of FileMaker. The authors give short cuts for both operating systems. They also discuss some of the differences between the two platforms and how to make FileMaker cross platform compatible.

Throughout the book the authors point out the difference between FileMaker 7 qne FileMaker 8.0. It is easy to spot the differences because the information usually has icons next to it, in text boxes or in color. The book does not cover the new feature of FileMaker 8.5 which came out the summer of 2006. Some of the additional features of version 8.5 are additional web viewer and Universal Binary for Intel Macs.

On the DVD that is included with the book there is a PDF file of the book. PDF is great if you have a laptop and want to take the book on a trip or if you want to search the book by keywords. The PDF is protected so you cannot cut and past or print the document. The DVD also has projects examples the authors discuss in the book. I was able to view the projects with any problems.

I found the disk instructions for the DVD that came with the book did not work on the Mac. The instructions stated there would be a program that would install something but it did not work. I was able to copy the files to my hard-drive and use them. I did not test the DVD on a Microsoft Windows machine.

In order to do development work you will need a second book for the scripts. According to the authors they decided to split the book into two books for FileMaker 8. One book on FileMaker and the other book is on FileMaker scripts. The title of the script book is "FileMaker 8 Functions and Scripts Desk Reference" by Steve Lane, Scott Love and Bob Bowers published by Que. I did not review this book but I am planning on purchasing it.

If you are going to be performing FileMaker Pro development work this book is for you. If you are trying to learn the basics of FileMaker or will be an end user of a database, I would recommend that you look at another book.

Delivers far less than it promises - 2007-02-21
Reviewer Rating:
The tag line reads "The only FileMaker 8 book you need." In the acknowledgement - even before the main text of the book - you learn you have been lied to in a major way.

The authors take pride in having responded to their editor's request to cut the book's length by 10%, they were permitted to add 50%. Of course, that meant taking content out of this book and putting it into a second title. So they effectively "cheated" the reader out of the box.

This book is allegedly an update of the authors earlier "Special Edition Using FileMaker 7" for the UPCOMING release of FileMaker 8. In other words, the book was revised based on a beta version, always a danger sign. Worse, the reader's confidence is shaken by the incredibly shoddy proofreading and editing. There are many references to FileMaker 7 where, hopefully, FileMaker 8 is intended. No excuse for this kind of sloppiness.

The book is a group effort. As is common in such efforts, the quality of writing is uneven. There is an attempt to cover anything - and the attempt fails in terms of detail. And, bear in mind that the authors have essentially omitted an entire area of coverage and created a second (costly) book that you have to buy in order to get full coverage of the subject. (The second book, "FileMaker 8 Functions and Scripts Desk Referencee" is pretty good, but still the idea that the cover blurb is a lie doesn't sit well with me.)

Overall, my feeling is that the average FileMaker user will be much better served by "FileMaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual". "Special Edition" should be a second choice.

Jerry

Excellent book, for hard-core developers too. - 2007-03-24
Reviewer Rating:
Whatever part of the brain deals with the logic of handling information is quite a bit larger in Scott Love than most people. I consider myself a middling to advanced developer of Filemaker applications and Scott's book just blew me away! He introduced concepts to me that I had not even considered and did so with clear and detailed explanation and examples.

There is just too much to praise about this book in a review. It's not a lot of money so if you are stuck on Filemaker, feel it's the solution for you but can't seem to move ahead, BUY THIS BOOK! You will be happy. And, no I am not Scott Love's publisher.

Not quite the best bedtime reading - 2009-05-29
Reviewer Rating:
I tried checking this book out in bed but this was not succesful as the amount of information I was ablre to glean from the book was excellent.
No I have not read the book cover to cover but this is a reference book which has clarified a number of problems I have had while developing Filmaker applications. No matter how simple or complicated the question is you will find a solution. This book should be used with its companion book Filemaker 8 Functions and Scripts for the ultimate in developer work with scripts and all functions. Why Filemeker 8? Well we hahave several systems in place using FM8 which will not be upgraded in the near future. This book keeps me thinking version 8 capabilities when I work with those systems. If you work with 8, Buy It!

The Best Filemaker Book I've Used... - 2007-09-06
Reviewer Rating:
I bought a couple other Filemaker 8 books before I bought this one (I think the Filemaker 8 Bible was the biggest) and this book is head and shoulder above the rest. I can't put my finger on what makes it better because they all cover the same things, but I could really UNDERSTAND more from the Using Filemaker 8 book than all the rest. Plus the copy I bought came with the entire book on PDF which is nice for searching on specify terms or functions. I strongly suggest you get the Filemaker 8 Functions and Scripts Desk Reference that goes along with this book because it goes into good detail on the syntax and purposes of Functions. I only wish the book covered more methods to accomplish more complicated tasks but I suppose every database has it's unique challenges and they can't cover every conceivable thing. Great book, I highly recommend it.

I also have to say that I really love Filemaker 8. If you've never used it, it's very powerful and amazingly easy once you understand a few concepts. I learned Filemaker from scratch with no previous database or scripting experience mostly with the help of this book. Also, you can have Filemaker perform Applescript scripts (provided your a Mac user) which is very cool, but Applescript is another topic all-together.

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