FileMaker Extra: Development with a Team

FileMaker Extra Development with a Team

Sometimes systems are big enough that they warrant multiple developers in addition to multiple users. Developing as a team can be a bit complex with FileMaker Pro, but one of the best (and often unsung) features of FileMaker is that database schema changes can be made while the database is live, on a server, as other users are in the system. This is an extraordinary boon for FileMaker developers and will make a real difference in all of our lives.

The idea is simple: Set up a server (far better than multiuser peer-to-peer hosting) and have as many developers as a given system needs work together.

It's important to keep a few things in mind: Only one person can adjust the schema in a given file at a time. This is true for editing scripts as well. If another developer is working in ScriptMaker, you can view scripts there, but you will be unable to make changes or add new scripts until your teammate is finished. This means you can have one person focused on scripting, one defining a new calculation field, and a handful of others working on different layouts all at once. One way to avoid conflicts in this regard is to split your solution into multiple files and have those files reference external table occurrences as needed.

Over the years we've assembled some best practices for working on a team. Here's a list of techniques we draw on:

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