Knowing Your Limits
Whenever you work with a piece of software, it's a good idea to be aware of the software's limits, both practical and theoretical. Important design considerations can hinge on a correct appraisal of the capabilities of your tools. If you need to build a system that can correctly work with dates prior to those in the AD era, it's a good idea to be aware of the storage capabilities of FileMaker's date field type, for example.
Some of these limits are more theoretical than practical, and you're better off observing the practical limits. We don't recommend you build systems with a million tables, for example, or write calculations containing 30K of text. If you feel you need to push these upper limits, you may want to recheck your assumptions and, if necessary, rethink your approach.
Table 2.1 provides the limits of some of the most important measurable capacities of the FileMaker product line.
|
Characteristic |
Capacity |
|---|---|
|
Maximum file size |
8 terabytes |
|
Maximum tables per file |
1,000,0000 |
|
Maximum fields per table |
256 million over the life of the file |
|
Maximum number of fields in a handheld database (FileMaker Mobile) |
50 |
|
Maximum records per file |
64 quadrillion over the life of the file |
|
Maximum records in a handheld database (FileMaker Mobile) |
5,000 |
|
Maximum field name length |
100 characters |
|
Maximum table name length |
100 characters |
|
Maximum field comment length |
30,000 characters |
|
Maximum calculation text length |
30,000 characters |
|
Maximum custom function text length |
30,000 characters |
|
Maximum amount of data in a text field |
2 gigabytes (about a billion Unicode characters) |
|
Maximum amount of data in a text field in FileMaker Mobile |
2,000 characters |
|
Range of a number field |
-10400 to -10-400 and 10-400 to 10400 (and 0 as well) |
|
Precision of a number field |
Up to 400 significant digits |
|
Maximum amount of data in a number field in FileMaker Mobile |
255 characters |
|
Range of a date field |
1/1/0001 12/31/4000 |
|
Range of a time field |
1 2,147,483,647 |
|
Range of a timestamp field |
1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM 12/31/4000 11:59:59.999999 PM |
|
Size of data in a container field |
4 gigabytes |
|
Maximum size of data used for indexing |
Up to 100 characters of data per word |
|
Maximum files open in FileMaker client |
Limited only by memory on the client computer |
|
Maximum number of databases on a handheld device (FileMaker Mobile) |
50 |
|
Maximum database files hosted by Filemaker client, peer-to-peer |
10 |
|
Maximum connected FileMaker, Instant Web, or ODBC/JDBC clients, peer-to-peer |
5 |
|
Maximum files hosted by FileMaker Server |
125 |
|
Maximum connected FileMaker clients using FileMaker Server |
250 |
|
Maximum Instant Web Publishing clients using FileMaker Server Advanced |
100 |
|
Maximum ODBC/JDBC clients using FileMaker Server Advanced |
50 |
|
Maximum RAM addressable by FileMaker Server |
4 gigabytes |
|
Maximum cache setting for FileMaker Server |
800 megabytes |
|
Maximum number of records in IWP table view |
50 |
|
Maximum number of records in IWP list view |
25 |
|
Maximum dimensions of a FileMaker layout |
121 inchesx121 inches |
Notes
- Unicode characters take up a variable number of bits, dependent on the character, so it's not possible to define a precise upper limit to the size of a text field.
- FileMaker Pro clients and ODBC/JDBC clients draw from the same pool of available connections on FileMaker Server/Server Advanced, so the upper limit is a total of 250 connected users of both types together. Of these, no more than 50 may be ODBC/JDBC users.