Documents

The following item is from a presentation I made at the Boston-Area FileMaker Developers Association (BAFDA):

• Faxing from FileMaker on Mac OS X 10.3 Using the Built-In OS Fax Service [FileMaker demo file (ZIP); 4-page screenshot file (PDF)] by K. Cunningham – a FileMaker demo file illustrating how to set up FileMaker to use the Mac OS X-native faxing service (rather than require a plug-in etc.); solution requires Mac OS X 10.3, AppleScript and, of course, a phone line. I haven't tested this with a large queue of files, but I've sent individual files successfully. (This paper was presented at the BAFDA meeting of 12/09/2004.) Note that faxing on OS X is still rather undersupported; for a basic intro and good followup, see Wei-Meng Lee's article at macdevcenter.com and the extensive discussion following it.

The following articles address some of the significant changes (for the better) brought about with the advent of FileMaker 7:

• FileMaker Certification Topic #6: Securing Your Databases (Part 1 - Overview) [2-page PDF version here] by K. Cunningham – a summary of the FileMaker Inc. document Filemaker 7 Security [pdf here], organized to clarify the case to make to IT professionals who may still think of FileMaker security in terms of previous, admittedly problematic, versions of FileMaker. There's also a set of suggested practices to put in place in your own Filemaker solutions. (This paper was distributed at the BAFDA meeting of 11/11/2004.)
• Considerations for Migrating to FileMaker 7 at MIT: Notes Toward the Business Case by K. Cunningham – a review of what's involved in migrating FileMaker solutions to version 7, from a business perspective, and the advantages of doing so. It becomes clear that FileMaker technology is now worthy of IT respect, and is a reasonable option for mid-size business solutions – in the same class as PHP/MySQL, Postgres, etc.
• FileMaker Pro: Security Guidelines by K. Cunningham – a document about the security weaknesses of earlier versions of FileMaker, with annotations reflecting the radical improvements made in FileMaker 7. It was created for and is geared to use at MIT, which has an especially open Internet architecture (e.g., firewalls are eschewed), but the overall assessments are still generally applicable.

These are works in progress. Please send any comments on these articles to kcunning@alum.mit.edu.