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ADVISOR EVAL
FileMaker Mobile 2.1
New platform, new features highlight this release.
By Wim Decorte
Small is beautiful, and in the context of handheld computers, it's also extremely handy. Personally, I could never do without mine. Ever since a brief stint with the Psion 3 series, I've always worked with handhelds that let me easily transfer documents, contacts, and e-mail between the handheld and my other (mainly Windows) computers. For that reason, I've stuck with Windows CE-powered machines: First a Cassiopeia E105 (Windows CE 2.1), and more recently a Compaq iPaq 3970 running Windows CE 3/Pocket PC 2002.
Unfortunately, because of my platform choice, I could never use FileMaker Mobile. Versions 1 and 2 were only available for the Palm OS. But not anymore: FileMaker Mobile 2.1 introduces support for Pocket PC 2002.
Mobile functionality
FileMaker Mobile lets you transfer data to your handheld so you can work with that data while you're away from your desktop. After a sync, the files on both the handheld and the desktop show the changes you made on either machine.
Support for the Pocket PC is the most dramatic new feature in FileMaker Mobile 2.1, but there are other good reasons to take a look at this release, including:
- Symbol barcode scanner support.
- Compatibility with FileMaker Pro 6.
- Support for people with special needs (tagged PDF documentation).
What do you need?
On your desktop, you'll need FileMaker Pro 5.5v2 or 6 (the full version, not the trial) installed on Windows 98 or higher. You'll also need ActiveSync 3.5, Microsoft's synchronization software that links the desktop PC with the Pocket PC. ActiveSync 3.5 ships with every Pocket PC device, and it's available for free from Microsoft's Web site.
The OS on your handheld, however, is a little pickier: It has to be Pocket PC 2002. Anyone with a handheld running the original Pocket PC operating system will have to upgrade. There's also another caveat: Pocket PC 2002 is only available for handhelds with the ARM processor. So, if you have a device that uses MIPS (as in the Cassiopeia) or SH3 (HP Jornada), you won't be able to upgrade.
Installation
FileMaker Mobile has three core components:
- The FileMaker Mobile plug-in.
- The synchronization module for the transport to and from the handheld.
- The FileMaker Mobile application you install on the Pocket PC.
Start by reading the manual. It does a good job of walking you through all the installation steps. I probably would've missed at least one step if I hadn't looked at the manual first.
On the desktop PC
If you have both FileMaker Pro 5.5 and 6 installed on your machine, the installer will prompt you to choose one version. Give this decision some thought. After the installation, you can't change the target FileMaker Pro application without uninstalling FileMaker Mobile and setting it up again.
When you finish this installation process, both the plug-in and the synchronization module will be in place.
On the handheld
With the handheld in its sync cradle and ActiveSync running, you can install FileMaker Mobile on the Pocket PC. Choose "Add/Remove Programs..." from the Tools menu in ActiveSync.
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| Figure 1: Install FileMaker Mobile on the handheld -- Message on the handheld as the installation is nearly finished. |
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| Figure 2: ActiveSync options -- Make sure to include FileMaker in the synched applications. |
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| Figure 3: FileMaker Mobile and ActiveSync -- Choose Settings to access the FileMaker Mobile log file. |
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| Figure 4: Sharing through Mobile Companion -- You must select the mobile companion to enable synchronization. |
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| Figure 5: FileMaker sync options -- Specify which fields, select all records or just a found set, and decide how to handle change conflicts. |
As the installation proceeds, you're prompted to remove the handheld from the cradle and put it back (figure 1), so make sure to check the messages on your handheld.
You're almost done. All you have to do now is set the ActiveSync options to include FileMaker Mobile in the synchronization runs. Click on the Options button in the ActiveSync application and make sure FileMaker is selected (figure 2).
With this setting enabled, FileMaker Mobile now shows up in the ActiveSync window. By right-clicking on it and choosing "Settings..." from the context menu (figure 3), you can view the log file FileMaker Mobile keeps of all synchronization attempts. This can be valuable information if you have to troubleshoot later.
That's it. All in all, the installation process goes smoothly. Now you're ready to start using it.
Mobilize your data
FileMaker Mobile 2.1 works with single- and multi-user files as long as they're local. You can't sync files hosted on a remote machine. Although this seems like a limitation, it really isn't, as you'll see later.
To sync a file, enable the Mobile Companion in the file's sharing properties dialog from File > Sharing... (figure 4).
Click on the Settings button to set all the synchronization options (figure 5). Do you want to sync all records, or just the found set? How do you want to handle records that have been changed in both FileMaker Mobile and FileMaker Pro? That last sync option is named "conflict resolution" and is extremely important. This is where you decide what to do when you change a record on your Pocket PC and someone changes the same record on the desktop. Does the Pocket PC version override the desktop? Do you want to keep only the desktop changes? Or, you can also duplicate the record.
Not all FileMaker Pro field types are supported in FileMaker Mobile: You can only select Text, Number, Date, and Time fields. So, you can't use calculation fields, globals, containers, or summaries. The fields you can send to FileMaker Mobile appear in the Specify Fields dialog.
For each field, you can set a number of properties such as a value list, a custom label (the default label is the field name), whether data can be entered, the field order, and so on.
This is where you do the layout work for your FileMaker Mobile file. After you send the file to the handheld, you can't change the layout unless you change the options on this screen and re-sync.
After you set all the properties, leave the FileMaker Pro files open and synchronize with ActiveSync.
NOTE: The FileMaker ActiveSync desktop service provider doesn't automatically detect changes in the FileMaker Pro databases; changes are determined at the time of synchronization. Therefore, the status remains "Synchronized" even if changes are made to the desktop/device database.
Getting a feel for FileMaker Mobile
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| Figure 6: All your mobile databases -- Tap and hold to bring up the context menu. |
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| Figure 7: Records menu -- The menu gives you access to all the common tasks. |
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| Figure 8: Date picker -- Lets you pick a date from a calender pop-up. |
Let's navigate through FileMaker Mobile on the Pocket PC. You'll find it in the Programs folder. When you launch it, it presents a list of available databases. Tap and hold one of the databases to bring up the context menu (figure 6) and you'll see a set of available actions, including e-mailing or beaming to another handheld.
Open a file by tapping on it and you go to a list view of all the records. You can sort the records by clicking on the field headers, or from the context menu that comes up by tap-holding a header. You can also reorder the fields by dragging the column headers around.
Tap a record and it appears in a form view with the menu at the bottom of the screen. The two blue arrows toggle the icon toolbar on and off.
From the menu at the bottom of the screen (figure 7), you can Edit text (cut, copy, paste, undo, select all), change the view (List view or form view), and manipulate records (create new, delete, find, go to a record, and sort). Under Tools, you'll find options for both the list view and the form view (to enable or disable data editing, for instance) and a screen to set field options. This is where you can change field alignments, text color, and column width (although you can do that easier by dragging the column borders).
The menu is available on the shipping version, and it's a system level support. Unlike the Palm OS, Pocket PC has a standard file system (like the desktop), so the user can move/delete/beam/whatever the FMM database file. The files work fine (even sync), but it won't work like a real multi-user solution; the last file synched takes priority.
A nice feature is that when there are date and time fields in the FileMaker Mobile database, you can configure them (in the FileMaker Pro sync options) to show as a Date/Time picker (figure 8). Another nice touch is that the context menu for those date and time fields (tap and hold) lets you enter the current date and current time.
Mobile realities
You can have a maximum of 50 FileMaker Mobile files on your handheld and each file can have 50 fields and 5,000 records. Each record can store up to 50KB. Stretching FileMaker Mobile to its theoretical max, you could store 250,000 records (50 files of 5,000 records each) with a combined total of 12.5GB (50 files x 5000 records x 50KB limit per record). Even if you can find a handheld that can store and process that much data, it's more than you probably want to walk around with.
The biggest challenge is converting your existing FileMaker Pro solution to a set of flat files that provide easy access to the information the user wants. FileMaker Mobile files aren't relational and there are no scripts available. That makes navigation and data manipulation a lot harder.
In addition to breaking your files down into manageable flat files, you'll have to do some data checking before synching to make sure the data doesn't exceed the limits. The biggest chunk of data you can store is in a Text field: roughly 2,000 characters (2KB, decreasing as the number of fields go up; remember that 50KB record limit). If one field in a record exceeds the FileMaker Mobile limitations, that record isn't synched to the Pocket PC.
Another limitation is that you can only send Text, Number, Date, and Time fields to FileMaker Mobile. That means no calculations or summaries in FileMaker Mobile, and no pictures or other container content.
All these challenges mean you're probably better off creating a local set of FileMaker Pro files populated with data from your FileMaker solution. That's why I don't see the inability to sync directly from remotely hosted files as too much of a problem.
There are, of course, other databases you can use on the Pocket PC. The trade-off is between spending the time and money purchasing and learning another tool in combination with FileMaker and working within/around any limitations. If you don't have to calculate data on the handheld and can work around the lack of scripting and relationships, FileMaker Mobile is a viable product for you.
I, for one, am very glad to see FileMaker Mobile make its entry on the Pocket PC and am looking forward to additional features.
Wim Decorte is president of Connecting Data, which specializes in database development for multi-user environments, including providing analysis and support for the rollout of networks. When not doing that, Wim is busy cranking out Visual Basic code to integrate FileMaker with other applications. http://www.connectingdata.com, wim@connectingdata.com. ARTICLE INFO
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