New to FileMaker

[VAD]

This may be long as this is my first post and I have a lot of questions.

I am new to FileMaker and am about to write my first working DB. I used MS Access for past jobs. I wrote a database to keep track of installtions of large PBX systems, 5,000 to 15,000 lines. It is important to keep track of every station to have a good cut over. I like FM Pro 5's feature set and the ability to publish the db on the web easily, also the FM mobile which is going to be a big help with site surveys.

I have already built a sample db based on my access file and find that I am able to do things I wasn't able to do in access, or not as easy.

I purchased a book called "Using FileMaker Pro" by Coulombre nad Price, it was very helpful, but I find that all how to books always use finance as examples which isn't helpful for what I am trying to accomplish. So I plan to come here as I write my working database for an up coming job for help

Now that I have my background out of the way I guess my first question is; Can anyone recommend any books that can help me coming from Access to FileMaker Pro?

Any help will be greatly appricated.

[Robert Schaub]

Some good book s can be found here

 

http://www.filemakertoday.com/books.htm

 

Also did you know that Access can be converted to FileMaker , But FileMaker can not be converted to Access

[VAD]

Chopper,

Thank you for your post. I am curious about the Access conversion to FileMaker. How is this done?

and does it convert everything, ie: queries, reports, macro's and forms. I have reports built on queries that do counts on true false statements . For example as my sub contractors test stations they call in and report the station has been tested. This is how I keep track so we know what we have left to test. It is simple, I have a yes/no field in my table with macro buttons on the form. The Macro then sets the yes/no field and time and date stamp. When the PM wants to know how we are doing, I just pull up this report. I also created a report that told me how many stations were tested per hour. This is so we can see if things are starting to slow down. This is the kind of reporting I need to do in FIleMaker, which I know it can do but I don't know how.

Like I stated in my first post I started to play with FM. I created some nice layouts with portals and some scripts with success. I would rather build my new db from scratch, but if converting my access db will give me a head start I am willing to try. I will just need to clean it up before converting. Any tips on converting access will be greatly appreciated.