Fremont, California – .com Solutions Inc. has released FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition 8.34 with enhancements supporting the automated conversion from Microsoft Access to FileMaker Pro Advanced 16. This release supports FileMaker Pro Advanced 11 – 16 on macOS and Windows.
FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition 8.34 enhances the Access to FileMaker 16 conversion feature in the following ways:
* acRectangle objects render more accurately in FM16, by setting the border width from 0 to 1 if the border style shows that the rectangle should be displayed.
* The Access to FileMaker conversion process now allows the import of metadata even if there are 0 forms/reports within the file. This enables files containing only scripts and queries to be imported into FmPro Migrator Platinum Edition.
* The conversion of Access fields and text labels set to default System colors has been improved by choosing appropriate default values.
* Improved the importing of Microsoft Access relationships into FmPro Migrator by using VBA code within an updated version of the AccessDDRExport utility. Multi-predicate relationships are supported along with Cascade Update/Delete options for related tables. This improvement will no longer display the error about not being able to read the MSysRelationships table with newer Access database .accdb files or .mdb files.
* Converted acCommandButton objects are now assigned to a converted script. These scripts can be from either the form behind code or top-level VBA code within the Access database. Form behind code is converted into FileMaker scripts prefixed with the name of the originating form.
* The conversion of report objects contained within Group Headers and Group Footers will now will appear in relatively the same location within FileMaker, instead of being drawn at the top of the layout.
* acLine objects for FileMaker 12 versions will no no longer be created diagonally by the amount of the border thickness.
* The AccessDDRExport 3.1 utility now pre-selects .accdb files when running under Access 2007 versions, and .mdb files for older versions.
Converting legacy Microsoft Access databases to FileMaker 16 offers many advantages including:
* Cross platform compatibility.
FileMaker solutions run directly on macOS, Windows and IOS devices. WebDirect serves FileMaker custom apps to all mobile and desktop platforms running a supported web browser. Access can only run on the Microsoft Windows operating system.
* Easier database sharing.
FileMaker database files can be shared using FileMaker Server or FileMaker Cloud with macOS, Windows and IOS devices. WebDirect serves FileMaker database files to any device or platform using any supported web browser.
According to Microsoft:
“We no longer recommend Access Services for new apps. This feature will be retired from Office 365. We will stop creation of new Access-based apps in SharePoint Online starting June 2017 and shut down any remaining apps by April 2018.”
* Improved reliability.
Access database files require frequent maintenance to “compact and repair” the database. Sharing Access files on a network file share typically results in file corruption. FileMaker solutions don’t have any of these problems and file sharing is reliably supported from within the FileMaker application for peer to peer sharing or via FileMaker Server or FileMaker Cloud on AWS.
* Greatly enhanced file capacity.
FileMaker supports a 7TB filesize compared with the anemic 2GB Access filesize limit. If the Access database file ever exceeds the 2GB file size limit, it will immediately become corrupted.
* Easier Development.
Upgrading to FileMaker Pro 16 also offers developers the opportunity to take advantage of the latest design, development and security features included with FileMaker Pro Advanced 16 and FileMaker Server 16 including WebDirect capacity enhancements.
Other improvements in FmPro Migrator 8.34 include:
* Solved an issue with spaces in pathnames on Windows when holding down the shift key to transfer data.
* Removed the SQL_BIG_TABLES option for MySQL within xferDataPerl.pl generated code, since this option is not required with newer versions of MySQL. Also Added $mysql_dbh->{mysql_enable_utf8mb4}= 1; to xferDataPerl.pl to insure UTF8 compatibility.
* FmPro Migrator now uses the UTF8mb4 encoding when transferring data into MySQL database servers for full unicode support. The MySQL database should be configured for UTF8mb4 encoding when it is created. UTF8mb4 encoding has been supported since MySQL 5.5.3 in 2010, which means that all Unicode characters are supported with this encoding option.
* Fixed an issue with FmPro Migrator skipping the import of layouts and scripts organized within folders.
Table Consolidation Project Improvements:
* Enhanced the Table Consolidation processing by adding a new feature which copies Custom Functions via the clipboard with FileMaker Pro Advanced 15 and 16 versions.
* Updated the Table Consolidation PDF file with Custom Function creation via the clipboard. Also improved Tips section to specify that English be used for compatibility on macOS and Windows, and updated FileMaker terminology (Script Workspace etc.).
Pricing and Availability:
FmPro Migrator Developer Edition is priced at ($600) per developer, and is available immediately. For more information, please contact David Simpson.
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Founded in 1999 by David Simpson in Sunny California, .com Solutions Inc. develops multi-platform graphical applications supporting FileMaker Pro, SQLite, Oracle, MySQL, Access, SQL Server, Sybase, DB2, OpenBase, PostgreSQL, FrontBase, Valentina, VB6, LiveCode and Visual FoxPro developers. FmPro Script Diff, compares and edits FileMaker Pro scripts. SQLite Diff compares SQLite database schema and data. Copyright (C) 1999-2017 .com Solutions Inc. All Rights Reserved. FileMaker is a registered trademark of FileMaker, Inc. – An Apple Subsidiary. Apple, the Apple logo and macOS platforms are trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.