New features in FileMaker Pro 12
FileMaker Pro 12 includes the following new features and improvements.
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FileMaker Pro themes – The FileMaker Pro architecture has been redesigned to support rich, beautiful layout themes. You can easily change the theme by choosing from the Layouts menu in Layout mode. See Creating a layout and Changing the theme of a layout.
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Layout object formatting – FileMaker Pro provides greater control over object formatting with features such as gradient fills, image fills (including scaling and slicing), transparency, object states, and rounded corners. Rather than setting default object formatting with no objects selected, use themes to set object formatting. You can remove styles from selected objects and control changing themes with multiple undo. See Selecting and working with objects on a layout and Layout mode changes and improvements.
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New layout assistance tools – In Layout mode, dynamic alignment guides, guidelines that drag out from rulers, and control over the grid give you visual cues to help you design new layouts and modify existing ones. Multiple undo and redo let you experiment and refine with ease. See Using guides and dynamic guides and Saving and reverting layout changes.
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Screen stencils – In Layout mode, you can click
 to display guides that help you design layouts optimally for iPad, iPhone, and common desktop resolutions, or set custom dimensions. See Sizing layouts for different devices. |
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Improved accessibility – FileMaker Pro supports assistive technology and the ability to access the FileMaker Pro document window and objects on layouts using the keyboard and screen readers. With the new Accessibility inspector, you can add accessibility labels to layout objects, which are then interpreted (for example, read aloud) by users’ software screen readers. Also, you can create accessible runtime solutions (with FileMaker Pro Advanced). See Making layout objects accessible to screen readers.
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Updated Starter Solutions – FileMaker Pro Starter Solutions have been updated to a modern appearance with more options for customization. Some Starter Solutions contain layouts designed for FileMaker Go. See Creating a FileMaker Pro file.
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New file format – The FileMaker Pro file format has been changed to support the new features. See Converting files from FileMaker Pro 11 and earlier.
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Enhanced container fields – You can now store container data outside of the database file in managed storage. Storing container data externally facilitates sharing multi-user databases, improves backups, and maintains security through encryption of the external data. Enhancements also let you render images faster with thumbnails; drag and drop files; and work interactively with audio, video, and PDF files in container fields. See About setting up container fields.
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Plug-in updating – Store plug-in files in solution files, then use scripts and calculations to ensure users always have the correct version of required plug-ins installed. See Working with plug-ins.
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Define window styles – Control user interaction with your solution by specifying that layouts opened by a script or button display as standard document windows, floating document windows, or modal dialog windows, and by choosing the controls that appear in the windows. See New Window.
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Enhanced tab control – Modify tab behavior so that the active tab is retained when switching to Layout mode. You can set up conditional formatting of individual tab panels and tab labels. See Adding a tab control and Defining conditional formatting for layout objects.
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Record sorting – You can control whether record sorting is persistent or temporary. Records added or edited after being sorted are by default integrated into the sort order. Deselect Keep records in sorted order to change this behavior. See Sorting records.
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A
 badge in the lower-right corner on a layout indicates that script triggers are associated with the layout. |
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A
 badge that appears on a layout indicates that the object on which the badge appears is a button. |
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Layout variable symbols – New layout variables display the status of a file, elements in the file, or an action being performed. Also, variable symbols for date, time, user name, page number, and record number have changed. See Inserting the date, page number, or other variable onto a layout.
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FileMaker Pro features by version – See Help for information about the version in which FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Pro Advanced features were introduced, starting from version 8.0. See FileMaker Pro features by version.
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FileMaker charts – Create quick charts in Table View, with the option to summarize data and print charts without changing the database schema. You can modify charts using a new Chart inspector. New chart types include stacked column or bar, positive/negative column, scatter, and bubble. (You can also create quick charts by right-clicking a field in Form View or List View.) See Creating quick charts and Creating and editing charts in Layout mode.
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Table View refinements – Column headers in Table View provide more options for grouping, sorting, and summarizing, and make it easier to customize the appearance of the table so your data and calculations are clear. See Working with data in Table View.
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Mac OS: Enhanced support for Bento data import – Import Bento Location fields as [Fieldname](Longitude) and [Fieldname](Latitude). See Importing Bento data (Mac OS).
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Support for FileMaker Go – FileMaker Pro includes new script steps, functions, and extended privileges, as well as layout themes optimized for touch screens on the iPad and iPhone, and includes changes to custom menus that support the use of FileMaker Go.
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Improved integration with external SQL sources (ESS) – If one or more table names have changed in an ODBC data source, you can update links between a FileMaker Pro file and the source. You can also force-commit changes when optimistic locking otherwise prevents the commit action. See Restoring links to ODBC data sources and Commit Records/Requests.
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Compatibility information – In Help and the Edit Script dialog box, the compatibility section has been refined to include FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Server scheduled script, FileMaker Go, Custom Web Publishing, and Instant Web Publishing. Help also includes whether a script step is supported in runtime solutions.
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Insert File script step – You can now specify advanced options for the Insert File dialog, which appears when you choose a file to insert into a container field. These options include whether content can be inserted by reference, whether content can be compressed, and which formats are allowed in the field. See Insert File.
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New Window script step – Creates a new window based on the foreground window. You can create a document window, a floating document window, or a dialog window. See New Window.
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Find Matching Records script step – Finds records based on the context of a specified field, letting you create scripts that behave similarly to using Find Matching Records in a shortcut menu. See Find Matching Records.
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Insert Audio/Video script step – Imports an audio or video file, or a reference to an audio or video file, into the current interactive container. See Insert Audio/Video.
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Insert PDF script step – Imports a PDF file, or a reference to a PDF file, into the current interactive container. See Insert PDF.
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Open Manage Containers script step – Opens the Manage Containers dialog box, where you can manage thumbnail settings and external locations for container content. See Open Manage Containers.
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Sort Records by Field script step – Sorts the records in the current found set based on the context of a specified field, letting you create scripts that behave similarly to using Sort Records by Field in a shortcut menu. See Sort Records by Field.
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Four windows script triggers are available in a new Script Triggers tab in the File Options dialog box: OnWindowOpen, OnWindowClose, OnFirstWindowOpen, and OnLastWindowClose. See Setting file options and Setting up script triggers.
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OnFirstWindowOpen – Triggers a script to run each time you open a window of a database file when no other windows for the file are open. See OnFirstWindowOpen.
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OnTabSwitch script trigger – Captures when a tab in a tab control was selected and which tab was selected. See OnTabSwitch.
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ExecuteSQL function – Executes a specified SQL statement within a FileMaker Pro database, which can combine the results of two queries, include dynamic parameters, and let you specify relationships independent of the relationships graph. See ExecuteSQL.
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GetThumbnail function – Returns a thumbnail image of the content in a container field, according to specified values for width and height. See GetThumbnail.
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Location function – In FileMaker Go, returns a device's current position in one line on a form. See Location.
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LocationValues function – In FileMaker Go, returns a device's current position using a set of return-delimited values. See LocationValues.
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VerifyContainer function – Returns a Boolean value representing the validity of data stored externally in a container field. See VerifyContainer.
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Get(ConnectionState) – Returns a number representing the security state of the network connection for the current file. See Get(ConnectionState).
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Get(InstalledFMPlugins) function – Returns the name, version number (if available), and enabled state of installed plug-ins. See Get(InstalledFMPlugins).
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Get(PersistentID) function – Returns text representing a unique identifier of the computer or device on which FileMaker is running. See Get(PersistentID).
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Get(TriggerCurrentTabPanel) function – Returns the index and the object name of the current tab panel (the tab panel to be switched from) when the OnTabSwitch script trigger is activated. See Get(TriggerCurrentTabPanel).
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Get(TriggerTargetTabPanel) function – Returns the index and the object name of the target tab panel (the tab panel to be switched to) when the OnTabSwitch script trigger is activated. See Get(TriggerTargetTabPanel).
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Plug-in updating – Plug-in updating has been simplified. You now store plug-ins in solution files and install updates from container fields. The Auto Update plug-in has been removed from FileMaker Pro. See Working with plug-ins.
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Table View sorting – Instead of clicking a column heading to sort data, you now choose from the shortcut menu for the column. This makes sorting more predictable and allows for selection of one or more column headers in order to perform additional actions on the associated fields. See Working with data in Table View.
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Importing data from FileMaker Pro databases – Import order has been improved. The addition or deletion of fields after field mapping no longer affects the sort order in import target files.
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Extended privilege sets – The fmmobile and fmxslt extended privileges have been removed. A new extended privilege, fmreauthenticate10, has been added for FileMaker Go. Also, brackets have been removed from all default extended privileges for consistency and to enable editing. See Editing extended privileges for a privilege set.
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Mac OS: Support for importing photos from a digital camera or device – Script steps and menu commands that support importing photos from a digital camera or device have been removed from FileMaker Pro.
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Windows: Support for OLE – You can no longer insert or work with OLE objects from earlier versions of FileMaker Pro. Because of this change, the Insert Object and Update Link script steps, menu items related to OLE objects, and the Update all links before printing option in the Print dialog box have been removed. However, you can activate OLE objects in container fields and on layouts and save them to their original formats. See Saving OLE objects in their original formats (Windows).
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Windows: The Flash menubar on misspelled words option has been removed from the Spelling tab in the File Options dialog box.
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FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced
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To support FileMaker Pro files created for devices such as the iPad and iPhone, default custom menus and menu sets are no longer created when you create a file. You can add custom menus and menu sets to files manually, if you want to use them in your solution files.
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If you don’t specify a menu item name, FileMaker Pro installs a blank item in the menu. Choosing it executes the settings defined for the item.
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Enhanced Script Debugger – You can now temporarily disable or enable script triggers while you work in the Script Debugger. See Debugging scripts (FileMaker Pro Advanced).
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Database Design Report – The Database Design Report now identifies the tab controls or portals in which objects are located.
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Close window button in runtime solutions – The close window button in runtime solution windows now works as it does in FileMaker Pro windows. If you want to prevent users from closing a runtime window, use custom menus, script triggers, or window styles.
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Support for PHP Site Assistant (FileMaker Server) – Because support for PHP Site Assistant in FileMaker Server has been removed, the Launch PHP Assistant menu item has been removed from the Tools menu in FileMaker Pro Advanced.
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