FileMaker 19.6

Claris has released FileMaker 19.6, their second major release in 2022. This release includes new script steps and functions to support Transactions, as well as welcome security improvements.

Transactions

Appsmith have been developing with transactions for many years now, and they’re an important concept in ensuring data integrity. Claris have now added features which make working with database transactions easier than before.

An example of a database transaction is an online order. We often integrate FileMaker with online order systems such as WooCommerce. A typical example might be:

• Retrieve details of the online order via an API.
• Check if the customer exists, and if not create a new customer record.
• Create the sales record, and any line items on the order. We may also need to create freight and tax changes.
• Record details about the payment method, and if the charge was successful.
• Email the client their order confirmation and invoice.
• Write back to the online system that we’ve successfully retrieved the order.

If any of these steps fail, we’d end up with missing data which could lead to errors. Examples of problems we might face:

• A customer might be missing required info and not be created. The order would have no customer record.
• A product might not exist in both systems, and wouldn’t be shipped out with the order.
• Payment details won’t be recorded, and the client asked to pay twice.
• Duplicate orders may be created in the system

Transactions are a technique that helps prevent these kind of errors from happening. When we import the order, we create a transaction that either completes successfully, or fails and is rolled back so that it never happened. This allows us to handle these errors without half created records that we’d have to manually roll back.

Security Highlights

• Option for users to login to FileMaker using their Apple ID
• More controls for access to FileMaker’s admin console, including the ability to create administrator roles for clients who need to be able to open or close database files, or run scripts on server. Also easier controls to restrict access by IP address.
• Database files are hidden to users on the server, unless they have account to access the file.

There’s more features to unpack in FileMaker 19.6 which can be explored in FileMaker’s release notes for Pro and Server.