Developing for Multiple Users

Some of the best, most lovingly-developed FileMaker Pro systems are only ever used by a single person. A certain author's mother is a prime example: Her entire insurance sales practice is driven by a FileMaker Pro database. It is a mature system, built so "someone's mom" can use it, and lives without any expectation of being extended to include other users.

Then there are the rest of the databases out there. FileMaker Pro enjoys a graceful growth curve from single- user applications to systems that support enterprise-level workgroups and operations of hundreds of users.

This graceful transition from single-user to multi-user thankfully means that issues to take into consideration when building multi-user systems are reasonably modest. Much of what you already know about building FileMaker Pro systems ”regardless of your planned deployment ”also applies directly to building a multi-user application.

We'll cover two primary topics: how the FileMaker engine handles multiple users, and development techniques you need to consider when building multi-user applications. Although not technically a multi-user “only topic, we go into some depth about audit trails.

We recommend that anyone intending to deploy a system to multiple users read this chapter. Some of the issues we discuss become necessary considerations only in systems that are getting heavy use from multiple users, but they're good to have in mind nonetheless.

This chapter is a good companion to Chapter 24, "FileMaker Deployment Options," p. 729 .