Exporting Data

FileMaker can export its data to a variety of data types, as follows:

• Tab-separated text
• Comma-separated text
• SYLK
• DIF
• WKS
• BASIC
• Merge
• HTML table
• FileMaker Pro
• Excel

Most of these are straightforward: The records in the found set will be exported to a file of the specified format.

A few of these formats deserve special mention and are detailed in the sections that follow.

For more information on exporting data in FileMaker, see Special Edition Using FileMaker 8, Chapter 20, "Exporting Data from FileMaker."

 

Exporting to HTML

When exporting to "HTML Table," the resulting file will be a complete HTML document consisting of an HTML table that displays the chosen data, somewhat like FileMaker's Table View.

Exporting to FileMaker Pro

The result of this export choice will be a new FileMaker Pro 7/8 file, with fields and field types that generally match those of exported fields. But note that the logic underlying calculation and summary fields will not be preserved. Those fields will be re-created based on their underlying data type: A calculation field returning a text result will be inserted into a Text field, whereas summary field data, if exported, will be inserted into a Number field. Only the raw data from the original file will be exported; none of the calculation or scripting logic will carry over.

Exporting to Excel

When exporting records to Excel, you have the option to create a header row where the database field names will appear as column names. You can also specify a worksheet name, document title, document subject, and document author.

Exporting records to Excel is similar to, but a bit more flexible than, FileMaker 8's new Save Records As Excel feature. Save Records As Excel will only export fields from the current layout, and will not export fields on tab panels other than the active one.

Automatically Opening or Emailing Exported Files

New in FileMaker 8 is the capability to automatically open and/or email an exported file. These choices are selected via two checkboxes in the Export dialog.

Automatically opening a file is a convenience for the user: A newly created Excel file would open right away in Excel. Automatic email is an even more powerful tool. When this choice is selected, a new email will be created in the user's default email client with the exported file as an attachment. (The user will still need to specify the email recipients manually.)