Visualizing a FileMaker database with ConceptDraw PRO

FileMaker is one of the simplest and most powerful modern databases. Historically, FileMaker databases became most popular on Macintosh platform. The implementation of FileMaker is quite curious: it allows to represent data as built-in forms that can be modified by the user. However, like other databases, FileMaker doesn't possess any means of graphic visualization. Here, a tool such as ConceptDraw has to step in. Starting from version 5.0 ConceptDraw supports the built-in scripting language - ConceptDraw Basic. One of the main applications of this technology is integration with external data. The built-in support for database access objects?? allows to visualize database data directly, without preliminary processing. Presently ConceptDraw supports all ODBC compliant databases.

The Professional Edition of FileMaker includes a textual ODBC driver for accessing its databases. So, visualization of FileMaker data in ConceptDraw should not be a problem. But you can never be sure before trying yourself, so I'll tell you a story how my colleagues and I were trying to make ConceptDraw work with FileMaker in Mac OS.

When I got the task to test how ConceptDraw works with FileMaker, I was slightly puzzled. I'd heard about such database, but I had never used it. So the first thing to do was to type www.filemaker.com in my browser and download the trial version of FileMaker. Having played around with the provided samples, I was pleased with the simplicity of this database. Indeed, that was what they call "all in one". However, soon I found a few things that discouraged me.

When I launched "ODBC Administrator" installed on my PowerBook (from the "Applications/Utilities/" folder) I was surprised to find no new drivers on attempt to add FileMaker drivers. It turned out that these drivers had to be installed separately from the "FileMaker ODBC Drivers" folder located next to the executable file. Then I found that setting up DSN (Data Source Name), used by "FileMaker 4.0 Text Driver" was far from easy in ODBC Administrator. After reading the documentation I found out that I should have used a special administrator program for setting up DSN (see "Applications/DataDirect ODBC folder/ODBC Configure"), that was installed together with the drivers.

I started my experiment by creating a small database from the "Personnel Records.fp5" template. Being a lazy type (as most programmers are), I decided to use information from an old corporate database (it must be mentioned, that importing from an SQL base went off quite smoothly). My goal was to build an organization chart in ConceptDraw PRO. Then I began to set up DSN.

The details of setting DSN are described in the reference, located in the above-mentioned folder - "Applications/DataDirec ODBC folder/Connect ODBC Reference.pdf". When I began to set up DSN, I realized that FileMaker didn't allow to use its databases directly through ODBC. So I had to export the base to a textual format first (I used the comma-delimited format), and then to address the resulting text tables by using the "FileMaker 4.0 Text Driver". In fact, you can write a script in AppleScript to automate this task. Normally, when a database is exported to a table, the first string contains the names of the fields, and the subsequent strings contain the records. To my surprise, FileMaker didn't do so, so I had to use a little trick - I put the name of the fields in the first record of my test database. Having the names of the fields in the first string is very helpful for DSN set-up. All you need to do is to set the flag "Column Names in First Line" in the "General" and "Define" tabs of the "Text Driver Configuration" dialog. Then clicking the "Guess" button recognizes all information about the fields and fills the corresponding "Column Information" list. Otherwise you would have to fill this list manually, as it contains the field names of the database, exported to the text format. Generally, when you export to a text file from FileMaker, I recommend that you use a separate folder, because you'll be asked to specify it during the DSN set-up. To make sure that all records are read in (not only the first one), enable "Format output using current layout" in the "Specify field Order for Export" dialog. Besides that, you need to specify the size of the text fields with some reserve, because the "Guess" commands takes the size from the first record only. Apart from that, you're not likely to come across any more difficulties with text export and setting DSN.

The next step seemed to be the easiest one - I just needed to launch ConceptDraw PRO Professional, create a new document from the "Organization Chart Wizard" template, and then follow the instructions of the wizard. But again FileMaker (its driver to be more exact) surprised me. As it turned out, the realization of that driver didn't support old specifications of ODBC 2.x! To be specific, old functions from the 2.x specification which had been replaced in the new drivers with the new methods of ODBC 3.x, were simply not implemented. At that moment ConceptDraw PRO (v5.0.0.3) was using those functions in order to support a wider range of databases, assuming that all drivers must be backwards compatible with older ODBC specifications! However, I am quite lucky to be a project manager of ConceptDraw PRO. Of course, our programmers fixed the problem on the next day, so starting from version 5.0.1 ConceptDraw supports such - slightly strange - drivers. So, I got the new version and created a new document from the "Organization Chart Wizard" template. First the wizard required to specify DSN and driver manager. Here it was essential to change the default driver manager " iODBC CFM Bridge" to the "FileMaker 4.0 Text Driver". As this driver is unable to call "ODBC configure" to choose DSN, it has to be specified manually, by typing "DSN=fm_personnel_csv" (that was the name of my DSN). What happened next is not worth describing - ConceptDraw automatically built the org chart you can see on the figure here. Now you can add a nice background, change color of the shapes, print out and hang over each colleague's desk - but that's another story.

Of course, I used a ready-made solution supplied with the installation of ConceptDraw PRO Professional. But generally speaking, it's not difficult to tailor a custom visualization solution for your database data. And as for the ready-made solution, there are no hidden secrets in it - just take ConceptDraw PRO Professional. If you don't have it yet, you can download the trial version from www.conceptdraw.com. Launch the program and in the "Template Gallery" dialog click on the "Organization Charts" category, and open the "Organization Chart Wizard". Do what I've described above, or, if in a hurry, click "Cancel" to skip the wizard. Choose "Tools -> ConceptDraw Basic -> Document Script -> Edit:" from the menu to open the ConceptDraw Basic editor window. There you can see the source code of the script which does all this magic - builds a nice-looking scheme from your employee database information. Now it's clear who's responsible for this or that question, and who's your boss.

Additional information about various capabilities of ConceptDraw can be found on the Web site: http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/cd5/main.php. You can download the trial version of the program here: http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/resources/cd5/trial.php.

Dmitry Yunchik,
Project Manager of ConceptDraw PRO

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