OK, now I've been developing commercial apps for over 30 years, but I'm a Filemaker newbie. So I feel just a little silly asking this:

1) I have a rudimentary clients & billing database I just started for my wife, who is a psychologist. I fell in love with the wonderful interface work you did in CC Calendar SE, and bought it. There's no data in my own client database, so would it be better just to integrate my unique fields into your Client sample?

2) If I do that, how do I "update" when you put out bug fix or upgrade versions?

3) Is there a performance advantage to keeping the Clients table inside the same Filemaker project? Or would there be more of an advantage to build my evolving database separate from CC Calendar?

Thanks for building such an impressive looking app. And it seems to be much better documented than most of the C++ code I read....

Stephen.

Don't worry at all about asking questions, we all start somewhere, I have to ask questions all the time when trying to work on C++ code.

StephenGreenfield wrote:OK, now I've been developing commercial apps for over 30 years, but I'm a Filemaker newbie. So I feel just a little silly asking this:

1) I have a rudimentary clients & billing database I just started for my wife, who is a psychologist. I fell in love with the wonderful interface work you did in CC Calendar SE, and bought it. There's no data in my own client database, so would it be better just to integrate my unique fields into your Client sample?

There is a FAQ entry labeled "How do I swap out the client's table" that gives instructions on using your table instead of ours. You can certainly use our's instead, but as you mention, it will be hard to update the sections of your solution seperately.

The FAQ entry can be found online Here.

2) If I do that, how do I "update" when you put out bug fix or upgrade versions?

Here is the issue. Whenever we find a bug, we update the current version, and also publish the fix on our support forums. So you can always apply the fix yourself. The instructions are always as clear as possible.

For an example see this thread: http://www.seedcode.com/support/viewtopic.php?t=647

However we do periodically update the files for feature reasons, and although infrequent, these sort of improvements would be harder to impliment.

I will say that a perusal of our forums will show that there are very few bugs found historically, so that concern is minor.

3) Is there a performance advantage to keeping the Clients table inside the same Filemaker project? Or would there be more of an advantage to build my evolving database separate from CC Calendar?

Thanks for building such an impressive looking app. And it seems to be much better documented than most of the C++ code I read....

There are some advantages, and the decision tends to be a complicated one, with many factors at play. If I had to take a gut reacion decision, I would say that your file should be kept seperate.

You develop software regularly, and the felxibility over-rides the multiple file issues in my mind when the sections of the system are not tightly integrated. Clients tend to be part of a greater system, and the data for them would probably be best placed in a data file, seperate from the interface.

The reasons are however primarily logical and structural, and not preformance, so that concern can be alleviated.

Thank you for your kind words, and if you have any other questions, please ask away.

There is a FAQ entry labeled "How do I swap out the client's table" that gives instructions on using your table instead of ours.

I read that before posting, and like your website it is one of the clearest, best written set of technical instructions I've come across -- ever. (I'm sending my support staff to your site to show them how elegant and clean it is).

Still -- it would be awfully cool to provide some sort of script that could handle the swapping from Step "4" thru "9". Or -- perhaps pre-separating the client database so that the number of steps can be reduced.

I mention this not because the steps are difficult, or even time consuming, but because the repeatability and reliability by multiple engineers going forward into the future would be enhanced by making the connection semi-automatic.

Probably just another example of you giving us an inch and we, the ever-demanding consumer, wanting a mile...

Whenever we finda bug, we update the current version, and also publish the fix on our support forums. So you can always apply the fix yourself.

Yes, that's extremely clear. Is there one location that "mods" can be found, marked in chronological/version number?

I'm guessing that once I get deep into connecting CC Calendar SE with my way-simple databse, the fog will lift and all will be clear. Or at least as clear as a Los Angeles day can be...

Stephen,

Both great suggestions, while not currently implimented, we'll look into them for future revisions.