Development Guide

Chapter 2
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Creating database solutions 15
Using a compression utility program
If your runtime database solution is not complex and you have confidence in the technical experience of
your end users, you might consider a compression utility program rather than a custom installation program.
Sharing solutions over a network
Users cannot share your runtime database solution over a network unless they access the files using
FileMaker
Pro or FileMaker Pro Advanced installed on their machines. You must have a master password
to enable or change network access to the file. For optimal performance, you can host the solution files using
FileMaker Server.
For information about the FileMaker Server and FileMaker Pro products, and information about volume
license sales, visit the FileMaker website at www.filemaker.com.
Recovering damaged files
Power failures, hardware problems, or other factors can damage a FileMaker database file. If your database
solution becomes damaged, your users will need to recover the damaged file. When the runtime application
discovers a damaged file, a dialog box appears, telling the user to contact the developer. Even if the dialog
box does not appear, files can become corrupted and exhibit erratic behavior.
For information about recovering runtime files, see Help.
Creating an About layout
For runtime database solutions, the FileMaker Pro Advanced license specifies that you must create an About
layout that provides information for your users on how to contact you for technical support. FileMaker uses
the About layout to distinguish databases created by developers using FileMaker
Pro Advanced rather than
users of FileMaker
Pro.
For more information about what is required to appear in the About layout for runtime database solutions,
see
“Your responsibilities as a developer” on page 7.
Creating a custom Help layout
The FileMaker Pro Advanced Help system is not available in runtime applications.
Create a Help layout that provides instructions for how to use your custom solution and add data to it. Then
create a script in the primary file of your solution to display the Help system. Use the custom menus feature
to make the script available as a command in the Help menu.
To create a web page to document your solution, put a web viewer in your Help layout that opens the web
page.
To display your custom Help menu on Mac OS, you must start with an empty menu. For more information
about creating and editing custom menus, see
“About custom menus” on page 20.