by I have a Filemaker database connected to a Goldmine database via ODBC.
Since Filemaker only offers the ability to do one-time-imports with
its ODBC driver I was forced to make filemaker import from Goldmine
thru ODBC via a script every 15 mins.
Goldmine users enter their records and then every 15 mins Filemaker
sweeps the database and imports new records. I'm matching on e-mail
address and state and just importing new record adds and any changes.
This is working great with the exception of 2 things.
1. Every 15 mins when the import happens, my solution is no longer
available via the web because the Web Companion is disabled during the
importing procedure.
2. No other scripts are available during the import time. The import
happens 4 times per hour (every 15 mins) and it takes roughly 5 mins
each time it performs the import. So my solution is unavailable to
users 20% of the time. 1 out of 5 users who attempt to view, edit or
add records are denied access until the script has completed importing
records via ODBC.
Obviously this performance is unacceptable to the users. My 2
questions are :
1. How can I restructure this so that it works better ?
2. Why do you think that Filemaker made a lame attempt at creating
ODBC capabilities ? Filemakers ODBC is just one step short of having
to have other data sources just export records so that filemaker can
import them. Where is the real time connectivity ? I constantly
defend Filemaker when people laugh at me (i.e. Access Users, MySQL
users etc ...) But this is another example of why Filemaker is not
considered a serious database by the masses.
Don't flame me, I love the product, I'm just frustrated.
-S