I am a professional Filemaker developer who has used MetaDataMagic for many years, both before and after the release of Filemaker 7, and I have found it an indispensible tool. I have also depended on Brushfire, from Chaparral http://www.chapsoft.com/brushfire/index.html ). Each offers distinct advantages.
Whether you remove unwanted file references before or after conversion, I know of no other utility so specifically geared to highlighting potential migration issues. John Weinshel Datagrace Vashon Island, WA (206) 463-1634 Member, FileMaker Business Alliance Certified For FileMaker 8 Certified For FileMaker 7 -----Original Message----- From: FileMaker Pro Discussions [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Winfried Huslik Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 3:13 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Moving from Filemaker 6 to 8.5 Peter, Unfortunately I couldn't read the original question since I've just subscribed, but what you see is typical for a file converted form FM6 (and earlier). Back then you were unable to modify or delete a file reference. Once it was defined it lived in the file forever. The MetaDataMagic File Reference Fixer claims to easily remove unwanted file references in .fp5 files. Nevertheless I suggest NOT TO USE it. For a rationale please read <http://www.fmchecker.com/ filereferencefix.html>. The clean but tedious method is to go through all your converted files and set the file references manually (to a relative path (where appropriate)). This is a daring statement from FMI: >> "Furthermore, the conversion process does not propagate corruption >> that may have existed in a prior version." which only can mean that the structure of the converted file is OK. It can by no means guarantee that the content (which are definitions as well as the data) is complete. Winfried www.fmdiff.com/fm/filecorruption.html On 19.07.2007, at 05:07, Peter Payne wrote: > Hi, thanks for the reply. > >> But first, I wanted to quote some good news for you, from >> FileMaker's "techbrief_fm7_migration.pdf" document, page 8: >> >> "Furthermore, the conversion process does not propagate corruption >> that may have existed in a prior version." >> >> Now, I don't know if you can trust that 100%, but it should give >> you a better start (unless the conversion fails, and then you'll >> know the worst). >> > > Roger. I wish there were a known reason why this happened in the > first place. I'm not the first Filemaker guy to think that, methinks. > > I've done a conversion, and I ended up with some weird stuff, like, > I have only one invoices database, but it's reporting links to > invoices8.fp7, invoices7.fp7, invoices6.fp6, which don't/shouldn't > exist. Can I ask what MetaDataMagic does? Are there any, er, > consultants out there who are proficient in its use in converting > files?
