I just completed my purchase and download of version 2.0 of MetaDataMagic by New Millenium. Version 2, released last week on March 30th, is an essential tool in migrating your existing FileMaker files to FileMaker 7. Here’s why:
- It incorporates Danny Mack’s new Conversion Issues Reporting Tool and as it creates its detailed analysis of your files, it also records any conversion issues it finds (Danny is the author of a 27 page document on FM7 migration that is featured on the FileMaker, Inc site right now and the author of FileMaker 7 Migration Foundations and Methodologies that is due out any day now – he gave an excellent presentation in Santa Clara on behalf of FileMaker, Inc. regarding FM7 migration in February).
- It includes a File References Fixer that streamlines the process of eliminating extraneous file references in your files so they don’t slow things way down when you convert to FM7. The File References Fixer will also help you clean up FileMaker Pro 6 files to their benefit.
- It includes their Conversion Log Analysis Tool – which helps you analyze the conversion log for errors
Maybe you are still on the fence – trying to decide whether you want to put your money into this product. I was convinced by the essential migration features, but I’m also really looking forward to the extra system analysis documentation tools not available elsewhere such as:
- Relationships: sort spec, with fields and value lists.
- Layout items: text blocks, graphics, and buttons, including coordinates
- File stats: times not closed properly, times recovered
I expect to run MetaDataMagic on at least one of my FileMaker solutions in the next 24 hours. So, stay tuned for my first person reports. 😉