Connecting to external data sources

Data sources provide access to data from other FileMaker Pro files and ODBC databases. You can connect to:

  • FileMaker data sources

  • your team's Claris Studio data source (Claris Pro only)

  • ODBC data sources (links to external ODBC files)

Once you have defined data sources, data from the FileMaker, Claris Studio (Claris Pro only), or ODBC tables can be used in many of the same places as data in a local file (for example, on layouts and in scripts).

Follow the steps below for the type of data source you want to add.

To add a FileMaker data source:

  1. With the database open, choose File menu > Manage > External Data Sources.

  2. Click New.

    The Edit Data Source dialog box appears. For Type, FileMaker is selected by default.

  3. Enter a name for the data source.

    This is the name that appears in the login and other dialog boxes.

  4. Click Add File.

  5. Select a FileMaker Pro file to add to the path list.

  6. Click Open to add the path for this file to the file path list.

    Each named FileMaker data source can consist of one or more file paths. Use multiple file paths when you want FileMaker Pro to search a list of potential files. See Creating file paths.

    You can also enter file paths by typing them directly into the file path list. Each file path must appear on a separate line.

  7. Click OK to save the data source.

    Named data sources appear in creation order in the Manage External Data Sources dialog box. You can choose to view the names by alphabetical or custom order.

    Type indicates whether the data source is a FileMaker or ODBC data source. File paths are listed under Details.

Note  Alternatively, you can choose the Relationships tab in the Manage Database dialog box and click Add table button. In the Specify Table dialog box, for Data Source, choose Add FileMaker Data Source. See Adding and selecting table occurrences.

See Editing FileMaker data sources.

To add a table from a Claris Studio data source (Claris Pro only):

  1. With the Claris Pro database open, choose File menu > Manage > Database.

  2. Click the Relationships tab, then click Add table button.

  3. In the Specify Table dialog box, for Data Source, choose Claris Studio Data Source.

    If a Claris Studio data source isn't present, choose Add Claris Studio Data Source (this option is available only to team managers in the current team).

    Then select the table name from the list of tables.

See Working with a Claris Studio data source (Claris Pro only).

To add an ODBC data source:

Important  Before creating a SQL data source, you must connect to the external data source via an ODBC driver and set up DSNs. See Configuring an ODBC client driver.

  1. With the FileMaker database open, choose File menu > Manage > External Data Sources.

  2. Click New.

  3. For Type, select ODBC.

  4. Enter a name for the data source.

    Names cannot be over 100 characters long.

  5. For DSN, click Specify.

  6. In the Select ODBC Data Source dialog box, select the System DSN that you want to work with from this FileMaker Pro file.

  7. Set other options. See Editing ODBC data sources.

  8. Click OK.

The data source is now listed in the Manage External Data Sources dialog box.

Note  Alternatively, you can choose the Relationships tab in the Manage Database dialog box and click Add table button. In the Specify Table dialog box, for Data Source, choose Add ODBC Data Source. See Adding and selecting table occurrences.

To delete an external data source:

  1. In the Manage External Data Sources dialog box, select the data source in the list.

  2. Click Delete.

    This only deletes the data source link to the current FileMaker Pro file. The data source is still available to link to other FileMaker databases.

  3. Click OK.

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