[Article] FileMaker Pro 7 vs. Servoy

by Michael Rochard—Excelisys

Ah, which is better? Guinness or Stout? FileMaker or Servoy?

In the case of Guinness or Stout, both taste abominable!

In the case of FileMaker or Servoy; that's more difficult to answer but maybe the attached chart will prove useful! Bear in mind that this is my opinion and mine alone but I was asked to compile a comparison and, as I did so, I was absolutely amazed by the number of quantitative and qualitative advantages.

After working with Servoy for almost a year and having gone through a very difficult and frustrating learning process, the light bulb finally went on about 6 weeks ago and I am now making, for the most part, rapid progress. Bottom line is I love Servoy! It is so cool in so many ways and I can see tremendous potential in it.

Going back a number of years (17+), I remember when I announced to my friends and colleagues that I was going to specialize in FileMaker and do nothing else but Filemaker. There wasn't one person who gave me any encouragement; in fact, most of them told me that I was certifiably insane and that I would go broke within a year! To say, they were wrong would be a mild understatement!

So now for the next 17 years (which will take me way past retirement age), I am going to specialize in Servoy and focus all of my efforts on it. I foresee many sleepless nights - this is one of them; much gnashing of teeth (or dentures); frequent posts to this Forum and above all, a sense of joy at being able to do some amazing things for my clients with this fantastic program!

With that in mind, I hope that the chart will prove useful, informative and a starting point for continuous discussion.

Feature	FileMaker	Servoy
Database	Proprietary – Not SQL	Industry Standard SQL
Supported databases	FileMaker – solution files must generally be stored on a single server.	All SQL compatible databases; Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, Firebird, mySQL, etc. Servoy can open a connection to multiple database servers of different types in different locations and can combine any data from any source into a report or layout.  Global worldwide connectivity.
Data	Stored with file structure – no separation of design and data.  (Even if solution constructed so that data is in a separate file, the two are irrevocably linked).	Design and data completely separate.  Do not even have to be on same machine or in same hemisphere.
Installation	On every machine; has to be done individually and with a master disk with multiple serial numbers.	Java web start – installs automatically from web page for each and every user.
Licensing	One copy per machine	For concurrent users.  Can have 300 people using system but only 50 at the same time so only 50 licenses required.
Maximum # of Users	250	Unlimited – subject only to limitations of server box(es)
Software Upgrades	Requires installation from disk on each machine for major releases.  Fixes are downloaded.	Automatically installed from Servoy Server – requires annual subscription for unlimited upgrades
Solution Upgrades	Data has to be imported into new version – can sometimes take hours	New version uploaded to server and activated – no data transfer – takes minutes.
Rollback on new version	No	Yes
Development Testing	Requires complete copy of solution and then has to be done again on master copy	Requires local copy of data for testing purposes and new release is then activated when ready.  Changes do not have to be redone.
System Crashes	Run Recovery on every file in the solution – all users are down during thisperiod.  Ideally the data should all be imported into a ‘clean’ version of the program.  Depending on the number of records, can take many hours. If periodic backup is being done, can restore backup but work will be lost.	Restart application.
Platforms	Windows and Mac	All (not Mac OS9 or earlier).
Speed of Searches	Fast	Fast, considerably faster with very large record sets.
Reporting	Sometimes very time consuming, especially with complex reports that include summary and summary calculation fields.	Blindingly fast.  Reports are generally created as an html page which can be printed, opened in a browser or saved as a PDF file.  Calculations are done on the fly.
Report Design	One layout for each report with specific fields on the layout.	One layout for all reports with the report being compiled dynamically.
Report Creation	Requires access to layout functions – not generally recommended for users	Users can create their own reports on the fly with point-and-click selection and store those reports for future use.
Report Appearance	Subject to way report is designed – not readily changeable	Can be changed on the fly with different colors, emphasis, etc.
Audit Tracking	No	Standard, automatic
Interface Tools	Excellent	Better
Window Sizing	Yes but objects are not resized so if a window is enlarged, the appearance can look wrong or out of proportion	All objects can be set to resize automatically as window is resized.
Event Driven	No – must physically run a script to perform a function; plugins are available for some of these purposes but require purchase and installation	Yes, actions (scripts) can take place on entry into a field, on exit from a field or even on data change. All objects have events.
Object Oriented	No	Yes
Scheduling	No	Yes
Navigation Tabs	Done manually – painstakingly created for each different layout with all tabs having to be set to go to a specific layout.	Created instantly with as many tabs as needed.  Tabs can be added or removed at any time and position of tabs set to be top, left, bottom or right or not at all.
Localization	Very time consuming, requiring multiple copies of each layout and navigation adjusted for each different language or can use global fields for placeholders but somewhat impractical.	I18N compatible.  Each object (field, field label, dialog) can be translated and will then appear in the selected language without any additional overhead. Translations can be done by local users as needed and are stored on server.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)	FileMaker has a number of ‘themed’ layouts but the options are very limited and apply to every object on the layout.	Servoy fully supports CSS which can be applied to an entire form or certain elements within that form.  CSS can also be used to generate html reports and users can even choose which style sheet they want to use (that is, if the developer, gives them that option!)