Product Catalog: FileMaker Pro 12 Starter Solution

The Product Catalog Starter Solution organizes your product information. It's one of the 16 pre-made templates that's available for you to start using for your database requirements. It's fully unlocked so you can view and modify the database tables, relationships, layouts, and scripts.

When you start out FileMaker Pro 12, just click File > New From Starter Solution… and select Product Catalog. Type the name you want for the database (in case you'll have multiple of the same database), specify where you want to save it, and click Choose.

You'll be presented a new record where you can begin typing in the product details, such as Item Name, Part Number, Model Year, Website, Description, Category, and Price. You have the option of putting 4 different types of information in the container fields to the right, which can be different product shots, brochures, or even videos. A "Send by Email" button copies all the information into an email message you can send to a prospect or client.

Product catalog list view

Clicking the Product List button shows you a list of all records you've created, with an option to sort it by Manufacturer, Category, Item, or Date. You can also import and export item records to any of the file formats supported by FileMaker Pro, print out the catalog or email a PDF version of the catalog to a prospect or client.

Product Catalog print view

Aside from the professionally designed templates that look great on the desktop version of FileMaker Pro 12 (for Macintosh or Windows), additional layouts for FileMaker Go 12 for iOS and built-in scripts in the Starter Solution automatically show the best layout based on your mobile device (either iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch). Here's what the iPad layout looks like:

Product Catalog list view in iPad

Product Catalog detail view in iPad

You can work with this starter solution in your iOS device in several ways:

• You can sync it with your iPad or iPhone/iPod Touch using iTunes.
• You can email the file to your iOS device and open it with FileMaker Go 12.
• You can enable FileMaker Network Sharing in FileMaker Pro 12, and open the file remotely using FileMaker Go 12.

Enjoy!