Import records from Filemaker

[gzamba]

I have build a patient database in Filemaker and have been using it for some years now.
I recently discovered TapForms and want to replace this on my mac and iPad instead.
I have build a few forms that contain the same fields as the filemaker database and i would like to import the filemaker records (some 650 records), or at least most of the fields in these records into the tap forms database, to avoid having to re-enter the data.
Is this possible?

[Brendan]

Hello Gzamba,

Yes, this is certainly possible. What you will need to do is export your FileMaker data into a CSV file and then import that into Tap Forms. If you’ve already setup your fields and field types on Tap Forms that match the fields in FileMaker, then you can import your records directly into that form. It’s probably easiest to use Tap Forms for Mac to do this. You can use the Import Records command under the File menu, then select your form (or give it a name for a new form to be created), then pick the field types that you’d like to set for each of your fields, then import.

Using iCloud sync you can push your changes up to iCloud and then your iPad will auto-download the changes and process them so you’ll have the same data on both devices.

Thanks!

Brendan

[Alister W]

Hi, I’m coming to this question late, but have much the same question: can records be moved across from Filemaker Pro Advanced v11 to TapForms? I understand the principles of CSV export, and if I’m reading the above post correctly, if I set up a template with the same checkboxes for multiple selections, the data will come across and populate the template correctly. Can you confirm this please? Unfortunately the App Store does not have a trial version where I can test it first.

There is one further complication – I have an image field in FileMaker which will not come across in a CSV export, as far as I know. Is there a way to migrate this field with the other fields, or do I have to resign myself to the task of copying and pasting every one of the 600+ images into their new home?

Best regards,
ajw31

[Brendan]

Hello Alister,

First of all you’ll need to export from FileMaker using the Merge function. Then rename the exported .mer file so it has a .csv file extension. The reason for this is that FileMaker doesn’t export the field names in the header when you use the regular CSV file export. It does this when you use the Merge export.

When you export your records into a .mer file, does the file contain any information about the photos in the records? Does it have a file name that might match a file that you can get from FileMaker? I’m not sure where FileMaker exports its photos to if you export using the Merge function.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Alister W]

Hi Brendan, thanks for replying. I did as you suggested but FMP keeps telling me I can’t export ‘container’ fields, i.e. the one with the image.

Not looking too promising then?

I guess I can handle a one-off tedious cut & paste exercise :)

cheers

[Brendan]

Hi Alister,

Oh that sucks. Well there’s nothing I can do about that unfortunately. At least in Bento when you exported, it would also export all the media. And the new Bento Template Import command in Tap Forms for Mac can easily import those, including photos.

Thanks!

Brendan

[James Hayes]

Somewhat related is a problem I had importing records form a FileMaker Pro .mer file. I could never get it to import all of the records. For 41 records exported TapForms would recognize 4. I tried multiple exports and including removing all commas from the record fields before exporting. I also did a search and replace on the CSV file to convert all commas to pipes. No matter what was done it would only get 4 records. As a last resort I double-clicked on the file which opened it in Numbers. I decided to export it back to CSV and import into TapForms and it worked perfectly.

[Brendan]

Hi James,

That will be due to either a File Encoding mismatch or a linefeeds issue. The File Encoding from the FileMaker export probably didn’t match what you had selected on the Tap Forms import records screen.

I have also seen a situation where I had to change the linefeeds in a file using BBEdit or TextWrangler to CRLF and then that worked. Although I was also able to change it back to the default LF and that also worked. So I suspect there just might have been some problem with the linefeed at one spot in the file.

Your importing into Numbers and then exporting probably changed either the File Encoding or the linefeeds.

[James Hayes]

Brendan my post was not a complaint, but instead a note for others who may run into a similar problem. CSV import has been sketchy for me at best using a multitude of programs so it’s worth attempting to fix it if that was your plan.

[Brendan]

No worries James. I didn’t think you were complaining at all. Just letting me know of an issue. :)

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