68k Fun with Filemaker Pro 3 retro development

[Ubik]

FileMaker Pro 3 really served my needs when I could not find any vintage Bible software for my Mac SE running System 6 that would allow full-text search (without taking forever) and function on the 9 inch 1 bit display.

Using my SE/30 running System 7.1.1 as my Filemaker Pro 3 development machine, I was able to import open source text resources and create a database with Book > Chapter > Verse structure. FileMaker has the concept of "layouts" which are similar to cards in HyperCard, so the user interface creation is nice.
I then used the FileMaker Pro 3.0 SDK to create a System 6 compatible application.
The scripting capability in FM3 was actually a lot more powerful than I expected.

This basic framework could be used to create a fully searchable classic Macintosh application for any other type of large document that is structured in a similar manner.

Links:
Project on Github
Classic Mac Holy Bible (Macintosh Garden)


Development Tools
Filemaker Pro 3 (Macintosh Garden)
FileMaker Pro 3.0 SDK (Macintosh Garden)
ResEdit 2.1.3 (Macintosh Garden)

 

[mdeverhart]

Cool! Looks like really good work! Seems like you put together a nice framework for this type of application/database.

 

[Ubik]

Cool! Looks like really good work! Seems like you put together a nice framework for this type of application/database.

Thanks. yeah, I was impressed how well it works under the resource constraints of the SE and System 6. The database contains 783,137 words so it is pretty amazing that a full text wild card search completes in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[mdeverhart]

How easy was it to import the text in the first place and structure it appropriately? How was the source data formatted, and did you need to do much massaging to fit the desired database structure?

 

[Ubik]

How easy was it to import the text in the first place and structure it appropriately? How was the source data formatted, and did you need to do much massaging to fit the desired database structure?

Hi -
Here was my process, which was actually fairly easy

1. My source for the KJV data was a comma delimited file from this excellent project: https://github.com/stephenharris/insert-bible-verse/tree/master/assets/scripture
2. I used NotePad++ on Windows to convert the CSV to tab delimited format (TSV is what FM expects for import) and convert the line endings to a classic Mac text file format
3. I set up the FileMaker database on the SE/30 to match the TSV data structure
   
   
4. Then I imported the TSV using the regular FM3 import and field mapping process

 

[rvense]

Interesting! I was just talking about old databases with a friend yesterday. Regarding search, can I ask what a "reasonable amount of time" is on your system?

 

[Ubik]

Here's an example: On my Mac SE with a 16Mhz 68000 SpeedCard it takes 8 seconds to search for a term across the entire Bible. So about 16 - 20 seconds on a non-accelerated SE or Plus