DevOps for Claris FileMaker
At Devin, we're passionate about introducing the Claris community to a modern development methodology called DevOps. We're experts in both Claris technologies and the broader software development ecosystems, and Devin is the result of years of research and engineering combining these worlds -- originating from the master's thesis Developing a DevOps Tool for FileMaker, using FileMaker, by one of our co-founders, David Wollesen in 2021.
DevOps
In the broader software development world, DevOps has revolutionised how teams build, test, deploy, and maintain software. It emphasizes continuous integration, continuous delivery, and operational efficiency, facilitated by tools that automate and streamline various stages of the software lifecycle. For FileMaker developers, applying these principles has been hindered by a lack of compatible tools that can seamlessly integrate with FileMaker's unique fmp12 architecture and workflows.
The Challenge in Claris FileMaker
FileMaker's fmp12 format and integrated environment are powerful in many ways but lack support for generally available DevOps tools like GitHub for source control and CI/CD workflows (version control, regression testing and deployment automations). This pushes developers towards manual, error-prone workflows for tracking changes and maintaining software quality—processes that not only consume significant time but also increase the risk of introducing errors into production environments. While the FileMaker Data Migration Tool aims to facilitate continuous deployment, its command-line interface proves difficult for many developers to integrate into their workflows, leading to practices such as "live development" where we make changes directly in production.
If you're interested in learning more about this, the Developing a DevOps Tool for FileMaker, using FileMaker thesis provides in-depth research into almost every aspect of DevOps challenges in FileMaker and how tools like Otto and Inspector Pro compares to Devin's approach, referred to as fmOps in the thesis.
Tools for Claris FileMaker
Otto and 360Deploy
Tools like Otto (or OttoFMS) and 360Deploy have significantly improved important aspects of continous deployment within the FileMaker ecosystem, reducing the time and effort required to push new changes between development, testing and production environments by handling backups, file transfers between servers and data migrations using the FileMaker Data Migration Tool.
Introducing Devin
Devin extends beyond deployment and data migration automation to offer a holistic DevOps solution for FileMaker. It integrates version control and regression testing, paving the way for a seamless, automated development-to-deployment workflow. Devin thus marks a substantial advance, equipping FileMaker developers with features for the future.
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