FileMaker Pro 4.0
FileMaker Pro 4.0 — Claris has released FileMaker Pro 4.0, an update to their popular database that adds a Web server and technology acquired from Blue World Communications’s Lasso to an established mix of easy-to-use relational database capabilities. FileMaker Pro 4.0 can directly serve databases over the Internet without an intervening CGI program (using Java to build an interface in the remote user’s Web browser). Web authors can also use special tags in their HTML documents (Claris calls these CDML, for "Claris Dynamic Markup Language") to include dynamic information from FileMaker databases in static Web pages. FileMaker Pro 4.0 can convert graphics to GIF or JPEG format, plus open some common URL formats and send SMTP mail. Claris is also touting a new ability to import Excel spreadsheets via drag & drop. FileMaker Pro 4.0 costs $199 from Claris; upgrades from FileMaker 3.0 or competing products are $99 in the U.S. [GD]