wingwalker

I have some solutions done in FMP 8 and 9 that were done by someone else. Is there a solution that will check these solutions and show where there are errors and unused relationships etc? It seems I've seen something on this but don't remember where. Thanks, James

Hi Genx, I just went to fmwebschool.com and bought their fx.php version. It was only $125 bucks, which I thought was a really good price. I don’t have purchase notification from them yet, but I look forward to seeing it first hand. Thank you for staying with me on all of this. You’ve done more for me than you know. I’ve had people here in the office just driving me crazy. Like I’m supposed to know all this. I guess their feeling is “If you know something about Filemaker, why don’t you know about this? Some time you don’t know how much you've helped because you’re so good at what you do that you don’t think about it. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for being there and helping me like you have. I’m sorry about the Paris Hilton threat, but I was just that desperate. : Forgive me! James

Hi Genx, You are right of course, it’s a learning curve and I need to learn, not get all down and out. Thanks for setting me straight. I think what frustrates me more than anything is I don’t know enough or can learn enough quick enough to know what to do next? It’s my responsibility to get this site on line and I don’t know how to do it. My thought process is this. I want to do whatever is needed to get the web site up within the next 30 days, so we can at least get started and our customers can see what we’ve got. I hear things like Lasso, CDML, Fx.PHP, Web Merge and other products that help automate the process. Part of my problem is although I can type their names, I’m not really sure what they do and are any of them good for me and do any of the Filemaker hosting companies make any sense? The one thing I know for sure is I need to find something I can reasonable do on my own or can get done for a reasonably small amount of money. I know this means putting something on the web initially that will not be what I’ll want 6 months from now. But it will allow us exposure to see if the site will be as successful as we anticipate. On the same hand I do not want to put up a site that a lot of customers cant even get to because of concurrent user issues. You know what I want Genx? I want an IWP that will handle 800 people coming onto the site at one time. I know it’s not possible, but that’s what I’d like. Where I could use the FileMaker database I built and the layouts I designed and the data would all reside within Filmmaker for all data manipulation etc. What can I do to at least get started? I mentioned Lasso, CDML, Fx.PHP, Web Merge. Do these things allow me to use FileMaker and allow me any reasonable amount of people coming to my web site? And if the answer is yes, is there something I can buy that will walk me through the process of how to do it? You know a step-by-step process that if I can read and use a little brainpower, I can get it done. I guess what I’m asking you, after reading all of my posts on this subject. What would you recommend that I do? I see your name all over the forum and you obviously know what your talking about and are well respected. That’s not blowing smoke, it’s a fact. I know there are many options and I know we all have our likes and dislikes and I really don’t want to put you on the spot. Well actually I guess I do because I respect your opinion. So what would you do? Put in the simplest terms. What I’m asking you is this. If you were tied down to a chair and were told, “You either answer the question to the best of your ability, or be shown 2 hours of Parris Hilton footage”, what would you tell me? And take warning here, because I can get that footage! James

Hi Genx, First let me thank you for all of your help. You’ve really gone over and above the call to help me and I just want you to know how much I appreciate it. I have a feeling when all is said and done I may be way over my head. With IWP I new that my Filemaker layouts were being used as my web pages on the Internet. And I new the way I designed the layouts in Filemaker would, for the most part, look that way on the web. Now with PHP and SQL etc I’m not even sure I understand what’s happening. I mean does it even matter what my Filemaker layouts look like? All this time I thought I needed to have a decent looking layout because the layout will be shown on the Internet. Now if I understand things correctly, with PHP and SQL my layouts will not even be used right? Or could they be used if I wanted it that way? I’ve been thinking all this time with a mindset of IWP meaning “I’m not doing IWP but my layouts will still be used with whatever else we use”. Do I understand things correctly now, that my fields, calculations and scripts will be used with PHP and SQL but not my layouts? I don’t understand why I’m having so much trouble wrapping my brain around this. And I feel bad for you because you have to be sitting there thinking, “This guy is one of the stupidest guys on the planet”! I’m sorry for being so stupid, but I sure appreciate the help you’ve given me. I hope before this thread gets much longer I’ll finally "Get It" because I sure don’t now. Thanks Genx, James

Hi Guys, A new problem has come up. I open my browser and put in the address and IWP comes up (I have two files Interface and Data) and it shows the Data file only. Before it’s always shown both files and I’d click the Interface file and it worked fine. So I went back to the IWP dialog box and clicked on my Interface file under “Current open files” and clicked OK. I opened my browser again, entered the address and the same thing happened, it shows the Data file only. I even closed the FileMaker application and started all over again. But with the same result, the Data file only. Do you know what’s causing this and what I can do to fix it? Thanks guys, James

Hi Genx, [color:blue]Could you be more specific as to what I need and where I go to get them? [color:red]USERS: [color:blue]We have an audience of up to 70 million users who would have an interest in visiting our site. They will be able to select business subjects of interest, select specific topics and then rank/vote on each topic between 1, 2 or 3. They can also comment on a topic if they choose to. Before they can vote they have to fill out an on line form with the standard name and address information and then their Association ID number that verifies they are who they say they are. This is what adds strength and importance to the information. [color:purple]CUSTOMER: [color:blue]We have an audience of around 600,000 customers who can go to the site to see the statistics of what subjects and topics were selected, how they were ranked and can get the statistics by Zip Code, City, County, State etc. What makes the site unique is that the USER, the people voting are all association people. The very people the CUSTOMER’s want to know their thinking. It’s like a huge professional focus group that is happy to give their professional opinions on topics that interest them. And the CUSTOMER’s benefit by this professional input and can better structure their future advertising campaigns, business model, employee relations, etc. So the USER’s go in and select topics and vote and the CUSTOMER’s go in, see the statistics and use it for their own purposes. I hope I didn’t bore you with all of that. But did I give you enough information so you know how the site will be used? Thanks for staying with me on this Genx, James

Hello again Genx, I forgot to upgrade my forum information. I do have FMP 9 Advanced and upgraded my information to show it. Can you help direct me to them? Yes, this is what we would want to do because we want to stay with Filemaker. Is this MySQL and ESS a difficult thing to do? I mean is it something I can follow along in the instruction manual and do on my own, or is it something beyond a novice? What information can I provide so you know “what we’re planning to use it for”? The last thing I want to do is ask for your suggestions and then not provide you with the information you need. So please let me know and i'll be happy to provide it. As for budget I’m not really sure. I asked the owner here and he said, “We’ll have to pay what’s needed to get the job done. Do you have any idea how much that would be?” You see, all this time we thought this was something we could do on our own in Filemaker so we hadn’t talked budgets, other than buying FMP 9A. Do you have any idea, based on our providing a "ready to go" FMP database? I mean ready to go from the standpoint of the database doing what we want it to do and we checked it out based on IWP to make sure all of the buttons worked and everything positioned correctly. Again Genx, thanks so much for helping us, James

Hi again Genx, What else would you look at? Aside from the visitor issue we will also add upwards of 100 to 125 new products per week. Once we get up to around 5,000 products the first year, for every 125 products (All Text) we add each week, about the same amount of products will be deleted each week. So what would you do Genx? We really would like to start out with FileMaker because we know it and everyone here in the office knows how to use it. But I would really like to hear what you have to say about what we should give consideration to later? Mames

Hi Genx, RE: 1) It looks like you're saying that FMP could handle our needs of 800 initally. What happens when there are too many people trying to see the site? Do they get a message of two many folks on the site or what? RE: 2) Is there another and or better way to go than PHP that will A. Handle the number of hits and B. Allow you to use your layouts more like IWP? Thanks for getting back to me Genx, James

All of us at one time or another have gone to a web site, navigated to different pages and then decided to join and get user access. So you click a "sign me up" button where you enter your user name and password and that gives you access to other pages or resources that are only available to members. How do you set up the "sign me up part" using Filemaker and probably PHP? I would want the following. User Name User Name 2 (to make sure it matches the user name that was first entered). Password Password 2 (to make sure it matches the password that was first entered). Do you do this under "Accounts & Privileges" or is it scripted? Do you know anywhere I can go to maybe get a download of a file that is set up to do this? You guys are great and I really thank you for all the help you've given to me. James

Hi Guys, I really need to understand FMP on the Web. We want to put up a FileMaker site that we think initially will have upwards of 800 users visiting the site at one time and project that to triple within six months. These are people without Filemaker who will just be visiting the site to read some reports and then show their interest level by selecting 1, 2 or 3 and then pressing a button to record their selection. Can FileMaker and PHP handle these numbers? This is our first time we are putting Filemaker on the Web and although I know Filemaker reasonably well from a development standpoint. I know little about putting it on the Web. Is there a good book you could direct me to or anything at all that will help me understand how to do this with FileMaker. One quick question. Right now if I put my solution on the web using IWP it looks pretty much like what I built on my desktop. Is that also true of Filemaker and PHP. In other words, can I use my same Filemaker database I used with IWP with PHP and it will look the same on the Web? Thanks guys, I really need your help with this one. James

Hi Soren, What happens if they try to log onto the site with a web browser other than Safari, Firefox 2 or Internet explorer.? Whoa, now that’s and open ended sentence. I’ve read the information that came with Filemaker about putting it on the web and understood most of it. Other parts just brought up more questions. Is there maybe a “Top 5” Do’s and Don’ts” you could give me as kind of a guide? I just thought of one other question. I'm confused by the amount of simultaneous users! The hosting company we selected has FileMaker 9 Advanced Server allowing us the greatest amount of users. If the max number of simultaneous users is 100 and 500 try to log into the web site. Dose that mean 400 of them will not be able to log onto the site? Or does it mean that any number can log onto the site, read the information and go from page to page. But only 100 can make a query at one time? A query meaning like click the Order button, or the Send a Message button at the same time? Thanks Soren, I appreciate your help, James

I just want to make sure I understand all of this Filemaker and the Web. This is my first time using the Web and i'm trying to understand what is needed. First, can our customers access a Web hosted Filemaker solution if you do not have a copy of Filemaker? I'm trying to get all of this straight in my head. We're going to have a fairly high number of customers going to our Web site to read information and then make a purchase. These people do not have Filemaker on their computers. What i've been planning is to use a Filemaker Web hosting company that has Filemaker Server Advanced to host my solution and I read something giving me the idea that you had to have a copy of FileMaker to access the Web site. If that is the case FileMaker will not work for me at all. I understand you can only have a specific number of users at your site at one time. Does this mean if 500 people log onto the Web site, most of them will not be able to do so? Or does it mean that all 500 can log on and read information and navigate around the web site. But only a set number can access the database with an order, or a question at one time? I know I should understand this better than I do, so I could really use your help, James

Thank you so much for your help, I'm starting to understand this a little better thanks to you. A couple more questions if I may. Now that I’ve enabled IWP is it standard operating procedure for the “Change Port” dialog to come up every time that FileMaker is opened? I’ve read the “FM9_Instant_Web_Publish_en.pdf” and it’s been very helpful and I was surprised to find that I even understood most of it. I of course noticed very quickly what looks great on my FileMaker layout changes a bit in IWP. But the same is true going from Mac to PC so I guess that’s to be expected. One thing I’m a little curious about. In FileMaker I have a portal on my Customer layout where I click a given Customer, the Customer name is highlighted and the customer information is shown. If I click XYZ Company and close the file. When I re-open the file, XYZ Company is still highlighted in the portal and that company information is still showing. This is not true of IWP when I close and come back. With IWP a different company is highlighted and different company information is shown. Not the company I had selected when I closed the web page and not the company shown as highlighted in the portal either. This would have to be very confusing for someone new especially. Is this standard for IWP and if so, is there a way around it? James

Vaughan, that was it! I didn't know I had to quit FileMaker. It was funny because I quit FileMaker and when I opened it again a dialog box came up saying I needed to change the port number. So I typed in 591 opened my browser and typed in what you said and that was it. Maybe you wouldn't mind answering another question for me. We expect up to 200 simultaneous users to our FileMaker web site who will select generally 3 to 5 subjects (out of maybe 175) to read and then vote Yes or No on the ones they selected. We have been thinking about using someone like dbdom to host our site. Most people using our site will not have a copy FileMaker. I'm not sure I understand things well enough to know if we're going to have a problem or not. James