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Ok, I have done some testing and thought I would post my results for others' consideration. YES, I can access my FileMaker Unlimited machine while hosting the actual HTML/PHP/image files on an outside host. I can restrict access to the IP address of the outside host. HOWEVER, after some security considerations, we have decided against using this method because of the potential risk of someone masking their IP, or somehow using a sophisticated hack to fool FMP Unlimited to believe they are accessing the XML interface legitimately. Also I personally don't trust the FMP Unlimited security at all. For some reason it doesn't give me a warm/fuzzy feeling. : The potential security risks are staggering, as the Web Companion's XML interface could potentially leave the all databases and all data exposed to anyone who wished to view them. This was discussed in other forums on this site, and we verified by using DigitalPoint.com's FMDigger tool with some test databases. So we've made the decision to keep hosting the Apache/PHP stuff in-house behind our firewalls, only accessible from our in-house network. : As a result of testing, we will upgrade some of our network equipment and increasing our bandwith with our ISP. Hopefully this will give us a bit more capacity for a while. If only I knew how a real hosting company handled this stuff. :

The reason is that FMP5 Server is just the DB server while FMP Unlimited is logged in to the Server as a client. FMP Unlimited strictly provides the web interface (XML) to Apache/PHP, because it can't reliably serve the DBs to the whole office and fulfill its web duties simultaneously. This is the only way to serve our FMP5 stuff to the web, as FMP5 Server does not actually do any web hosting (it only serves the DBs to the Filemaker client, which in my case is FMP Unlimited). I hear that FMP8 Server Advanced provides a more efficient setup, and doesn't require separate servers for the DBs and web interface, but we're not ready to make that leap just yet.

Hi everyone, Please let me know if this is a dumb idea to begin with! We have a small e-commerce website built w/PHP and using Filemaker 5 DBs on the back-end. Currently, we have Apache on Mac OS X serving the PHP files, and a separate FMP5.5 Unlimited machine to accept requests from FX.PHP (which in turn is connected to a separate FMP5 Server machine). To help reduce load on our in-house machines & network, we would like to begin hosting all PHP/HTML/image files with a standard online web hosting company. But we would like to maintain our control & access to the DBs and continue serving them in-house for logistical & security reasons. Can this be made possible by specifying our in-house FMP-Unlimited IP address in the serverdata.php file (stored at the online web host), and continuing to serve the FMP-Unlimited and FMP-Server platforms in-house? For security purposes, we would of course restrict public access to the FMP-Unlimited machine by telling FMP to only accept connections from the IP address of the web host. Would this situation even work, assuming the web host & our in-house machines maintained our uptime? Thanks for your help!! FMForums rocks! Brian

You guys rock! Thanks for that solution... I have always hated the flashing field thing. Brian

Thanks for the great graphics! I have been meaning to put together a collection like this for a very long time, using screenshots from AppleScript Studio, but I never got around to it. Good job & thanks again! Brian

To clarify my last post... When you are done setting up the relationship between the ID fields, there is ONLY field that your script needs to copy between the records. Make your script copy the ID field from the Full Contact table. Then create a new record in the Network table, and paste the field into the FullContact_ID field. Let me know if you need any help. Brian

Hi, Chris. I ran into something like this a couple of weeks ago and I believe I have the solution you're looking for. This is just one very simple way to do it. There are other ways to do it, but this method requires very little scripting. You have two tables. "Full Contact" and "Networker". From the FullContact table, you want to copy a record into the Networker table. Create the serial number id fields (prohibit modication) in each table--these are the key fields that link up the data between the records. In the Networker table, add an additional field called FullContact_ID. Next, you have define a relationship from the Networker table to the Full Contact table. Create a link from the FullContact_ID field in the Networker table to the Serial Number ID in the Full Contact table. This will allow information to be pulled from the Full Contact table to the Networker table and duplicated. In the Networker table, you need to redefine all fields which you plan to copy information into. You need to redefine each field that you would like to autopopulate. Choose the option to Auto Enter data based on a Lookup from the relationship with the Full Contacts table. In the lookup options when re-defining your field, choose the identical field from the Full Contacts table and then click OK. Now, create a script which copies the ID from the Full Contact table to the Networker table into the FullContact_ID field. All of your information will be duplicated into the Networker table without too much scripting. No fuss, muss. This method DUPLICATES the data, which increases your file size. If people who access the Network database do not need to be able to change the data imported from the Full Contact table, or if you do not want to duplicate the information (in order to cut down on file size), simply place the RELATED fields on the layout and skip the Auto-Entry Lookup stuff. I hope that helps. Brian