colinbythesea

We have a Filemaker database that has run a system using IWP to run our business on a Mac G4 that sits and runs as our server. It has done its job based on Filemaker 7 with IWP turned on, no server tools just basic filemaker and Mac OS for a few years now very reliably. We would like to extend and update the system giving access to our potential customers via our web site. We are about to pay a lot of money for an eCommerce system which I know I can make easily in Filemaker but some questions arise. If I bought basic Filemaker 9 and built a system could I have it hosted on a remote host giving me all the Filemaker Server advantages, particularly allowing a user logon without needing an ID and password. Also the ability to link to a URL on a payment site/system. My concern is I need all the server tools locally to configure the file for remote hosting. I hope you can all help me out as I have been using Filemaker since its early versions and I don't want to loose control of what we do and spend a pile of money in the process.

Hi All I have been using FM7 on Macs for some time to publish inter company databases. I know the open URL script command doesn't work from browsers but read of a work around somebody used a long time ago. I have searched the forum with no luck so has anybody got a link to an HTML page to work from an IWP page. The HTML page can be on the same server as the database. Thanks Colin

Hi James, The DMZ (demilitarised zone) is a great way to test out your link, however it lets down all of your routers security. So its worth setting up the forwarding if you want the full protection your router can offer to your network. From my experiences with Macs they are individually well protected if you can keep all of the firewalls in the OS up, again I know nothing of windows. If you have a router it would suggest there are a number of machines that need connecting so its worth making sure they have firewalls set and running if they are on the same router. Colin

Hi James, I will try and describe the process as much as I can for you and anybody else struggling with routers. First in Filemaker set your IWP port to 591. This is assigned to Filemaker and will stop any conflicts with other ports. Look in the IWP and note the IP address. This is the Local network (LAN) address, try it from your web browser, if you get the Filemaker publishing page then you are publishing but only on your LAN Next you need to get your web static address connecting through the router to your computer with IWP running. The IP address on your LAN will continually change as it is decided by the router using DHCP. In your routers configuration pages find DHCP and set the range of the last 3 numbers of the LAN IP address range from 100 to 255, this gives you use of 1 to 100. Next choose one of these numbers for your IWP computer and find port forwarding (called virtual server in my d514) in your router and set the external port 591 to connect to internal port 591 on the IP number you have chosen for your computer. For example mine is 198.168.0.8 because I chose 8 as the fixed address. Now you need to set your IWP computer IP address by manually configuring it to the one you chose, mine is set to the number above 198.168.0.8. You will no longer be connecting to the LAN using DHCP but with a fixed address the router will know that this is where to send port 591 traffic. Can't help much with static addresses on windows as we use Macs and I haven't played with windows for years. Try connecting with another computer from outside of your network, dial up is useful here. Use the static IP address provided by your ISP in its number form first with :591 at the end. When you get that connecting then divert your domain name. Try this link for more info http://www.portforward.com/default.htm. Colin

As often happen here, I will reply to my own post. I eventually found out that everything was set up correctly but I was missing one small fact. You can't go out of your computer onto your LAN through your router to the Internet then back through your router to your port forwarded server with your public IP address. Had to go to the Internet Cafe up the road and it is working. A simple fact but one I didn't know and cost me 1.5 days of frustration. Hope this helps somebody out there. Colin

Hi all I am trying to set up port forwarding with FM7 using IWP running on a Mac with OSX10.2. Has anybody had experience of the dlink di 514 router. I have set up port forwarding to the server computer with a static IP address, set the port to 591 in IWP. I can view it on the LAN but WAN access refuses to work. I have the public IP address provided by my ISP but all I can get is the set up screens of the router using the public IP. Any help appreciated. Ta Colin

Had a quick read and it seemed fx.php seemed to be only for FM server.

Hi All I am quite experienced with FM7 and HTML but want to use PHP to combine the 2 in an interactive database. Can I use PHP and ODBC and if so how easy is it? Any help appreciated, I am not using FM server. Ta Colin

Hi all, I need a plug in that will create vcards using scripts that can then be emailed as attachhments. Anybody found one. Ta Colin

you could also use if(sum(any related numeric field)=0). Use this successfully in scripts as long as there is always going to be a number in the numeric fields, e.g. account number. You could also set up a calculation field in your table that returns a 1 if there is a count or sum greater than zero in related tables and use this as a flag in scripts. You could also go to related records and check file, layout or table names to check if its gone to any.

I have been getting up to speed to use IWP on Filemaker pro 7 using macs. The result is a site for our business admin that works well. However, apart from setting the priviliges to log out on idle how can you give a user on the web a log out option.

I have just answered my own question. Set the privelidges to allow modification of the field by the user and then it works. Its silly how many hours you can go without checking the basics. Colin

I am working on a database using FM7 and scripts that use the set field step work in the database but not through the browser. Can anybody help. Hardware is a snow iBook with OSX and Safari and explorer. Colin

Lovely site Neil. Was it all done with FM7 or did you use any other tools. And can guests visit the site without having to login, if so how did you get round that one? Colin

I would also like to know if anybody has linked using a URL and added a user name and password so a guest doesn't get the login screen. ta Colin