Exporting filemaker pro data for a website

[candell]

Hi

I have been provided several .fmp12 files with the intention of making searchable to the public via a website. My initial post was at (linked) which got me to this post. My plan is to export the data as csv, create tables on the website database and write a search form to interrogate those tables.

Is this the best method for getting filemaker databases on to the web? The original owner of the files is using FM12 on a likley old Mac OS version. I am on Mojave hence using FM 17 Trial as FM12 does not work on my OS version.

A couple of his files contain images for each record, he is using Layout: Input. Exporting directly from this view does not give me all of the information. Changing the view to Al by Item gives me a little more but not all and the image is referenced as 'Photo File' and not the image filename which I would need to show the image on the web front end.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

 

[comment]

This is difficult to answer without knowing how the files are structured. You need to go to File > Manage > Database… and see what tables are in the file, and what fields does each table have.

To export a table in its entirety, you need to be on a layout associated with that table. Then make sure all records are in the current found set (do Show All Records). Then, when you specify fields to be exported, select "Current table" instead of "Current layout" and move all fields to the field export order. Note that you can also add fields from related tables to the same export. 

Of course, images will not be included in a .csv export.

[rwoods]

 

38 minutes ago, comment said:

This is difficult to answer without knowing how the files are structured. You need to go to File > Manage > Database… and see what tables are in the file, and what fields does each table have.

To export a table in its entirety, you need to be on a layout associated with that table. Then make sure all records are in the current found set (do Show All Records). Then, when you specify fields to be exported, select "Current table" instead of "Current layout" and move all fields to the field export order. Note that you can also add fields from related tables to the same export. 

Of course, images will not be included in a .csv export.

In addition to this, you can use... 

GetContainerAttribute (containerFieldName ; "filename") 

...in a calculated field to have the file name of the file in your container field available for export.

And you can also use...

Base64Encode (containerFieldName)

...in another calculation field (or auto-enter calc) to encode your file that is in a container as plain text, which means you can then export it in a CSV file. If your web site can decode this data (which is pretty straightforward) then you could display the actual file on your site, particularly if it is an image.

Hope that is of some help.