Basic database

[zoeriley]

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie hoping someone can help me.

I am a web designer, but I have little experience with databases on the web. I've recently taken a design job that requires having a database as part of a new website. Simply, the database will include entries for about 200 individuals with various information fields about them. On the web, the database will need to be searchable by the various fields (to generate different lists of people based on different criteria). There will also be a form so that people can update their database profile automatically. The database/searchable area of the website will be password-protected.

Anyway, all that above is the ideal situation!

I am on a Mac and working from home. I will be uploading everything that I do to the business's server. I have been researching all this on the web a little and it seems as if using Filemaker Pro and Lasso will be the best option. (Using Dreamweaver for design.) Am I right in these are the software programs to be using for what I want to do? Do I need Filemaker Unlimited? How does the web publishing feature of Filemaker work with Lasso--or does using Lasso negate Filemaker's web publishing features? Can I do all this work from a remote location? Will my Mac interface create any problems?

If anybody could give me some pointers on any of this, I would be very grateful! I'm open to figuring out how things work but just a little baffled on how/where to start.

Thanks

-Jennica

[Garry Claridge]

Filemaker by itself will do what you require. You will need FM Unlimited if more than 10 different users access the database via a browser within a 12hour period.

Your Mac will be able to access whatever you need for development.

All the best.

Garry

[Anatoli]

The best thing is the cross-platform FM.

You can build everything on small home machine (Mac or PC) and host that on industrial strength server Mac X or NT class machine.

[zoeriley]

Thanks...what do you mean by cross-platform Filemaker? WIll Filemaker Pro Unlimited do the trick? Since this is for a business that will have users logging in from all over the world, I don't think I can limit it to only 10 users, so I guess FM Unlimited must be the way to go.

[IdealData]

Just to clear things up

1. All FileMaker products are "cross platform" - that is, they run on Mac (OS 9 and OS X) and Windows.

2. FMP Unlimited is an enhanced version of FMP which allows unlimited web connections and can be optimised for use in a true web server environment (say Apache) using the Web Server Connector (part of FMPU).

3. Feasibility - where are you going to host the website and the FMP database(s) ?. No matter what you do you will still need a copy of FMP running on a machine that can be addressed from the Internet. There are some FileMaker hosting sites but there is usually a monthly fee based upon how many DBs, size etc.. If you host internally then your delivery will be limited to the bandwidth provided by the UPLOAD speed on your Internet connection.

Ponder on point 3 before you do anything.

[zoeriley]

I will be uploading the website to the business's server.

So...what you're saying is that a computer at this business that's directly connected to the server needs to have the database/FM on it? I believe all the computers at this business are PCs, not Macs, but from what you're saying that doesn't seem to matter.

So if I purchase FM Unlimited, I will be able to use it on my Mac (to design the website) and then install it on this business's PC too (to have the direct database connection to the server)? From what you're saying, FMU comes with the software for both PCs and Macs.

When people then update the database with new information on the website, they will be making changes directly to the database file on the computer...or is the database on the server, and just communicates with FM on the computer? It's fuzzy to me if the database gets put on the server or not.

Help...my ignorance is showing. :-) Thanks.

[Kurt Knippel]

Filemaker Server makes the databases available to client software on the LAN. Filemaker Unlimited opens the databases from Filemaker Server and makes them available to web clients. Filemaker Pro opens the databases from Filemaker Sersver and allows LAN/WAN users to access the DB.

[zoeriley]

Thanks, everybody...but in brief, as someone who just needs to know what software to buy at this point...is Filemaker Unlimited all I need? I assume that includes the server, unlimited, and pro that Kurt is talking about above.

Thanks again for the help.

[LiveOak]

FM Unlimited includes FM Unlimited. Server and FileMaker Pro are sold separately. You can buy a site license bundle which includes FMP seat licenses, Server, and Unlimited. Go to www.filemaker.com for bundles. Retail, Server is about $1000, Unlimited about $900, FMP is about $300 a seat.

-bd

[Kurt Knippel]

As an addendum to LiveOak's information. You'll need one license of Filemaker Server per 125 hosted databases, one license of Filemaker Unlimited per 50 web-hosted databases and 1 license of Filemaker Pro per LAN/WAN user.

Additional copies of Filemaker Server and/or Unlimited may be needed for load balancing and oither performance issues depending upon your usage.

[Garry Claridge]

All you need is one copy of Filemaker (not Unlimited nor Server) for yourself. You will need Unlimited for the Business which will be accessed by many web users.

All the best.

Garry