Developing Online Solutions

[Keith M. Davie]

In a different thread and in response to a question from Anatoli I suggested that the best solution for the situation of integration between a solution for the client-strangers via the www and the client-employees who need access to the data for various in-house purposes may be to run the entire solution via browsers. (An invoice can be printed from the cache of a web browser or directly from a found db file's record. Which of these leaves the db free for other functions?)

I have been thinking about possibilities. Being able to run scripts safely such that data is removed completely from certain db files which are forward to a browser solution and into more remote files (residing on another machine), whlie at the same time certain limited data may be scripted/stored in files more forward to a public browser solution is one part. The ability to access/manipulate various data through inlineactions and other methods which do not involve scripts is another important part.

If one can separate the client-strangers' use of Web Companion from the client-employees' use of Web Companion by providing different hosts, yet keeping their data bridged, then both can be served by browser solutions which need not interfere with each other. In fact, in many instances the client-employees' solution could be served by browser over a LAN without need for www on that side. Direct db access then becomes a thing of routinely scheduled housekeeping for an administrator. It may be that more than two browser-based solutions will be necessary for some data handling scenarios.

I believe that by applying techniques such as I suggest FileMaker Developers can create some very powerful and safe solutions. More powerful than what has been created without this kind of integration.

Is anyone else considering these possibilities?