Web Interface

[glaser_david]

We are currently using FM5.5, for about 50 users.

We are planning to redisign our database shortly as there are a lot of design issues.

We want to have a web interface even for our internal users. We already have a web site for our external customers, but we want our users to have a simple web interface to do their data entry.

My question is, is it feasible?

we currently have 3 servers, 1 Web, 1 FM server, and one exchange/NT server.

I think we have enough processing power, but now all our FM activities (if we switch to a web interface) would be performed on the FM server right? No more data transactions performed on the client machines.

We are planning on putting lasso, but we currently have 3.6, not the version 5.

Assuming the design of our database is clean, do you guys think a web interface could work well?

I am planning on splitting the tasks as well. For example, a web server for our customers, and one for our internal transactions, for our 50 users.

Any suggestion would be greatly apreciated.

Thank you

David

www.tagitpacific.com

[IdealData]

Web publishing is not provided by FM Server - it is a function of FMP (client), so all your "submits" need to be routed through an FMP client.

It's supposed to be quite quick (I spoke to a guy from a call centre with 4000 hits per day)

You need FMP 5.5 Unlimited to run as your client.

[Keith M. Davie]

First let me say that I am all for serving solutions through browsers.

You need to be aware of the security issues. Look for the LARGE security thread on the cdml forum. (Could have been Web Companion forum. Started by chazboi.) There are answers and Lasso is one of them.

If your peer-to-peer solution is script heavy with non-navigational scripts you need to be wary. Navigational scripts are necessary to go from layout to layout. In a custom browser solution you navigate from format file to format file so those scripts are unnecessary. If, however, you have any non-navigational scripts which are absolutely necessary to your solution you need to be aware of the problems involved with the single-threaded nature of ScriptMaker when it encounters the multi-input potential of a WAN such as a browser solution. Scripts with loops are to be avoided like the plague. You can find more on these forums and at my web site.

Similarly, if you have any find or sort events which run for anything more than a couple of seconds you are inviting some potential problems in a browser solution.

And you will need Unlimited unless you are serving from verision 4.0.

[ April 02, 2002, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: Keith M. Davie ]

[glaser_david]

Thanks for the responses.

Yes, i will probably have some sort, find events, as customers will be checking on their orders, and searching bill of materials against which they can place orders.

In my current solution, we have heavy scripting, which most of it is find actions, like finding all open orders for a certain customers. Those scripts take a long time to run, and i am wondering if they will be feasible to implement in a web solution as you mentioned. Those scripts that generate reports are critical for us. However, in a first time, they can be performed nightly, on our fm backend, and get displayed on the web once they are done running.

Our current website works relatively well, it is a little slow because of the connection, but the data gets processed.

Any recommendations on how to perform finds on the web?

I know inlines are preferable in regards to security, because they hide a lot of information, but aren't they slower?

By the way, we have FM unlimited.

Finally, I would like to automatically publish some excel formatted information. How do I go about automating this. Does a print driver for excel, like the one that exist for PDF exist? So far, I can only export in csv, and then run a macro in excel.

David

[Anatoli]

quote:

---

In my current solution, we have heavy scripting, which most of it is find actions, like finding all open orders for a certain customers. Those scripts take a long time to run, and i am wondering if they will be feasible to implement in a web solution as you mentioned.

---

That has to be sacrificed. But in normal FMU/HTML/CDML/JavaScript workflow I didn't found instance calling for FM script. FM is just serving the data and everything and more (!) can be done in browsers. Only record locking should be tricky, but it will be implemented still without scripts if needed.

[Keith M. Davie]

And yet it is possible to successfully use scripts in a browser solution.

[Anatoli]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Keith M. Davie:

And yet it is possible to successfully use scripts in a browser solution.

---

quote:

---

In my current solution, we have heavy scripting, which most of it is find actions, like finding all open orders for a certain customers. Those scripts take a long time to run, and i am wondering if they will be feasible to implement in a web solution as you mentioned.

---

Read carefully that again. Could you promise your “workaround” bad or good to work in that scenario? Even 2 Unlimited will have hard time keeping in pace and to guarantee consistency.

Secondly – why scripts in web interface? Give me an example of situation where you need script – I didn’t encounter that yet.

[Keith M. Davie]

Anatoli, Thank you for asking.

I have read it carefully again. Let me break it down this way.

"In my current solution, we have heavy scripting, which most of it is find

actions, like finding all open orders for a certain customers."

Only one situation has been presented. It appears to be a search of two fields. Not much detail is given except,

"Those scripts take a long time to run, ..."

Sometimes the event's run-time is a matter of design. Often the event in a db solution can be made shorter in a browser solution. Also "a long time" can be anything from 100 milliseconds on up, depending on one's point of view. Also impacting time is server MHz and FileMaker version.

"and i am wondering if they will be feasible to implement in a web solution as you mentioned."

So without knowing all the details, the way I see it is, "And yet it is possible to successfully use scripts in a browser solution."

And as I have said elsewhere and will say again here, scripts are not right for every solution. It should be pointed out that there are other FMPro features which are not right for every solution.

I would suggest that what is most important in all of this is if you don't know how to use the features (tools) you limit your options.

[Keith M. Davie]

Anatoli, you asked, "Secondly

[Anatoli]

Simply because I know my available tools I see no use for FM script in web solution. The power of CDML/HTML/JavaScript greatly exceeds the power of FM scripts in 99%.

Furthermore, the scripts were designed for client use -- see their syntax and show me what is there for web.

And it is very wrong design to use any single user database without session/user-task/multithread handling without proper pointer/procedure handling, something like single user FileMaker database to block that FM engine with scripts and your manually developed flag system even for millisecond time.

I know you are proud of your work, but it cannot be used in almost any of my solutions. And you are pushing that script thing because you don't know all the Web Tools available and web dataflow.

[Keith M. Davie]

Anatoli, I've had an equipment failure for the past six days and I've just gotten back online.

You state, "Simply because I know my available tools I see no use for FM script in web solution."

In the cdml forum (April 8, Topic: list check and submit all) rivet asks, "I have a found set of records that I would like to put a check mark in the column received for some or all of the records. Is it possible to process multiple records like that and if so how?"

That edit of multiple records seems to be a good example of a place where a script can be used successfully. Point is, there have been several posts where people have asked about a similar edit of multiple records. I don't recall seeing a CDML/HTML/JavaScript solution to editing multiple records with a single click.

[Anatoli]

Just read that topic again