Getting started with Filemaker on the web

[giles]

Hi all,

I'm a pretty experianced filemaker user, but inexperianced web author. I want to put my databases online, but NOT in the format that instant web publishing provides.

I'm also a bit confused as to the type of web hosting software that will run filmaker ... for example, the ISP who I reserved my domain name through runs windows 2000 ... is this OK or not?

I'd appreciate any tips as to how / where I can start learning this stuff.

Best

Giles

[Steve T.]

Hi, giles! How's Buffy? (j/k.. weird yank humor here)

Congrats on your decision to go online. I think most of us use FileMaker Pro's Web Companion for Custom Web Publishing. If you want to serve on the internet yourself, you'll need FMP-Unlimited, but regular FMP out of the box will let you develop and test your stuff and I suggest you start there with Web Companion as your publishing software. If you need more serving power, you can look at Apache and Web Server Connector but I've heard that that is less than straight forwad at times.

If your Windows 2000 ISP will also host your site using FMP-U (not you in-house), then you'll need to stick to Windows naming conventions and whatnot (.fp5 file extensions, no / marks in filenames, etc.) but I don't think you'll have trouble otherwise. Of course if you have a static IP address, you can publish the FMP stuff yourself and link to it from your ISP-hosted site, too.

FMP comes with all the basic info you need to get started (CDML reference and examples), and this forum can help you with specifics. Some kind folks even offer to give you code, which is really, really helpful at times. Pay attention to the posts and people with lots of stars and the admin/moderators. Most are courteous and will be happy to help you if you explain clearly what you have and what you want.

Now, for your web stuff... In a nutshell, a typical online db system will be something like

(1) SEARCH PAGE: starting point w/input boxes and search button

(2) SEARCH RESULTS PAGE: list of search results items that satisfy the search criteria and are clickable

(3) DETAIL PAGE: your web-version of your FMP record

Most basic things that you can do in FileMaker Pro, you can do from the web. Typically you will have a clickable web button or graphic that can initiate the FMP action (-find, -new, -edit, etc.). All of this will be a little clearer after you go through the CDML reference and examples.

Eventually, advanced users will outgrow CDML or find things to grumble about (security, scripts, etc.) but I wouldn't worry about that until you get there. JavaScript is very helpful for those with the skills (I do not). You'll need to learn some HTML but it shouldn't be too bad if you have a logical mind and understand the tags concept.

I primarily use PageMill or Dreamweaver to auto-make the web pages for me but you do have to code the FMP stuff. Some folks prefer straight code, anyway, especially when web generator software changes your code when you're not looking or not careful. Personally, I enjoy FMP web development... I just wish I had more time to devote to it. One of my projects I've been working on on/off for about a year while others I've cranked out in a day or two. Each time I have to remind myself of what I did before and I spend a lot of time inthe CDML reference when I'm working on a project since it can be weeks or months between my proejcts.

My suggestion? Start with what they give you, read some of the FMP, Inc. website support stuff on CDML and web publishing, and check out this forum whenever you can. It works for me!

-- ST