web access to a db for clients

[mrichardson]

Hi there..

Im new to filemaker pro and would be very greatful for any ideas on the following:

What we have:

A filemaker pro server (v.5) serving a single database to around 10 clients who are all running filemaker pro6. The database contains client details for all clients.

Client runnning xp, with server being on 2000 advanced server.

What we want:

As a mortgage firm, a lot of manhours are spent answering phones to let clients know the status of their mortgage application. We want to implement some new fields into the database : "web username" "web password" "status of application" etc etc. I want clients to go to a webpage...type in their username and pass which is defined in fields on their record within the database, and acccess designated (not all) fields. The fields shared will be the same for every user.

Im not fammiliar with ASP or PHP, however I'm willing to learn if this will help.

Anybody that will design site for me will be payed well...this will save considerable ammounts of money within the organisation.

Regards,

matt

[Vaughan]

This can be done with CDML and FMP Unlimited. Not trivial, but not too hard either.

A big challenge is how to ensure the main database info is secure -- you don't want to put that anywhere near a web server!

Best bet might be to web share a separate database that which contains the minimum info required, and update it from the main database every so often (hour, day, week, whatever suits).

[Will]

Vaughn is correct with his security concerns. Ideally the the database will not be on the same machine as the webserver. A machine with FileMaker Unlimited may need to be part of this solution. Perhaps others will offer some suggestions.

[Anatoli]

I suggest learning Lasso and LDML. It will give you more security and 100 times more functionality, than CDML.