Forms/Queries from Web

[katstewart]

I'm trying to do something that should be simple, but because I'm a Newbie, I've got stuck, and can't make head or tail of it.

Using filemaker pro 5.5 (for Mac)

I'm trying to do a web page that customers can select options on a form to run a query to search a set of complex products and then produce the four closest matches from the database, sorting by price if possible.

i've designed the form - have values which match values in the database

Have database

How do I get the two to "talk" to each other? I'm assuming it should be an SQL query but everything in the manual is about importing data into my database, rather than running queries from the web, to select and then publish

Confused. I've been reading and trying to attack this for over a week and am nowhere

I'm not a techie, so need simple answers

Thanks

K

[Garry Claridge]

FM mostly uses CDML rather than SQL for producing data for web-pages. This is part of Custom Web Publishing (CWP).

Check the CDML forum for some hints on using CDML and CWP.

All the best.

Garry

[katstewart]

Thanks for repling. It doesn't really help.

There is no mention of CDML in my Filemaker Pro 5 manual (AT ALL), and I don't know what it is.

I'll have a read through the board, but is there a reference for this CDML thing, that is totally lacking from my manual

[Unable]

Actually, Garry's advice is quite solid. That it does not "really help" has to do with "I'm not a techie, so need simple answers".

Well I take great pleasure to be the one to inform you that the simple answer is for your organization to hire a professional. Short of that there are NO EASY ANSWERS.

Unless your organization is prepared to hire a professional, it looks to me like you are stuck with the task of becoming a FileMaker Solutions Developer. Congratulations and welcome to the club. No. No. Don't go into denial. It is not a good river in which to swim. Instead, relax. Understand that this is involves a learning curve and your organization is willing to subsidize your talents. This presents you with a great opportunity. Don't squander it. Flip off your boss, 'cuz if it was that easy to do, your boss would do it and you would be looking for work. Of course, I would suggest you be more diplomatic than I am. But if I were a diplomat, I would not be able to tell you a thing about developing solutions.

You initially wrote, "i've designed the form". Ok. How did you "design the form". Do you mean you designed a database file layout? If so, are you intending to use Instant Web Publishing? If the answer to that is yes, then you need to understand that IWP is WYSIWYG and the only way for you to achieve control is through your abilities as a database developer and your inherent abilities to be prescient in determining how the CDML is generated by FMPro. Or, as Anatoli might say, "IWP is good for stamp collection."

Garry mentions CWP. That is what most contributors to the Internet Forums use. (If you had done a search of Newbie Questions in the Internet forums you would have begun to discover this on your own.)

"I'll have a read through the board, but is there a reference for this CDML thing"

Only many.

Here is something which may help you - or not. Do a search of the CDML forum for CDML Reference Database. Find a thread with an active link. Use it. Read the CDML Reference Database in its entirety. The CDMLRdb is the "Bible" of the FMPro web solutions developer.

When you are finished, you will know how to design a form and not a layout.

You do speak HTML, don't you?

Oh, BTW, there is also a Sample Files Forum here. There are a few FREE examples of CDML and web stuff there.

Relax, experiment, learn, enjoy. It is really cool to be able to do control your concepts through intelligent design.

[katstewart]

Thanks again.

I'd gone at it from the two ends - So I have my website (yes I do speak HTML), and have the form that the user would use designed from that end

and I have my database which I've designed, and populated with the first set of sample data

I guess from the HTML end I was expecting to collect values through the customer form then run a simple query like

Select

From

Where

And

And

Which is all it really needs to do

Then get it to publish the results.

And have come unstuck as I couldn't figure out the connector between the database and the web design.

I'll have a look through the CDML Reference Database - (that is what I meant by reference, something central like a manual, rather that having to trawl through boards - and picking it up peacemeal, which usually leads to a different set of problems -)

Kathleen

[Garry Claridge]

Your Form would look like this:

<form action="FMPro" method="POST>

<input type="hidden" name="-db" value="mydb.fp5">

<input type="hidden" name="-lay" value="myLayout">

<input type="hidden" name="-format" value="myresults.html">

My Field 1: <input type="text" name="myField1" value=""><br>

My Field 2: <input type="text" name="myField2" value=""><br>

<input type="submit" name="-find" value="Find Records">

</form>

You will also need to enable WebCompanion and disable "Instant Web Publishing".

The Format file "myresults.html" needs to reside in the "Web" Folder withing the Filemaker Program Folder. It will contain CDML tags like this:

<body>Results...<br>

[FMP-Record]

[FMP-Field:myfield1] [FMP-Field:myfield2]<br>

[/FMP-Record]

</body>

Hope this helps.

Garry