I am working on helping a buddy setup a more efficient business. I built a simple PHP based mailing list and shopping cart program for him a couple years ago, but his business needs have out grown it.

My idea is to develop a invoicing/customer database with FileMaker and somehow synchronize the online mailing list with the customer database and the orders database with the invoicing functions. How have some of you worked with something like this?

His website is done in PHP/mySQL. Right now he downloads orders and imports them into FileMaker (not the best solution but it works) to print invoices. The goal is to combine everything so all functions are centralized.

He'd prefer not to switch to a FileMaker host for a couple reasons, including cost. He also likes the PHP/mySQL solution we have setup

PHP can talk to FM via CDML URLs.

Do a search on this Forum for PHP. You may find some examples.

All the best.

Garry

Take a look at the FX class for PHP (freely available at www.iviking.org). Chris Hansen has done an excellent job of writing a PHP class that abstracts the XML interaction with FileMaker, so you just write code that utilizes the methods in his class to manipulate FMP. Its very easy to use, and you don't have to know a thing about XML to use it.