Can I use FM to build photo/profile database?

[mimart]

I am a complete novice when it comes to this program. I'm considering purchasing it based on a favorable review given it by Cnet.com. The review lauds it's ease of use for novice and experienced alike.

My question is this: Can I use Filemaker Pro 7.0 to build a website integrated photo/profile database similar to those found on "web personals" sites (Match.com; Oneandonly.com; etc.)?

It would have to be password accessible by members for editing of their personal information. It would have to automatically format a members photo/profile for display on the website with thumbnail pics upon their completed registration. It would, of course, have to be searchable by keyword and other criteria.

As I said, I'm only familiar with this software to the extent of the review on Cnet. Please excuse my ignorance of web development terms. Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

Regards,

Mimart

Version: v7.x

Platform: Windows XP

[Kurt Knippel]

What you are discussing is more of a web project, which could make use of any number of databases. However with Filemaker 7, you might be able to make use of the new Instant Web Publishing engine to get yourself a pretty good site up and running quickly and easily.

In the long run, it will all depend upon your web skills.

[mimart]

Kurt,

Thanks for the reply...and the good information. I had originally planned to have my website professionally built, because of the perceived difficulty of building and integrating a database. I also wanted to have a message board feature on the site.

After reading the review of Filemaker on Cnet, I thought I might be able to do the site myself. I know there are some good novice-friendly WYSIWYG software programs out there now for building websites. I'm trying to get some opinions as to the user friendliness and capabilities of Filemaker Pro 7.0 as another tool in a potential self-built website project. Thanks again for the info.

Regards,

Michael M.

[Steve T.]

Hi, mimart! IMO, FileMaker is as easy and as powerful as you have heard. I can teach someone the basics in an hour and they're off and running designing their own databases for all sorts of things. Beginning users quickly feel empowered and it often becomes one of their favorite applications but has plenty of advanced capabilities they can grow into down the line. I definitely think FileMaker is the best "in-office" database to use in your local network day-to-day.

FileMaker 7 is new and has LOTS of changes, including the elimination of a web component called CDML which is a simple but limited code system that was built-in to FileMaker. If the FileMaker 7 free download demo allows you to use Instant Web Publishing, I would suggest trying it out first before buying. Many developers find it too restrictive to get exactly what they want. If Instant Web Publishing does not look like what you want, you're gonna have to decide if you want to become a web developer or just hire one... lots of good ones right here in FMFORUMS.

Personally, my exisiting solutions are in CDML using Custom Web Publishing in FileMaker Pro Unlimited all by itself. I have a little experience with Apache web server on our other servers and have started to learn the advanced scripting language, PHP.

Future solutions of ours will probably use Apache to serve our web pages and use PHP (via the FX class) to script web user interactions with the database. If you have little or no interest in learning how to do programming/scripting for websites, I don't think you're going to have much luck, but FileMaker Pro will be coming out with an Advanced Server version ($$$) that will offer Custom Web Publishing but I don't know much about it yet.

--ST