Is it possible to open a hosted FM Server7 file off a desktop icon?

Launching FM7 and then going to File->Open Remote or File->Open Recent is a bit of a pain.

Has anyone found a better way?

Thanks,

Hi Philby, do a search for "opener file". Basically, an opener file is an FM file saved locally on a user's machine which has as its sole purpose to open a hosted database. It does this through a startup script with at least one step:

Open File ( "remote_file.fp7" (*) )

The asterisk indicates that it is a remote file accessed through a multi-cast rather than a static IP (if you have a static IP for the host machine, you would see that number rather than the asterisk).

You can set the script step to open a remote, rather than local, file in the same way you would normally open a remote file, with the "Hosts" button.

HTH.

Jerry

Note that FileMaker says * can slow down network performance in 7, and advise avoiding if possible. They don't go into detail why.

Help for Define File Reference says:

"FileMaker does not recommend using an asterisk (*) as a wild card character in network file path definitions as it slows FileMaker network traffic. When possible, replace an asterisk with the appropriate IP address. If you have converted a database from a previous version of FileMaker

Have seen instances where * would cause FM to check every possible path available, even checking JAZZ drives. You can imagine what that does to your performance... So indeed, *, better not.

Create an empty file on your computer with no table an field. Create a script with these steps:

--------------

Open file(remote... your file on server)

Perform script (a script in the file that you want to open that will send you to the layout page you want)

Close(current file)

--------------

Create a shortcut of this file on your desktop.

These three step will open a temporary file on your computer that will give you the link to your remote file on server a will close the file after, so you will only see a flash on the opening process.

If you have many user of filemaker, just copy the file on there computer an make the shotcut on desktop.

GuyC

I may be a newbie, but getting a shortcut like that was also one of my first priorities to preserve my sanity. This has helped me open remote without files on a IBM PC client and maybe it can help you too. I created a shortcut icon or typed the url in a browser which pointed to, for example,

fmp7://192.168.0.100/MENU.FP7

Assuming filemaker 7.0 was installed on each PC client, the PC server or host was located at 192.168.0.100 and the first table to open was MENU. If filemaker opened with no table, then the path or file could not be found or the server was not running. If filemaker never opened, then the fmp7 protocol was not registered on the client.

Why? I have never been able to add parameters to the Open File or Open Remote script. What *QuinTech* and *GuyC* suggested did not seem to exist in my version of FM7. Sigh.

See FileMaker help file, section,

Opening shared databases remotely using a URL