Desktop Shortcuts to Served Databases

[Thomas Holmes]

Hello there,

I am not sure if this is the best place to post this - I couldn't see a forum

that it seemed entirely appropriate to. Anyways...

I wanted to see if it is possible to create desktop/start menu shortcuts on

a client machine to a hosted database served from FMP server. We are using

windows 2000 and fmp6. My clients are getting fed up having to open fmp, then

go to hosts, then select the database. There has to be an easier way! I also

have a couple of clients on mac so if you have any ideas on that too that

would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Thomas

[Ted S]

Thomas,

Try copying this into the desktop shortcut:

fmp5://10.10.10.36/Main_Menu.fp5

In the example above 10.10.10.36 is the IP address of the server hosting the file(s). Main_Menu.fp5 is the name of the file you want to load.

Hope this helps.

[Thomas Holmes]

Hi Ted,

Thanks for that but couldn't get it to work - Windows was having

none of it! Tried it on both a windows 2000 and xp machines. It

just can't see the database.

Any more ideas. Thanks in advance,

Thomas

[Ted S]

You could use an "opener" file. If you are not familiar with opener files just search this forum for opener files and you should find your answer.

Good luck.

[Walter B]

I have used opener files with a great deal of success in FMP6 and lower. Haven't tried it in 7 yet, but it should work relatively the same.

Create a FMP File. You don't need to create any fields. Create a script to open your solution files on the server and close the opener file when complete. Set that script auto run on open. You now have a shortcut file you can distribute. And BTW, if you have passwords in your solution, your users will still be prompted for them when they log in.

Hope this helps.