Need Opinions

[StephenG57]

First some background.

I have been using Filemaker for about 5 years, mainly for solution development at work. These various databases are in version 6, shared over a company network using Server version 5.5. Due to the purchase date on our license, we received a free upgrade to Server 7 and Pro 7 licenses.

Current problem: I have an XServe (running 10.2.8) that I would like to host a web based registration database on for an upcoming school reunion. I would like to be able to have classmates update their contact/registration information without my need to post this information manually. I would like to do this with Filemaker.

Problem is, I don't have Server 7 Advanced...I only have Server 7 and the Pro 7 available to use for this project. I have discovered that on the XServe, Pro 7 cannot load the web sharing plug in...and Server 7 has no web publishing capabilities. I really don't want to shell out the $$$ to upgrade my license to Server 7 Advanced, nor do I want to tie up a separate client running Pro 7 to IWP this database.

Any suggestions?

[georgemayne]

you can host up to 5 users via Instant Web Publishing (IWP) from within Pro 7.

[Steve T.]

Howdy, S! Well, it's not what you're used to, but FileMaker Pro 4.x can web publish without IP restriction under OS9 or Classic and is available cheap. We used FM4.x for years for an online search engine and I think I remember one of the FMFORUMS admins mentioning that Apple used to use it for their website, too. FM4 is slower, may/may not be reliable on your system, and is missing some Custom Web Publishing tools like inline actions, but it may suit your purpose if you want to do it all yourself in FileMaker Pro. We used it for years for an online search engine. For us, it used to crash about 1/week, though, so we had to check it each day. Or you can web publish with Apache/PHP/MySQL and synchronize/import/update to FM for mailings/letters/labels, etc. Or you can find a web host that hosts FM databases?

Just some more thoughts... nothing great, though...

--ST