Help putting database online.

[robotx21]

Hi, I'm new to Filemaker 7 and actually new to databases itself. With the help of people on this website, I have created a well working database that I am quite pleased with. I was originally going to keep this for myself to store records of information, but when I realized that I can put it on my website, I figured that would be a great place to be. So knowing that, I would like to place my database online. These are the fields it consists of:

Date Ordered

User ID #

Full Name

Product Purchased with Price

# of Referrals

# of Referrals Needed

Referred by:

Paid? (check box)

I also have a portal that includes 3 parts (This is to show who a certain person has referred):

User ID #

Full Name

Paid?

I would like this information to be online to be searched by User ID #. And I would like it to only have read only access. The company that is hosting my website allows MySQL and PHP and a lot of different stuff I don't know much about. Is there a way to post my database online without having a computer dedicated to running FileMaker all the time? I would like to be able to just post my database on my hosting server and just keep updating it from time to time. I need help on creating a search page and a results page for my database, preferrably in PHP. (Unless there is an easier way). Thanks for any help.

[transpower]

Find a Web host company which hosts FM files (see www.filemaker.com/support/isp.html). I see that you're on Mac OS X; if you were on Windows, I would (naturally) suggest Terminal Server, which allows users to logon and access an FM database just as if they were on your LAN.

[robotx21]

But I already have a web hosting company. They have MySQL and PHP. I just need to know how to export my FM database to support that. And then how to add it to my webpages.

[robotx21]

Is there a way to do a search of a static webpage database? If I export my FM database to HTML, can I set up a webpage that will search throughout the table and give me records I only want? If so, how do I do that?

[Reed]

As far as exporting it to MySQL, you'll probably just have to export your tables to text, and then import to a MySQL database.

You're probably on the wrong forum for getting advice on php/mysql, but here is an article on how you can use abstrakt's shell plugin to integrate a filemaker pro solution with a PHP/MySQL web site.

[robotx21]

Post deleted by robotx21

[robotx21]

where's the article? And how do I export my tables to text?

[Reed]

sorry about that

http://www.abstrakt.com/festival.html

[Reed]

The file:export records... command will allow you to export the found set to a number of different text formats (tab or comma delimited, html tables, xml etc.) MySQL will be able to import this type of data.

[robotx21]

MySQL isn't importing html, tab, or comma files

[Garry Claridge]

I think that you will need to setup a mySQL database on the website and use some PHP to sync/update any changes.

The syncing software on the "Abstrak" seems interesting. You can always write your own.

Why isn't mySQL importing the tab/comma file? Do you have a mySQL database and tables setup for this?

Good Luck.

Garry

[robotx21]

How do I go about doing that? Synching it up?

[Reed]

To create the MySQL database, just set it up to have all the same tables and fields as your filemaker database. Then you can periodically take exported data from your .fp7 file and populate the MySQL tables with it. To create a search page that allows users to query the database from a browser will require the use of something like PHP, Lasso, etc.

This not being a MySQL/PHP site, you probably won't find that answer here... but there are many books on using php with databases on the web, and probably many examples which do just what you are trying to do. (Something like SELECT * from tableName WHERE fieldName=whatever)

Of course, my limited knowledge of SQL is one of the main reasons for using FMP in the first place, so if I were you, I might take TransPower's advice and find a FM web host. The extra cost you would run into would probably be offset by the reduced development time.

[Steve T.]

Howdy, 'bot! Your php/mysql host probably has phpMyAdmin installed which will let you upload data to your mysql db through a web browser, but you can also consider hosting your FM db yourself locally if you have DSL/Cable for business with static IP addresses. For FM7, you'd probably need FM7SA (youch! expensive) but a poor-man solution would be to use FM4.x for web publishing instead. You would have to recreate your db's for FM4 (OS9/Classic) but FM4 is pretty cheap. If you want to stick w/OSX, you'd have to get FMP-Unlimited 5.5 or 6.x, which is not cheap either. FM7 regular client out-of-the-box can do it on an exremely limited basis but should be enough for you to try it out before you decide if you want to host yourself. You would keep your main ISP site, of course, but you can have your local computer/server handle all the FM-related queries and results.

We use FM5.5 Unlimited on OSX 10.3 on a 300MHZ G3 desktop and are happy with it (most of the time).

--ST