fmp 7 right tool for this job?

[Ostuni]

am looking for a good (and inexpensive and easy to learn) solution to publish a faculty/staff directory on our existing web site that is on a netware-brand apache server and built with dwmx...

could i build such a thing as a fmp 7 database, then, upload to our web site and have it be a searchable/'filterable' directory? for example, if a visitor knows just the first name of a faculty or staff member, i would like them to be able to search the database and view a 'report' showing all the records whose first name matches their search term. or, if they know the person works at a certain location, filter the database by location and see a report for all faculty/staff at that location... and so on...

from what i read so far it sounds like fmp 7 has got the chops to do that, but almost sounds too good to be true. won't it need to connect to a database and script application on the web server? can it really do all that on its own?

anyone know of a live working example of a web personnel directory built entirely with fmp?

many thanks for any feedback. cheers

[Reed]

If you want cheap and easy to learn then you probably want to go with instant web publishing. It will take filemaker layouts and render them to the web as CSS. Instant web publishing is easy but it's also limited compared to custom web publishing, which allows for tighter integration into existing web sites. With IWP, the whole page is IWP with no custom html.

You could still put a copy of filemaker pro ($149 academic) on the same machine as the existing web server, and just use a different port (usually 591) to allow them to run at the same time.... plain FMP allows 5 concurrent filemaker pro and 5 concurrent web sessions. If you need to do custom web publishing, or if you need more capacity, you can use filemaker server advanced ($1250) which allows up to 250 concurrent filemaker pro, and 100 concurrent web sessions.

The task you describe for a faculty/staff directory could definitely be accomplished via IWP.

[Ostuni]

thanks for assist, reed. a couple of followups?

With IWP, the whole page is IWP with no custom html.

meaning that what i create and what i see in fmp will be what i see and what i get on the web? i won't be able to dress up the .html pages visitors see when they are searching the db, viewing reports, etc.?

plain FMP allows 5 concurrent filemaker pro and 5 concurrent web sessions.

'sessions' as in people with appropriate rights editing the database? not meaning session as in visitors using the database to view and search the db?

many thanks again, sir!

[FMWebschool]

Correct you cannot dress up your pages. If you decide to use IWP you need to try to dress up your layouts within FileMaker.

Only 5 Individuals can view/access your website.

If you want to do web publishing with regular FileMaker and not have to pay the cost of FMS7A. Check out www.cafephp.com or www.fmwebschool.com they have developed a small server that allows you to serve pages from FileMaker Client.

In Kindness

[Ostuni]

Only 5 Individuals can view/access your website.

rats. that's the 'too good to be true...' part i guess...

forgive my dull-wittedness, but in order to make a fmp7 database published to a web with iwp viewable to more than 5 concurrent users, one must upgrade to the fm server product or use a 3rd party app? no workaround? can't buy additional concurrent users licenses, right?

guess i could split the databases up and use a dw 'portal' page to point visitors to the directory for each school.....

when that unlucky 6th user tries to view the db i reckon he gets a friendly rejection notice?

many thanks again

[Reed]

That's right... to get more than 5 simultaneous users you need server advanced, or another third party product.

I've been using IWP with plain filemaker pro since september, and although I have ~150 regular users of the site, the 5-user limit has not been a problem, since I've set a short timeout, and people aren't using the IWP portion of the site for extended periods.

Stephen:

Just out of curiosity, how does cafephp get around the 5 concurrent user issue? I take it, since the product only works with the windows version, that it must use the ODBC connection to filemaker pro. Does this violate the fmp license agreement? I know that another product for doing custom web stuff with filemaker pro still limits you to 5 concurrent sessions.

[FMWebschool]

Hi Dana!

CAFEphp does not get arount the 5 user limit, we actually allow 5 concurrent users. This doesn't mean that only 5 users can access the website, but that 5 sessions can be running at the same time. Our sever cues up the sessions, allowing 5 through. As soon as a connection to FileMaker is dropped, the next session gets passed through. We worked with FileMaker legal, as well as sent them the software to test

I hope this is helpful

In Kindness

[Ostuni]

I've been using IWP with plain filemaker pro since september, and although I have ~150 regular users of the site, the 5-user limit has not been a problem, since I've set a short timeout, and people aren't using the IWP portion of the site for extended periods.

thanks again. which part of your web is the plain fmp/iwp part?

[Reed]

on the site:

www.chem.umn.edu/services/masspec

All the content is static, just hosted on the department's 4D Webstar Server. The IWP part (the schedule link on the left-hand nav menu) is on a separate machine in my office. The URL in the link directs to a specific database on the filemaker pro machine.

You won't be able to access that part of the site, since I've set it up for only those people who have been trained to use the equipment in the lab. I've limited it to IP addresses of my customers, and to users with accounts in the database.

If you're interested I can make a clone of my file with the accounts removed so you can look at it.

Dana

[Ostuni]

The IWP part (the schedule link on the left-hand nav menu) is on a separate machine in my office. The URL in the link directs to a specific database on the filemaker pro machine. Dana

more thanks dana. have downloaded the trial version and am going through the tutorials but have a ways to go before i get to web publishing....

this probably is a precedent-shattering dumb question, but does fmp 7 have to actually be RUNNING on the web server in order for visitors to search and view the db? in my little peanut brain i was thinking that one would create and edit the database in fmp and then upload a folder to the web server.... but in your first reply you made it sound like the application in installed and runs on the web server, which would really impress me if it worked on this netware/apache character i've got.....

[Reed]

Filemaker pro 7 has a built in web server that it uses to do IWP, so if you want to do IWP, filemaker pro has to be running on the machine that you want users to connect to. This can be the same machine as your apache web server, or a completely different machine (as it is in my case). If you want to run it on the same machine as another web server, you have to change the port number from 80 to something else. FMI has registered port 591 for IWP.

If you want to use apache as your web server, and have filemaker interact directly with that, you'll have to use server advanced. (I believe that FMI supports either apache or IIS web servers, I don't know about others)

If you want to export the database to a static html table, you can put that on any web server, but it won't be searchable/filterable. You would have to export the data to some text format, import it into another database (say... MySQL) and then use that database with apache and some other middleware language (say php or lasso) Of course then you have to learn to use those products too.

[Ostuni]

got it now. many thanks again for the great support!