Filemaker 6 Web Publishing Newbie with problems

[bonnielee]

Hi everyone,

I am a illiterate computer user in an unfortunate predicatment. I need to create an online database for 500 user to search for research resources (mice) that are available at the insitute. There are two users, internal and external.

Okay, I have designed a database that works in browse mode, links work and data can be inputed by the secretaries in each lab. That was the easy part. However, when I went in to web testing, all the merged fields disappeared. (First problem) How do I prevent this from happening? What have I done wrong.

(Second Problem) How do I test the different access priviledges? I have no idea if they are set up properly for the for intented users?

(Third Problem) Please explain as you might to a great-grandparent how I sent up the exclusion formulas so that non-institute people can only see files related to resources that are externally available. The field is a text field (Y/N) N marked records are to be excluded. Stupidly, I did a simple If (externally available) = Y, then ...but no idea what put next. Do I need a goto loop to sort all files? And do I need to include this condition on all screens (search and display)?

Sorry to be so grammarian, but I have been struggling for two days with these questions (in Japan) and have a looming delivery deadline.

thank you in advance for any advice you can provide.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Lee

[bonnielee]

Hi everyone,

I am a illiterate computer user in an unfortunate predicatment. I need to create an online database for 500 user to search for research resources (mice) that are available at the insitute. There are two users, internal and external.

Okay, I have designed a database that works in browse mode, links work and data can be inputed by the secretaries in each lab. That was the easy part. However, when I went in to web testing, all the merged fields disappeared. (First problem) How do I prevent this from happening? What have I done wrong.

(Second Problem) How do I test the different access priviledges? I have no idea if they are set up properly for the for intented users?

(Third Problem) Please explain as you might to a great-grandparent how I sent up the exclusion formulas so that non-institute people can only see files related to resources that are externally available. The field is a text field (Y/N) N marked records are to be excluded. Stupidly, I did a simple If (externally available) = Y, then ...but no idea what put next. Do I need a goto loop to sort all files? And do I need to include this condition on all screens (search and display)?

Sorry to be so grammarian, but I have been struggling for two days with these questions (in Japan) and have a looming delivery deadline.

thank you in advance for any advice you can provide.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Lee

[bonnielee]

Hi everyone,

I am a illiterate computer user in an unfortunate predicatment. I need to create an online database for 500 user to search for research resources (mice) that are available at the insitute. There are two users, internal and external.

Okay, I have designed a database that works in browse mode, links work and data can be inputed by the secretaries in each lab. That was the easy part. However, when I went in to web testing, all the merged fields disappeared. (First problem) How do I prevent this from happening? What have I done wrong.

(Second Problem) How do I test the different access priviledges? I have no idea if they are set up properly for the for intented users?

(Third Problem) Please explain as you might to a great-grandparent how I sent up the exclusion formulas so that non-institute people can only see files related to resources that are externally available. The field is a text field (Y/N) N marked records are to be excluded. Stupidly, I did a simple If (externally available) = Y, then ...but no idea what put next. Do I need a goto loop to sort all files? And do I need to include this condition on all screens (search and display)?

Sorry to be so grammarian, but I have been struggling for two days with these questions (in Japan) and have a looming delivery deadline.

thank you in advance for any advice you can provide.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Lee

[Steve T.]

Howdy, B! I'm not really an IWP person but since no one's really offered you much, I'll give some of it a go...

MERGED FIELDS: I'm not sure what you mean exactly but if fields are not showing up, it may have something to do with your privileges you allude to in your second problem. If you are not logged in using the web, you will only see those fields that are accessible to NO PASSWORD users, which in your case may be nothing so all the fields are denied... That's my guess, anyway.

ACCESS PRIVILEGES: I've always thought FM access privileges were kinda funky, personally. I used to get lost on the security screen with those dots I tried to change but for whatever reason, couldn't. With AP, there is no username, just passwords. You can assign various privileges to the various passwords and/or create groups of passwords. You can control which fields a password has access to and to what level of access (read, write, none...) and on which layouts. I'm not sure which layout AP uses for web publishing (in Custom Web Publishing you can designate whatever layout(s) you want). You can even create a NO PASSWORD level of access which is what an unlogged user sees and has access to.

EXCLUSION FORULAS: Hmm.. If I understand correctly, I'm not sure you can set up user-specific records very well. FM security tends to be more field-oriented, not record-oriented. FM mentions something about RECORD LEVEL ACCESS or something but I don't remember it working well and remember others complaining about its speed. I suppose you might be able to use a calculation that equals another field if (externally_available="Y") or " " if not but I'm not sure how permisssions would work if the user does not have access to the component fields.... hmm... actually, now that seems kinda familiar and I think that's how folks used to do things... a lot of caluculation fields, but I also think I remember that something changed at some point so I guess you'll just have to try to see with your version.

By the way, I hope you do not rely on scripts for web use as there has been issues with script-over-web, e.g. if 2 users near-simultaneously run a script, only 1 will actually have it execute... the other will have the script ignored... single-threadedness I think it's called. You might be able to search for many posts on the subject if you want to learn more about it.

FM6 standard client has a very limited amount of concurrent users (especially web users). FM wants you to get FM6 Unlimited or FM7 Server Advanced if you want to do any serious web publishing. Instant Web Publishing is apparently greatly improved in FM7 although I really have no significant experience with IWP. I imagine it's good for certain kinds of projects, though, and it's certainly quicker and easier to implement than learning how to code from scratch. Nevertheless, there's a reason folks use more advanced web technologies and want professionals to set up their sites... some of whom hang out on these forums and give the best advice and suggestions... better than me, of course.

Still, I hope you haven't missed your deadline and can use some of this info to help you plan your next step.

--ST

[Steve T.]

Howdy, B! I'm not really an IWP person but since no one's really offered you much, I'll give some of it a go...

MERGED FIELDS: I'm not sure what you mean exactly but if fields are not showing up, it may have something to do with your privileges you allude to in your second problem. If you are not logged in using the web, you will only see those fields that are accessible to NO PASSWORD users, which in your case may be nothing so all the fields are denied... That's my guess, anyway.

ACCESS PRIVILEGES: I've always thought FM access privileges were kinda funky, personally. I used to get lost on the security screen with those dots I tried to change but for whatever reason, couldn't. With AP, there is no username, just passwords. You can assign various privileges to the various passwords and/or create groups of passwords. You can control which fields a password has access to and to what level of access (read, write, none...) and on which layouts. I'm not sure which layout AP uses for web publishing (in Custom Web Publishing you can designate whatever layout(s) you want). You can even create a NO PASSWORD level of access which is what an unlogged user sees and has access to.

EXCLUSION FORULAS: Hmm.. If I understand correctly, I'm not sure you can set up user-specific records very well. FM security tends to be more field-oriented, not record-oriented. FM mentions something about RECORD LEVEL ACCESS or something but I don't remember it working well and remember others complaining about its speed. I suppose you might be able to use a calculation that equals another field if (externally_available="Y") or " " if not but I'm not sure how permisssions would work if the user does not have access to the component fields.... hmm... actually, now that seems kinda familiar and I think that's how folks used to do things... a lot of caluculation fields, but I also think I remember that something changed at some point so I guess you'll just have to try to see with your version.

By the way, I hope you do not rely on scripts for web use as there has been issues with script-over-web, e.g. if 2 users near-simultaneously run a script, only 1 will actually have it execute... the other will have the script ignored... single-threadedness I think it's called. You might be able to search for many posts on the subject if you want to learn more about it.

FM6 standard client has a very limited amount of concurrent users (especially web users). FM wants you to get FM6 Unlimited or FM7 Server Advanced if you want to do any serious web publishing. Instant Web Publishing is apparently greatly improved in FM7 although I really have no significant experience with IWP. I imagine it's good for certain kinds of projects, though, and it's certainly quicker and easier to implement than learning how to code from scratch. Nevertheless, there's a reason folks use more advanced web technologies and want professionals to set up their sites... some of whom hang out on these forums and give the best advice and suggestions... better than me, of course.

Still, I hope you haven't missed your deadline and can use some of this info to help you plan your next step.

--ST

[Steve T.]

Howdy, B! I'm not really an IWP person but since no one's really offered you much, I'll give some of it a go...

MERGED FIELDS: I'm not sure what you mean exactly but if fields are not showing up, it may have something to do with your privileges you allude to in your second problem. If you are not logged in using the web, you will only see those fields that are accessible to NO PASSWORD users, which in your case may be nothing so all the fields are denied... That's my guess, anyway.

ACCESS PRIVILEGES: I've always thought FM access privileges were kinda funky, personally. I used to get lost on the security screen with those dots I tried to change but for whatever reason, couldn't. With AP, there is no username, just passwords. You can assign various privileges to the various passwords and/or create groups of passwords. You can control which fields a password has access to and to what level of access (read, write, none...) and on which layouts. I'm not sure which layout AP uses for web publishing (in Custom Web Publishing you can designate whatever layout(s) you want). You can even create a NO PASSWORD level of access which is what an unlogged user sees and has access to.

EXCLUSION FORULAS: Hmm.. If I understand correctly, I'm not sure you can set up user-specific records very well. FM security tends to be more field-oriented, not record-oriented. FM mentions something about RECORD LEVEL ACCESS or something but I don't remember it working well and remember others complaining about its speed. I suppose you might be able to use a calculation that equals another field if (externally_available="Y") or " " if not but I'm not sure how permisssions would work if the user does not have access to the component fields.... hmm... actually, now that seems kinda familiar and I think that's how folks used to do things... a lot of caluculation fields, but I also think I remember that something changed at some point so I guess you'll just have to try to see with your version.

By the way, I hope you do not rely on scripts for web use as there has been issues with script-over-web, e.g. if 2 users near-simultaneously run a script, only 1 will actually have it execute... the other will have the script ignored... single-threadedness I think it's called. You might be able to search for many posts on the subject if you want to learn more about it.

FM6 standard client has a very limited amount of concurrent users (especially web users). FM wants you to get FM6 Unlimited or FM7 Server Advanced if you want to do any serious web publishing. Instant Web Publishing is apparently greatly improved in FM7 although I really have no significant experience with IWP. I imagine it's good for certain kinds of projects, though, and it's certainly quicker and easier to implement than learning how to code from scratch. Nevertheless, there's a reason folks use more advanced web technologies and want professionals to set up their sites... some of whom hang out on these forums and give the best advice and suggestions... better than me, of course.

Still, I hope you haven't missed your deadline and can use some of this info to help you plan your next step.

--ST