Web Advice Needed

[Dagel]

I have a runtime which I've distributed on CD. Works like a charm. Now I need to be able to "webify" my solution. I spent many months creating the runtime and want to maintain the look and feel; each layout has its own jpeg background, there are some pretty intricate relationships and some serious scripting as well.

Can anyone speak to pros and cons and possible pitfalls I might encounter were I to move forward with FMP? Or would I be better of migrating to another DB (possibly MySQL with a PHP front end, or something similar)? Thanks for any help!

[Garry Claridge]

Using FM7 for the web can be quite expensive. You may need to purchase FM Server Advanced (or cafePHP). With FM6 you may need to purchase Unlimited.

If you can find some way of integrating/syncing FM with MySQL and PHP you may have an affordable solution.

Good Luck.

Garry

[Steve T.]

Hi, D! I think FMP is a great web solution, but not for you, or at least, not exclusively. If you're going to do any serious scripting, you're going to need good middleware. IMHO, that's going to be more important than which database you end up using. For serious scripting, I've only used PHP but I like it a lot and I felt comfortable with it right away. An old FMFORUMS user named Anatoli used to rave about Lasso, though, so that might be worth looksee... just try not to cringe at the cost. As Garry mentions, FM web publishing is not the 'bargain' it used to be but I still use it in situations where web data needs to be immediately accessible to office staff. I hate exporting data from MySQL and no other db comes close to FM for easy, verstatile access directly to your data.

If you're going pure web, though, my experience with PHP/MySQL allows me recommend it. I hear good things about PostgreSQL, too, though.

--ST