CDML wimp asks, XSL or PHP for Custom Web Pub.

[Hammerton]

I currently run FM unltd 5.5 for custom web publishing using CDML. I bought FM Serv.7 Adv. but was so intimidated by the XSLT stuff I never deployed it. Besides a pro told me it had security and stability problems. On his advice I upgraded to ServerAdv 8.

I am a psych prof, not an IT person, and my solutions are generally simple, but not simple enough for instant web publishing. Should I go the XSLT route or the PHP route to create my web interfaces?

[Martin Brändle]

This pro was incompetent what concerns security - XML/XSLT is much more secure than PHP. I never heard that it was possible to hack a XML/XSLT site, however, sometimes, that PHP code could be injected in PHP driven forums. However, his advice on upgrading to 8 was ok.

BTW, you can use the CDML2XSLT conversion tool that comes with FMSA 8. Or if you want to continue with CDML you can use Lasso.

Edited December 20, 2006 by Guest

[Hammerton]

Thanks for your reply. My friend didn't day the xslt option was insecure and buggy, he claimed that server 7 advanced was. Anyway, what I most want to know is which option - learning php or learning to write the style sheets - will be the quickest and easiest way to custom web publish. I've looked at some of the documentation on XSLT and it looks like the code/grammer is 4 or 5 times more complicated than cdml. I really don't get why or what the advantage is.

[John May - Point In Space]

I would suggest the PHP route, and also having a look at Lasso if you're familiar with CDML:

http://www.omnipilot.com/

as CDML is just a subset of Lasso code FileMaker bought a ways back.

- John

[sgasch]

As someone who has spent the last year going through this conversion and opted not to use PHP, but XSLT, I would say that it depends on how many sites you need to change. I had 18 sites (and hundreds of web pages) and decided that PHP would mean redoing a lot of pages. If you have only a few pages or a couple of sites, PHP might be the way to go.

I used the converter in 7 and found that it left a lot of things undone (like headers, footers, value lists, proper way to do test [a.k.a. If statements]), but now that I have gone through all of that, I don't regret going this way. I made myself several cheat sheets to remind me how to do the headers, etc., and used the Site Assistant to give me some hints at times.

The only thing that I miss is an editor for XSLT for the Mac that allows you to see what the page will look like. I use Oxygen and if this has this capabaility, I haven't discovered it yet (if anyone knows if it does, please let me know).

Anyway, that is my two cents for what it is worth. By the way, I tried Lasso early one, but never warmed up to it. I have used Home Page (remember Claris???) and CDML until now.

[txjcfsr]

Can anyone show me how to do a link for "next" and "previous" in XSLT? After I do a find and get the recordlist, open a specific record, how do I go to the next one, or the previous one?

Thank you

[Martin Brändle]

Create a link that changes the skip value (-skip=somenumber).

Either you do that manually, e.g. by first reading out -skip in your request-query parameter, saving the current skip value and reusing it ($next = $currentskip + 1 ; $previous = $currentskip - 1) , or if you have converted some CDML code with the CDML to XSLT conversion tool, you can use the get-link template of the cdml2xsl_utilities.xsl library to create a previous/next link. See appendix C of the FMSA CWP manual.