FM 8.5 and Web capabilities

[chrisk1]

I have downloaded an 8.5 trial and a few Web Viewer examples and so far I'm pretty disappointed. None of the examples I have been toying with will display a PDF, local or otherwise, stored as a reference or file. The only thing that happens is that the first time I import a PDF and FM tries to display it in the Web Viewer, I get a dialog box asking me to open something. What I am supposed to be looking for, I have no idea — files are grayed, browser apps are grayed, and Acrobat is selectable but nothing happens when selected. I am totally confused by this.

The reason for this post is this: I have developed an in-house workflow for our Production and Creative processes. The db contains, among a vast variety of other information related to our job processes, scheduling information and PDFs of creative. We have been using this for some time and it is fairly solid. The challenge is that a potential client has been promised the ability to go online to view information related to their jobs and status, as well as view and download PDFs of current creative for proofing and/or approvals. All of this would, of course, need to be tied to our FileMaker-based workflow since this is where all of this information currently resides. When this was brought to me (after the fact of someone having promised it) the first options I could provide were that I could develop an IWP solution interface and we would need to upgrade to Server Advanced (for serving IWP) and FM 8.5 (for developing the Web Viewer that I've heard SO much about). Since IWP does not support exporting field contents it would be necessary to use the Web Viewer to display a web page with the PDF and a download link, since so far I have not seen any evidence that it actually will display a PDF.

Am I just doing something wrong? The examples I have been experimenting with explicitly state that storing a PDF in this container field will display the PDF in this viewer field. But it does not.

So anyway my main challenge—would I need to somehow develop a solution that:

Provides access for our clients using IWP, exporting HTML (as well as the PDFs) to our server that displays and makes the PDFs available for download through the Web Viewer that is on a layout served by IWP? It seems kind of silly to me to add a Web Viewer to a page that people will be using a web browser for to begin with.

-or-

Would the best option to be to use a synergistic approach and use FM to export HTML, PDFs and XML to our server that would be accessed by some type of data-driven web solution and avoid IWP altogether?

I am desperate to even provide an option for a solution, let alone say I can do it. I have about a week to "fake" an example of what we are promising, and then not much time thereafter to actually develop the system.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Søren Dyhr]

he only thing that happens is that the first time I import a PDF and FM tries to display it in the Web Viewer, I get a dialog box asking me to open something.

You need to install this or a similar plugin in your webbrowser:

http://www.schubert-it.com/pluginpdf/

It's important to know that it's in the pref's of your primary webbrowser the checkbox with plugin-use is set.

--sd

[chrisk1]

Thanks. I DL'd the plugin and and installed it, works fairly well. However, the problem I have with this is that it only works if the PDF is stored as a reference in the container, and is local. A PDF from across the network breaks the function as does a PDF stored as a file in the field. I've been reading that images in containers can be viewed in the viewer, but they must be broken down to Base64 using independent website(s) and then some behind the scenes wizardry takes place within FileMaker, but I don't think this would be an appropriate solution for a PDF, especially the PDFs we deal with.

I guess to break it down into simpler terms, does anyone think it is viable to to create an IWP solution for clients, externally, to view and access PDFs of their jobs as well as other related data? Or would it be more appropriate to create a data-driven web solution that accesses the data I have within FileMaker?

If it were an IWP solution I feel I would need to develop a function that A ) Has a separate layout interface for the clients that pares down info related to their jobs, that is shared out by IWP, B ) Create functions that would export HTML that contains links to (and to download) the PDFs, as well as the actual PDFs, to our server, which in turn C ) Are viewable by the client layout interface that will contain a web viewer element.

I just need to know if it's possible. If so I can figure out how to do it. A year ago I never used FM outside of Browse mode and I was able to build the database that 75% of the company now depends on for it's workflow. This was possible mostly by either finding the solutions here, or just finding that they were possible and taking it from there. And now I'm counting on it more than ever. :D

[Genx]

... why don't you just store the filepath and for 99% guarrantee it will work store the path as:

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20settings/user/desktop/mypdf.pdf

(PS: The string you see in the top right is just the webviewer address, which should actually be:

"file:///" & Substitute( test::filelocation ; [ "" ; "/" ] ; [ " " ; "%20" ] )

[Fenton]

You should be able to view PDFs as either local "file:///" or via personal web sharing as "http://". Can you view a PDF in your browser? The same path should work in the web viewer.

[William H. Messick, Jr.]

Hi,

I have a similar problem with .PDF format files.

There are .PDF files that I imported into my database solution that I need to view within the database. I have been playing with the example that came with FileMaker 8.5 Pro (file: Web Viewer Example). This only uses file references and the file must be on the harddrive. You can not move the file from it's present location or the reference is lost and you can not view the .PDF file.

I need and want to import a .PDF file into the database and delete it from my harddrive.

1. How can I view the .PDF file stored in the database?

Also, I want to store other types of files (Pages documents, CAD drawings, and etc.) in the database and be able to open them within the database.

[Genx]

You could always export it to a "temporary" location whenever you needed to use it...

[Genx]

Oh by the way, after further playing.. The web viewer will accept a standard windows filepath e.g. "C:File.pdf" and convert it appropriately by itself.

[chrisk1]

Yes, that's exactly what I need, to view a PDF stored as a file and not a reference. I'm not sure it's impossible but I haven't been able to do it.

I think what I may end up doing is this: PDFs in my database are automatically inserted by a series of AppleScripts and FM scripts when created. When that takes place, it will also place a duplicate of the PDF on the web server and have URL info leading to the PDF calculated and stored along with the PDF in FM. Then, through IWP, share the database out and include on the layout a button with an Open URL script that leads to the PDF. That way they can view it or download it or whatever they need to do from their browser without needing to deal with the Web Viewer component at all. I was just really excited about being able to justify the need to upgrade and get my hands on the web viewer. I originally had designed my database to view and navigate the PDFs right in the layout and it worked great, until the first Windows user logged on...was hoping the upgrade might open that feature back up for me.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions, everyone!