I am not even sure if this is the right section of the forum....

using FM7

OK, here is my problem - we have a database with customers that are mapped in DeLorme, our drivers use GPS to get to them, upon arrival, they need to fill out a report which is in filemaker - now, one would think by looking at the customer number on the DeLorme map, and then searching for that number in FM7 they would enter their data into the correct customer record - well, seems like dislexia is well and kicking in our company.... the best way to eliminate the problem would be, if there was a way to use the hyperlink that DeLorme offers in a map-tag to jump to THAT customer in FM..... is that possible?

I am unfamiliar with DeLorme, but maybe you could take the URL and parse out the info that you want. You could paste the URL into a global field and then have a script find which record to go to via the parsed data, if the data in the URL matches some data for each of your customer records.

I think i can handle finding the site once I have something in filemaker... it does not have to be DeLorme it can be any application surpporting hyperlinks... Lets just assume it is a regular HTML page (local not on the net) - Is there a way to specify in a hyperlink to go to/open Filemaker and point a specific record or run a specific script?

Kind of like you have a hyperlink on a webpage and when you click on it, it opens google-earth and goes to a certain map tag.....

Edited February 25, 200718 yr by Guest

Well, how about using the GET or POST option in a URL to feed a fx.php query or have fx.php feed some fields like the recID and userID then pass it onto an IWP session

How are they entering the data in FMP now? IWP over the web? Since you are wanting a URL to go to a specific record I'm presuming web entry of some sort...

no this solution is 100% local - a notebook computer with FM7 and DeLorme Street Atlas installed - no internet at all- the reason for a url is that the DeLorme mapping software only offers hyperlinks to 'communicate' with the outside world.

Right now it is very basic - they use DeLorme to get to the customer, then they open FM and search for the customer, create a new report and fill it out. Should work fine in theory, but in reality, too often customer 7557 gets billed for work done for customer 7575.....

Thanks for the other suggestions - I am sure once I have read them a couple hundred times, I will sort of understand what needs to be done :

I am fairly new to all this....

Well if the application is local, you can not change the the "execution" of your application from a web address to FileMaker without changing the application itself.

One possiblities that you may be able to implement is trying to see what the hyperlink passes in its query string. If there is data that you can pull from that string then either you can copy and paste that URL & parse the data in FM, or as Leland said, you may be able to use PHP.

I can make that hyperlink say whatever it needs to say - basically every mappoint can contain information like address, name, lat, long, etc. and one of the fields I have available is a hyperlink - normally you would use it to go to the website for that mappoint, i guess. I wanted to see if there is a way that i can use that hyperlink to jump to a certain record in FM - I know how to start FM from the hyperlink, but how do I get it to go to that record? In the 'good ole' days there were certain things you could pass on in the command line when starting an application (like word would start a certain document c:xxxword.exe test.doc)- does FM support that at all or something like it?

Edited February 28, 200718 yr by Guest