Can't paste text into Web Viewer

[mporter]

I want to copy text from a field on a layout and paste it into a field in a web site in Web Viewer on that same layout. Although I can type into the field in Web Viewer, I cannot paste from the clipboard.

Is this a knowm limitation or am I doing something wrong.

I'm using Filemaker Pro Advanced 9 on Mac Leopard.

[Frogzuel]

I can confirm this. It looks like the copy and paste feature is incompatible with the latest version of Safari. Anybody have any workarounds for this issue?

Here is what I have found.

It works fine on Mac OsX 10.4.8 with Safari Version 2.0.4(419.3).

It works fine on Windows XP.

Does not work on a currently updated Mac os 10.4.11 or 10.5.2 with Safari Version 3.1.2

The effects are consistent if you are using FMPro Version 8.5 or 9.0.3.

So it would appear to be an issue with the safari browser update, somehow changing the way the copy and paste function is used. This is a huge bummer, as it makes most of the Web Viewer function somewhat useless since you have to go out to safari to actually paste info into a form.

It would be nice if you could select the browser you want Filemaker to use for displaying Web Viewer info. This would bypass some of the inconsistent erratic behavior for Web Viewer.

[aholtzapfel]

What is the web address of the site you want to paste into? (If it's not to sensitive).

I never recomend pasting anything into a web site. If possible, you sould construct a URL to post the forms data and only return the result. (like the ones filemaker has built in but custom to your website.)

[Frogzuel]

thanks aholtzapfel,

I honestly agree, if we didn't need copy and paste life would be easier!

The website is an internal company website. One of many that are not very user friendly or well built. We don't have access to the data servers behind the sites so that is out. I agree -if I could build it all into a url that would be great. It uses javascript and there are many fields that correspond to specific records that are displayed on the page at once. There is field validation as well so it has to be just right or it gets kicked out. I have worked around many of the commands, pushing data to the fields on some of our other webpages and automating processes similar to this. In order to circumvent this and many other systems it will take some R&D time to make it all work correctly.

In the mean time while I try to find that R&D time, the cogs of the wheel continue to turn and people are copying and pasting data to avoid having to retype it.

Copy and paste is a necessary function. Using filemaker to reduce as much of this work as possible is definitely the goal. Using the webviewer to match records for copying and pasting field data helps. Preloading the clipboard with copy data is one step that helps even more (when you are able to paste it). To make more complex calls would be very helpful, but it all comes at a cost of R&D.

I did find this great applescipt that helps to send javascript commands. This one sends them to Fedex.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080205190647941

Do you know of a way to make javascript interaction like this via a url? I spent a great deal of time looking and this is the best I could come up with.

Now all I have to do is reverse engineer our website and figure out what all the javascript do's are. Build it into a scripts (mac and PC) taking into consideration field validation and record matching. Then make it actually work consistently on both Mac and Windows.

It might have to wait a while...

p.s. there are other anomalies that propagate in webviewer due to the browser engine that it uses. They are not a fault of Filemaker, merely the browser. To be able to choose the browser would be beneficial to the consistency of webviwer.

[comment]

I think you may be misleading yourself by concentrating on the Javascript. Javascript is predominantly client-side scripting. It runs in the browser, it does not communicate with the server. You can use Javascript to help you fill a form* and even press the submit button for you, but at the end it is the form action that sends the form data to the server.

It's not too difficult to construct the same form in the web-viewer, pre-filled with data taken from Filemaker fields. But not all sites will accept forms submitted from an external page - you need to test this with your specific site.

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(*) In a browser - I am not so sure about the webviewer.