Publishing Filemaker Database to my Website

[Ziphius]

I just created a relational database using Filemaker Pro 9 Advanced . It is a catalog of 290 individual manta rays with unique ID numbers and a series of attributes that are assigned to each individual. I would like to publish to my current website so that whenever a diver photographs a manta ray they can login to my website, access the database, perform an attribute search to find those individuals with similar attributes, and determine if their animal is new or one that matches an individual in the catalog.

I don't want to host the database on my computer since I only have a laptop and it is usually offline. I'd prefer to publish it to my hosted website (GoDaddy). The website was created with Dreamweaver CS4 on a Mac. The webhost is Linux format with only MySQL capability.

Would I have to build an OBDC connection to publish to my site or is there an easier way such as working directly with the database in Dreamweaver?

[John May - Point In Space]

You should look into either Instant Web Publishing, or the FileMaker API for PHP to integrate your database into your web site. You can get documentation on such by downloading the FileMaker Server Advanced trial from FileMaker's web site.

As for hosting, you will need a FileMaker capable host to put your database online, which GoDaddy is not. We've been providing FileMaker hosting for over 10 years - have a look at our services at:

http://www.pointinspace.com/

Feel free to let me know if you have any additional questions here or offlist to jmay(at)pointinspace.com as well.

- John

[Ziphius]

Thanks John.

With IWP or Filemaker Server, I still need have to have a dedicated computer, online at all times to host the database correct? I don't have a dedicated computer.

Is there is no way to code a Filemaker database for MySQL?

I will have a look at your site. Thanks, Mark

[John May - Point In Space]

Mark -

Correct, you would need a dedicated server computer, preferably running FileMaker Server (Advanced if using IWP).

FileMaker and MySQL are completely separate database formats. You could do an export of your FileMaker data and import into a MySQL database, though obviously you'd need to repeat said procedure every time you updated your FileMaker database data, and it'd get sticky if you have data also being submitted online into the MySQL database.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions, etc. Thanks!

- John

[Ziphius]

So if one is interested in having their filemaker database accessible by anyone that has access to the internet, and you don't want to host the database on your computer, how do you know what is the best option (FM Studio and Dreamweaver, Filemaker PHP API, FX.php, PHP Site Assistant, IWP to Filemaker friendly server, etc., etc., etc.? The only program listed that I have any familiarity with is Dreamweaver.

[abb654]

Any updated information on posting Filemaker data base to a go daddy web site. I am just a hobbiest and the rates for filemaker hosting sites are much higher.

[John May - Point In Space]

That's because it costs a lot more for a host to provide FileMaker hosting services, due to the licensing costs, relatively high server horsepower requirements, monitoring, etc.

GoDaddy plain does not host FileMaker databases.

- John

[Mark Jones]

I have my website hosted off of my DSL connection. It will allow 10 on my website and 5 on my filemaker at one time.

I have a standard dsl connection (dynamic) and I use a service called TZO to host a domain name that is constantly being updated everytime my dsl connection changes because it's dynamic it updates the TZO website so all they have to do is type in my domain name and I have a link from mywebsite to my filemaker both programs run on a older computer the filemaker runs on port 591 and the website runs on port 80.

Anyway it works fine and has for years and years. I am also a not for profit person and the only fee I pay is my dsl connection fee and a one time yearly fee of 23.00 to tzo. That is cheap web hosting and filemaker 11 works fine with IIS in windows.

This all works off of a old computer that doesn't have a keyboard or a monitor attached to it all the time it just sits under my desk and serves the web. I do have a switch that I can access it with a keyboard and monitor.

What is nice about this setup is web updates are as easy as copying a file and disk space is only limitied by your personal hardrive in the old computer. I have over 5 gig of stuff on line.

Http://readyrangers.tzo.com

Mark Jones

Edited September 29, 2010 by Guest

[rmanh]

The original question by Ziphus was given a few options but I think not all. One by someone trying to sell him their services and the other solution maybe not applicable. I am in the same situation. And their is a option to host your filemaker DB on a linux server. You would need a VPS server (dedicated if you have the money), instal the windows emulator Wine on the linux sever. The instal filemaker windows version using the install features in Wine. Next in Filemaker install ODBC for a live connection to the MySQL database that your website uses. Build the FM database from this ODBC connection for the same tables and fields / columns and rows in MySQL. So any data / records from the MySQL database is the same data that you will have in the FM DB. Then you have access to your database anywhere you have internet access and a filemaker client.

I not sure why the previous poster John May says: relatively high server horsepower requirements. As I have found FM doesnt require anymore resources than what is typically found in a VPS.

[John May - Point In Space]

Running FileMaker Server under Wine is neither a supported nor recommended configuration.  If you want to risk data loss, go for it.

 

If you want to run FileMaker Server properly, you need a better disk subsystem than provided by most VPS providers.  We use 15K SAS RAID6 Fibre-Channel SANs, which I guarantee you is not the usual spec.  Any significant data access in FileMaker will make this blatently obvious, and I am far from the only one that makes this recommendation.

 

- John

[ew123]

We had a similar task earlier this year.  An international project with 13 participants in different countries.

 

New data was added daily, and consolidated reports (for searching and reference) updated weekly.

 

While FMSA 11 is used on the LAN/WAN along with ODBC MYSQL connections, the solution needed to be quick, easy and simple to get to.

 

OUR SOLUTION:

Filemaker Data exported (we had a schedule, but this can be manual) into CSV - and saved to a DROPBOX shared folder.

Website (quick & dirty) created using WordPress - hosted from corp server, but works just as well with GoDaddy. So no need to change hosting.

Wordpress plugin #1 - TablePress (donation ware) - to automatically (you set the interval) import CSV from DROPBOX and be available for searching.

Wordpress plugin #2 - GravityForms ($39 personal license) - to handle new data entry.  As well as presentation of recent additions.

 

One of the proj managers would export the GravityForms collected data (CSV), and run an import into FM (handling data sanatization, and temp table prep before migration).

 

And the cycle goes from here.

 

BENEFITS:

1. Relatively quick setup time.  It took longer investigating (and trying) the plugin components for the functionality than the implementing the solution.  We had ZERO experiance with WordPress prior to this - but it turned out much simpler than we expected.

2. Users can login from ANY device - iOS, Android, Windows, etc - any modern browser.

3. Presentation layer in WP can be easily setup to be pretty enough (much nicer than IWP) and functional. There are MANY themes available.

4. WP handles all user logins (additional plugins - too many options to list - available for stronger security).

5. Automated export to WP site worked well quickly.  Setup for 2x/day updates, regardless of whether a new CSV was present (so whenever we updated the data in FMP, the next run would push updated content to WP).

6. FMP not connecting to users directly.

7. You can still use Dreamweaver to get into the functions.php and styles.css files for editing.

 

COMPLICATIONS:

1. A complex structure would be more difficult to prune on the way back into FMP.

2. If had to be updated more frequently, we would need to automate the return trip (updates from WP (GravityForms) to FMP.

3. GravityForms costs money.  There are alternatives - but GF was simple to setup and get running.

4. GF (new data) and TablePress (consolitated/sanitized data) presented in two different tables (or different pages) with our implementation.

5. Anti spamming plugins need to be considered - again free and plenty.

 

NOTES:

We did not have any media being uploaded/moved - but you did not specify this in your question.

 

This worked for us, and we will be using a similar solution (a bit extended) in an upcoming project.

 

I hope this show you yet another option of getting a simple solution out there.  It will work while your machine is offline; and will continue to accue date for as long as you are away.

[wrwaugh]

I feel I need to jump in here..  If you are limited for funds, I understand.  However, there are many reasons for using a FIlemaker hosting service... among them are:  access from anywhere (and if configured correctly from any browser); data security such as backups; scalability; and many more.

 

The cost can be very low.  Compare several services as they vary by how many databases you can host, how many concurrent users can access the databases, how much storage you have available to you.  For instance, with Triple8 you can have 2 databases and 4 concurrent users using Filemaker and 4 users using IWP, and you have 2 GB of space.  Cost is $19.95 which is very reasonable.  Other hosting services have packages with twists on these offerings and a variety of prices.

 

Given the ability to have fast, always available access, secure backups, et cetera, I feel hosting is a very attractive option.

 

I am a developer and do not have any dog in the hosting fight.