I would like to have my database in a way that the website(s) will be dynamic (able to open multiple windows to compare and edit)

I have done some research and seems like IWP (instant web publishing) cannot get what I want, so I wonder if CWP is the only way. I don't have any experience with CWP, and wonder if there is any othe way here... If I can install FM Pro copies in all of my users' PCs, can I somehow share my database in a way that all clients can access and use it?

Please advice. Thank you very much! :

If I can install FM Pro copies in all of my users' PCs, can I somehow share my database in a way that all clients can access and use it?

Yes, in conjunction with FileMaker Server. This is very commonly done. It is, in my view, almost always the best procedure.

Steven

Thank you, Steven for the response.

I tried to make that work between my PC (with the Server Advanced) with another PC which has FM Pro, but couldn't figure out how to do the remote share in my end. Do you know the detailed setting that I should do? Now I only have the TCP/IP address of my local host. What should be the full URL for me to share with other client machines?

Thanks a lot!

The client machine is not on your local network? Sounds like you might need to visit portforward.com to learn how to set up your router.

Thanks, Fitch. I think I need to learn everything about client, server and network sharing from the beginning. I'm totally new to this area.

May I ask if there is a way to share the same FM database among different client machines each of which has a FM copy? Right now I need to share the database I will be publishing with other computers in my network...

Thanks :

The first question to answer is: are all of the clients on the same local area network as the server, or are some of them "outside" on the internet (or wide area network)? If some are on the WAN then as Tom said you'll need to set your router to allow it.

Your home LAN is really a mini-internet and it needs to be kept separate form the real internet. Even though your LAN might have multiple computers on it, the real internet thinks there is only one computer there. Internet IP numbers are limited and the ISP are allocated a limited range for themselves.

Your LAN is kept separate by the router, which is the box that connects your computer to your broadband network (or it connects to your internet modem to allow multiple computers to share the network).

The router does some fancy trickery to maintain the illusion that there is only one computer connected to the "real" internet. To allow computers inside your LAN to share information with the outside WAN the router has to be told which computer inside the LAN is sharing the information and which port it will appear on to the WAN. This is called port forwarding.

If the machines are on your *local* network, here's what you do:

Opening files as the host

Thank you both!

The other computers are in the same LAN as mine. So I just need to adjust the router's setting to be able to share my published database with the rest of PCs then?

Thanks!

No: if everyone is on the same local network, you shouldn't need to do anything special with the router.

Then do I need to do anything to share remote? Because right now the other computers in my network couldn't see my database..

Thanks.

Did you click the link I posted above? Here it is again:

Opening files as the host

Thank you, Fitch. That was helpful! :)

Hi Fitch,

I have followed the instructions on the webpage you gave me and properly set up the network sharing settings, so now all users can have the access to the database I published, but what is the IP address for others in the network to access the database?

I only got a TCP/IP address, but what should be the complete URL for the database published?

Please advice. Thank you!

Hi Fitch,

Actually after I posted my previous note, I noticed that the way I want my database to be shared is not via the Web (anything similar to IWP) but somehow via the clients' Filemaker program on their own PCs? Do you have any ideas on how to make that happen? What I meant is instead of access the database via a URL link, clients should be able to open the FM and access the database in the FM program via some way...

Thanks a lot!

Share the file as the host. The clients use Open Remote to access it. They should see a list of available hosts (your PC) and when they click the host, they should see available files. Or, you can send them a link.

Thanks, Fitch but in the client machine, the link I copied from "send link" didn't open up the database. It only opened up FM which was promising. The message hinted that the URL should be something like "fmnet:/..."

Do you have any ideas here?

Thanks!