Opening Specific Databases On Fm Server

[PBrooks]

I was wondering (conceptually) if it would be possible to do the following: Host several different Filemaker Pro 11 advanced databases on Filemaker server with a front-end FM Pro program that would open and allow access to a specific database based on a password or pin entered by a user coming into the front-end program. It appears that one cannot issue the "Open File" command from a script when a FileMaker Pro database is running on FileMaker Server. Is this true? Is there any way to accomplish this?

Thanks for any feedback.

--Peter Brooks

[email protected]

[dansmith65]

Yes, you can use the Open File script step when a database is hosted. I assume you got this mixed up with not being able to use it in a scheduled server-side script.

I suppose if you had a script that check's the logged in users privilege set (or account name), then you could have it open any other database you'd like from there.

To prevent the user from having to enter their username/password again; you would need to have the same username/password setup in the database file they are to open. If you don't what to have to do this, you have to use External Authentication.

[PBrooks]

The reason I thought you couldn't use the "Open File" script step is that when you ask the script manager to "Show compatibility" the "Open File" script step is grayed out when "Server" (or for that matter, Web Publishing) is selected. Is the compatibility guide wrong??

Thanks for your initial reply and would appreciate any ideas you have on this.

--Peter Brooks

Yes, you can use the Open File script step when a database is hosted. I assume you got this mixed up with not being able to use it in a scheduled server-side script.

I suppose if you had a script that check's the logged in users privilege set (or account name), then you could have it open any other database you'd like from there.

To prevent the user from having to enter their username/password again; you would need to have the same username/password setup in the database file they are to open. If you don't what to have to do this, you have to use External Authentication.

[bruceR]

The reason I thought you couldn't use the "Open File" script step is that when you ask the script manager to "Show compatibility" the "Open File" script step is grayed out when "Server" (or for that matter, Web Publishing) is selected. Is the compatibility guide wrong??

Thanks for your initial reply and would appreciate any ideas you have on this.

--Peter Brooks

No, the compatibility guide isn't wrong but I think you are not interpreting it correctly.

Server and IWP options are for when Server or IWP is performing the script. Such as when a scheduled action on the server does something.

As I understand it, that is not what you are doing. You want a user to be able to open a particular file. That will work fine with the open file script step.

[PBrooks]

Ok - understand that, thanks. I wanted to take this question a step further, if you'll indulge me. I would like to have a user with a web browser access a filemaker database that is being hosted, give their username and password credentials for validation, and then based on their validation, have a script open a specific filemaker database for them to use.

I'm trying to figure out if this would work in IWP or a Filemaker server hosted database or if I run afoul of who is executing the "file open" command in this scenario.

-(other issue I have, is that I want the hosted database to create an Excel spreadsheet from some of the data and allow it to be SMTP'ed to someone else - this also seems problematic from what I understood from the documentation).

Any thoughts on this more complete scenario?

Thanks.

--Peter Brooks

[bruceR]

Still unclear. You saying "open file" like that is what you really mean. I think IWP can use the fmp7 protocol to open a FileMaker file. But apparently it is NOT what you mean. Instead, maybe you want ALL of this to happen in IWP?

[PBrooks]

I guess I do. I just put together a quick attempt at this and it failed. I created a mainlogin fmpro database with two fields - username and password. I then created a script which, when executed, would look at the username and password and based on which combo was entered, issues the "Open File" command to open one of two different databases residing in the same folder (Windows). I set the mainlogin database to be available under IWP and left it open. I went to my other laptop, used Firefox to get net access to the mainlogin database, entered a valid username and password, pressed the Go button I created to execute the script and.... nothing happens. It appears that the "Open File" script step won't execute in this scenario.

Is there any way to accomplish this without making the user buy a complete copy of FMPro - these will be external commercial customers so requiring that would not be feasible.

Thanks.

--Peter Brooks

Still unclear. You saying "open file" like that is what you really mean. I think IWP can use the fmp7 protocol to open a FileMaker file. But apparently it is NOT what you mean. Instead, maybe you want ALL of this to happen in IWP?

[bruceR]

To accomplish **what**?

[PBrooks]

To allow access through a main validation fmpro program to other databases through IWP. The user would only use

a browser as the interface.

--Peter

To accomplish **what**?

[dansmith65]

No, the compatibility guide isn't wrong but I think you are not interpreting it correctly.

Server and IWP options are for when Server or IWP is performing the script. Such as when a scheduled action on the server does something.

As I understand it, that is not what you are doing. You want a user to be able to open a particular file. That will work fine with the open file script step.

To allow access through a main validation fmpro program to other databases through IWP. The user would only use

a browser as the interface.

--Peter

Originally Bruce and I thought you were wanting to perform the Open File script step from FileMaker Pro client on a database that is hosted on FileMaker Server.

Now it seems you are trying to do this from IWP. The "Show Compatibility" option of "Web Publishing" applies to this scenario. Which means that, no, you cannot run the "Open File" script step from IWP.

I don't know your scenario here, but perhaps a single relational database would work rather than trying to use one login database to open different database files.

I just had another idea: you could authenticate the user via an authentication system on the website, which also knows which database the specified user should be logged into. This system would rout the user to the correct database, rather than having a FileMaker database do it. I think the user would have to login twice though; once to get to the website, again to get intot he database.

[PBrooks]

That would definitely be one possibility. I was trying to do this whole thing as a "simple" work-around to what is really needed, a multi-tenant database. I need people to be able to access a database, answer a set of questions, and keep those answers separate and available for each user separately. The answers would need to be available and stored for later use by the same user. The problem I was wrestling with, was how to do that and also re-use the same scripts for any client that came into the database. I already have a version of the database that works for one client at a time (compiled run-time distributed to each user). To make the same thing available on the web will require a major re-write of the program and its database structure (and then serving it up online). I was considering using the "mulitiple copies of the database with user/password access" approach to avoid doing what I probably should do - rewrite the database. I was hoping to avoid that pain.

--Peter Brooks

Originally Bruce and I thought you were wanting to perform the Open File script step from FileMaker Pro client on a database that is hosted on FileMaker Server.

Now it seems you are trying to do this from IWP. The "Show Compatibility" option of "Web Publishing" applies to this scenario. Which means that, no, you cannot run the "Open File" script step from IWP.

I don't know your scenario here, but perhaps a single relational database would work rather than trying to use one login database to open different database files.

I just had another idea: you could authenticate the user via an authentication system on the website, which also knows which database the specified user should be logged into. This system would rout the user to the correct database, rather than having a FileMaker database do it. I think the user would have to login twice though; once to get to the website, again to get intot he database.