Hello, im new to the world of filemaker and would like some help/tips with my setup.

FMS is running on a windows box and i would like to be able to connect to that with the Filemaker PHP API from another external webserver (debian, apache2).

As i understand it i need to enable the webmodule on the filemaker server and this needs IIS for some reason?

How do i go about doing this? IIS is allready installed on the same server as filemaker, but when i run the setup, it tries to connect to that server for some reason but is unable to.

If any kind soul could put me on the right track i would be forever greatfull as there is not alot of information on this particular setup online that i can find.

Sould i select a two server option or what, its all bit confusing... dont want to use IIS at all... just want to use filemaker as my database.

A quick step by step would be verry helpfull. What am i doing wrong, is it even possible to use filemaker in this way?

FMS web publishing supports both Apache and IIS. So the fact that you put the database engine on Windows does not mean that you need IIS. The OS of the web server dictates what web server will work: Apache on OSX, IIS on Windows. If your web server is not on the same box as where you put the database engine then yes you need to do a 2-server installation and run the relevant parts on each machine.

You can probably hack it to make it work with Apache on Debian but that would put you outside of any support, so I would not recommend doing that.

So in any case the web server always needs the "web server module" installed on it to communicate with filemaker with the help of the PHP api?

I cant just use any web server with the PHP api then?

I found this... : http://www.goya.com.au/blog/filemaker-server-and-linux-webserver

So it seems possible?

Well, you can use any web server to serve the actual web pages - I know this to be true. I do it all the time.

The files on that webserver then need to point to a server with FMS and web modules. In your case, on a single machine deployment, IIS would be a reasonable choice.

(It can be more complicated - we actually use a 2 machine FM deployment, so it goes normal webserver -> FM web enabled server -> FM database server)

In essence, you need to get the documentation for a single machine deployment and get that running, then worry about the external web server

I recently installed FMS with php. Hope this is helpful.

Below is a list I wish someone would have made available:

I installed on Windows 2003 Server, but just substitute the php server for your server OS. Time Estimate: (20minutes) | Experience level needed: (low)

1. Install FMS with web publishing engine including php publishing engine

Set the following: Filemaker Server Admin Console->Configuration ->Web Publishing ->Enable Php publishing, record pre-validation, (8UF-8), Error Message(English)

2. Install php server (I installed on win 2003 server using the php installer but you can use for your OS)

http://windows.php.net/download/

*I found the installation order didn't matter.

3. The Reference Manual was Worthless!. The author brought very little attention to the sample files on your FM12 server. Well, these files were the most important! item in the installation process because they have a working php site with fmp12.

http://www.filemaker..._cwp_php_en.pdf

4. On your FMS12, Go to folder: //YOUR SERVER/Program Files/Filemaker/Filemaker Server/Examples/PHP/

-You will find these folders:

API Examples & Tutorial (Double Click and select English)

5. Copy Folder API Examples and Folder English (Subfolder to Tutorial)

Paste in your webserver directory. For me it was C:wwwroot

6. Rename them - API Examples I renamed "FM1", English renamed "FM2". Folder name doesn't matter but i used short names to lessen my typing when access these files in the web browser.

7. In the above folders you will find two fmp12 files: "FMPHP_Sample.fmp12" & "questionaire.fmp12"

Cut them out and paste them where you host your other Filemaker 12 Server files. - Then open them in your Filemaker Server Admin Console->Databases (open these files)

8. Then open your new Php site sample: http://SERVER/FM1/index.html and http://SERVER/FM2/index.html

9. Drink a glass of wine and Enjoy

10. DONE!!

Now make a copy of the php files that were created by FM and open them with Note++

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/

*Only play with the COPIES of the php code - to study and replace the referenced sample fmp12 files with your own fmp12 files. Study these php files and (now) use the reference manual. Decode these files and customize.

Additional information I found useful to decode php, but NOT! needed to know before install:

References:

Nixon, Robbin. "Php, MySQL & JavaScript", O'reilly

YouTube had some great videos that eased the worry of php server install - thanks for those posts

Hi

I followed the instructions above and can browse to FM1/

I can view records etc from the FMPHP_Sample database no problem

But when I submit a new record I get an Internal Error 500 on IIS

The record is actually added to the database, but the user just sees the error page

Looking at the FM example, handleForm.php should redirect the user to displayRecords.php

I can browse to FM1/displayRecords.php no problem.

And it must be finding formHandler.php in order to add the records to the database.

Any got any bright ideas as to why I see the 500 error please?

Thanks