Remote container field

[eyeguy]

Can anyone tell me whether a remote network drive needs to be mounted in order to drag (or import) a file into it via a container field?

I would like to drag PDF's into a container field which is located on a networked attached drive. I am running a client copy of FM on my computer and remotely logged in to my database which is hosted on FMS.

Joseph

[Wim Decorte]

On OSX: yes. On Windows you can open an explorer window directly to the shared volume without "mounting / assigning it a drive letter".

Or do you want the remote container data to be stored on the network drive after you insert it into the container?

[eyeguy]

I would like to:

1. Drag or import the PDF into the remote container

2.Display the PDF in that container

Ideally without having to mount the remote drive

[Tim Anderson]

Using FM12 and the container field set to Store container data externally then yes. You also need to set the data formatting to Interactive in the Inspector.

Sorry - just reread and saw the 'network drive' - don't think that is supported.

[Wim Decorte]

It's not clear to me whether you want to import PDFs FROM the network location, or set up your FM file so that it saves the container data TO the network location.

On OSX you always have to mount the drive, no way around that. On Windows you can use the UNC syntax for a network share without having to assign it a drive letter.

I would strongly advice against setting up your FM to use a network location for the container data. You're adding a lot of data integrity vulnerability to the setup that way.

[eyeguy]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, I really appreciate it.

My set up is a Mac X-serve which is running Filemaker 12 server.

There are 8 client computers connected to it via ethernet. In addition, I can remotely connect to it from any location via the internet.

One of the drives on the X-serve is designated to be a document storage drive.

Up to now we have been storing, the path to a document in our solution and displaying the pdf in a container field using the plugin "Insidescan"

What I would like to accomplish is disposing of insidecan and instead have a user on a local computer drag a document into a container field and have that document move to the document drive on the server.

Also of course have anyone on the network or remotely view the document.

To now I have been mounting the document drive on each users computer. So my question was wether this was required as it is a pain, or could the file be moved to the server without having to mount it.

Also I am not sure what the syntax of the file path to the document drive should be.

I have noticed that it is not possible to set the file path whilst logged in remotely. I assume that I have to take the file offline, set the path then return it to the server.

Joseph

[Wim Decorte]

What you have in mind won't work with just the native features of FM12: when you host a file, the path to its container data is always a subfolder of the folder where the FM file itself is. You can not choose a different location when the file is hosted. You can change it when the file is not hosted but it will revert to the default location when you host it again.

SuperContainer would be a better fit I think.

[Tim Anderson]

I disagree Wim, this is exactly what FileMaker Server 12 will do for Joseph. If the container is set to Store container data externally then dragging a pdf to the container will make it available to everyone via FileMaker, no mounting of the server required and available to anyone (df you want) who can connect with FileMaker.

The only potential downside is that the pdfs will not be available without FileMaker, that is often an upside!

Set the container to interactive content when viewing and all can be done within FileMaker, or have a script to export to the temp folder and open to view in a pdf viewer.

[Ocean West]

if you have a Fujitsu scanner check out http://fullcityconsulting.com/snap2fm-scanning-directly-into-filemaker-with-scansnap-scanners

[Aussie John]

I don't know if this trick will work, but it does in Final Cut Pro, iTunes and iMovie iPhoto etc.

Create a matching folder structure to the one used by filemaker for its container data (RC_Data_FMS) on your remote drive and place an alias in the default location. That said, you might get thwarted by permissions.

[Wim Decorte]

I disagree Wim, this is exactly what FileMaker Server 12 will do for Joseph.

I think we're talking about different things. I agree with you that the act of adding container data to the FM file so that other users can work with it is a core benefit. That was already there before 12.

I'm thinking that eyeguy wants the container data to reside on a network volume once the container data has been inserted into the FM file. That won't work with a hosted file.

[Fitch]

The FileMaker engineer who developed the new container fields did a presentation last week at our user group meeting. He sounded a little apologetic about the fact that you can't change the base path when the file is hosted, and I got the impression that this was likely to be rectified in a future version.

[eyeguy]

Hmm

I' confused

At present I am storing pdf's on the server and also displaying them in a container field using the insidescan plugin.

What I had hoped to do is dispense with this plugin and achieve the same result with the native FM12 capabilities.

So are you saying that it can't be done? If not was is the use of remote containers?

I have seen this Fujitsu site an this does look promising but my impression is that it moves the pdf to the container just like insidescan

[eyeguy]

I think that you may have answered my question about wether the drive needs to be mounted.

So lastly If path to the folder on the document drive is documents/pdf, what should I set the folder path to be? Do I use the ip of the server given that it is available remotely? i.e. 192.xxx.x.x/documents/pdf or 10.x.x.x/documents/pdf ??

[Ocean West]

you should never give any person access to the files storage path of items stored as a Remote Container. - I too have a system where I have a server share point that has a human readable folder hierarchy of documents - and I also have a DUPLICATE version of that file for the database (SuperContainer) - the controlling document is the database version - with scripts and plugins I manage the external storage- the purpose for the extra directory tree is partly for the users who don't use FMP but need access to read documents.

I have a process setup where we batch scan documents and store them in a scans folder the in FMP each document has a barcode on it the scanner we have is smart enough to decode the barcode and rename the file according to the system ID - we then can tie the document to the record and additional processes push this document to FMP and to the folder tree server - because you can never have enough backups!

[bcooney]

...or hard disk space, apparently!

EyeGuy, the key point that I'm not sure you've internalized is that FM12's containers auto-create a folder hierarchy when the file is served using FMS. You cannot re-direct this path to a shared volume. It will always store the files on the same drive as the fm file. Re-read Wim's post.

SuperContainer allows you to store docs on a different drive than the fm file and still access them without FM client.

hth,

Barbara

[eyeguy]

OK

So I'm starting to realise after playing with this that in fact I cannot choose where the files are stored. i.e they will always be in the same location as the hosted file.

BTW I actually have no need to access the files except via FM client.

The question therefore is what is the point of setting a file path in the manage containers menu if FM overrides this. I guess I am missing something

Joseph

[bcooney]

Joseph,

Have you read this? http://fmforums.com/forum/blog/62/entry-336-filemaker-12-and-supercontainer-a-comparison/

or this?

http://fmforums.com/forum/blog/13/entry-313-filemaker®-server-12-bold-new-steps/

[Fitch]

What you might be missing is that while you can set the file path when your FileMaker file is local, that path will be overridden when you host the file. It's a little misleading.

[eyeguy]

Thanks Tom, I think that you have hit the nail on the head

I have noticed that FM ignores my filepath and instead puts the file in a subdirectory on the same drive as the hosted database.

In effect it makes this feature totally useless to me. I guess I will look at supercontainer.

many thanks

Joseph