Sharing FM Database Over the Web with File Upload Capability

[Ziphius]

I have a simple database with 3 fields, Name, Date, Location, and an Image container field. It is to be made available to fisherman who can add false killer whale sightings each time they encounter one. When a sighting is made, they would log onto the database, enter their name, the date, the location of the sighting, and upload a photo of the animal if they had one.

What is the best way to host this kind of database? The fishermen wont have Filemaker on their machines. A website with a PHP survey form with file attachment capability would not be ideal and a lot of work to transfer emailed sightings into the database. In a perfect world, the fisherman could simply drag and drop their image into the Image container field. It would be preferable to have the database hosted online through a third party company rather than using a dedicated computer due to government security concerns.

If the database is hosted on FMGateway can SuperContainers make container fields drag and drop accessible to the user? Or at least allow the user to select an upload file?

Any assistance with this seemingly simple problem would be greatly appreciated.

[Claus Lavendt]

There is no easy way of doing, what you wish.

You could use SuperContainer, which is the closest to simple you get here.

Otherwise, you need to upload the file, e.g. via html form, to a folder on the webserver. Then you need to have a robot importing the file into the container field of your database.

Not simple....

However, if possibly, I would simply let them use their iPhone/iPad with the free FilemakerGO 12. From here, they could take photo directly into the container field or choose a photo from the photo gallery.

This will also work when you host the database with e.g. FMGateway or other hosting providers

[Ziphius]

Thanks for the quick response, and although a great option, I don't think I would have much success with them going down the iPhone/iPad route.

From my basic understanding of this, without going the HTML route or the FilemakerGo route, I would need the following to make it work:

1. Filemaker Pro 12 (to build the database) with the container field as a web-viewer field

2. A hosting platform (Filemaker Server 12 with a dedicated computer OR a hosting server such as FMGateway)

3. SuperContainers installed on Filemaker Server 12 or on the FMGateway server to enable the web-viewer container field to handle the file uploads

Would this allow a user to add records to the database including image files through their web browser?

[Claus Lavendt]

Yes. You will need to create a CWP solution with e.g. php and then include the code for supercontainer.

The super container works as a link between the uploaded files and your filemaker database. This also means that you will not have container field in your database as you use a webviewer to show the image. SuperContainer is a java application, that is installed on the server.

You can also use IWP with super container, this way you can create your solution easily without coding in e.g. php.

Beaware that IWP has limitations, but in your case, it seems not to be an issue.

[John May - Point In Space]

Note that we provide SuperContainer hosting (with your license) on any of our shared or dedicated FileMaker hosting accounts at no additional charge.

http://www.pointinspace.com/

- John

[Reed]

Has anyone tried using the Insert From URL script step to automate file upload to a container yet?  If I upload a file to web host manually via ftp, and then use that script step with the document's URL, I can get the document right into a container field.

 

So if I could figure out how to do a CWP page that uses PHP to upload a file to temp directory on the web server, then pass that temp URL to a script as a parameter via the PHP API, I should in theory be able to get a document from my desktop into a container field via a web browser.  and if the Insert from URL script step can be called from the API, there should be no need for a robot machine to do this.