Database on Web Table

[mariapg]

Hello,

We want to put our database which is comprised of Television programs, dates, times and descriptions up on our website. But only a certain table on our site. We want just to show daily time and names of our programs and then when you click on a certain show for a description to pop out.

Now, I know a little ASAP but I'm more familiar with ACCESS. We just recently bought FileMaker Pro for this purpose.

For an example of what we want to do take a look at: http://wlrn.org/department.cfm?departmentID=2

Right now we are having to plug in each show manually, but it's proving to be a very time-taking procedure.

If anybody could help me understand how to do this, I would appreciate it very much.

Thank you in advance.

[iBib]

In what way is it time-consuming? Is it because you have to enter the information about each show manually or beacause of something else?

I don't think that I can distiguish what the problem is, you have to be more specific.

If it's a basic question of how to publish your database information online, then you have to sit down with Filemaker, a Web-authoring application and some information of where to start. (For example in the Filemaker manual and this forum).

But since it's hard to know what you're asking for, it's hard to help you.

So make it a bit clearer and we'll all rush for assistance (maybe not rush, but at least be here... ).

[mariapg]

I'm sorry I wasn't making sense before.

We have a database already setup with the list of shows with their times dates and descriptions. What we are trying to do is put that information onto the internet. The manual is a bit confusing. I did get it to work through the web companion, but I can't organize the layout to what our needs are (in the right table of our page).

I would like to know if anyone knows if this is possible and how to go about doing something like this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[AndreasBoehmer]

So if I understand right you want to know how to display all the records from your database (only the Time and Name of the shows) on your website dynamically with Filemaker?

That's fairly easy.

At the moment you've got following HTML on your site (as an example of one entry for a show):

<TR><TD VALIGN="top" ALIGN="center"><FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" STYLE="font-size: 8pt; font-style: italic;" COLOR="Navy">09:00 AM</FONT></TD><TD> </TD><TD VALIGN="top"><Font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 8pt;" COLOR="Navy"><B>Between the Lions</B></FONT></TD></TR>

What you do is change it to:

[FMP-Record]

<TR>

<TD VALIGN="top" ALIGN="center">

<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" STYLE="font-size: 8pt; font-style: italic;" COLOR="Navy">[FMP-field: ShowTime]</FONT></TD>

<TD> </TD>

<TD VALIGN="top">

<Font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 8pt;" COLOR="Navy"><B>[FMP-field: ShowName]</B></FONT></TD>

</TR>

[/FMP-Record]

Up there we are assuming that the Datafield that is holding the Time/Date of the Show is called "ShowTime" and the Datafield that is holding the Name of the Show is called "ShowName".

What the bit of code does is take all the records it found and create the content in between [FMP-Record] and [/FMP-Record] for each one of them. It inserts the data of the fields ShowTime and ShowName from your database into the appropriate place-holders. Meaning: all you have to do is write that one bit of code and FMP will dynamically re-create it for each one of your entries on server-side (similar to ASP).

Alright. Now CDML is a bit different with calling the entries than if you use ASP and an Open Database Connection. What you have to do is send a string that you put into your URL to Filemaker which defines what database to look in, with what search-criteria and what to do with the records it found.

For example: Let's say the database that holds your records is called "Movies". The html-file that you created above is called "view_entries.html". We assume you want all records to be displayed on your website. Now you type into your address-bar following URL: http://yourDomainName.com/FMPro?-db=movies&-layout=view_entries.html&-findAll

This should display all the records of your database with the file view_entries.html

Phhh... I am writing and writing and don't even know whether I am still on track or whether I am just brabbling. Is this answering your question at all? If it's going into the right direction, let us know and more information will follow.

[MeltDown]

I would add "&-sortfield=dayofweek&-sortfield=time&-sort=descending& " to the string suggested by Andreas.

Note: you don't want an alpha sort on the day of the week, so your 'dayofweek' should be a number field, as in Monday=1, Tuesday=2, Wednesday=3, etc.

Hope this helps!D