How to make changes to a WebDirect Database

[Brad Mathews]

After uploading your database to the server, how do you make changes to it? 

I cannot find this explicitly stated anywhere, though I think I have figured it out through a process of elimination. But I wanted to make sure I've got this correct and understand any idiosyncrasies.

Do you just open the file from the server rather then the local copy? How does that work with a non-local server? If so, should I just go ahead and delete the local copy as it will no longer be relevant? Any tips or weirdnesses I should be aware of?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but a few decades of development experience tells me that editing the live version directly is a very bad idea, so I was looking everywhere else for a solution.

Thanks,

Brad

 

[webko]

This is a balancing act...

The recommended and safest method is to make structural changes on the local version, close the live database, replace it with the changed version, and import the data from the old live version. 

In the real world, this tends not to be practicable.

So, a lot of people use the Separation model, where all the data resides in one file (which shouldn't require changes all that often, if the data structure is sound), and the UX lives in a different file. That file contains no real data, so can be easily swapped out for a newer version.

And then there is the somewhat more risky "just perform the changes on the live hosted file" - there are some circumstances where if your computer crashes, it can damage the hosted file (particularly if you were in Manage Database at the time). That's where a strong backup regime is good.

But you're correct in thinking that editing the live version is inherently more risky...

[Brad Mathews]

I like the seperation model (this test uses ODBC to an Azure SQL server database)

To test updating, I closed the database on the server and tried re-uploading a tweaked version.

But in the Upload to FileMaker Server dialog box, I am getting a message that the file already exists on the server and the Upload button is greyed out.

- Brad

 

[webko]

Yep - you have to also Remove the old file before you can upload a new one...