Productivity solutions guide
http://www.macworld.co.uk/filemaker
FileMaker has been able to share databases with Web-users since version 4. It was good, if idiosyncratic. Web-sharing with version 7 is a whole new ball-game.
Instead of requiring you to buy two products to share your database over the Web (FileMaker Server 6 and FileMaker Unlimited 6), the version 7 range now includes a product called FileMaker Server Advanced. This combines both the functionality of the standard server (sharing databases between up to 250 cross-platform desktop users), and Unlimited’s Web-sharing powers.
Server Advanced lets you link FileMaker to the Web in three ways. First, there’s what FileMaker calls Instant Web Publishing—which has a Ronseal-type ring to it. It’s pretty much instant, and you don’t have to do very much for it to happen. Add a field or button to a layout, and magically FIleMaker puts it onto the Web version for you: no HTML coding required. Server Advanced supports up to 100 concurrent Web users (in addition to 250 network users). Unlike network users, all you need to use it on the Web is a browser. Server Advanced includes the ability to support FileMaker plug-ins, so Web-users get almost the full FileMaker desktop experience.
For the techies, there’s also support for open-standard data exchange between Server Advanced and an existing company Web site. By supporting XML and the eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT), FileMaker can generate responses to Web queries using any language which XML documents can be transformed into using XSLT—including XHTML, RTF, and even PDF and Excel spreadsheets. The PC version includes ODBC and JDBC data-source support, meaning sites can be made using Dreamweaver MX or GoLive CS, and JSP or ASP applications can be made with the database as the backend. (This feature will be included in a future Mac version.)
FileMaker takes security seriously. All Web-to-FileMaker traffic (and all FileMaker-to-FileMaker traffic) can be set to use SSL encryption. The new authentication set-up for desktop FileMaker users is available to Web users, which means you can use the same user accounts for both. And FileMaker server now supports the use of external authentication through Active Directory or Open Directory, so you can tie it into a company intranet more easily.
As you’d expect from FileMaker, getting it up and running is straightforward. Installation involves just three parts—the Server to serve the data, the Web Publishing Engine to format the results of database requests suitably for the Web, and a Web Server to deal with the Web users themselves. (The Mac OS X version uses the built-in Apache). Each element can run on an independent machine, or across two machines, or run from the same machine.
Technology has moved on a long way from the days of version 4—and with ADSL and OS X, now’s definitely the time to try Web-publishing.
In general, FileMaker Pro 7 has beefed-up its security over previous versions. Users can be allowed access to the web or the desktop version, or you can login to either using the same ID and password.
When writing scripts, there’s a new checkbox option in ScriptMaker’s edit script dialog: Indicate Web Compatibility highlights only script steps that will work as you expect in a Web-published view of a database.
The image on the left is a FileMaker Pro layout shown on a PowerBook. Because FileMaker Pro is cross-platform (and the layout has been created using cross-platform/ Web-friendly font) it would look almost identical on a PC. But the PC/Mac comparison has been done before, and although FileMaker does a great job, it isn’t alone in managing to seamlessly cross the platform divide. What’s special is the fact that the right-hand screen-grab is taken from a copy of Safari: the URL at the top gives it away. The status bar looks slightly different, there’s a View As pop-up menu, round buttons render as square, and checkboxes look like Safari checkboxes. But in terms of use, it’s pretty much identical, and it means that you can work on FileMaker files from anywhere you can get to a Web browser.
While there’s a desktop app for controlling your copy of FileMaker Pro Server Advanced, it probably makes more sense to use the built-in Web controls. You can open and close databases, turn the various forms of Web-sharing on and off, and see exactly how well your Web server is performing.