Developer’s Guide

8-2 Developer’s Guide
For additional information and examples using CDML to publish
FileMaker Pro databases on the Web, see the product support pages on
the FileMaker, Inc. web site at www.filemaker.com.
General steps for custom web publishing
using CDML
In general, to publish your FileMaker Pro databases on the Web you
must have a TCP/IP connection to an intranet or Internet Service
Provider, the Web Companion must be enabled, and your databases
must be open and shared via the Web Companion. (For more
information, see chapter 6, “Publishing your database on the Web.”)
1. Design your web site and how web users will interact with your
database. See “Planning your web site” on page 8-14 for ideas.
2. Create a format file for every type of interaction web users will
have with your database, for example, adding records to the
database. Use the CDML Tool to add tags to your format files and
use the format file templates provided by the CDML Tool as a
starting point. See “Using the CDML Tool and templates” on
page 8-5 for information.
3. Create a custom home page for your web site that contains a link
to the first format file you want displayed and the path to the
database.
See “Creating a custom home page” on page 6-5 and “Generating
FileMaker Pro CGI requests using CDML” on page 8-3 for
information.
4. Place the format files and the custom home page in the Web folder,
located inside the FileMaker Pro folder on your computer.
5. In FileMaker Pro, enable the Web Companion, open each database
that you’re publishing, and share it via the Web Companion.
See “Enabling the Web Companion” on page 6-3 and “Sharing the
database via the Web” on page 6-5.
6. In the Web Companion Configuration dialog box, deselect Enable
Instant Web Publishing and choose your custom home page from the
Home Page pop-up menu if desired. (It must be located in the root
level of the Web folder.)
See “Setting Web Companion configuration options” on page 6-3
for information.
7. In a web browser, enter the IP address of the computer that’s
hosting the database.
If you enclosed your pages within a site folder, enter the name of the
folder after the IP address. Otherwise, the Web Companion will
serve the home page that you specified in step 6.
Tip You can create an index page containing a link to every database
site that you’re publishing. Each link can contain the IP address and
site folder so that users don’t have to type it in their web browsers.
When web users click the link, the Web Companion will serve the
index.htm file located in the site folder. For example, an index page
might have these three links:
<P><A HREF="http://17.17.17.17/guest_book">Guest Book</A></P>
<P><A HREF="http://17.17.17.17/employee_database">Employees
</A></P>
<P><A HREF="http://17.17.17.17/shopping_cart">Shopping Cart</A>
</P>
About CDML format files
A format file is an HTML page containing CDML tags. CDML tags
are distinguished by a hyphen (-) or square brackets [ ]. In addition,
a format file may contain FileMaker Pro CGI requests in an HTML
form or HREF link.
For example, every HTML form in a format file that is requesting
data from the database begins with the FMPro form action and the
following hidden INPUT tags.
<FORM ACTION=“FMPro” METHOD=“POST”>