Developer’s Guide

Table Of Contents
Publishing your database on the Web
6-3
In addition, your site folders and web pages must be located inside
the Web folder (inside the FileMaker Pro 5 application folder) in
order for the Web Companion to serve them on the Web. However,
your databases do not have to be inside the Web folder. They only
need to be open in FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Pro Unlimited and
shared via the Web Companion. For security, it’s a good idea not to
have your databases or other sensitive documents in the Web folder.
Note You can keep your site folders, web pages, and databases in a
different folder anywhere on the hard drive and only have a shortcut/
alias (named “Web”) inside the FileMaker Pro 5 folder.
The Web Companion in FileMaker Pro 5 is capable of serving your
databases to a maximum of ten IP addresses in a 12-hour period.
(The IP Guest Limit of 10 is indicated in the Web Companion
Configuration dialog box.) For information about serving your
databases to more IP addresses at a time, see the product pages for
the FileMaker Pro Unlimited software at www.filemaker.com.
If desired, you can set up your computer for testing purposes without
a constant connection to the Internet or an intranet. For information,
see “Testing your site without a network connection” on page 6-13.
Enabling the Web Companion
You only need to enable the Web Companion plug-in once for
FileMaker Pro. FileMaker Pro will attempt to connect to a network
in order to enable the Web Companion — if you do not have a
network connection but want to enable the Web Companion anyway,
see “Testing your site without a network connection” on page 6-13.
To enable the Web Companion:
1. In FileMaker Pro, choose Edit menu > Preferences > Application.
2. In the Application Preferences dialog box, click the Plug-Ins tab.
3. Select the Web Companion checkbox to enable the Web
Companion plug-in.
Note The Web Companion is installed in a Typical or Easy
installation. If Web Companion doesn’t appear in the Application
Preferences dialog box, you must install the FileMaker Pro Web
Support component. See the sections on custom installation in the
FileMaker Pro 5 Getting Started Guide for information.
4. Select Web Companion and click Configure to set configuration
options, or click OK.
Setting Web Companion configuration options
Follow these steps after you’ve enabled the Web Companion:
1. On the Plug-Ins tab in the Application Preferences dialog box,
select Web Companion and click Configure.