Developer’s Guide
Table Of Contents
- Chapter 1 Welcome to FileMaker Developer
- Chapter 2 Installing FileMaker Developer in Windows
- Chapter 3 Installing FileMaker Developer in the Mac OS
- Chapter 4 Creating a database solution
- Overview of preparing your solutionfiles
- Considerations for a runtime databasesolution
- Considerations for Kiosk mode
- Using scripts to control your solution
- Protecting your database solution files
- Providing user documentation
- Design tips for cross-platform solutions
- Creating a consistent appearance
- Simulating outline and shadow text styles
- Using common character sets
- Designing text layouts for cross-platform solutions
- Using a common color palette
- Using graphics in cross-platform solutions
- Using QuickTime movies in cross-platform solutions
- Showing the status bar in Windows
- Using separate scripts for printing
- Using the Status (CurrentPlatform) function
- Creating platform-specific scripts
- Your responsibilities as a developer
- Testing before and after creating your solution
- Converting and upgrading solution files
- Chapter 5 Creating custom layout themes
- Chapter 6 Using the FileMaker Developer Tool
- About the solution examples
- Using the FileMaker Developer Tool
- Binding your databases into a runtime database solution
- Creating Kiosk-mode solutions
- Renaming your databases
- Removing design access to your databases
- Customizing the About, Help, and Scripts menus
- Adding the FileMaker Pro extension to database filenames
- Saving your settings in the Developer Tool
- Chapter 7 Distributing FileMaker Pro runtime database solutions
- Chapter 8 Publishing your database on the Web
- Types of web publishing
- Using the FileMaker Pro Web Companion
- Creating a custom home page
- Creating a custom home page for Instant Web Publishing
- Creating a custom web site using a database layout
- Web Companion support for Internet mediatypes
- Monitoring your site
- Exporting data to a static HTML page
- Testing your site without a network connection
- Opening password-protected databases remotely
- Chapter 9 Custom web publishing using CDML
- About the CDML examples
- General steps for custom web publishing using CDML
- About CDML format files
- Generating FileMaker Pro CGI requests using CDML
- Using the CDML Tool and templates
- About the CDML Reference database
- Creating error messages
- Using an encoding parameter with a CDML replacement tag
- Planning your web site
- Chapter 10 Using FileMaker Pro XML to deliver your data on the Web
- About the XML examples
- General process for custom web publishing using XML
- Generating an XML document
- Using the FMPDSORESULT grammar
- Using the FileMaker Pro Extended XML grammars
- About UTF-8 encoded data
- Generating FileMaker Pro CGI requests for an XML document
- Using style sheets with your XML document
- Comparing CSS, XSLT, and JavaScript
- Looking at the XML Inventory example
- Chapter 11 Using JDBC to deliver your data
- About the JDBC examples
- About JDBC
- Using the FileMaker JDBC Driver
- SQL supported by the FileMaker JDBC Driver
- FileMaker Pro support for Unicode characters
- About the FileMaker JDBC Driver interfaces and extensions
- Example 1: Looking at the FileMaker Pro Explorer application
- Example 2: Creating the JBuilder Inventory application
- Example 3: Creating the Visual Cafe Inventory application
- Chapter 12 Understanding external function plug-ins
- About external functions
- About the plug-in example file
- Installing, enabling, and configuring the example plug-in
- Description of the FMExample plug-in’s external functions
- Using the example plug-in
- Customizing the plug-in example
- Requirements for writing an external function plug-in
- FileMaker Pro messages sent to the plug-in
- Debugging your plug-in
- Avoiding potential Mac OS resourceconflicts
- Providing documentation for your plug-in
- Registering your plug-ins
- Appendix A Feature comparison of the runtime application and FileMaker Pro
- Appendix B Valid names used in CGI requests for FileMaker Pro XML data
- Generating a –find, –findall, or –findany request
- Generating a –view request
- Generating a –new request
- Generating an –edit request
- Generating a –delete request
- Generating a –dbnames request
- Generating a –layoutnames request
- Generating a –scriptnames request
- Generating a –dbopen request
- Generating a –dbclose request
- Generating a -dup request
- Generating an -img request
- Specifying parameters for the request
- –db (Database)
- –lay (Layout)
- –format (Format)
- –recid (Record ID)
- –modid (Modification ID)
- –lop (Logical operator)
- –op (Comparison operator)
- –max (Maximum records)
- –skip (Skip records)
- –sortfield (Sort field)
- –sortorder (Sort order)
- –script (Script)
- –script.prefind (Script before Find)
- –script.presort (Script before Sort)
- –styletype (Style type)
- –stylehref (Style href)
- –password (Database password)
- field name (Name of specific field)
- Appendix C FileMaker Pro values for error codes
- Index
• If you add or remove the .FP5 filename extension as part of the
conversion process, you must re-specify file locations for related or
external files when the database is first opened.
• If you are converting a copy of a FileMaker Pro file, close the file
before you copy it. Files that are copies of open files will not convert
correctly.
• If consistency check or auto-repair error messages appear during
conversion, try recovering the file first using a previous version of
FileMaker Pro.
FileMaker Pro 1.x databases
On the Macintosh, you can convert FileMaker Pro 1.x databases with
FileMaker Pro 6. Follow the instructions in the previous section,
“FileMaker Pro 4.x/3.x/2.x databases,” to convert your file to
FileMaker Pro 6.
FileMaker Pro for Windows cannot convert FileMaker Pro 1.x
databases directly. To use a database created by FileMaker Pro 1.x
with FileMaker Pro 6 on Windows, do the following:
1. Convert the file on a Mac OS computer using FileMaker Pro 2.x
or later.
If you have a Mac OS computer but do not have FileMaker Pro 2.x
or later, you can download a trial version of FileMaker Pro for
Macintosh from www.filemaker.com, and use it to convert the file.
2. Transfer the converted file to your Windows-based computer.
3. If necessary, follow the instructions in the previous section,
“FileMaker Pro 4.x/3.x/2.x databases,” to convert the file to
FileMaker Pro 6.
Welcome to FileMaker Developer 1-5
Updating your User Dictionary
If you added words to a User Dictionary in a previous version of
FileMaker Pro, you may want to use it with FileMaker Pro 6. For
more information about converting a User Dictionary, see
FileMaker Pro Help after you have installed FileMaker Developer 6.
Choose Help menu > Contents and Index, click the Index tab, and type
dictionaries.
Read Me file
In the FileMaker Developer 6 folder, the Read Me file contains last-
minute information about FileMaker Developer 6.
Electronic documentation
In the Electronic Documentation folder in the installed FileMaker
folder and on the CD you will find PDF versions of the following
documents:
Filename Document title
FMD 6 Developer’s Guide.pdf FileMaker Developer 6 Developer’s Guide
FMP 6 User’s Guide.pdf FileMaker Pro User’s Guide
FMP 6 Getting Started.pdf FileMaker Pro 6 Getting Started Guide
Customizing Templates.pdf Customizing your FileMaker Pro templates
In addition, FileMaker Pro 6 installs the Web Security.pdf in the
FileMaker Pro 6\Web Security folder on your hard drive.