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
Chapter 12
Understanding external function plug-ins
If you are a C or C++ programmer and familiar with advanced
calculations in FileMaker Pro, you can create external function plug-
ins that extend the feature set of FileMaker Pro—including
calculation formulas that take advantage of recursion and looping, or
that hook into other programming interfaces. Users can enable your
plug-ins in FileMaker Pro and use your external functions in their
calculation fields and scripts.
FileMaker Pro plug-ins must be registered with FileMaker, Inc. The
FileMaker, Inc. web site (www.filemaker.com) includes a plug-in
registration form and a database of all the registered plug-ins. You
can browse this database to get an idea of what kind of plug-ins
already exist and use it to list your own plug-ins. See
“Registering
your plug-ins” on page 12-13 for more information.
About external functions
The FileMaker Developer CD includes an example plug-in project
that you can modify to include your own external functions. Users
can access your plug-ins through the FileMaker Pro Specify
Calculation dialog box.
Follow these general steps to prepare your custom plug-ins:
1. Edit the example plug-in files to add your custom programming
code.
2. Compile and test the customized plug-in.
3. Register your functions with FileMaker, Inc.
4. Install the compiled plug-in file for your users.
To access your custom functions, your users do the following:
1. Enable your plug-in through the Application Preferences dialog in
FileMaker Pro.
2. Configure your plug-in, if required.
3. Define or edit a calculation field in FileMaker Pro.
4. In the Specify Calculation dialog box, choose
External(function_name) as the calculation formula.
About the plug-in example file
The example plug-in project is designed to illustrate what a complete
FileMaker Pro plug-in looks like. You can compile the example
project files to create a plug-in with several external functions that
users can access through the Specify Calculation dialog box in
FileMaker Pro.You can examine and modify the source code of
these examples and templates in any text editor.
The plug-in example includes five useful external functions (see
“Description of the FMExample plug-in’s external functions” on
page 12-4).
The plug-in example files include all the source code required to
compile the plug-in for the Windows, Mac OS, and Mac OS X
platforms. In addition to the plug-in source code, FileMaker
Developer includes project files for CodeWarrior 4, CodeWarrior 6,
and Microsoft Developer Studio.
The example plug-in files in Mac OS are located in the
Developer Extras\FileMaker, Inc\External FileMaker APIs\External
Function Plug-in\(Output)\FAT folder on the FileMaker Developer CD.