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 5
Creating custom layout themes
FileMaker Pro uses a variety of layout themes to describe the colors,
patterns, fonts, and borders of text, fields, and parts in a new layout.
A FileMaker Pro theme is defined in an Extensible Markup
Language (XML) document that can be read and edited in text
editors (such as Wordpad for Windows or BBEdit for Mac OS) or
XML editors (such as XML SPY or XML Pad). You can customize
an existing theme or create your own, and then use the New Layout/
Report assistant to apply the custom theme when you create layouts
for your databases. You can modify attributes defined by the theme
in Layout mode after the layout is created. However, you can’t apply
a theme to an existing layout.
Fill color and
pattern for
header part
Field label
Fill color and
pattern for
body part
Field text
Field fill,
border and
shadow effect
Text in
footer part
Fill color and
pattern for
footer part
Create themes to automatically apply different styles to text and
background fills in layout parts, fields, and field labels
Note A FileMaker Pro theme is not a stylesheet and does not contain
positioning information for objects on a layout.
For information about:
• using layout themes and designing layouts, see the FileMaker Pro
User’s Guide
• XML and its uses, see the product support pages for FileMaker
Developer on the FileMaker, Inc. web site at www.filemaker.com
• publishing your database on the Web in XML format, see
chapter 10, “Using FileMaker Pro XML to deliver your data on the
Web”
• creating a custom web site using a database layout, see page 8-7
Modifying a FileMaker Pro theme
The Developer edition of FileMaker Pro includes theme files, which
you can modify. A FileMaker Pro theme file can contain more than
one theme—for example, the Blue_gold.fth file contains two
themes: “Blue and Gold Screen” (for viewing onscreen) and “Blue
and Gold Print” (for printing).
Important The XML for a layout theme must be well-formed and
comply with the required syntax. See
“Basic requirements for a
theme file” on page 5-3 and “Checking your theme document for
errors” on page 5-11.
To modify a theme:
1. Make a duplicate copy of the theme file (for example,
Blue_gold.fth) in the Themes folder.
FileMaker Developer 6\Themes\
or
FileMaker Developer 6\FileMaker Pro.app\Contents\MacOS\Themes\