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
8-12 Developer’s Guide
You only need the Toggle Status Area [Hide] script step in your
startup script to hide the Instant Web Publishing interface. In
addition, you can combine the Toggle Status Area [Hide] script step
with one of the following script steps in the startup script:
• Enter Browse Mode: Form View
• Enter Find Mode: Search page
• New Record: New Record View
• View As [View as Table]: Table View
The Freeze Window, Set User Capture, and Refresh Window script
steps can appear before the supported steps, but they will be ignored.
To hide the Instant Web Publishing interface:
1. Choose Scripts > ScriptMaker and type a name for the new script
in the Script Name text box. Then click Create.
2. In the Script Definition dialog box, click Clear All, and select
Toggle Status Area. Choose Hide from the Specify pop-up menu to add
the parameter to the script step. Then click OK.
3. Click Done to close the Define Scripts dialog box.
4. Mac OS, Windows: Choose Edit > Preferences > Document.
Mac OS X: Choose FileMaker Developer menu > Preferences >
Document.
5. In the Document Preferences dialog box, select the checkbox for
Perform script when opening the database, and choose the script you
named in step 1 from the pop-up menu.
6. Click OK.
For more information, see “Defining scripts” in chapter 10 and
“Setting document preferences” in appendix A of the FileMaker Pro
User’s Guide or see FileMaker Pro Help.
Bypassing the Instant Web Publishing home page
You can bypass the built-in Instant Web Publishing home page so
that the database layout you’ve created appears as the default home
page in the web browser. You do this by writing a redirect statement
in an HTML file that includes a FileMaker CGI request and then
designating the file as the default home page in FileMaker Pro.
For the FileMaker CGI request, you’ll need to know the URL of the
view (instant web page) that you want the database layout to appear
in. You can get this from the browser window by displaying the
database in the Instant Web Publishing home page and moving the
cursor over the link or clicking the link to go to the view.
To bypass the Instant Web Publishing home page:
1. Create an HTML file that contains a redirect statement to your
database layout.
2. Save the HTML file with the .htm or .html extension and place it
in the Web folder.
3. In the Web Companion Configuration dialog box, specify the
HTML file to be the default home page. (See “Setting Web
Companion configuration options” on page 8-3.)
For example, the following redirect statement contains a FileMaker
CGI request for layout ID number 3 in the “MyCustomUI.fp5”
database to open in the Form View instant web page
(formvwcss.htm).
<HTML>
<BODY>
<SCRIPT Language="JavaScript">
window.location ="/FMRes/FMPJS?-db=MyCustomUI.fp5&
-layID=3&-token=25&-max=1&-format=formvwcss.htm&
-mode=browse&-findall"
</SCRIPT>
</BODY>