Administrator’s Guide

Table Of Contents
Publishing your database on the Web 3-9
Now when you enter your computer’s IP address or “localhost” in
the web browser, the Web Companion will display the database
layout for your custom home page in the browser window.
Using script buttons in Instant Web Publishing
You can provide special script buttons in your FileMaker Pro layout
to work with Instant Web Publishing. When web users click on a
button in the browser, the script’s URL is sent to the Web
Companion as a FileMaker CGI request.
If the script is a single script step, an onClick JavaScript event
handler is executed and a URL is generated containing the current
state information in the browser and information from the script step
extracted by the Web Companion.
If the script contains multiple script steps, state information from the
first three supported steps is extracted to construct a JavaScript state
object (scriptState) that encapsulates the result of the executed script.
The resulting information is passed to the JavaScript runtime
application (Instant Web Publishing), which interprets the state
object, builds the resulting URL, and sends the CGI request to the
Web Companion.
Note For information about FileMaker CGI requests made in custom
web publishing, see “Generating FileMaker Pro CGI requests using
CDML” on page 4-3 and “Generating FileMaker Pro CGI requests
for an XML document” on page 5-8.
Requirements for Instant Web Publishing buttons
A button that you’re using in a layout for Instant Web Publishing
may have a single valid script step attached to it or a script containing
1 to 3 valid script steps.
If you’re using multiple text and graphic objects for a button, the
script or script step must be attached to the topmost object in the
group. Create the text and graphic elements first, group them, and
then attach the script to the group.
Single script steps supported for Instant Web Publishing
In FileMaker Pro 5.5 and FileMaker Pro 5.5 Unlimited, the Web
Companion supports the following single script steps for buttons
used in Instant Web Publishing layouts.
FileMaker script step CGI request Description
Open [<Document name>] Open database in
browser window
Equivalent to opening the
database from the Instant
Web Publishing home
page.
The database must be
specified as a script
parameter, and it must be
open in FileMaker Pro.
Open URL [<url>] Set window location
to the specified URL
Use this with a text field
or calculation field with a
text result to construct
target URLs.
The URL must be
complete (e.g. include
http://) and can go to
another web site or
contain a FileMaker CGI
request.
Go to Layout [<Layout
Name>]
Go to specified
layout
This will not affect other
current parameters for
location.
The generated URL link is
based on the default URL
of the database plus any
settings made for startup
script and layout, and
specified record in a
relationship.
Also supported in a multi-
step button.