Quick Start

34 Getting Started Guide
Suppressing the Instant Web Publishing interface controls
FileMaker Pro 5.5 now allows you to suppress the automatically
generated Instant Web Publishing interface controls, enhancing your
ability to serve flexible, custom solutions through Instant Web
Publishing.
If you create a startup script to hide the status area, users who access
your database through Instant Web Publishing can now navigate and
command the database through the buttons and supported
ScriptMaker script steps you put on your layouts. In many instances,
this will allow you to create a single layout for use by both peer-to-
peer guests and users who access your database through a web
browser. Because Instant Web Publishing renders layouts as
cascading style sheets (CSS), these layouts will look the same.
A new Sort page, available only from layouts served with the
interface suppressed, displays the familiar FileMaker Pro Sort dialog
box to web users.
Web Companion support for custom MIME types
MIME is a protocol that is used in Internet communications to
transmit documents in different formats. You can customize the
FileMaker Pro Web Companion support for different MIME types,
allowing you to specify and display a broader range of documents
and images.
By inserting a text file named
mimetypes.txt in the same
directory or folder as the FileMaker Pro application, you can extend
the ability of the FileMaker Pro Web Companion to interpret MIME
types not included with the FileMaker Pro application.
Backward compatibility
Features available in FileMaker Pro 5.5 may have limited
functionality in files that are open in FileMaker Pro 5. If you have a
question about compatibility issues, check the FileMaker Pro 5.5
Help topic associated with the feature you are using.
New features in FileMaker Pro 5
FileMaker Pro 5 brings a wide range of new features and
improvements to the application. Responding to feedback from users
and developers, much attention has been paid to the ways that users
interact with the software. Menus, dialog boxes, and toolbars have all
received attention in an effort to make the experience of using
FileMaker Pro more productive and enjoyable, while FileMaker Pro
software’s ODBC and Microsoft Office compatibility have also been
enhanced. Some of these changes will make using FileMaker Pro
easier for people who are new to the application, while others will
please longtime users and developers.
Access to menu commands
There are two new ways to access menu commands:
1 selecting buttons on a toolbar
1 displaying context menus
Toolbars provide quick access to many FileMaker Pro menu
commands. Show or hide toolbars by choosing View menu >
Toolbars, then the name of the toolbar to display.
You can also quickly edit an object or data by choosing editing
commands directly from a context menu. To display a context menu
in Windows, hold down the right mouse button while the pointer is
over an object or data. In the Mac OS, hold down the Control key,
then click the mouse button over an object or data. The type of object
you click on and the mode you’re in will determine which menu
commands you can access.
Drag a toolbar by the handle to reposition it
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