Instant Web Publishing Guide

24 FileMaker Instant Web Publishing Guide
Design considerations for List View and Table View
With Instant Web Publishing, users can now dynamically choose a layout view to interact with data
on the current layout, (provided that you make the layout view available in the Layout Setup dialog
box).
Here are key differences between views in FileMaker Pro and Instant Web Publishing:
1 List View displays five records at a time and Table View displays 20. The current record is always
at the top, or the first row. When new records are created, they become the current record. You
can display previous record ranges with the controls in the status area.
1 Web users can now add, edit, and delete records and find requests in List View and Table View.
1 In Table View, records can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking the column
heading (the field name). Sorting is enabled in the Table View Properties section of the Layout
Setup dialog box. For more information, see FileMaker Pro Help.
Tips for working with data in a web browser
1 Formatting for date, time, and number fields is specified in the layout.
1 Repeating field data is now displayed in web browsers.
1 Web browsers ignore the tab order defined in a layout. Objects are rendered in the order in which
they are stacked in a layout, with objects at the background of a layout being rendered before
objects in the foreground. Use this to determine the tab order by stacking objects on the layout in
the order you want users to tab into them.
1 Pop-up menus and pop-up lists display as HTML pop-up menus. Web users can't edit value lists
by using an Edit item, or enter values that aren't in a value list by using an Other item.
1 If your solution includes multiple files, Instant Web Publishing must be enabled in all databases.
If you don’t want related files to be accessed directly, you can exclude a filename from the
Database Homepage by enabling the
Don’t display in the Instant Web Publishing Database Homepage
option in the Sharing dialog box.
1 If your layout contains a portal, related records also display in a web browser within a portal,
provided that the related file or table is also shared with Instant Web Publishing. When you
submit a record containing a portal you might be notified that another user has modified one of
the records since you loaded the page. If this occurs, refresh your page and submit the data again.
If this is a likely scenario, consider using portals as “read only” forms. Alternatively, you can edit
related record data in portals by using the Go To Related Record script step and editing them
directly.
1 Web users can create and edit portal records. To delete a portal record, you must provide a
scripted button that selects the appropriate portal record, then deletes it.
General database design considerations
Keep the following points in mind:
1 If you are designing a database that will be accessed by both Instant Web Publishing and
FileMaker Pro network clients, it’s best to design with web clients in mind to ensure
compatibility across both technologies.