ODBC and JDBC Developer’s Guide

Chapter 1
Introduction
Welcome to the FileMaker
®
ODBC and JDBC Developer’s Guide. This guide explains concepts and details
to help you share FileMaker data with other applications, using ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) and
JDBC (Java Database Connectivity). This guide also documents how the ODBC and JDBC client drivers,
when used with FileMaker
Pro and FileMaker Server Advanced, support the industry standards for ODBC,
JDBC, and SQL (Structured Query Language).
You can use FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Pro Advanced, or FileMaker Server Advanced, to create and test
your database solution. You can then share your FileMaker database solution as a data source with ODBC-
and JDBC-compliant applications, or access other ODBC data sources using your FileMaker database
solution as a client application.
About this guide
1 This document contains information to access and share data using ODBC and JDBC with
FileMaker
Pro 8, FileMaker Pro 8 Advanced, and FileMaker Server 8 Advanced only. For information
on using ODBC and JDBC with previous versions of FileMaker
Pro, download documents from
www.filemaker.com/odbc.
1 This guide assumes that you are familiar with the basics of using ODBC and JDBC, and constructing
SQL queries. Refer to a third-party book for more information on these topics.
1 For step-by-step information on FileMaker Pro features, including accessing other data sources via
ODBC, refer to FileMaker Pro Help.
1 FileMaker Pro documentation uses the term web publishing to refer to databases that users can access on
the Internet or on an intranet using a web browser.
1 This guide uses “FileMaker Pro” to refer to both FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Pro Advanced, unless
describing specific FileMaker Pro Advanced features.
1 This guide uses “FileMaker Server” to refer to FileMaker Server 8 Advanced, which supports sharing
FileMaker database files with other applications using ODBC and JDBC.
Important You can download PDFs of FileMaker 8 documentation from www.filemaker.com. Any updates
to this document are also available from www.filemaker.com/odbc.
Using ODBC and JDBC with FileMaker
ODBC and JDBC are application programming interfaces (APIs). These APIs give client applications a
common language for interacting with a variety of data sources and database services, including
FileMaker
Pro and FileMaker Server.
All applications that support ODBC and JDBC recognize a basic subset of SQL statements. Working with
SQL, you can use other applications (like spreadsheets, word processors, and reporting tools) to view,
analyze, and modify FileMaker data.