Custom Web Publishing Guide
Table Of Contents
- Chapter 1 Introducing Custom Web Publishing
- Chapter 2 Preparing databases for Custom Web Publishing
- Chapter 3 Accessing XML data with the Web Publishing Engine
- Using Custom Web Publishing with XML
- General process for accessing XML data from the Web Publishing Engine
- About the URL syntax for XML data and container objects
- Accessing XML data via the Web Publishing Engine
- Using the fmresultset grammar
- Using other FileMaker XML grammars
- About UTF-8 encoded data
- Using FileMaker query strings to request XML data
- Switching layouts for an XML response
- Understanding how an XML request is processed
- Using server-side and client-side processing of stylesheets
- Troubleshooting XML document access
- Chapter 4 Introduction to Custom Web Publishing with XSLT
- Chapter 5 Developing FileMaker XSLT stylesheets
- Using XSLT stylesheets with the Web Publishing Engine
- About the FileMaker XSLT Extension Function Reference
- About the URL syntax for FileMaker XSLT stylesheets
- About the URL syntax for FileMaker container objects in XSLT solutions
- Using query strings in FileMaker XSLT stylesheets
- Specifying an XML grammar for a FileMaker XSLT stylesheet
- About namespaces and prefixes for FileMaker XSLT stylesheets
- Using statically defined query commands and query parameters
- Setting text encoding for requests
- Specifying an output method and encoding
- About the encoding of XSLT stylesheets
- Processing XSLT requests that do not query FileMaker Server
- Using tokens to pass information between stylesheets
- Using the FileMaker XSLT extension functions and parameters
- About the FileMaker-specific XSLT parameters set by the Web Publishing Engine
- Accessing the query information in a request
- Obtaining client information
- Using the Web Publishing Engine base URI parameter
- Using the authenticated base URI parameter
- Loading additional documents
- Using a database’s layout information in a stylesheet
- Using content buffering
- Using Web Publishing Engine sessions to store information between requests
- Using the session extension functions
- Sending email messages from the Web Publishing Engine
- Using the header functions
- Using the cookie extension functions
- Using the string manipulation extension functions
- Comparing strings using Perl 5 regular expressions
- Checking for values in a field formatted as a checkbox
- Using the date, time, and day extension functions
- Checking the error status of extension functions
- Using logging
- Chapter 6 Testing and monitoring a site
- Appendix A Valid names used in query strings
- About the query commands and parameters
- Using the query commands
- -dbnames (Database names) query command
- -delete (Delete record) query command
- -dup (Duplicate record) query command
- -edit (Edit record) query command
- -find, -findall, or -findany (Find records) query commands
- -layoutnames (Layout names) query command
- -new (New record) query command
- -process (Process XSLT stylesheets)
- -scriptnames (Script names) query command
- -view (View layout information) query command
- Using the query parameters
- -db (Database name) query parameter
- -encoding (Encoding XSLT request) query parameter
- -field (Container field name) query parameter
- fieldname (Non-container field name) query parameter
- fieldname.op (Comparison operator) query parameter
- -grammar (Grammar for XSLT stylesheets) query parameter
- -lay (Layout) query parameter
- -lay.response (Switch layout for response) query parameter
- -lop (Logical operator) query parameter
- -max (Maximum records) query parameter
- -modid (Modification ID) query parameter
- -recid (Record ID) query parameter
- -script (Script) query parameter
- -script.prefind (Script before Find) query parameter
- -script.presort (Script before Sort) query parameter
- -skip (Skip records) query parameter
- -sortfield (Sort field) query parameter
- -sortorder (Sort order) query parameter
- -styletype (Style type) query parameter
- -stylehref (Style href) query parameter
- -token.[string] (Pass values between XSLT stylesheets) query parameter
- Appendix B Error codes for Custom Web Publishing
- Appendix C Converting CDML solutions to FileMaker XSLT
- About the process of converting CDML solutions to FileMaker XSLT solutions
- Conversion of CDML action tags, variable tags, and URLs
- Conversion of the -error and -errornum CDML variable tags
- Conversion of obsolete CDML action tags
- Conversion of supported CDML action tags
- Conversion of obsolete CDML variable tags
- Conversion of supported CDML variable tags
- Conversion of CDML boolean parameters to XPath boolean parameters
- Conversion of CDML boolean operators to XPath
- Conversion of CDML intratag parameters to XSLT-CWP
- Manually fixing CDML conversion errors
- Conversion of CDML replacement tags to XSLT-CWP
- Index
Chapter 4
Introduction to Custom Web Publishing with XSLT
You can use FileMaker XSLT stylesheets to transform, filter, or format XML data for use in a web browser or
in other programs and applications. This chapter introduces FileMaker XSLT stylesheets and two tools to help
you get started creating XSLT stylesheets—the Site Assistant and the CDML Converter. For more detailed
information about how FileMaker XSLT stylesheets are constructed, see
chapter 5, “Developing FileMaker
XSLT stylesheets.”
About FileMaker XSLT stylesheets
You can use FileMaker XSLT stylesheets to:
1 filter FileMaker data by controlling which database fields are published by the stylesheet
1 hide metadata, such as database and field names
1 format how the data is presented in a web page and control how the user interacts with the data
1 output the data as HTML or text, such as vCards or comma-separated values
1 transform the data from a FileMaker XML grammar to a different XML grammar for use in another
database or application, such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
1 integrate any subset of the FileMaker data into other web sites and with other middleware and custom
applications that are potentially very different from the FileMaker database
1 change the published field names to prevent unauthorized use of the database design information
Note Custom Web Publishing with XSLT for FileMaker Server is based on the W3C recommendation for
XSLT 1.0. For information on XSLT 1.0, see www.w3.org. Additional functionality such as session
management, email sending, and access to cookies and headers is provided by FileMaker XSLT extension
functions. For information, see
“Using the FileMaker XSLT extension functions and parameters” on page 54.
The Web Publishing Engine does not support XSL Formatting Objects (XSL-FO).
What are some examples of using FileMaker XSLT stylesheets?
Here are just a few of the many possible examples of using FileMaker XSLT stylesheets:
1 You can insert a table in a web page for web users to browse that contains a subset of the data from a
FileMaker database. For example, the table might contain people’s names and addresses, but not their phone
numbers. To prevent unauthorized access, the web page can show generic labels for the data (such as
“Name”) instead of the actual field names in the FileMaker database, such as “first_name.”
1 You can create a web page or application that integrates data from a FileMaker portal with information from
other data sources.
1 You can add a button on a web page that creates a vCard from a person’s contact information in a FileMaker
database.
1 You can transform the XML data from a FileMaker database into an XML grammar that a spreadsheet or
database application can open.