Custom Web Publishing Guide

Introduction to Custom Web Publishing with XSLT 39
General steps for using Custom Web Publishing with XSLT
Here is a summary of the steps for using Custom Web Publishing with XSLT:
1. In the Web Publishing Engine Administration Console, make sure XSLT Publishing is enabled. See the
FileMaker Server Advanced Web Publishing Installation Guide.
2. Using FileMaker Pro, open each FileMaker database that you’re publishing and make sure the database has
the fmxslt extended privilege enabled for Custom Web Publishing with XSLT. See
“Enabling Custom Web
Publishing in a database” on page 17.
Note Make sure that you use equivalent FileMaker database privilege sets when developing stylesheets that
will be given to the end user. Otherwise, you may have access to layouts and features in the FileMaker
database that will not be available to the end user, causing inconsistent behavior.
3. Create XSLT stylesheets that include FileMaker-specific XSLT extension functions, query commands, and
query parameters to format or transform the XML data from a FileMaker database.
You can use the FileMaker Site Assistant tool to create one or more basic XSLT stylesheets as a starting
point for your site. See the next section,
“Using the FileMaker Site Assistant to generate FileMaker XSLT
stylesheets.”
If you have existing CDML solutions, you can use the CDML Converter to convert the CDML format files
to XSLT stylesheets. See
“Using the FileMaker CDML Converter” on page 42.
You can also use your own XSLT authoring or text editing tools to modify the XSLT stylesheets as
necessary, or to develop your stylesheets from scratch. See
chapter 5, “Developing FileMaker XSLT
stylesheets.”
4. Copy or place the XSLT stylesheets in the xslt-template-files folder, which is located inside the Web
Publishing folder inside the FileMaker Server 7 folder on the host where the Web Publishing Engine is
installed.
You can also place the stylesheets in an optional folder or folder hierarchy inside the xslt-template-files
folder.
5. Place any static files on the web server. See “Using FileMaker XSLT stylesheets in a web site or program”
on page 45.
6. Create or modify a web site or program that uses the XSLT stylesheets.
For example, you can use a static page such as index.html for the web site that either auto-forwards web
users to an XSLT stylesheet, or has a link to the XSLT stylesheet.
7. Make sure that security mechanisms for your site or program are in place. See the FileMaker Security
Guide
.
8. Test the site or program with the XSLT stylesheets, using the same accounts and privileges that are defined
for web users.
9. Make the site or program available and known to users.