Custom Web Publishing Guide

Table Of Contents
Chapter 1
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Introducing Custom Web Publishing 13
Connecting to the Internet or an intranet
When you publish databases on the Internet or an intranet, the host computer must be running
FileMaker Server, and the databases you want to share must be hosted and available. In addition:
1 It is strongly recommended that you publish your database on a computer with a full-time Internet or
intranet connection. You can publish databases without a full-time connection, but they are only
available to web users when your computer is connected to the Internet or an intranet.
1 The host computer for the Web Publishing Engine must have a dedicated static (permanent) IP address
or a domain name. If you connect to the Internet with an Internet service provider (ISP), your IP address
might be
dynamically allocated (it is different each time you connect). A dynamic IP address makes it
more difficult for web users to locate your databases. If you are not sure of the type of access available
to you, consult your ISP or network administrator.
Key features in Custom Web Publishing with XML and XSLT
In FileMaker Server Advanced versions 7 and 8, Custom Web Publishing with XML and XSLT provides
several important features:
1 Databases are hosted on FileMaker Server, and FileMaker Pro is not required to be running.
1 You can use server-side XSLT stylesheet processing, which is more secure than client-side stylesheet
processing.
1 In FileMaker Server 8 Advanced, you can use server-side processing of JavaScript in XSLT stylesheets.
For information, see
“Using server-side processing of scripting languages” on page 76.
1 You can prevent the unauthorized use of query commands and query parameters with your FileMaker
XSLT stylesheet by statically defining the query commands, parameters, and values that you want to use
when XML data is requested. See
“Using statically defined query commands and query parameters” on
page 55.
1 Like FileMaker Pro, access to data, layouts, and fields is based on the user account settings defined in
the database’s access privileges. The Web Publishing Engine also supports several other security
enhancements. See
“Protecting your published databases” on page 20.
1 Web users can perform complex, multi-step scripts. About 70 script steps are now supported on the web.
See the next section, “FileMaker scripts and Custom Web Publishing.”
1 In FileMaker Server 8 Advanced, you can pass a parameter value to a FileMaker script. For more
information, see “–script.param (Pass parameter to Script) query parameter” on page 97,
“–script.prefind.param (Pass parameter to Script before Find) query parameter” on page 98, and
“–script.presort.param (Pass parameter to Script before Sort) query parameter” on page 98.
1 The new fmresultset XML grammar enables you to access fields by name and manipulate relatedset
(portal) data.
1 Using session functions in an XSLT stylesheet, you can store a web user’s information and transactions
in server-maintained sessions.