Custom Web Publishing with XML and XSLT

Chapter 4
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Accessing XML data with the Web Publishing Engine 29
1 If a container field stores a file reference instead of an actual object, then the container field’s <data>
element contains a relative path that refers to the object. For example:
<data>/images/logo.jpg</data>
Note The referenced container object must be stored in the FileMaker Pro Web folder when the record is
created or edited, and then copied or moved to a folder with the same relative location in the root folder
of the web server software. See
“About publishing the contents of container fields on the web” on
page 21.
1 If a container field is empty, then the container field’s <data> element is empty.
Note The syntax for container objects using XML is different from the syntax for container objects using
XSLT. See
“About the URL syntax for FileMaker container objects in XSLT solutions” on page 53.
About URL text encoding
The URLs for accessing XML data and container objects must be encoded in UTF-8 (Unicode
Transformation 8 Bit) format. See
“About UTF-8 encoded data” on page 37.
For example, to set the value of the info field to fiancée, you could use the following URL:
http://server.company.com/fmi/xml/fmresultset.xml?–db=members&–lay=relationships&–recid=2
&info= fianc%C3%A9e&–edit
In this example URL, %C3%A9 is the URL encoded UTF-8 representation of the é character.
For more information on URL text encoding, see the URL specification, which is available at www.w3.org.
Accessing XML data via the Web Publishing Engine
To access XML data via the Web Publishing Engine, you use a URL that specifies the name of the FileMaker
grammar to use, one FileMaker query command, and one or more FileMaker query parameters. The Web
Publishing Engine generates XML data from your database that is formatted by one of the following types
of XML grammars:
1 fmresultset: This is the recommended grammar for the Web Publishing Engine. It is flexible and optimized
for XSLT stylesheet authoring with easier field access by name and easier manipulation of relatedset
(portal) data. This grammar is also more directly linked to FileMaker terminology and features such as
global storage options and identification of summary and calculation fields. You can use this grammar for
accessing XML data and for XSLT stylesheets. To facilitate web publishing, this grammar is designed to
be more verbose than the FMPXMLRESULT grammar. See
“Using the fmsresultset grammar” on page 31.
1 FMPXMLRESULT and FMPXMLLAYOUT: You can also use the FMPXMLRESULT and
FMPXMLLAYOUT grammars with the Web Publishing Engine for accessing XML data and for XSLT
stylesheets. To use one stylesheet for both XML export and Custom Web Publishing, you must use the
FMPXMLRESULT grammar. To access value lists and field display information in layouts, you must use
the FMPXMLLAYOUT grammar. See
“Using other FileMaker XML grammars” on page 34.
1 FMPDSORESULT: The FMPDSORESULT grammar, which is supported in FileMaker Pro for exporting
XML, is deprecated for accessing XML data via the Web Publishing Engine. The FMPDSORESULT
grammar is not supported for XSLT stylesheets. For information on the FMPDSORESULT grammar, see
FileMaker
Pro Help.