[WEB4LIB] FileMaker

[Bob Duncan]

At 12:23 PM 02/19/2001 -0800, Lori Ayre wrote:
>I've noticed a lot of libraries use Filemaker.  The current version,
>Filemaker Pro 5, appears to have a nice web publishing feature including the
>ability to generate web-based data entry forms.  It also has the ability to
>export a database to XML.  Or so their website claims...
>
>Is anyone using Filemaker Pro Version 5 yet and if so, how do you like it?

I have just begun using FileMaker Pro 5 to serve some of our library's Web 
content dynamically.  (For now, just our WebReference Collection at 
<http://ref.library.lafayette.edu/wr_home.htm>. Other uses (excuse 
me...other "solutions") are in the works.)

FMPro5 was my choice for serving Web content because of its ease of use, 
intuitive interface, and because of its built-in Web publishing 
capabilities.  The application's "Instant Web Publishing" feature may serve 
many users' needs---you enable it and the program generates all the Web 
pages you would need for standard database interaction---data entry form, 
display, search form, etc.  For more control over the look of your Web 
content, however, FMPro also does "Custom Web Publishing," using CDML 
(Claris Dynamic Markup Language, a proprietary markup/scripting 
language).  But as Bobb Menk pointed out, documentation for this aspect of 
the application doesn't ship with the standard or unlimited packages (go 
figure).  The same is true of the XML capabilities---you can indeed 
"deliver [FileMaker] data...to the Web" in XML format, but you won't find 
mention of that capability in the standard or unlimited versions of the 
program.  (And you can't really "export" the database to XML in the way I 
understand "export.")

As Bobb Menk also pointed out, the licensing for version 5 is a huge 
"gotcha"---if you expect more than ten IP addresses to be hitting your 
server in a 12 hour period, you need FMPro Unlimited, which costs 3-4 times 
as much as the standard program.  (FMPro 4.1 did not make this distinction.)

The one big negative about the application is the miserable documentation, 
*especially* in the area of Web publishing (where the documentation is 
close to nonexistent).  FMPro is a great database program, and I like it a 
lot, but if you intend on using it for publishing data to the Web and you 
want to go the custom route, you pretty much have to rely on newsgroups, 
lists, and yourself.

If anyone wants more details, feel free to contact me off-list.

Bob Duncan


~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
   Robert E. Duncan
   Systems Librarian
   David Bishop Skillman Library
   Lafayette College
   Easton, PA 18042
   610-330-5156
   duncanr at lafayette.edu
   http://www.library.lafayette.edu/