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tDot · May 14, 2008, 01:00 PM

Will we see FileMaker introduce a version that easily allows you to create FM database applications to run natively on the iPhone? (I'm not talking about web apps, but an app you could create that would sit on your iPhone).

I'm an amateur FM developer, and I briefly considered using the iPhone SDK, but that's WAY over my head. What I really want is the ability to create great native iPhone database solutions using FM.

mduell · May 14, 2008, 05:57 PM

FileMaker seems pretty heavy for the iPhone... wouldn't something like SQLite being more appropriate for such limited hardware?

matdevdug · May 15, 2008, 08:43 AM

As much as I would love to see FileMaker on the iPhone I just don't think a program of that size and scale would work well on the platform.

Andy8 · May 15, 2008, 09:08 AM

Well if they can squeeze Filemaker mobile onto a tiny Palm screen , they must be able to get a decent interface working for the iPhone.

Simon · 01:59 AM

Originally Posted by Andy8

Well if they can squeeze Filemaker mobile onto a tiny Palm screen , they must be able to get a decent interface working for the iPhone.

My thoughts exactly. No Palm came close to the having the performance of an iPhone. If FM Mobile worked on Palms, FM Mobile will work on an iPhone. The question is wether FM Inc. will bring it to iPhone after they canned it on Palm. But since FM Inc. is a entirely owned subsidy of Apple I'd be surprised not to see them do it at all. Bento for iPhone maybe?

alex_kac · May 15, 2008, 04:29 PM

Easily it can be done. The iPhone is quite a bit more powerful than the other WM/BB/Palm phones out here and they have FM style stuff on there.

inbrissy · May 4, 2009, 10:20 PM

Its relatively easy to create a native application on the iPhone that talks to FileMaker through XML.

I've got several created and they work very well.. No customisation required on the database end (in most cases). Only to turn XML on.

The iPhone SDK is excellent. To make very simple apps is very quick and easy. If you want to do all kinds of snazzy things to make it look good, then it takes a bit more time. But its certainly very possible. There is FMTouch out there but it has size limitations at this point.

Making a native app for me was just much nicer way to go.

dearbho · May 28, 2009, 02:08 PM

InBrissy,

The solution you suggested is definitely the most elegant and versatile way to connect FM with iphone. That's exactly what I've been looking for. I've got the iphone side covered with the NSUrl class but I'm not sure how to get filemaker to spit out XML. I don't think FM's XML/XSLT publishing can spit out straight XML formatted data.

Could you point me in the right direction how to set this up? In theory it shouldn't be too hard right?

Originally Posted by inbrissy

Its relatively easy to create a native application on the iPhone that talks to FileMaker through XML.

I've got several created and they work very well.. No customisation required on the database end (in most cases). Only to turn XML on.

The iPhone SDK is excellent. To make very simple apps is very quick and easy. If you want to do all kinds of snazzy things to make it look good, then it takes a bit more time. But its certainly very possible. There is FMTouch out there but it has size limitations at this point.

Making a native app for me was just much nicer way to go.

inbrissy · Jul 28, 2009, 09:21 PM

It certainly does spit out XML. If you turn on your files for XML, and have a look at the XML document for FileMaker, you will find all the URLs you need to pretty much do anything you need.

I'm currently working on a static FM Library for FileMaker connectivity.

I have several apps now talking to FMS.

Feel free to contact me directly if you need some direction.