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Brass · Aug 16, 2007, 06:52 PM

It looks like FMP 9 has some nice features for being able to use MySQL (and others) directly as a backend store for some or all of the tables in a DB system. The server version can apparently produce PHP for building web pages for you application too (which interact with FMP server).

Has anyone tried either of these two features? Any comments? Pros/Cons?

I'm particularly interested in using the MySQL backend, and writing my own custom PHP web front end for the small parts that require public access, and using local FMP client front end for the majority of the system which will only be used by one or two people.

The automatic PHP generation sounds good too, but I don't particularly wan't FMP server.

Brass · Aug 16, 2007, 07:43 PM

ah... on further investigation the SQL feature is not really designed for use as a backend data store for FMP applications, but rather to integrate an FMP application with other systems that already use SQL backends.

Although in theory it could be used as an FMP backend, there are some serious limitations and problems with doing so, according to FileMakers own documentation.

besson3c · Aug 16, 2007, 07:59 PM

Hey Brass,

If you are looking for a good client side database app to connect to your database app, why not just use an app that supports ODBC?

Brass · Aug 16, 2007, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Hey Brass,

If you are looking for a good client side database app to connect to your database app, why not just use an app that supports ODBC?

FileMaker does (apparently) support ODBC (for some limited functionality). But I've never used ODBC. I'm using FileMaker for this project, because it is the fastest easiest to use DB development system I've ever come across, and the client doesn't have a lot of time or money.

I can whip up a fully functional complex FMP application in a few days that would take weeks in any other environment.

Got any other suggestions? I wouldn't mind moving to something cheaper than FMP (would love something free and open source), but must be able to do things as quickly and easily. Doesn't seem to be anything else out there.

Servoy looks like a great solution, but again is not as easy to use as FMP, and would take a lot longer to develop applications (from what I've read).

selowitch · Aug 16, 2007, 11:07 PM

Slightly tangential, but I'm excited about using an existing desktop FMP database to supply data to an existing MySQL database I have online, from which I fetch data via PHP for my webpage. This means that my client can have a user-friendly, easily modified system on his end that invisibly informs the website without being bogged down by FMP's very crude web-publishing system.

besson3c · Aug 17, 2007, 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by Brass

FileMaker does (apparently) support ODBC (for some limited functionality). But I've never used ODBC. I'm using FileMaker for this project, because it is the fastest easiest to use DB development system I've ever come across, and the client doesn't have a lot of time or money.

I can whip up a fully functional complex FMP application in a few days that would take weeks in any other environment.

Got any other suggestions? I wouldn't mind moving to something cheaper than FMP (would love something free and open source), but must be able to do things as quickly and easily. Doesn't seem to be anything else out there.

Servoy looks like a great solution, but again is not as easy to use as FMP, and would take a lot longer to develop applications (from what I've read).

I would stress to this client that this data is tethered to his personal computer. Even with ODBC or a direct MySQL connection, there is still the issue of designating which IPs/hostnames can connect to the DB, and it is generally very unsafe to allow anybody with the user/pass in. I don't know of any hosting provider that allows this, and I wouldn't be surprised if remote MySQL connections involve passwords being sent in the clear. So, if this user is on a laptop that moves around, any sort of network based database system is probably iffy.

With the data tethered to his computer, I would suggest stressing that he needs to be diligent about backups, and that sharing this data with other users will likely become quite complex.

It is for this reason that I'm generally not a big fan of Filemaker and MS Access and the like. Which part is the most time-consuming for you on the PHP end - designing the forms?

besson3c · Aug 17, 2007, 01:52 AM

Originally Posted by selowitch

Slightly tangential, but I'm excited about using an existing desktop FMP database to supply data to an existing MySQL database I have online, from which I fetch data via PHP for my webpage. This means that my client can have a user-friendly, easily modified system on his end that invisibly informs the website without being bogged down by FMP's very crude web-publishing system.

If you figure out a way to negotiate providing secure access to your remote client, let me know... It's not only an issue of security, but opening the MySQL port on your firewall, and finding a hosting provider that would allow such a thing.

Brass · 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Which part is the most time-consuming for you on the PHP end - designing the forms?

I wouldn't say that PHP is terribly time consuming, but rather that FMP is so exceedingly quick. It does have other limitations, but for speed of development I've not used anything else more rapid. There is much less programming required, and when you do need to write scripts, the method may look clunky, but it means that it's almost impossible to write syntax errors (I'm still good at semantic errors in FMP though

).

FMP's 'Calculation' fields make life easier and quicker, than creating views (I know they're not the same thing, but their purposes overlap somewhat).

I'm still new to PHP and MySQL, so have yet to learn the tools well, but so far I've had to do everything slowly by hand. FMP allows everything to be done quickly in a GUI environment. If I'm going to do anything that looks good in PHP, I guess I'm also going to have to learn CSS (so far all my web development has been very basic HTML, all hand-coded).

Does JaneBUILDER still exist? or anything else like it for Mac OS X?

besson3c · Aug 20, 2007, 12:26 AM

As nice as Filemaker might be, I personally don't like the idea of having data tethered to a client machine, but YMMV...

If I said this before, I apologize. Don't mean to sound repetitious repetitious

Brass · Aug 20, 2007, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

As nice as Filemaker might be, I personally don't like the idea of having data tethered to a client machine, but YMMV...

If I said this before, I apologize. Don't mean to sound repetitious repetitious

I know what you mean, but FMP is flexible in that way. There are some situations where it's not so bad to run it that way (not mission critical, and backups are well maintained). However, for the majority of situations, where that is not appropriate, FMP does have a good client/server model (although the server version is quite expensive!).