Filemaker Pro Lesson

Instant Web Publishing:

Hiding the Default Status Area

This exercise requires the file club_spc.fp7.

Although Filemaker Pro creates a default navigation panel for databases that are shared through instant web publishing, you may wish to define a particular layout for the web site visitor to see first and restrict their actions to simply browsing certain information about records in your web site. This requires creating a script to hide the status area and display the desired layout. Then you must create scripted buttons that will enable your users to complete the tasks you wish them to perform.

1. Open the file club_spc.fp7 if it is not already open. Select the layout "Catalogue". Select View -> Layout Mode. Click on the button tool and create a button and place it in the green header section of the layout. Select the command "Commit Records/Request". Title the button "Save".

2. Now select Script -> Scriptmaker. Click on New and name the script "Prepare for Web Viewing". First, to help you avoid selecting script commands that are not compatible with Instant Web Publishing, check the Indicate Web Compatibility checkbox in the lower left corner of the Edit Script dialog box.

Now, scroll down the list of available commands in the left-hand window and double click on Show/Hide Status Area. Select "Hide" from the drop-down list. Scroll down the list of available commands again and double click on Show All Records. Then double click on Go to Layout and select the layout named "Catalogue". Now double click on the Sort Records action and specify the Flower Name in ascending order. Click Done.

3. Select File -> File Options. Click on the checkbox next to the first Perform Script option and select the script "Prepare for Web Viewing" from the list of available scripts. Then click OK.

4. Now open the database with your web browser by entering the URL of your workstation and the port number you have configured as the port for sharing Filemaker Pro files.

Example: http://128.223.27.224:591.

Click on the link to club_spc. Notice that you have only one button visible. You can browse the records in the database by scrolling your browser because the layout we have specified is a list view and our opening script contained a "Show All Records" command. However, you have no way to search the database by entering search criteria.

If you are logged in with access privileges to edit the database, you can make changes to the field contents but, unlike using the regular Filemaker Pro application, changes will not be saved unless you click the Save button to commit the record changes.

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Last updated: 12/28/2004