FMP URL Format in Filemaker WebDirect - filemaker

Question

I am trying to use some webviewers on Filemaker WebDirect. I would like to call a script in filemaker from a button on the webviewer. It works great in pro but I'm not sure of the url protocal I need to use in web direct. What is the format I should use when trying to call a filemaker script from a webviewer in webdirect?

Answer 1

You'll need to test this out because I haven't tested it, but I believe that when you use a webviewer in a WebDirect solution the webviewer actually displays an iframe tag and the contents of the webviewer works like any other iframe on a webpage, i.e. it's no longer part of the WebDirect application.
You can check it out in the browser interface of your WebDirect solution by right-clicking on the webviewer and selecting "inspect element". That should open up the browser's developer tools and show you the webviewer's element in the overall HTML structure. The webviewer should be an iframe.
All of that said, if it does treat the content of the webviewer as an iframe and therefore the content of the iframe is outside of your WebDirect solution, it means that whatever communication you have from the webviewer content would need to communicate externally with your FileMaker Solution via XML custom web publishing. It would be like standing inside of your house, reaching out of a window, unlocking your front door, and grabbing something you want.
This means you would need:
Web Publishing turned on on your FileMaker Server
A user with the xml extended privileges enabled
An external IP address that you can access your FileMaker Server by
Then you could (again, theoretically I have not tried doing this) use a link that contains a url with the XML custom web publishing syntax to perform the script. You can find a description of the syntax in the FileMaker Server documentation PDF fms13_cwp_xml.pdf. I can't find a good link to the syntax online at the moment, but you could search around for it. The basic syntax outlined in the PDF is:
<scheme>://<host>[:<port>]/fmi/xml/<xml_grammar>.xml[?<query string>]
and calling a script would look like:
http://myfmsdomainname.com/fmi/xml/fmresultset.xml?-script=theScriptIwantToFire
My url structure could be off.
Anyway, it sounds like it could be a pain in the ass, but it may be a solution! Good luck!

Answer 2

This is tricky because you will have to communicate with the Webdirect client via FMServer!
Use the FMServer PHP interface for your webpage within the webviewer to communicate to the server. Your web page can either:
1) Directly set a value in the server that your client will monitor
2) If it has to call a script then call a script on the server, your client will still have to monitor a value. e.g. use the php API on your webpage. Setup your database connection (see the API docs in your FMServer folder for an example), then call:
$newperformscript =& $fm->newPerformScriptCommand($layoutName, 'scriptname',$scriptParameters);
$result = $newPerformScript->execute();
Your Webdirect Client will then need to monitor for that change. While Webdirect is on the layout with the webviewer, your client could use the filemaker script step to actively monitor for a change in value via a timer:
Install OnTimer [Interval:secs]
When your client detects that change that you made then perform your action.
Note: You will have to pass an ID of the client to the webviewer, and your webviewer will have to pass that ID back to the server, and your client will have to monitor for that ID so that all clients don't respond to the change. You can pass whichever client ID you choose to use to the webviewer via the URL using GET.
If your server is local then the change will be detected in one second if that is what your Install OnTimer timer is set to.
What you are doing is far from ideal with Filemaker... I suggest that you look into a different UI paradigm if possible.