FileMaker and Web Integration

Do your website and FileMaker systems talk to each other?  Our web application experts make it possible.

FileMaker Web Publishing

As a “back end” to your website, your FileMaker systems can provide dynamic, real-time content for your visitors.  Allow prospective buyers to search your current inventory, clients to check the status of jobs, or customers to see if there are still seats available for an event.  Providing your audiences the ability to interact directly with your systems online encourages action, saves you time, and reduces errors.  All of these features will enrich your website and help visitors more readily find what they are looking for.

We’ve seen a substantial increase in requests for quotes because website visitors can now do real-time searches of our FileMaker database more easily and quickly than ever before.

R.A. Langevin
COO
Boston-based laboratory equipment supplier

Need to access your data from your iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry??  Do you need to provide some or all of your data to customers, students, or partners that may not have FileMaker software installed on their computers?  Custom web applications can allow you to deploy to any computer or mobile device armed with nothing more than a browser. 

We maintain a staff of technical experts who are familiar not only with FileMaker but also with an array of web technologies such as PHP, HTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript and AJAX to ensure we build secure, seamless, powerful interfaces to FileMaker.

Custom Web Publishing

FileMaker has a full-featured application programming interface (API) for accessing systems with PHP, a standard tool for web development. With the FileMaker API for PHP, along with other web standards such as JavaScript, CSS, and XML/XSLT, we provide our clients with powerful, data-driven web interfaces to their FileMaker applications. With Custom Web Publishing, we can develop or modify your website to securely publish all or a portion of your data, to just a few remote users or the entire Web.

Instant Web Publishing

Relatively simple and quick, Instant Web Publishing (IWP) is a great way to give remote users access to your FileMaker databases. It permits users to easily query your database, make edits and enter new records via a browser. IWP presents remote users with an interface that is nearly identical to the one you’ll see when connected directly to your database as a FileMaker client. While enabling IWP is indeed nothing more than a clicking a checkbox in FileMaker Pro, it does does have a number of important limitations and requires that layouts and scripts be compatible with it.

Bring the Web To FileMaker

There’s a wealth of data online to complement your FileMaker solutions.  FileMaker’s web viewer allows us to include a window within your FileMaker layouts to display a remote website and interact with it based on the data in your system. For example, a prospective customer record can display the company’s website alongside your call history.  A service technician can view a customer account and view a Google or MapQuest map appear showing their location with driving directions. Check up on an invoice or packing list in FileMaker and see instantly the corresponding UPS or FedEx tracking page.

Wondering what “the cloud” means for you?  Our developers can enhance your systems with web services, providing functionality beyond that found in FileMaker’s software.  Send SMS messages; verify phone numbers or email or postal addresses; check the weather for your customer’s zip code.  And we’re the experts at integrating FileMaker with Google applications—Chad Novotny, our Vice President of Technology, having presented on just that topic at the 2010 FileMaker Developer Conference.

Why we’re different

Most FileMaker consultants are one-person shops. Others run “virtual offices” and hire temporary contractors in remote locations to help with their projects. The four offices of the Support Group are staffed with committed and loyal employees who are provided with up-to-date hardware and software tools, management oversight and office support staff. Our developers receive ongoing technical training and professional development. They each benefit from being a member of a team of other experienced FileMaker developers.

If having a well-respected professional services company with a multitude of committed FileMaker Certified Developers, real offices and a 20+ year track record of success is important to you, then talk with us.

Interested?

For a free initial consultation or to learn more about our consulting and training services, fill out our online form or contact the office closest to you to get a rapid response from one of our FileMaker experts.