FileMaker WebDirect 18 Guide

This guide provides information about designing solutions for FileMaker WebDirect and hosting the solutions by FileMaker Server, FileMaker Cloud for AWS, or FileMaker Cloud.

Terms used in this guide:

• publishing on the web - solutions that users can access on the Internet or an intranet using a web browser
• web user - someone who is working with a FileMaker Pro Advanced solution published on the web using FileMaker WebDirect
• solution, database, custom app, file - what FileMaker Pro Advanced creates and what web users access through FileMaker WebDirect
• FileMaker Cloud - a service that provides access in the cloud to custom apps that use FileMaker Pro Advanced, FileMaker Go, and FileMaker WebDirect. FileMaker Cloud uses the FileMaker ID integrated sign-on system to authenticate users. FileMaker Cloud is offered directly from FileMaker, Inc.
• FileMaker Cloud for AWS - a service that provides access in the cloud to custom apps that use FileMaker Pro Advanced, FileMaker Go, and FileMaker WebDirect. FileMaker Cloud for AWS runs on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud and is offered through AWS Marketplace.
• FileMaker Cloud products - refers to both FileMaker Cloud and FileMaker Cloud for AWS.
• Admin Console - refers to Admin Console for FileMaker Server, FileMaker Cloud for AWS, and FileMaker Cloud, unless describing a particular product. FileMaker Cloud Admin Console refers to Admin Console for both FileMaker Cloud products, unless describing a particular product.

For additional documentation, visit the Product Documentation Center.

FileMaker WebDirect combines aspects of a web application and a desktop application, bringing FileMaker Pro Advanced features to your solutions on the web. With FileMaker WebDirect, you can:

• easily and quickly deploy a solution to anyone with a compatible web browser without using web authoring tools or other technologies

• access data from most modern browsers

• import or export records and container data

• deploy a customized web application by hiding and locking the menu bar and status toolbar

Built on advances in web technologies, FileMaker WebDirect enables your solutions to do much of what FileMaker Pro Advanced can do, within the constraints of modern web browsers.

FileMaker WebDirect works best when you are:

• deploying FileMaker solutions intended primarily for web browsers

• extending existing solutions to include remote users outside the team or organization

  For particular groups of users, you can add or modify only the layouts they need. For example, if warehouse workers only need to fulfill orders in your order management solution, then you may only need to add invoice layouts that work well in a browser.

If you plan to extend an existing solution for web users, expect to make changes to your solution for the best possible user experience. Though you may need to make some changes to your solution using FileMaker Pro Advanced, you won’t need to write any PHP, HTML, CSS, or JavaScript code.

FileMaker WebDirect runs in a web browser and uses these standard web technologies:

• HTML5 to define the structure of the page

• CSS3 to control the appearance of the page

• JavaScript to enable interactions (for example, clicking buttons)

• HTTP/HTTPS and WebSocket protocols to communicate between the web browser and the web server

HTML5 and CSS3 are implemented differently across web browsers. How your FileMaker WebDirect solution works can vary according to how the web browser conforms to these standards, how the browser’s JavaScript engine performs, and how the browser parses and renders CSS.

FileMaker WebDirect architecture

The architecture of FileMaker WebDirect bridges two different environments: the web browser and a FileMaker solution. In the web browser, FileMaker WebDirect runs as a client that interacts with a solution hosted by FileMaker Server or a FileMaker Cloud product.

FileMaker Server and FileMaker Cloud products include the following components:

• Database Server: Hosts the solutions you share with all FileMaker clients (FileMaker Pro Advanced, FileMaker Go^®, and FileMaker WebDirect). It handles layouts, data, scripts, script triggers, user account authentication, record locking, and communication with all FileMaker clients.
• Web Publishing Engine: Translates the layouts, interactions, and data defined by your solution into HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and data for the web browser; and processes user interaction. In real time, the Web Publishing Engine (WPE) creates the user interface from your layouts to work in the web browser; and processes scripts, script triggers, user clicks, and key presses. In FileMaker Server multiple-machine deployments, the WPE manages communications between the master and worker machines.
• Web server: Communicates with web browsers using HTTP/HTTPS and WebSocket protocols to serve your solution as a web application.

FileMaker WebDirect

Web Server

Web Publishing Engine

FileMaker Database Server

Master machine

FileMaker Server
single-machine deployment
or
FileMaker Cloud product deployment

FileMaker WebDirect

Web Server

Web Publishing Engine

FileMaker Database Server

Master machine

FileMaker Server
multiple-machine deployment

Web Server

Web Publishing Engine

Worker machine

Web Server

Web Publishing Engine

Worker machine

FileMaker Cloud products can host databases on the Internet, and FileMaker Server can host databases on both the Internet or an intranet.

In addition:

• Publish your database on a computer with a full-time Internet or intranet connection using TCP/IP.

• The host computer should have a dedicated static (permanent) Internet Protocol (IP) address or a domain name.

• While web users are connected to a FileMaker WebDirect solution, they should use a single Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or mobile (4G or LTE) network connection with consistent connectivity and latency of 150 milliseconds or less. Loss of network connectivity—which can be caused by intermittent signal or by switching between networks—can cause FileMaker WebDirect clients to disconnect from the server.

• Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption to secure communication between FileMaker WebDirect and FileMaker Server or the FileMaker Cloud product.

• To use FileMaker WebDirect, cookies and JavaScript must be enabled and pop-up windows must not be blocked.

Although FileMaker WebDirect is similar to FileMaker Pro Advanced, it does not have all the features of a FileMaker Pro Advanced client.

• Web users can choose layouts and different layout views, but they cannot add, delete, or modify fields, layouts, scripts, relationships, value lists, or other database schema.

• FileMaker WebDirect does not support Table View. Script steps or script step options that change the view to Table View are not supported. If a layout’s default view is Table View, the layout displays in a different view. If no other views are enabled, the layout displays in List View.

• FileMaker WebDirect does not allow users to select objects that are located behind other layout objects, even if the frontmost objects are transparent or if users click empty space in an object group. Rather than stacking multiple objects:

  • use calculated values for tab labels

  • add icons to buttons instead of stacking images in front of buttons

  • group multiple objects and apply button settings to the group

• FileMaker WebDirect offers limited text styles. Highlighting, paragraph text styles, and tab stops are not supported. FileMaker WebDirect only supports rich text that is supported by the web browser. Rich text is supported only when applied to buttons and layout text. For fields, only the rich text formatting applied as the object style is displayed in FileMaker WebDirect. Web users cannot enter data with rich text formatting. Editing a field in FileMaker WebDirect removes any existing rich text formatting.

• FileMaker Pro Advanced custom menus are not supported for FileMaker WebDirect solutions.

FileMaker WebDirect performance is affected by:

• the processing capabilities of the web user’s device

• the number of web users concurrently accessing the solution

• the quality of the web user’s network connection

• the amount of data transferred between FileMaker Server or the FileMaker Cloud product and the web browser

• the frequency with which the web browser communicates with FileMaker Server or the FileMaker Cloud product; communication occurs whenever:

  • a record is created, opened, committed, or deleted

  • the current record is changed

  • the layout is changed

  • a calculation is evaluated

  • a script is performed

  • a script trigger is activated

To improve the performance of your FileMaker WebDirect solutions:

• Minimize the use of the following items on layouts: portals, panel controls, calculation fields, summary fields, fields with validation options, fields with data formatting options, script triggers, list views, and tooltips.

• Keep image sizes appropriate for web use.

• Choose or create simple themes, such as themes that do not use gradients or image slices.

• Create custom themes and custom styles rather than overriding existing themes and styles.

• Reduce the use of object states on each layout object.

• Minimize conditional formatting.

Web users access FileMaker WebDirect solutions with mobile devices that have different screen sizes and resolutions. To provide an optimal experience for mobile browsers, identify the target devices for your solution, and design your solution to adapt to each device.

• Design each layout for the smallest device in a range of devices, and configure the auto-resize options for layout objects to adjust according to the web browser’s height and width.

  • In some mobile browsers, users may not be able to view objects near the bottom edge of a layout if the layout is larger than the mobile device’s viewable area.
  • On iOS devices, if users zoom in to enlarge the image on screen, the status toolbar and some layout elements may not be accessible.
  • On Android devices, layout elements are always fixed in size. Users can’t zoom in or out.

• Use the OnLayoutSizeChange script trigger to change layouts if the browser dimensions change to be greater or smaller than a certain height or width, such as when a mobile browser changes orientation.

• FileMaker WebDirect does not support saving snapshot links, importing records, exporting records, or exporting the contents of container fields from mobile browsers.

If you want to present your own interface for performing tasks, you can hide the menu bar and the status toolbar when the file opens.

To suppress FileMaker WebDirect controls, set the menu bar and status toolbar to hide by default in the FileMaker Pro Advanced File Options dialog box. See FileMaker Pro Advanced Help.

For multifile solutions, you must suppress FileMaker WebDirect controls in each file.

In addition to entering or modifying data, your solution may require web users to perform other tasks.

It is important that web users properly close their sessions by opening the menu bar and then clicking Close File.

• If they close the browser window or quit the browser before closing the file, their sessions may still be open, which might:

• prevent others from opening the solution if the connections limit has been reached

• prevent the solution from running scripts assigned to script triggers

• cause a script to continue running until the specified timeout occurs, which may lead to unexpected results

• make data vulnerable to hackers until the specified timeout occurs

• If they leave a FileMaker WebDirect session idle on an inactive browser tab in Safari, the session may become unresponsive before the session timeout.

• If they lock or power off their devices before closing the file, the sessions may become unresponsive.

• If they close the browser before closing the file, any uncommitted changes will be reverted.

To minimize these situations, set the session timeout to a short amount of time or create a scripted button to safely close the file. See Working with virtual windows.

Note: If you hide the menu bar, create a scripted button to close the file. See Hide the menu bar and status toolbar.

Some functions, scripts, and script triggers are not supported in FileMaker WebDirect, or they perform differently than in FileMaker Pro Advanced. Review all calculations and scripts in your solution to make sure they perform correctly.

For information about individual functions, script steps, and script triggers, see FileMaker Pro Advanced Help.

In addition to data entered by web users, FileMaker WebDirect solutions can access external ODBC and FileMaker data sources.

To publish a FileMaker Pro Advanced custom app on the web as a FileMaker WebDirect solution, use FileMaker Pro Advanced to determine which user accounts can have access to the solution from a web browser, then upload the custom app to FileMaker Server or a FileMaker Cloud product.

To change the settings for FileMaker WebDirect, run Admin Console on a machine that has network access to the FileMaker Server or FileMaker Cloud product deployment that is hosting your solution. See FileMaker Server Help and FileMaker Cloud product documentation in the Product Documentation Center.

Web users access FileMaker WebDirect solutions through FileMaker WebDirect Launch Center, FileMaker Customer Console, an HTML page, or a custom homepage.

• FileMaker WebDirect does not support gestures or animations.
• Modifying a solution while web users are connected could produce unexpected results. For example, if you save changes to a layout that web users are displaying in List View, each web user’s current record is changed to the first record in the found set.
• Use fonts that are installed on all target operating systems. If a font is not available, the web browser substitutes its default font for the unavailable font.
• Objects and grouped objects should not span multiple layout parts. If an object or group of objects spans multiple parts, it displays only in the layout part in which it is anchored.
• When a user enters a field in a portal, records in the portal are not updated until the user leaves the field.
• To identify the current record in List View, apply the Active object state style to the layout’s body part. The current record indicator is not supported in List View.
• The highlight, superscript, and subscript conditional formatting options are not supported. Underline, word underline, and double underline are all rendered as regular underline.
• Tooltips are not supported with the following layout objects: text, images, fields that do not allow entry, merge fields, merge variables, portals, charts, and web viewers that do not allow interaction.
• FileMaker WebDirect displays scroll bars according to system preferences. FileMaker WebDirect does not support the Portal Setup dialog box Show scroll bar option.
• If FileMaker WebDirect can’t detect or doesn't support the web browser’s language, FileMaker WebDirect displays its interface, tooltips, and dialogs in English.

Each FileMaker Server and FileMaker Cloud product deployment has a maximum number of connections. When the maximum number of connections is reached, additional web users see an error message in the web browser when they try to open the solution.

• If you think FileMaker Server or the FileMaker Cloud product has reached the maximum number of connections erroneously, it’s possible that a web user has not signed out of the solution properly. You can wait for the sessions to time out, or close the file to disconnect all users from the solution, or disconnect specific users using Admin Console. See FileMaker Server Help and FileMaker Cloud product documentation in the Product Documentation Center.

• Web users should avoid opening the same solution from multiple browser windows or in multiple tabs of the same browser window. Each browser window or tab uses its own connection to FileMaker Server or the FileMaker Cloud product, which may cause it to reach the connections limit quickly. See Working with virtual windows.

• Mobile browsers do not support the option to always show vertical scroll bars in portals.

• Mobile browsers do not support tooltips.

• Mobile browsers display an onscreen keyboard only when the user clicks into a field.

• PDF files in container fields are not interactive. On iOS devices, container fields display only the first page of the PDF. On Android devices, click links in container fields to view PDFs in new web browser windows. To interact with PDFs in container fields, open the solution in Windows or macOS.

• If a field uses system formats to display data, FileMaker WebDirect uses the default system formats for the location in which the solution was created. Default system formats affect date, time, and timestamp formatting in fields, merge fields, and validation messages.

• The following features are not supported for fields: auto-complete (type-ahead), sideways text, input methods set by FileMaker Pro Advanced, and line spacing.

• FileMaker WebDirect can only access fields from files that are hosted on the same server.

• Field borders and fills show on all records. The Layout Setup dialog box Delineate fields on current record only option is not supported.

• Tell users to avoid adding leading or trailing spaces in a text field because the data may not appear in the text field when the solution opens in FileMaker WebDirect. If extra spaces are necessary, make sure the text field is wide enough to accommodate the extra spaces, or add a scroll bar to the text field.

• Concealed edit boxes always display the same number of concealed characters as actual characters in the field, and do not display carriage returns as concealed characters.

• Checkbox sets and radio button sets display as standard HTML controls; they do not support object styles. If they appear cropped, enlarge the fields on the FileMaker Pro Advanced layout.
• In pop-up menus and drop-down lists, web users can’t use an Edit item or an Other item to edit or add values to a value list.

• Web users can insert a file of up to 300 MB into each container field. To insert files larger than 300 MB, use FileMaker Pro Advanced.

• Web users can work with files of up to 300 MB in interactive container fields. If a file is larger than 300 MB, web users must export the contents of the container field to work with the file. To work with files larger than 300 MB in interactive container fields, use FileMaker Pro Advanced.

• To allow web users to export data from container fields, set Available menu commands to All in the Edit Privilege Set dialog box.

• Minimize the number of custom styles applied to panel controls. If a custom style is applied to a panel control, the custom style may appear on other panel controls on the same layout, even if those controls have different styles.
• Objects placed on the tab label of a tab control are rendered in the panel area.
• When designing slide panels in your solution, select Show navigation dots in the Slide Control Setup dialog box to allow web users to navigate between slide panels with the slide control’s dots. Slide controls do not support swiping through panels in the web browser. As an alternative, you can define scripts to control the navigation between slide panels.

• Popovers do not resize when the window resizes, so design popovers for the size of the web browser window. Resizing a browser window to be smaller than an open popover or opening a popover that is larger than the current window could produce unexpected results.

• When a user scrolls in List View, popovers do not close until the user enters another record.

• In List View, button bars may have different active segments for each record in the found set.

• When a button bar resizes, the button bar displays its default active segment.

• FileMaker WebDirect uses iframes to display Web viewer pages. Therefore, all the restrictions and limitations for iframes apply to web viewer pages. The limitations can sometimes cause certain websites to be displayed blank inside a web viewer that is accessed in FileMaker WebDirect. To troubleshoot the two most common causes of this issue:

  • Verify that the target URL uses the same protocol (such as http or https) as the parent page. For example, if your FileMaker WebDirect page is accessed using https, the URL for your web viewer page should also start with https, and vice versa.
  • Make sure your web viewer is pointing to a website that allows its content to be embedded into other websites. For example, if the X-Frame-Options header for a website includes X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN, the content from the site can only be used in an iframe from another website hosted on the same domain.
• Web users might be able to interact with web viewer content in a limited way, even if you clear the Allow interaction with web viewer checkbox in the Web Viewer Setup dialog box. Limited interaction can also occur even if a web viewer is defined as a button.
• If the URL calculated by a web viewer does not include a colon (:), then FileMaker WebDirect adds the scheme http:// to the beginning of the URL. To avoid errors, include the appropriate scheme in the web address when you set up a web viewer.
• The Back and Forward options of the Set Web Viewer script step are not supported in FileMaker WebDirect. To navigate backward and forward within a web viewer in FileMaker WebDirect, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) within the web viewer and choose Back or Forward. If the layout has more than one web viewer, the shortcut menu works only with the web viewer that has most recently changed from one page to another, not necessarily the one the pointer is over.
• FileMaker WebDirect does not support web viewers whose content is published by FileMaker WebDirect. No webpage displays in a web viewer if the web viewer URL contains /fmi/webd.
• Content in a web viewer may have unintended effects on FileMaker WebDirect. For example, a URL (either a URL calculated from field data or a URL that the user sets by clicking a link in a web viewer) can specify a page that has the target=top attribute. This attribute causes the page to replace FileMaker WebDirect in the web browser window.
• As operating system vendors continue to fix security problems, they may disable certain features, often along with modifying security settings within the user’s web browser. Such changes might disable or change the behavior of web viewers in FileMaker WebDirect. Tell users how to change security settings in their browsers to allow web viewers to function properly, or ensure that the URLs used by your web viewers are for trusted webpages only.

• Object borders with a thickness that is not a whole number are rounded down to the nearest whole number. Thicknesses greater than 0 points but less than 1 point are increased to 1 point.

• If you apply a border to a layout part or a layout background, do not place objects on the border. Otherwise, parts of objects that overlap the border will not render in the web browser.

• If you apply an image slice fill to a layout part or a layout background, do not place layout objects on or near the image segments that border the layout part or layout background. Otherwise, layout objects may not render as expected.

• To display the object’s contents a set distance from the object’s border, change an object’s padding. FileMaker WebDirect does not support indentation.

• To hide an object in an object group, apply a hidden condition to the entire object group. Users can’t click objects located behind hidden objects in object groups unless the entire object group is hidden.

• If you apply button settings and a hidden condition to an object, apply the hidden condition last. Otherwise, users may not be able to click objects located behind the object with button settings when that object is hidden.

• The tab order might vary from the tab order in FileMaker Pro Advanced. Different browsers might support the tab order in a different manner.
• The tab order in a web browser includes edit boxes, concealed edit boxes, drop-down lists, pop-up menus, drop-down calendars, checkbox sets, radio button sets, and container fields.
• In Find mode, the tab order doesn't include calculation fields.
• iOS: If you're using the Smart Keyboard with iPad Pro, the tab order may not work as expected. For example, you may be able to tab into fields that are not included in the layout's tab order.

• Create identical accounts and passwords in each file in a FileMaker WebDirect solution. When users enter the account and password for the first file, the information is used to authenticate related files. The fmwebdirect extended privilege must also be enabled for all privilege sets in all solution files.

• Web browsers can’t display fields on a layout that are from another file, unless web users have access to that file as well. This limitation also applies to calculation fields that are based on field values from other files.

• When a solution contains references to a protected related file that it is not authorized to access, web users cannot authorize access to the protected file in FileMaker WebDirect. Consequently, when web users open the solution, the file does not contain any data from the protected file. To prevent this situation, use FileMaker Pro Advanced to authorize all files that reference protected files. See FileMaker Pro Advanced Help.

• When a FileMaker Server deployment redirects a FileMaker WebDirect connection between Web Publishing Engines, the hostname displayed in the URL bar changes to match the hostname of the destination WPE. Features that refer to specific WPE hostnames, such as web viewers, may return unexpected results.
• If the WPE is disabled on a machine in the deployment and a user uses that machine's URL to access FileMaker WebDirect, the user won't be redirected to an available WPE and won't be able to access FileMaker WebDirect.
• If the WPE is enabled on a worker machine, FileMaker WebDirect solutions are available through the worker machine, even if FileMaker WebDirect is disabled on the master machine.
• If you use a custom homepage or host custom web content for your solution, make sure all custom content is hosted on all WPEs in the FileMaker Server deployment. Otherwise, some WPEs may not be able to access or display custom content.
• Displaying FileMaker WebDirect content in <iframe> tags of separate webpages may lead to unexpected results.
• To use plug-ins with FileMaker WebDirect in a multiple-machine deployment, install the plug-ins on the master machine and all worker machines.