FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual

Web Viewer Controls

Imagine you want to view a map of someone’s address in your People database. Getting a map isn’t a problem; they’re readily available on the Web. Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) and MapQuest (www.mapquest.com) both provide them for free. Still, it’s a lot of work to copy address information, change programs, find the right page, and paste the address into your database for each record. Or maybe you want to show the map right on the layout, instantly available at a glance. You could draw your own maps and store them in a container field, or even take screen shots right off of Google and paste them in. But that’s an awful lot of work, too.

Instead, simply ask FileMaker to go get the maps from the Internet for you. Using a FileMaker Web viewer, you can get FileMaker to automatically and instantly fetch almost anything available on the Web and display it directly on the layout. FileMaker even takes care of keeping things up to date: Every time you visit a record on the layout, it checks to see if newer information is available and automatically fetches the most up-to-date version, just like your Web browser.

You create Web viewers with the Web viewer tool. This globe-decorated tool button lives right between the Tab control tool and the Button tool on the status area when you’re in Layout mode. (You can see these tools in Figure 4-16 if you need a refresher.) It works like most FileMaker tools: First click the tool button in the status area, and then drag a rectangle ...