When addressing integration challenges with FileMaker, we try to solve them using the SmartPill plug-in (www.scodigo.com), especially when we have already used it for other purposes within a given solution. I’d like to share a technique we use for managing PHP in SmartPill that we have found to be very helpful and powerful.

In order for FileMaker to execute PHP, the PHP has to exist somewhere. It can be hard-coded into a script or stored in a field or a variable — there are a variety of approaches. Within SmartPill are several FileMaker-centric functions that will help you take full advantage of its functionality. Perhaps most important of these is the function “fm_evaluate,” which allows a user to pass data from FileMaker’s calculation engine into a piece of PHP code.

The Colibri team has created a library of the PHP functions we typically use in a given solution. Normally, we have a record in a FileMaker table that has a text field containing the PHP code for a specific function. The variables declared at the head of the function contain the necessary fm_evaluate calls. Each record has a unique serial number and a global field that can be used as a self-join. We develop a script that feeds the specific value correlating to a specific PHP call so that the PHP code is available on a global basis to the solution and driven from the context in which it is invoked. Consequently, our library becomes a solution-specific subset of PHP.

We have used this functionality to:

• manage a digital archive;
• manipulate directories on local machines;
• use Web services via SOAP for credit card transactions; and
• create SQL queries on SQL databases that do not require ODBC connections.

SmartPill also has a PHP extension for FileMaker that allows you to do SQL queries directly against FileMaker, create global variables outside of FileMaker’s field structure, and launch scripts, as well as error trap.

We want to hear about your experiences using FileMaker, PHP and SmartPill. Please contact us or add any techniques, questions or comments to this blog.

J Sciarra
Chief Technologist

If FileMaker Pro is your primary workgroup group tool, you know that it is “mission critical” to your everyday business functions. Typically, your workgroup solution solves most, if not all, administrative functions, providing a repository for institutional knowledge and data about your business. However, there is often other software, and sometimes hardware, that have functionality external to your core workgroup solution and needs to be integrated with your FileMaker solution. You might use an accounting package such as QuickBooks, or an e-commerce solution to manage a digital archive and connect to various Web services provided by your vendors, such as FedEx or UPS.

FileMaker’s plug-in architecture allows for many innovative and powerful extensions to FileMaker in order to accomplish some of the integration issues mentioned above. One of the key factors in FileMaker integration is PHP, a scripting language similar in some respects to Microsoft’s ASP. Most users associate PHP with web design, as it is most often used as a means of dynamically displaying Web content from a database backend. However, the PHP language has a rich function library that can do more than just create Web pages. As a scripting language, PHP has powerful tools for handling arrays that are not available natively in FileMaker. For example, you can execute FTP, HTTP, and SQL queries for most databases. You can manipulate files and images, interact with Web services via SOAP, and many other functions as well. (See all at http://us2.php.net/manual/en/funcref.php)

Developers leverage a suite of FileMaker plug-ins to extend FileMaker’s native functionality. At Colibri Solutions, we have been working extensively with a plug-in called SmartPill, developed by Micah Woods at Scodigo, that allows FileMaker to execute PHP directly. SmartPill has allowed us to take advantage of the large PHP function library and thus extend FileMaker’s functionality and integration capabilities, all from within the PHP framework. Essentially, we’ve been able to use PHP as a Swiss Army knife, or quasi-universal plug-in, for FileMaker. SmartPill reduces the number of plug-ins necessary and also provides a common framework, PHP, for solving integration problems.

There is also another plug-in from Shubeck in Germany that also will allow FileMaker to execute PHP. We have not used this plug-in yet, and so we welcome those of you who have used it to provide feedback of your experiences, especially if you have also used SmartPill and can provide a direct feature comparison.

Next week, I’ll post some techniques we have found useful in managing FileMaker, PHP, and SmartPill.

J Sciarra
Chief Technologist

Welcome to the new Colibri Solutions LLC website.

After a long time with our old look, we have updated our company logo, our website design and our service offerings. We hope that you will find colibrisolutions.com informative and easy to use, and come back to find out about the new and exciting things we are planning for our company and our clients in 2008.

So far in 2008, we have updated our flagship product, Colibri Studio, for compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Windows Vista. We are also working to certify ALL our staff on the various tools and technologies that we support.

Come back often to learn about upcoming services and products, as well as our insights into workgroup management solutions and technologies.

James Wesolowski
Managing Principal, Colibri Solutions LLC

As you may have seen on our home page, we are on our way to getting all our staff certified on the FileMaker Pro 9 platform with the recent certification of J. Sciarra, Colibri Solutions’ partner and chief technologist. The rest of us will be working on certification within the next few weeks.

In addition to Filemaker Pro, we plan to demonstrate our commitment to the range of technologies we support by getting the proper certifications over the course of 2008. We will display these new certifications on our home page and in this space as we gain them.

James Wesolowski
Managing Principal, Colibri Solutions LLC