[FX.php List] FileMaker 7/8 and PHP WITHOUT FX.php?

[Matt Simpson]

Hey Elleni,

I'm a pretty experienced PHP developer and I use many different 
databases (PostGreSQL, MySQL, Oracle and FileMaker). Each database has 
it's uses and target audience, and I understand why your lead developer 
may not like FileMaker... because it's different and definitely not 
targetted at database developers.

Your developers have two paths ahead of them, tell them to pick their 
poison wisely:

1) If your lead developer doesn't want to use FX.php then not only does 
he/she have a sick amount of work ahead of him but he probably will not 
succeed in the project, plus he/she will end-up hating FileMaker even more.

2) If your lead developer says "fine, we'll use FX.php"; he uses it, 
makes your web-application work in a day or two and will end-up being 
impartial towards FileMaker in your environment.

You will not likely get a developer to love FileMaker after they use 
PostGreSQL, MySQL, etc. They don't really compare in speed and function, 
but that doesn't mean that FileMaker is useless to them. It keeps you 
happy and saves them a silly amount of time for interface design. I can 
bang out a fairly complex database with interface in a few hours using 
FileMaker and everyone's happy. The equivilant in PHP / MySQL would take 
at least a few days by the time all is said and done, albeit the PHP / 
MySQL solution would be way faster and suitable for a busy site.

Tell them not to hate on FileMaker. Yes it's quirky, but once you 
understand it how it works (don't eve try to understand why it works) 
it's a fast solution to get something done you otherwise wouldn't have 
time to do.

Best Regards,
Matt Simpson
Web Developer
Queen's University / MEdTech Unit
82 Barrie Street 2nd Floor
Kingston Ontario
Canada, K7L 3N6

Phone: 613-533-6000 x78146
E-mail: matt.simpson at queensu.ca

Elleni B Fellows wrote:
> So, I work in an environment that has both FileMaker lovers and haters. I had 
> hoped our web developers would work with us and our FM databases to get them on 
> the web with php. They currently use lots of php with MySQL. Today the lead 
> developer told me he doesn't really want to use FX.php and wants us to find a 
> way to use the XML out of FileMaker without the FX library. Don't ask me what 
> his deal is... I come from the old CDML school of FM on the web and am just 
> starting to get interested in using php instead. I had hoped we FileMaker folks 
> could use FXForge to create to basics of our sites and get the "web team" folks 
> to help dress them up later. Anyway, I need to meet with him next week and 
> explain why I want to use FM and FXphp for our solutions. My answer right now 
> would be because that's what most of the FM community is using! But I don't 
> think that will be enough for him.
> 
> Thanks for any advice!
> 
> Elleni
> 
> 
> -- 
> <http://www.elleni.com> 	*Elleni B. Fellows*
> /IT Professional/, CLA-OIT <http://www2.cla.umn.edu/admin/claoit/>
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> 
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> <http://www.douglasadams.com/>, 1952-2001
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