[FX.php List] need info on perceived and actual strengths and weaknesses of using PHP with FileMaker to build dynamic web sites

[Dale Bengston]

> I'm trying to find out the strengths and weaknesses of using PHP  
> with FileMaker to build dynamic web sites.

Okay. The questions seem a bit loaded, but I'll give it a go.


> What are the things that bug you about using PHP with FileMaker?   
> What do you like?

The thing that bugs me about PHP versus Lasso or CDML is, how I'm  
still scratching the surface of PHP's capabilities, and I'm  
frustrated by how much I have to learn. When I was doing CDML  
development, I was always frustrated by the limitations of the  
environment.

The things I like about PHP: I now consider myself a php/web  
developer who prefers to use FileMaker as my data source... as  
opposed to a FileMaker developer trying to figure out how to get my  
data to the web, and running into brick walls every day. I am now  
free to use the full power of Apache and PHP to drive my solutions. I  
am integrating a lot of AJAX-to-FX.php work right now, and it's very  
exciting to work on interfaces that use this technology. I can now  
integrate FileMaker data with any and all of the open-source PHP  
libraries out there that generate PDFs, Excel files, accept and  
manipulate uploaded files, etc.

So the downside is the discovery/learning curve with PHP. The upside  
is its very potential.


> What are the things that non-developers/clients think are the  
> strenghts?  The weaknesses?

My clients don't care about the technology being used. They want me  
to solve problems. Inherently, I think the clients I did CDML work  
for understand that PHP is a zillion steps up from what we could do  
in the CDML sandbox. One thing that non-developers see as a strength  
of PHP is its price: free. PHP and its open-source community is much  
more IT-friendly too.

Hope this helps,
Dale Bengston


On Apr 13, 2006, at 10:44 PM, Tami Williams wrote:

> Hello:
>
> I'm trying to find out the strengths and weaknesses of using PHP  
> with FileMaker to build dynamic web sites.
>
> What are the things that bug you about using PHP with FileMaker?   
> What do you like?
>
> What are the things that non-developers/clients think are the  
> strenghts?  The weaknesses?
>
> I'm trying to gather as much information as possible by next  
> Tuesday (4/18/06) so any information you can provide will be  
> greatly appreciated.
>
> If this is the wrong forum for these questions, I apologize.
>
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "It's better to burn out than to fade away."
>
> Tami Williams
> Creative Computing
> Improve, manage and unify data with custom database and web  
> applications.
> FileMaker and Lasso specialist.
>
> Tel: 770.457.3221
> Fax: 770.454.7419
> E-Mail: tami at asktami.com
> Web: http://www.asktami.com
>
> FileMaker Solutions Alliance Associate | Lasso Professional  
> Alliance Member
>
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