Open FileMaker Pro Files with a Shortcut

Open FileMaker Pro Files with a Shortcut
Create a .webloc or .url file to open FileMaker Pro databases.
By Todd Duell
The format to create a shortcut file for
FileMaker Pro is different for OSX and
Windows users. OS X users can use a
.webloc file. Windows users can use url
file. OSX users can also use the url file, but
it has the annoying problem of opening a
Safari window to launch the FileMaker Pro
application. No special scripts or FileMaker database are
needed to create these shortcut files. As long as you have a
text editor it will work fine.
OS X Shortcut
1. Open Safari to any web page (it really doesn’t matter).
2. Drag the URL or the icon to your desktop (Figure 1).
3. Open the .webloc file with Text Edit.
Figure 1 Create .webloc file — Drag the URL or icon to the desktop.
4. The contents of the text file should look similar to this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>URL</key>
<string>http://www.yahoo.com/</string>
</dict>
</plist>
5. Change the <string> contents to the FileMaker URL. The
format is: fmp7://ServerIPAddress/FileName.fp7.
Todd Duell is the Vice President & CIO of Formulations Pro, Inc and has been creating powerful commercial and custom solutions using FileMaker Pro since 1989. He holds an
MBA in Technology Management, is a Certified FileMaker Pro Developer, and has been a member of the FileMaker Business Alliance since 1998. Todd may be reached at
tduell@formulationspro.com
© 2009 Formulations Pro, Inc. All rights reserved. www.formulationspro.com
For example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>URL</key>
<string>fmp7://192.168.1.100/BusinessPro10.fp7</string
>
</dict>
</plist>
Save the file with the .url extension (not the .txt extension).
You must end the last line with a line feed. OS X and Safari
are very picky about this. If you don’t end with a line feed
Safari won’t launch the shortcut. The downside of this
technique is that Safari will open a new blank browser
window, which is annoying. Therefore I do prefer the
technique described above, which is a much cleaner method
even though it is an OSX solution only.
Windows Shortcut
1. Right-click the desktop and choose New>Shortcut (Figure 2).
6. Save the file with the .webloc extension (not the .txt
extension). It will now work as what’s known in the
Windows world as a shortcut, except it now works on
OSX. For those of you that are familiar with FileMaker
shortcuts on Windows you might be asking why I didn’t
pass the account name and password in the URL. The
reason is because Safari does not support passing this
information, so there’s no reason to include it in the file.
Plus, it’s a lot safer to share this file with other users if
you don’t store the account name and password.
7. If you want to create a universal URL shortcut that works
on both OSX and Windows you can use Text Edit to
create a .url file with the following format:
[InternetShortcut]
URL=fmp7://192.168.1.100/BusinessPro10.fp7
Figure 2 Right Click The Desktop— Start the shortcut wizard.
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2. Enter the URL using the following format (Figure 3).
fmp7://AccountName:Password@IPAddress/DatabaseName.fp7
or
fmp7://IPAddress/DatabaseName.fp7
Use the “+” symbol for spaces. Ex Todd+Duell
The Account Name and Password are optional. Do not
share short cuts if you include the account name and
password, as it will automatically open the file with this
information.
IP address is the numeric address or domain name of the
server (192.168.1.100 or myserver.com)
Figure 3 Create the URL— Type in the FileMaker URL string.
The database name is the full name of the file you want to
open. The file extension .fp7 is optional.
3. Give the shortcut a name. Click the Finish button to create
the short cut (Figure 4).
Try out the short cut to see if it works. If the account for your
server or your desktop computer does not allow applications
to be registered as a web application a shortcut will not work
and you’ll have to open the file using FileMaker with the
menu File>Open Remote.
Figure 4 Name the Shortcut— Enter a name.
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Summary
Whichever method you choose to access your
FileMaker Pro database across the network is up to you.
Each method offers advantages and disadvantages. The
URL string works on both platforms, but causes an annoying
Safari screen to open on OSX. OSX requires that you modify
the file to work. I really wish that OSX would have a true
shortcut application. Windows has always allowed users to
create shortcuts, which are easy too make. However,
administrators can block applications from being registered
as web applications, which will render shortcuts useless. In
any case, try it out. Shortcuts are much easier and faster
than constantly opening your database using File>Open
Remote.
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