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No Brainer Database Publishing, Part 2By Wes Thomas Since the askSam database is preserved in its native form, it can be maintained by anyone with word processing experience, using askSam's built-in WYSIWYG word processor--no knowledge of HTML or programming is required. You can also allow users to add records to the database. To do that, you create an HTML form with a POST method. You can also create custom search forms by modifying the default HTML code for the search form. askSam Web Publisher supports Boolean, proximity, date, numeric, wildcard, fuzzy, full-text (not constrained by fields), and multi-database searches. Its CGI program runs on all popular Windows 95 and NT Web servers, including those from Netscape, Microsoft, O'Reilly & Associates, and other CGI-compliant Web servers. Databases used in askSam can be either structured (with explicit fields) or free-form text, so you can import data from text documents, not just conventional databases. You can also incorporate graphics and URL hyperlinks into the database. Actually, there's an even easier option. If you don't have access to a Web server, askSam Systems offers a Web site publishing service. For $29.95 a month, they will publish your askSAM database of up to one megabyte on their Web site. Options for more disk space and your own virtual domain are also available. You can experiment with sample searchable Web databases on their Web site (www.asksam.com), or download a limited version of the product--the "askSam 3.0 Working Model." FileMaker Pro 3.0FileMaker from Claris--available for Windows (all flavors) and Macintosh--has become an industry-standard database application for its ease of use. The newest version, FileMaker Pro 3.0, adds relational databases, Web access (Macintosh only), and other advanced features. FileMaker Pro 3.0 for the Macintosh offers an easy way to publish your legacy database by importing it into a FileMaker Pro 3.0 database (it supports DBF, comma- and tab-delimited text, SYLK, DIF, WKS, BAS, MER, CWK, and CWS file formats). FileMaker Pro for Windows and MacOS supports TCP/IP protocols, and can easily share databases over the Internet with FileMaker Pro users on MacOS- and Windows-based computers. Claris has created a proprietary FMP3:// pseudo-protocol that allows Macintosh FileMaker Pro 3.0 users (again, no Windows support yet, but they're working on it) to access a FileMaker Pro 3.0 database via the Web. You must include this tag in your HTML file:<A HREF="FMP3://[name or IP address of the host compu-ter]/database_name">Text to appear in the browser</A> [Move on to the next part of the article.] This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 1997 print issue of Web Developer.
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