Searching Filemaker

Creating an Online Form
Creating a Search Form

Creating the Search Response
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This is somewhat more complex than the form to add to the database. Here is a sample form for submitting a search. The comments inside the HTML will help explain what is going on:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
  <TITLE>FileMaker search</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
  <H1>This is a Search</H1>

  <FORM ACTION="http://computerHostingFilemaker:8080/FMPro"
      METHOD="POST">
  <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="-db" VALUE="sesqui.FP3">
  <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="-format" 
      VALUE="search_results.html">
  <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="-error" 
      VALUE="search_results.html">

  <P>You can see a list of everything in the database 
  by typing a space into one of the fields</P>

  <TABLE width="98%" border="0" align="top">
   <TR><TD>First Name</TD>
<!--This first part is a drop down list-->
<!--we can choose search parameters this way-->    
      <TD><SELECT NAME="-op">
        <OPTION value="eq">is
        <OPTION value="neq">is NOT
        <!--SELECTED is the default-->
        <OPTION value="ct" SELECTED>contains
        <OPTION value="bw">begins with
        <OPTION value="ew">ends with
      </SELECT>
<!--Enter text into this text field to search-->
     <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="First Name" VALUE="" 
        SIZE=20></TD></TR> 

   <TR><TD>Last Name</TD>
      <TD><SELECT NAME="-op">
        <OPTION value="eq">is
        <OPTION value="neq">is NOT
        <OPTION value="ct" SELECTED>contains
        <OPTION value="bw">begins with
        <OPTION value="ew">ends with
      </SELECT>
      <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="Last Name" VALUE="" 
        SIZE=20></TD></TR>

<!--This drop down list lets us choose -->
<!--how the results are sorted-->
   <TR><TD colspan="2"><P>&nbsp;</P></TD></TR>
   <TR><TD>Sort results by</TD>
    <TD><SELECT NAME="-SortField">
        <OPTION value="First Name">first name
        <OPTION SELECTED value="Last Name">last name
        </SELECT>
   </TD></TR>
<!--This lets us choose the number of-->
<!--results per page-->
   <TR><TD>Results per page:</TD>
    <TD><SELECT NAME="-Max">
        <OPTION value="5">5
        <OPTION SELECTED value="10">10
        <OPTION value="20">20
        <OPTION value="50">50
        <OPTION value="100">100
        </SELECT>
   </TD></TR>
  </TABLE>

<!--submit-->
<!--notice that the name is "-find"-->
<!--this tells FileMaker what to do-->
<P><INPUT type="submit" NAME="-find" 
  value="Start Search"> 
  <INPUT type="reset" value="Clear Form"></FORM></P>

</BODY></HTML>

As you can see, the search has a few special tags. First, there is the "-op" in the drop-down lists. This option will let the user choose what kind of search they perform.

The "-SortField" name will determine how the output is sorted.

The "-Max" will determine the maximum results per page.

Lastly, the "-find" in the submit tag will tell FileMaker that it should search.

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Searching Filemaker