If you are just trying to pull static data from filemaker use a tab delimited file or CSV, but if you want to actually pull live data from a filemaker database, use ODBC or XML.

The current version of FMP can act as an ODBC Server (plugins to do this were available for older versions). If you are running your scripts on a platform where are supported ODBC driver is available (prob'ly windows only, but I'm not sure) you can use Win32::ODBC or DBI and DBD::ODBC to make your perl script act as on ODBC client. Check your manuals or the (surprising helpful) online help. Also read the Filemaker ODBC Primer.

IIRC, Filemaker Co. was making a big deal about using XML as a data interchange format a few years ago. I believe the web companion can spew XML as well as HTML. It should be easier to extract your data from XML files rather than HTML. Check your docs and this might help, too (it's a big PDF file, save it, and then open it).

I've been out of the filemaker game for a while, and haven't played with these features. But I know they are available (once upon I time, I yearned for them). It looks like you may even be able to trigger scripts using the ODBC interface.

Though often maligned, Filemaker is a great tool for the niche it serves. It was fun to check up on it and see how they've changed in the last few years. It looks like they are moving to integrate nicely with 'real' rdms technology, yet maintaining the ease of use that lets a secretary create and manage a functional relational database.


TGI says moo

In reply to Re: Perl and FileMaker by TGI
in thread Perl and FileMaker by racer_x

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.