FMWebschool

While looking through the API code a few weeks ago, our team realized that the FileMaker API for PHP had a time bomb added into the code. We then immediately checked the code that was released with FileMaker Server 9, and found the same code.

This means that anyone that has downloaded the FileMaker API for PHP (Beta) and used it to develop websites - will have a non-functioning site as of Sunday October 7th, at 2 a.m.

FileMaker’s comments so far have been - We said that it was time restricted software, and you can fix the solution by upgrading to FileMaker Server 9.

Many people are arguing that their code works perfectly with FileMaker Server Advanced 8.04 why purposely time bomb the code so it no longer works? Was their some dramatic change to the API for PHP?

No…hardly anything has changed. As a matter of fact Eric Jacobson the Product Manager of Internet Technologies at FileMaker said that your code should work perfectly on Server 9 without any changes. Wait a minute…if it is the same code, then why the time bomb? Here is his quote -

“A website developed for use with the public beta should require very few, if any, modifications to use with the shipping version of the API.”

What has changed in the code is the fact that it runs a version check to make sure that it is using FileMaker Server 9. Yes, the code would absolutely continue working perfectly on FileMaker 8.04…. except for the little problem…the Time Bomb.

Is there an easy coding fix? You bet, 10 little digits would do the trick, but we are bound legally by FileMaker to -well here is what Eric Jacobson also posted -

I have attached a copy of the EULA for the Public Beta. I want to specifically point out section 1b:

YOU MAY NOT REVERSE ENGINEER, DECOMPILE OR
DISASSEMBLE THE SOFTWARE, EXCEPT AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT
EXPRESSLY PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. YOU MAY NOT MODIFY,
ADAPT, TRANSLATE, RENT, LEASE, LOAN OR CREATE DERIVATIVE WORKS
BASED UPON THE SOFTWARE OR ANY PART THEREOF.

It would have been nice if FileMaker had warned everyone saying - this software will NO longer work on October 7th develop at your own risk… but unfortunately, many individuals certainly thought that their PHP would continue working, and with the new release, they would just have to make a few coding adjustments.

I have written a long letter to FileMaker asking for permission to please let everyone know how to fix their code so their sites will continue working. I am hoping that FileMaker does the right thing.

Hi Everyone:

FileMaker Server 9v2 updater is now available for download at:

Download the latest update here

For those of you that may have missed the previous early notice, here are some important fixes that the update addresses:

1.1. In Mac OS X, the Web Publishing Engine stopped responding after running for approximately 5 days. This has been fixed.

1.2. A problem has been fixed in which Instant Web Publishing might display the wrong value from a value list. In version 9.0v1, this problem could occur when one value list item is a substring of another value in the list. For example, if a text field uses a value list containing “room A7” and “room A73″, and the field is set to “room A73″, Instant Web Publishing erroneously displays “room A7″ instead. In version 9.0v1, the erroneously displayed data could then be committed to the database, if the user entered Edit mode and clicked Submit.

1.3. A problem has been fixed that would have caused PHP web publishing to stop working correctly on or after October 7, 2007.

1.4. Sites generated by PHP Site Assistant

1.4.1. User credentials used to log into a site are no longer exposed in the URL and the web server log.

1.4.2. When you click the Delete Record button and then click Cancel in the confirmation dialog box, the record is no longer deleted anyway.

1.5. FileMaker Server performance statistics are no longer prevented from being properly added to the Performance Monitor in Windows Server 2003.

We will continue to monitor any issues related to FileMaker Server 9 and encourage you to continue to submit bug reports at:

File Your Bug Reports

In kindness
Stephen Knight

Introduction

Up until now, only IIS was the supported server to run the FileMaker Advanced Web Publishing Engine. However, Apache is a very popular web server for both Windows and Mac platforms and includes a lot of very interesting modules such as mod_rewrite - which are great to use with many sites to make search engine friendly URLs. Previously using Apache and FileMaker on windows required running IIS for the web publishing engine and Apache as a seperate process - with the help of this blog, you can eliminate IIS from your system and only use Apache!

Download the tutorial here

We all often see pages that have a lot of HTML code that is messy, unoptimized, and looks horrible. However this post will not discuss or complain about the style of code - or whether it compares to MySpace or Geocities. I will address the sole consequences of decreasing its size during your project design with very little work and no rewriting of the current code structure. I hope that after reading this article, you will have an urge to run and clean up the code to make your website faster, your users happier, and your hosting company out of your hair!

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