Goodbye, FileMaker Mobile.

In a little over 3 weeks (on December 19, 2007 to be exact), FileMaker Inc. will officially discontinue the ill-fated FileMaker Mobile. This comes as no surprise to those of us who have used (or attempted to use) the product over the past few years. FM Mobile never did live up to the great expectations that many of us had for it. The prospect of having "anywhere, anytime" access to the data stored in our FileMaker databases was very appealing. But limitations with both the software itself and with the mobile devices that it ran on proved to be too inconvenient to make those dreams a reality.

So, where does that leave us now?

One solution is to develop Web-based applications that can be accessed over smart phones. For example, using FileMaker's custom Web publishing capabilities, it is possible to develop smart phone-friendly Web-based applications that act as front ends to FileMaker databases on the back end.

I've recently begun exploring this option using my iPhone and a Web-accessible database stored on one of our XServe machines. In a little under an hour, I was able to develop a simple Web application that serves up iPhone-friendly pages that we can use to access our company's shared contacts database.

Granted, this is a very basic application, consisting of a simple Web form and a form handler that processes search requests for contacts. But it works! Users can search for contacts by name or company name. The results come up quickly, are easy to read, and they are accurate. Best of all, the contacts that are returned in the list include both phone numbers and email addresses that serve as links -- so you can click on a contact's phone number, and the iPhone will prompt you to see if you'd like to dial that number. Similarly, clicking on an email address opens up the iPhone's mail application, with a new message pre-addressed to the contact.

Again, this is a very basic example of what you can do to build mobile applications for FileMaker. But imagine the possibilities! With a little work, we can finally achieve that goal of "anywhere, anytime" FileMaker access.

While experimenting with all of this, I came across the following sites and resources that proved to be very useful. If you're interested in developing for the iPhone, be sure to check these out:

• iPhone Dev Center -- Apple's own site that provides resources and tools for developing iPhone-friendly Web apps.

• Developing Web Applications for the iPhone -- A terrific article that explains the basics of iPhone Web development.

• Optimizing Your Website for Mobile Safari: Ensuring Your Website Works on the iPhone and iPod touch -- An eBook by August Trometer, a software developer at Indianapolis, Indiana-based Recursive Function.

• iPhoney -- A free iPhone web simulator for Web developers and designers. So you can see what your solution looks like on an iPhone, even if you don't have one yourself! Very cool!


I'm looking forward to continuing to experiment with and develop Web-based applications for the iPhone -- and even more excited about finally providing real-time, remote access to FileMaker. Check back here for additional info in the future, including tutorials, tips, and more.

-- Tim