Interfacing to FileMaker Pro Cloud

[cj143]

I need to connect my cloud-based FileMaker application to my LabVIEW application. I've connected to FileMaker years ago via ODBC/DSN, but that was when the FileMaker application was hosted on the company's server. Now the FileMaker application is cloud hosted and it's unknown where to start. Is ODBC used? Do I need to define a DSN or some other method?

Is there a knowledge base or reference I can use to get started to connect with a cloud hosted FileMaker application?  I've just asked this question on the FileMaker community forum but am hoping someone in the LabVIEW community has experience with cloud hosted FileMaker.

Please advise.

Thanks,

DJ

[rolfk]

My guess is that there would be probably an ODBC and/or DAO interface that can connect to the cloud based Filemaker database. There isn't that much of a difference between connecting to a Filemaker server on a physical computer and one on a cloud server and when working at NI Switzerland we used to run Filemaker on a Mac computer as a server 30 years ago and connect to it from both Windows and Mac with Filemaker applications as well as through ODBC back then. ODBC wasn't that neat back then but could be made to work with some effort on non-Windows platforms.

The actual connection between an ODBC/DAO client and the Filemaker server may however nowadays be REST or similar based in the interest of easier pass through of firewalls.

[cj143]

I've since heard back from FileMaker and I need to use a REST based API.  I'm told to "Use a REST-compliant web service to send HTTPS requests in the form of URLs that specify the FileMaker Data API statements."   With a response like this, I find myself staring into a dark hole.  I get the impression that I'm looking at web development, which I have no experience or notion for where to start.  I hope I'm not the only one in all the LabVIEW community that needs to connect to a cloud hosted application.  In my case, I need to interface with FileMaker.  However, I would think the issues are similar to interfacing to a cloud hosted Microsoft Access file.  Are examples available?   Can anyone suggest how to get started?

[rolfk]

I would take a look at the JKI REST API.

But this is simply the REST mechanism, to what endpoints you need to connect, with what methods and parameters and how any response is encoded is service specific. It's not rocket science but quite a different world than your normal LabVIEW programming.

[cj143]

Hi Rolf.  Since the cloud concept of computing has been implemented for several years, I'm surprised there are no examples for how to access cloud-based data.  Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I get the feeling the cloud is a whole different paradigm in computing.  From what I gather, I need a "middleware" sort of method to connect my LabVIEW application with my FileMaker application.  I perceive the skill level for Internet based programming is out of my league and I'm short on bandwidth.  At this point I'm investigating into a 3rd party source for help with this and I'm waiting for a budgetary quote, which I hope is feasible for costing.  

[cj143]

I received a quote from a 3rd party software source and it's price is beyond budget at this time.  So, for now I'm forced to archive acquired data to a local FileMaker file on the local disk.  Where do I go to find the details necessary to connect LabVIEW to FileMaker using the Database Connectivity Toolkit?

[rolfk]

The Database Connectivity Toolkit only is an option if your LabVIEW application is for Windows and you can get an according ODBC or ADO/DAO driver for your FileMaker version. FileMaker used to have such drivers in the past but it is almost 30 years since I used FileMaker and I’m sure there were lots of changes since then (I was in fact not even aware that it still exists). The LabVIEW Database Connectivity Toolkit interfaces Windows ADO/DAO but Windows ADO/DAO provides gateways to also access ODBC or .Net Database drivers. So if FileMaker has support for any of these it should be possible. But FileMaker always tended to be a bit different in most things to other databases, so there may lay bears ahead on your path.

[santo_13]

The basic to connect anything to the cloud is, first find out the language (protocol) that the server supports, next understand the words, phrases, and responses that the server supports (commands, responses i.e., get/post/update etc., in terms of HTTP REST), the last part is using the language and structure knowledge implement the equivalent in LabVIEW.

To figure out the first two parts, you need to check with FileMaker Pro Cloud on what kind of APIs they expose and whether they have comprehensive documentation. Once you have these, we can help implement the equivalent in LabVIEW.