Rowland, Steve is referring to using ODBC (with IMPORT[] or Execute SQL[] script steps). The "ESS" method (which may be what you are using) *is* a direct connection to the live SQL source. These are two different things and I thought Steve explained that.
Beverly On 12/15/08 3:40 PM, "Rowland & Wilma Carson" <[email protected]> wrote in whole or in part: > At 2008-12-13 15:53 -0800 Steve B. Gerow wrote: > >> FileMaker can connect to any ODBC datasource for which there is a >> driver availiable. You can import data from the ODBC data source >> into FileMaker but cannot modify* the data in the source itself with >> ODBC > > Steve - having just implemented a solution which uses FMP front-ends > on users' own machines to connect via ODBC to a central MySQL server, > I feel the need to question what you _seem_ to be saying. Forgive me > if I am not understanding you correctly. > > It's correct that FMP cannot alter the _structure_ of a SQL served > database accessed through ODBC, but the FMP users can certainly > modify the _data_ held therein, and my solution depends upon it. > > The average end-user will not want to tinker with the database > structure, so it's not an issue in my situation. > > There are some slight differences between handling tables accessed > through ODBC and native FMP tables, but for the most part (once set > up using MySQL Admin or phpMyAdmin) they can be treated just like > native FMP tables. You can add FMP-native calculated and summary > fields to ODBC-based tables. > > It seems much easier to find hosting services for MySQL than for FMP; > I'd expect this FMP9 feature to be a popular reason for upgrading to > 9. > > Incidentally, I find that the Actual ODBC Mac drivers for MS Access > only allow _import_ of Access data, which sounds a bit like what you > seem to be saying about the SQL ODBC drivers. Of course, that makes > sense anyway as there is no MS Access engine on the Mac so if the > data file is held on the Mac, it _has_ to be read-only. > > regards > > Rowland
