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Adding a web viewer

You can add a web viewer to display a web page on a layout. The address of the web page can be either a constant or a calculation based on data in the current record.

1.	In Layout mode, choose the layout you want from the Layout pop-up menu.

2.	Click the Web Viewer tool in the status toolbar.

3.	Drag the crosshair to draw the web viewer.

Tip  You can also add a web viewer by choosing Insert menu > Web Viewer.

4.	In the Web Viewer Setup dialog box, choose one of the websites in the Choose a Website list.

Or, choose Custom Web Address from the list. See Defining a custom web address.

5.	For each of the website parameters you want to use, do one of the following:

 

To	Do this
Specify a field that contains the parameter	Click and choose Specify Field. Then select a database field and click OK.
Specify a calculation that generates the parameter	Click and choose Specify Calculation. Then create a calculation and click OK.
Specify a constant value	Type a constant value enclosed in quotation marks. If you want to specify a parameter that consists of both a constant and a field, specify it as a calculation.

Note  Some website parameters may be marked Required or Optional. If you do not specify a Required parameter, the website might not provide the information you expect.

6.	Select Allow interaction with web viewer content if you want to allow users to interact with the web page displayed in the web viewer.

Users can click links, enter text, scroll, tab into, and use the shortcut menu in the web viewer. If you clear this checkbox, all interaction is disabled; even scroll bars are not displayed.

7.	Select Display content in Find mode if you want the web viewer to display a web page in Find mode.

After users enter a value into a field and move out of that field, the web viewer recalculates the URL and reloads the web page, if the web address is based on this field. If you clear this checkbox, the web viewer is blank in Find mode.

8.	Select Display progress bar if you want the web viewer to display a progress bar under the content area that shows how much of a web page is loaded.

9.	Select Display status messages if you want the web viewer to display status messages under the content area. The following kinds of status messages can be displayed:

•	Loading messages, such as “Loading: http://www.filemaker.com”

•	Error messages, which are the same as those that would display on your operating system’s web browser

•	Security status. When secure web pages (pages that use the https protocol) are loaded, a small lock icon appears

10.	Select Automatically encode URL to allow FileMaker Pro to apply encoding rules to the URL, if necessary, so that it complies with a browser’s required format. To keep the URL in the format in which it is entered, deselect this checkbox.

For more information about URL encoding, see About URL encoding in web viewers.

11.

Click OK.

Notes

•	Web viewers display web pages in Form View and List View. In Table View, web viewers display only when they are in the header or footer parts of a layout.

•	You can’t place a web viewer in a portal. If you place a web viewer on a portal, the web viewer appears as an object on the layout that overlaps the portal.

•	Web viewers are included in the default tab order.

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You can define a web viewer as a button. Mouse clicks activate the button but don’t interact with links or other web viewer content. However, you can tab into the web viewer and interact with it using the keyboard, if Allow interaction with web viewer content is selected and the web viewer is in the tab order. For more information about buttons, see Defining a button.

•	Avoid placing objects in front of or behind web viewers. Web viewers may not display in Browse, Find, and Preview modes in the stacking order that you set in Layout mode.

•	You cannot rotate a web viewer.

•	You can send html data to a web viewer by embedding the data in a URL. For more information, see the Set Web Viewer script step.