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I am looking to create a web site that will need to exchange information with a Filemaker Pro (version 11) database. Using PHP I can create simple web apps that submit and retrieve data from Filemaker. I would however like to use a CMS framework (such as Drupal) to allow users to control access to the site and update site content (blog posts, images, etc ...).

Is it possible to use Drupal as a "shell", controlling access to certain pages and allowing site editors to modify content, while embedding a PHP page/form to interact with the Filemaker data? I would be planning to use MySQL for Drupal and the custom "web apps" would access Filemaker. Thanks for any help.

webworm
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    Are you planning to do this using the linked ODBC table feature and grabbing the data directly from the Drupal tables or would you be looking to expose a service from the Drupal site that Filemaker would consume, perhaps using something like SmartPill? Or would you be looking to use IWP? – Clive Mar 21 '12 at 19:15
  • Perhaps I could have explained it better. I am not trying to integrate Drupal with Filemaker, rather I just want to use Drupal for it's value as a CMS and user management. I already have a simple PHP form that submits to a Filemaker database. I want to take this PHP form and have it serve as a "node" or "page" within Drupal. I guess what I am asking is if "any" PHP form could be used within Drupal, regardless of whether it talks to Filemaker, MySQL, or SQL Server. – webworm Mar 22 '12 at 14:08
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    Ah I get ya...it's 100% possible, have a look at the [Form API](http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/developer!topics!forms_api_reference.html/7) for building forms up in the 'Drupal' way, or the [Webform](http://drupal.org/project/webform) module if you don't want to bother coding it yourself. – Clive Mar 22 '12 at 14:25

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Have you ever heard of the expression "there's a module for that?" It's used quite a bit in the Drupal world. And yes, for Filemaker, there is a Module for That!. It's called, the Filemaker module, see more detail at http://drupal.org/project/filemaker.

Now I've never tested it, so it may not give you everything you want. But the beauty of open source is that you can always contribute what it doesn't already have. Or at least see how they did it to see if its worth it for you to try your own integration.

Now this module is one version behind current, so maybe you can learn Drupal by learning to upgrade the module. There's great guides on how to do this.

Jonathan Rowny
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  • I did look at this module and it looks pretty comprehensive. However, I am not looking to create a front-end for the entire Filemaker database, rather I am looking to create a PHP form to accesses Filemaker and use it from within Drupal. – webworm Mar 22 '12 at 14:10