User manual

Using ODBC with FileMaker Pro 15-3
1 Enable Remote Data Access Companion to share this FileMaker Pro
database with ODBC-compliant applications remotely across a TCP/
IP network.
5. Verify that the file was opened using a password that allows you
to export records.
Important Each file must remain open for client applications to
access the data.
The FileMaker Pro data is ready to be accessed by an ODBC-
compliant client application through the FileMaker Pro ODBC
driver. Each FileMaker Pro file that is open and has a Data Access
Companion enabled is represented as a table. The filename (without
the extension) is used as the table name. FileMaker Pro fields are
represented as columns. The complete field name, including any
non-alphanumeric characters, displays as the column name.
Note If your FileMaker Pro field names contain spaces, some query
tools may not be able to access the data. To prevent this, eliminate
spaces from field names in FileMaker Pro or surround the field
names with a double quote or grave character (the accent above the
Tab key) in the SQL query.
To install the FileMaker Pro ODBC driver on a remote machine,
consider licensing FileMaker Developer software, which includes a
separate installer for the FileMaker Pro ODBC driver. For more
information, choose Help menu > FileMaker on the Web.
Security issues
If data is unprotected, it can be modified and deleted from other
applications. To protect your data, specify file passwords (and, if
desirable, groups) using FileMaker Pro access privileges. For more
information, see “Defining passwords” on page 9-1.
The Password dialog box is generated by the ODBC client
application, so each application might present the dialog box at
different times.
Important Review the following security issues:
1 A FileMaker Pro guest on a network can share data via ODBC
unless they open the file with a password that does not allow them to
export records. For information on assigning passwords, see
“Defining passwords” on page 9-1.
1 Only the data in fields is protected with passwords. Table and
column names are available to an ODBC client without a password.
1 The first password is saved (cached) during an ODBC connection.
If you use the same password for all files, users won’t need to re-
specify the password.
Accessing FileMaker Pro data from an
ODBC client application
Once a FileMaker Pro file is shared with a Data Access Companion,
you can connect to it from an ODBC client application. To access
data from the client application, you:
1. Create and configure the DSN (data source name) using the
ODBC control panel (by choosing the FileMaker Pro ODBC driver
and specifying where the data is located)
2. Construct and execute the SQL query.
Configuring the ODBC control panel
This section provides instructions for specifying FileMaker Pro as
the data source.
Note Each ODBC client application connects to the FileMaker
ODBC data source differently. The way you interact with data
sources, provide passwords, and perform and display query results
varies for each client application. For more information, refer to the
documentation that comes with the client application.