Deploying to Handheld Devices

If you have users who are on the road a lot, or who are just hooked on handheld devices, a deployment option you may want to consider is FileMaker Mobile. FileMaker Mobile enables you to easily synchronize data between a FileMaker database and a handheld device.

When a database is deployed to FileMaker Mobile, you can specify which fields should be available and how they should appear to users (for example, text field, check box field, pop-up list). None of your FileMaker layouts or scripts is actually available on the handheld device.

FileMaker Mobile is limited in certain ways in comparison to FileMaker Pro. Databases deployed to a handheld may contain only a single table, with no more than 50 fields and no more than 5,000 records, and text and number fields are limited to 2,000 and 255 characters of data.

FileMaker Mobile is not the only option for using handheld devices with FileMaker. Citrix makes an ICA client for Pocket PC, which means that if you have a wireless network available to you, you can use a FileMaker solution directly from a handheld device. The display on a handheld device has a different form factor than regular monitors, so youd likely need to design handheld-friendly layouts.

A final option for handheld deployment is via the Web. Using Custom Web Publishing and wireless web protocols such as WML and WAP, you can design handheld solutions that interact with FileMaker databases and run in a web browser on a wireless device.