Web Forms and FileMaker Integration Options

Kate Waldhauser June 28, 2018 FileMaker, Integrations, New Technology, REST Integrations, Tech review Comments (1)

Need to do some data collection from users who don’t have FileMaker? A survey, application, or registration? As with most things FileMaker, there are multiple solutions to this requirement. In this short blog post, I’ll be going over the option of using a web form (such as Google Forms) so that data can be collected on a website, then automatically pushed into the FileMaker database.

With FileMaker 16 and the release of the cURL options, this is now a viable option and is pretty straightforward to implement. First, you must ensure the web form you are using has a REST API. This is a necessary requirement in order for FileMaker to communicate with the web form.

I’ve listed some popular choices for web forms with REST APIs below. There are many more options out there than what you see below, but this is a good starting point. If you have any interest in learning more about this type of solution for your database, please contact us.

Google Forms

Free and popular web form for collecting data and quickly creating a customized web form.

SurveyMonkey

Useful for sending surveys to a given set of users via email or posting a survey on a website to be filled out by anyone. See our case study on implementing a SurveyMonkey integration. Includes a free and paid version.

Zoho Forms

Easy to use form creation. There is no free version, but the paid version does include payment integration, which can be useful if users will need to input credit card data while completing the form.

Gravity Forms

This is a plugin for WordPress sites, so it would only make sense to use if you have an existing WordPress website and you wish to manage the form within WordPress. No free version, but paid versions are pretty modestly priced.

Wufoo

Free and paid versions (including more features, payments, and uploads). The API for this web service is quite comprehensive, making it easier to pull in responses, reports and user data.

BetterForms

FM BetterForms is a third-party product that allows us to put a web-based user interface (UI) on any given FileMaker-based system.

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