FileMaker RESTfm Goes Open Source
Now this is interesting. Goya has open sourced RESTFM and is only charging for support:
Goya Pty Ltd is pleased to announce that RESTfm is now Open Source. Packaged releases and source code are available now on GitHub….
RESTfm gives you full Create, Read, Update and Delete ( CRUD ) operations on FileMaker Server hosted data via standard HTTP GET, POST, PUT and DELETE methods….
RESTfm is a way of accessing your FMS hosted data. REST is a commonly used architecture so lots of other products and services already have methods for interacting with Web Services. Using RESTfm means you can make your FMS data tables accessible to these other products without any extra coding or work….
Lots of systems now have RESTful Web Service APIs and are setup to allow access via these methods. Now your FileMaker Server data can talk to all of these systems. For example you can use Drupal to access FMS data in your Web Site. You could use Wakandato build a Web or Mobile app, using FMS data in the back end.
Nearly every custom development platform ( Java, .NET, Oracle, PHP, Netbeans ) contains common controls for accessing a RESTful Web Service, so not matter what you’re developing there is likely to be an easy way to speak to RESTfm….
Pricing and Availability:
RESTfm is available for free with no implementation costs, and can be downloaded today from our github repository. Paid support is available for $199 per annum for individuals, or $399 per annum for companies. RESTfm is built on the Custom Web Publishing PHP API of FileMaker Server and as such doesn’t require any concurrent licences to operate or access.
Open Sourcing should increase the number of users, and should also lead to more support contracts and reduced free support costs. It would be interesting, after a year or so, to see how the profit and loss on this move works out. From an outsiders perspective, it seems to be a smart move, one that will give Goya the information it needs to build an updated distribution and support model.
And don’t forget–this great tool is free to download and includes some sample code!
Source: RESTfm Goes Open Source – RESTful Web Services for FileMaker Server