Step 9 – FileMaker Server Side Sending

fmSMS allows you to send Messages in 3 different ways:

1. immediately once you have finished composing your Message or Bulk SMS from FileMaker Pro or FileMaker Go
2. immediately from FileMaker Server using the Perform Script on Server script step when clicking the Send via Server button
3. if your copy of fmSMS is hosted by FileMaker Server you also have the option of queueing the Message to be sent using FileMaker Server. For example you might wish to create messages to be sent but have a server schedule run at a later time to send these

Offloading the sending of Messages to FileMaker Server offers a number of advantages, including:

• when sending a large number of Messages as part of a bulk SMS operation your computer will be tied up until the last Message is sent. Queueing the Messages to be sent via FileMaker Server frees up your computer
• speed: the Server can typically send the messages faster than a client workstation

Before you can begin sending scheduled messages via FileMaker Server you must first create a server schedule using the FileMaker Server Admin Console. Here is a summary of the steps required to setup a server side script schedule to send Messages using fmSMS.

1. login to your FileMaker Server using the FileMaker Server Admin Console application
2. navigate to Configuration>Script and Verify Schedules
3. click the Create Schedule button
4. for Schedule Type select FileMaker Script
5. enter a name for the schedule (e.g. fmSMS Send Server Side Messages) in the Schedule Name field
6. for Database select fmSMS and enter the Account Name and Password you wish to use
7. for FileMaker Script select the script Send Server Side Messages
8. for Repeat select your required frequency for the schedule to run. For example you might only require the schedule to run between 9am and 5pm on weekdays or every 15 minutes depending on your requirements
9. click Save to save the schedule and make sure it is enabled

The schedule might look something like this (your Frequency options might be different):

The Send Server Side Messages FileMaker Script is designed to find any Messages records where the SendServerSide field has a value of 1 and the Sent Timestamp field is empty, as well as any BulkSessions records where the SendServerSide field has a value of 1 and the Sent Timestamp field is empty, as well as any BulkSessions records.