--- title: "DevCon WebDirect Series 1 of 4: Homeurl and Auto-Login" description: "DevCon WebDirect series 1 of 4: homeurl and auto-login" --- [![Mainspring, Inc.](https://blog.gomainspring.com/hubfs/MainSpring_June2024/Images/mainspring-logo-cybersecurity-it-services-automation-qjudg0lgsu8o3zserelwpic5pgl0i7mbxusowrykj8.png)](https://gomainspring.com/) [mailto:hello@gomainspring.com](mailto:hello@gomainspring.com) - [About](https://gomainspring.com/about/) - [Our Team](https://gomainspring.com/our-team/) - [Industries](https://gomainspring.com/industries/) - [Partners & Certifications](https://gomainspring.com/partners-certifications/) - [Careers](https://gomainspring.com/careers/) - [Solutions](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/) - [Cybersecurity](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/cybersecurity/) - [ProSuite™](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/prosuite/) - [Automation](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/automation/) - [FileMaker Development](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/filemaker/) - [Apple Device Lifecycle Services](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/apple-services/) - [vCIO](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/vcio/) - [Cost Management](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/cost-management/) - [Support & Help Desk](https://gomainspring.com/solutions/support-help-desk/) - [Case Studies](https://gomainspring.com/case-studies/) - Pricing - [ProSuite™](https://gomainspring.com/pricing/) - [Evolve™](https://gomainspring.com/pricing-evolve/) - Resources - [Blog](https://blog.gomainspring.com/) - [Media Resources](https://gomainspring.com/media-resources/) - [Downloads](https://info.gomainspring.com/resources) - [News & Events](https://blog.gomainspring.com/news) - [Contact Us](https://gomainspring.com/contact-us/) # DevCon WebDirect Series 1 of 4: Homeurl and Auto-Login ### Subscribe to Our Blog - [Home](https://gomainspring.com/) - Resources - Blog Topics: [FileMaker](https://blog.gomainspring.com/topic/filemaker), [Automation](https://blog.gomainspring.com/topic/automation), [FileMaker DevCon](https://blog.gomainspring.com/topic/filemaker-devcon) Ease of access is one of the top requirements to make a database usable to people. In FileMaker Pro, we’ve created shortcut files that open another database before closing themselves to launch a user directly to a hosted file. In FileMaker Go we’ve used the Apple configuration utility to create iOS icon shortcuts that launch users into a database using the FMP:// protocol. Now with FileMaker WebDirect, we have the ability to launch a user to a custom homepage, directly to a database and specify a return URL. If you couple some basic knowledge of creating URL shortcuts with the information below, you can take away a lot of the stress of connecting to your FileMaker WebDirect solutions. **Preliminary ideas** Setting up a custom homepage is a great way to start customizing your FileMaker WebDirect installation. You can refer to the FileMaker [WebDirect Guide](https://fmhelp.filemaker.com/docs/13/en/fm13_webdirect_guide.pdf) on page 27 for how to create and place a custom homepage. If you are going to have regular FileMaker WebDirect users, creating shortcuts for them is essential. You can either add bookmarked URLs to their browser or create desktop shortcuts that launch URLs. Cool tip: most modern browsers allow you to drag and drop a URL from the address bar to the desktop, automatically creating a shortcut. You can even go one step further and customize the icon for the shortcut to something unique for your solution! **Linking directly to a database** You can link directly to a database by adding *# * then *database\_name* to the end of your server address. For example, if your server is fm.yoursite.com and you’re opening the server sample file, it would appear as http://fm.yoursite.com/fmi/webd#FMServer\_Sample. Note that a forward slash is not required before the pound sign, but it does work if you have it there. **Adding the homeurl parameter** The homeurl parameter allows you to specify a return URL for the user. This is the URL that the user will be directed to when they manually exit, or click a button with the *close file,* or *exit application* script steps. The syntax for this parameter is *?homeurl=\_URL*. Using our example above, to return the user to www.othersite.com, this would appear as *http://fm.yoursite.com/fmi/webd?homeurl=http://www.othersite.com#FMServer\_Sample*. Note that the pound sign and database name are on the end now. If you leave the pound sign and database name off, it will still take you to the FileMaker WebDirect homepage and honor your homeurl request when you select a database to open. **Creating an auto-login system** So you’ve got the shortcuts set up, URLs written, so what’s next? To make things even easier on your users you could create your own auto-login system. The basic premise is that you create a table to store devices that log the PersistentID of the device. When a user returns, it validates their current PersistentID against the table and logs them in if there is a match. Note that in FileMaker WebDirect, the PersistentID is changed anytime a user clears their cookies. So FileMaker WebDirect users will need to re-login anytime they clear their cookies. Your users can either be a table, or FileMaker accounts, but if you use FileMaker accounts, you would need to store the user passwords either in a script or table, which might not meet some security guidelines. We’ve put together a [simple auto-login demo file](https://blog.gomainspring.com/hubfs/FileMaker%20Sample%20Files/WebDirect_AutoLogin.fmp12.zip) demonstrating this technique. [![Want Seamless Operations? FileMaker Is The Answer.](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/617562/7740a62a-90c5-4c72-af44-93ff1fe974ac.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/617562/7740a62a-90c5-4c72-af44-93ff1fe974ac) ### About the Author ![Mike Beargie](https://blog.gomainspring.com/hubfs/mainspring_mike_beargie_004_CROPPED-913x1200-1-250x250.jpg "Mike Beargie") Mike Beargie has been with MainSpring since 2013 and has over 10 years of application development experience. As a developer, he creates solutions for clients in a wide variety of sectors across the U.S. and abroad. Prior to working at MainSpring, Mike worked as the lead developer for a consulting company, serving high profile political, special interest and nonprofit clients in the Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio, markets. Mike regularly presents solutions and best practices to the FileMaker development community around the country, and is well known as an answer man online as well. In 2014 and 2016, Mike was recognized with the FileMaker Excellence Award for community contributions. Mike is a man of many hobbies, including woodworking, home brewing, art and music. [More Articles by Mike Beargie](https://blog.gomainspring.com/author/mbeargie) ### Related Articles ## Getting Started We’ll discuss your business, needs, and expectations to get you on a path to better IT. [Contact Us](https://gomainspring.com/contact-us/) [![Mainspring, Inc.](https://blog.gomainspring.com/hubfs/MainSpring_June2024/Images/mainspring-logo-cybersecurity-it-services-automation.png)](https://gomainspring.com/) [MainSpring, Inc.](https://gomainspring.com/) 8 E. Second Street, Suite 205 Frederick, MD 21701 [301.948.8077](tel:3019488077) [hello@gomainspring.com](mailto:hello@gomainspring.com) © 2026 [MainSpring, Inc.](https://gomainspring.com/) All rights reserved | Designed & Developed by [ONEFIRE](https://onefire.com/) | [Privacy Policy](https://gomainspring.com/privacy-policy/) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Mike Beargie", "url" : "https://blog.gomainspring.com/author/mbeargie" }, "dateModified" : "2025-01-15T22:39:36.094Z", "datePublished" : "2014-07-28T17:47:41.000Z", "headline" : "DevCon WebDirect Series 1 of 4: Homeurl and Auto-Login", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.gomainspring.com/filemaker-community/devcon-webdirect-series-1-of-4-homeurl-and-auto-login", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.gomainspring.com/hubfs/mainspring-logo-cybersecurity-it-services-automation.png" }, "name" : "MainSpring, Inc." } } ```