FileMaker Dynamic Markup Language

The FileMaker Dynamic Markup Language or FDML was a markup language used in the earlier versions of FileMaker introduced in 1998. It is also often referred to as Claris Dynamic Markup Language or CDML, named after the old company Claris.

FDML was an extension of HTML that used special tags, such as [FMP-Record][/FMP-Record] to display FileMaker data on Web pages. FDML was known for its ease of use, clear syntax, and speed of development.

FDML was perceived to have some severe limitations in comparison with other middleware languages. For instance, it would only let you use 9 tokens as variables, there was no math support, no repeat loops and no debugger within the language itself (although all of these functions were available within the database).

Due to this different approach, low adoption and emergence of competing tools such as Lasso, FileMaker officially dropped support for FDML in 2004.

In 2007, based on popular demand, FMWebschool created a PHP based version of FDML under the title of Blackbelt.