Conversion of Troi URL from FileMaker Pro 6

Troi URL Plug-in 4.5 is FileMaker 7 native

We have two current URL plug-ins: Troi URL Plug-in 1.3 which uses the Classic API and Troi URL Plug-in 4.5 which uses the FileMaker 7 Native API.

Troi URL Plug-in 1.8 was the first version to use the FileMaker 7 syntax or API (Application Program Interface) to do its work. Version 4.5 also uses the FileMaker 7 Native API.

NOTE The API is the same for FileMaker Pro 7 through FileMaker Pro 15.

NOTE 2 Below we will discuss Troi URL Plug-in 1.8, but this also applies to future versions with a higher number, like version 4.0.

TIP Although you can use both Troi URL Plug-in 1.3 and Troi URL Plug-in 1.8 together when running FileMaker 7, this is not recommended. Please only use Troi URL Plug-in 1.8 for FileMaker Pro 7 and 8.

Troi URL Plug-in 1.3 is compatible with FileMaker 7 and 8

Troi URL Plug-in 1.3 in general does work with FileMaker Pro 7, without modification. We have found no issues with FileMaker 7 and 8.

General Issue for all Classic plug-ins with higher ASCII's

FileMaker Pro 7 has a new internal architecture, which is using Unicode for the text fields. FileMaker Pro 6 only used ASCII encoding. ALL plug-ins written for the 'classic' FileMaker 6 architecture do not receive characters that are outside this ASCII range, these characters are replaced with spaces. In general our plug-ins should be compatible as long as the text used is lower ASCII text.

The URL Plug-in 1.3 is using the classic API, so only characters in the ASCII range will work.

Previous versions of Troi URL

We have tested version 1.1 with FileMaker 7 and this works similar as version 1.3. We have not tested earlier versions, however this latest version has some bug fixes too, so it is strongly recommend that you use the latest version.

Troi URL Plug-in 1.8 (Native FileMaker 7 API)

Troi URL Plug-in 1.8 was created specifically for FileMaker Pro 7 and 8. Below are some considerations when converting to Troi URL Plug-in 1.8.

New function syntax

The plug-in functions have a different syntax compared to the FileMaker 6 plug-in.

For example the TURL_Get function has this syntax in the classic API:

External("TURL-Get", "switches|theURL" )

The syntax in the new API looks like this:

TURL_Get(switches ; theURL )

Note that functions look like a real function call, no longer a call to External( ). Also a hyphen "-" is no longer allowed in the function name, so the hyphens have changed to underscores "_" instead. Note too that parameters don't have to be concatenated with a pipe. Instead use a semicolon ";" to separate the parameters. Below is an example how this function would appear in ScriptMaker:

Set Field [result , TURL_Get("-NoDialog" ; theURL ) ]

TIP Function names are no longer case sensitive and will change to the correct case after you close the "Specify Calculation" dialog box.

Multiple parameters and new switches

As seen from the syntax, plug-in functions now can have multiple parameters. To make this plug-in more consistent, all functions now have a switches parameter as the first parameter. This makes enhancing the plug-in in the future easier. Finally we renamed a few functions and also removed any spaces in the name. See the specific functions notes below for the specifics.

TIP Switches are not case sensitive.

Omitting optional parameters

When you omit an optional parameter be sure to add an extra semicolon after the last one, otherwise FileMaker will show an alert that there are too few parameters in this function. For example, below we omitted the 5th and 6th parameter at the end (button3 and button4). This is the correct way to do this:

Set Field [ result,
TURL_SetProgressText( "-Unused" ; "Hello World" ; )]

New parameter limits

The plug-in functions now have a size limit of 1 Gb per parameter (up from the total of 64000 character limit for all parameters in FileMaker 6). The Troi URL Plug-in 1.8 in general can handle bigger parameters.

Converting the function call

When converting FileMaker does not change the plug-in call. So after conversion you need to do this manually. Here are the global steps:

• remove the External(" at the beginning
• in the function name: change TURL- to TURL_ and remove spaces, add a ( at the end.
• change the name of the function (in some cases)
• add as first parameter: "-Unused" (if no switch parameter is there)
• split the remaining parameters: separate each with a ;

Let's for example take this Troi URL Plug-in 1.3 call:

External("TURL-Post", "-noDialog|http://www.filemaker.com/form|login=test" ) )

This needs to be changed to this URL Plug-in 1.8 call:

TURL_Post("-noDialog" ; "http://www.filemaker.com/form" ; "login=test")

TIP You can just copy script or steps from the example files of the URL download, they are all in the URL Plug-in 1.8 format!

Specific functions notes

All functions of Troi URL Plug-in 1.8 fully support Unicode, unless noted otherwise.

The table below lists conversion issues with specific functions:

Please report problems and bugs

If you find any other problems or bugs, not mentioned above, please send an email to us. Please do NOT send attachments unless specifically requested. Please include the FileMaker version, your platform and operating system in your comments.

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