No SuperContainer mention in the Filemaker 16 announcement

[cos]

I didn't see any specific mention of SC in the new platform for FM16. Just that all plugins are compatible. What does this mean? Is this the end of the road for SC?

[bruceR]

That is a very strange expectation.

Why would FileMaker need to say anything specific about a third party product?

And if FileMaker said in general that all plugins are compatible; why do you think this requires us to conclude "except this specific one over here."

[sijmons]

I think the question was addressed to 360Works.

And it is indeed troubling, as there are still advantages to use SC for external file storage over the FMP storage options.
So a roadmap for SuperContainer would be good to know.

There is a new release 2.95 but there are issues when installing it in FMPA16, i reverted back to 2.94

[cos]

Thanks sijmons. I did read this on 360works site today. "The SuperContainer Companion Plugin has been updated with new features for FileMaker 16. It is available as a minor point upgrade, at no additional cost for existing SuperContainer license holders."

I hope there are plans to do a full update to SC. It really is so much easier to work with than FM containers.

Would be nice to hear some official word posted here.

And Bruce, you're correct. I should have mentioned 360works in the title. Didn't think about that because this is the Supercontainer forum.

Edited May 11, 2017 by cos

[sijmons]

hello COS,

yes, I had downloaded v2.95 but was unable to install it properly, at first launch it says it is loading new plugin but it hangs on that point, had to do a ForcedQuit (FMPAv16, OSX Sierra)

But Supercontainer v2 is almost 10 years old and it is obvious FMP has caught up with some of the features, making it less of a top priority product for 360Works. I think we should be prepared that somewhere in the future, we may loose compatibilty with this plugin. When that happens, code should be ready and tested to make the transition. I am testing on a small scale to come up with a parallel folder structure and a child table for containers, catering to all tables that now have a SC webviewer.

[cos]

This is in the changeling for SC which, if correct, seems to indicate a real and positive move forward same as the other 360works plugins.

Version 2.9501 (5/10/2017)
Companion plug-in now runs on latest 360Works plug-in platform, with these features:
*No longer requires Java installation
*Can use plugin functions as script steps with a user-friendly GUI for specifying parameters
*Better error reporting in scripts
*Compatible with FileMaker Cloud
*Better compatibility with FileMaker Server for Perform Script on Server and scheduled scripts
*Each plugin runs in a separate process, increasing reliability and stability
*Plugins can be reliably unloaded, making it possible to auto-update without restarting FileMaker
*Where appropriate, plugin parameters can be selected from pull-down lists and checkboxes
*Support for streaming large container data, allowing unlimited amounts of data to be transferred between FileMaker and the plugin without running out of memory.
*Compatible with the older plugin API, so you can continue to use your existing scripts and calculations with the new plugins.

[sijmons]

I agree, but did you test this latest version on FMPA v16?

[cos]

I haven't tested. Not upgraded to v16. I develop and maintain just one FM solution in my company. It is about 10 years old and is kept up to date and feature rich. I'm just doing my homework before upgrading. Soon, I will get into testing. I guess I should call 360works. They are really great people and located only about 20 miles from our business.

[sijmons]

aah,  that is a luxury position to have them so close. Their service is usually quite good but the response time on this forum is not very impressive.

Keep me posted on the outcome.

[John May - Point In Space]

I would recommend using 360Works' [email protected] address for help with their products, not this forum.  They've been very responsive in my experience.

- John

[sijmons]

thanks John, I will take note of that.

[ryan360Works]

Hi guys,

We apologize for the lack of response lately in these forums. As you can imagine, we are experiencing an extraordinarily high volume of support issues and have not had as much time to dedicate to the forums as we usually do.  As was mentioned a few posts up, if you are not able to get a response here, please send an email to [email protected] to open an official support case or call our office. We are open Mon-Fri 10AM-6PM EST.

With that being said, we decided to keep SuperContainer within major version 2 because upping SuperContainer to version 3 would have caused all users to need to purchase a new license even though there are no significant changes to the web app portion of SuperContainer, solely the companion plugin. We most definitely have plans to add new features and improvements to SuperContainer as well as our other products so do not fret, SuperContainer is not going anywhere! Those that are having issues with the companion plugin, please download the latest version, 2.9504 and if you have any issues please report them to [email protected]

[sijmons]

thanks for the reassuring update Ryan, much appreciated