📣 ANN Troi Serial Plug-in 8.0 for FileMaker Pro 2023 released

[troi]

Serial port communication plug-in updated for FileMaker Pro 2023.

Lienden, the Netherlands, July 17, 2023–Troi today announced the immediate availability of Troi Serial Plug-in 8.0 for Claris FileMaker Pro 2023.

What is Troi Serial Plug-in?

Troi Serial Plug-in gives FileMaker Pro easy and powerful access to external devices with a serial interface:

• read from and write to the (virtual) serial ports of the computer directly from FileMaker Pro without the need of a separate application
• native FileMaker script triggering, to get incoming data into the database
• “Suspend/Resume Serial Port” script step to temporarily suspend the incoming data stream and resume it when you are interested in the data
• “Wait for Match” function to wait for a specific text before triggering
• the possibility to open an unlimited number of serial ports and to trigger different scripts for different ports

What is new in version 8.0?

Troi Serial Plug-in 8.0 has the following changes:
Improved compatibility

• Tested and made compatible with Claris FileMaker Pro 2023 (FileMaker Pro 20.1.2).
• Tested and made compatible with Claris FileMaker Pro 19 up to Claris FileMaker Pro 19.6.3.
• Tested and made compatible with Claris Pro 40.2.1.
• Tested and made compatible with macOS 13 (Ventura).
• Tested and made compatible with Windows 11, including Windows 11 version 22H2 (September 20, 2022).

New functionality and improvements

• Added new Serial_GetUSBInfo function. A serial port can be implemented as virtual port on top of a USB port. When this is the case this function returns information about the USB port hardware, like the USB vendor ID, vendor name, USB Product name and USB Serial number. To get a single item as a result you can use these switches:
  • -USBVendorName
  • -USBProductName
  • -USBSerialNumber
  • -USBVendorID
  • -USBProductID
• Improved the Serial_SetDirectInsert function: the plug-in now also can insert data where the filename parameter contains a period in the name and the (.fmp12) extension was not included (Note that the FileMaker function “Get(Filename)” will not include the extension).For example if the filename parameter given is “Collector1.0” the plug-in now adds the .fmp12 extension, resulting in “Collector1.0.fmp12”.
• Improved script triggering when data is received: the plug-in now also triggers scripts where the filename parameter contains a period in the name and the (.fmp12) extension was not included.For example if the filename parameter given is “Terminal1.0” the plug-in now adds the .fmp12 extension, resulting in “Terminal1.0.fmp12”.
• (macOS) Fixed a problem on macOS 12 (Monterey) and FileMaker Pro 19.4, where the plug-in would not show the plug-in icon in the flash dialog.

Startup Registration Log

• Improved the EasyInstallTroiPlugins.fmp12 example file (v1.8.6): added a script which adds the Startup Registration Log to the log field. This will get a text log of the startup registration process of the plug-in.
• Added an example script “Get Startup Registration Log of the plug-in” to Version.fmp12, which gets the text log of the startup registration of the plug-in.
• Added switch “-GetStartupRegistrationLog” to the Serial_Version function. This will return a text log of the plug-in’s registration process at startup time of FileMaker Pro. When you have problems registering the plug-in, you can see if the payment certificate was found and if a valid registration code was found.

Improved security, other changes and bug fixes

• Improved the code in several places and made it more secure.
• (macOS) Modernized the code and removed dependency on legacy Carbon code in several places.
• IMPORTANT The minimum supported OS versions are macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and Windows 10.
• (macOS) Fixed a bug in the Serial_AsciiValueToText function when using the switch
  -Encoding=ASCII_Windows. The plug-in no longer crashes when you use values that are undefined for this encoding. The undefined values for this encoding (see Windows-1252 codepage wiki) are 0x81, 0x8D, 0x8F, 0x90 and 0x9D (decimal: 129, 141, 143, 144 and 157). For compatibility with the plug-in running on Windows these values will now be added with the same values as a Unicode character.
• Fixed several bugs, modernized the code in several places and made further improvements.

Pricing & Availability

A fully functional demo version of Troi Serial Plug-in 8.0 is available on the Serial Plug-in page.

A cross platform developer license costs US$ 999. Details can be found on the Serial Plug-in page. You can order licenses there or from our shop.

Upgrade information

Version 8.0 uses a new v8 registration code. The upgrade is free for users who bought a license for Troi Serial Plug-in on or after July 1, 2022. Eligible users will be sent a new v8 registration. Contact us if you have not received yours after July 17, 2023.

Upgrades from a cross platform developer license bought before July 1, 2022 are available for US$ 439. You can order upgrades from the Serial Plug-in page or from our store.