Troi File Plug-in 6.1.1

August 1st, 2012 Today we released Troi File Plug-in 6.1.1, which adds compatibility with Mac OS X Mountain Lion. We also fixed a script problem and a typo in the example files. See the version history page for the complete list of changes.

Troi File Plug-in 6.1.1 for FileMaker Pro 11 ànd 12

The new Troi File Plug-in 6 further expands your file manipulation arsenal. This release adds several new key features and expands existing ones.

Create deeply nested folders with ease

Troi File Plug-in 6 improves on creating folders: you can now specify a path and the plug-in will create the folder, including all parent folders in the path that do not exist.

New: check file integrity

You can now easily check integrity of files with the new function TrFile_GetFileHash. This function can return the MD5 hash value (checksum) of a file. You can use this hash to check if a file has not changed (by comparing it to a stored MD5 hash). Ideal to make sure your critical business documents are not corrupt, or even tampered with, all from FileMaker Pro!

Better searching

If you want to look for a file you can now limit the search to a folder in which the search must be done, instead of searching the whole disk.

Metadata from PDFs!

Troi File Plug-in already gave you a lot of metadata information out of image files. Version 6 adds reading metadata of PDF files. With one function call you can extract the following metadata information from PDF files: title, subject, keywords, number of pages, author and more.

More metadata improvements

On top of the already extensive metadata support for JPEGs (like reading EXIF, IPTC and XMP), Troi File Plug-in 6 can now read the metadata from PNG images. We also added new example scripts to demonstrate how to parse this XMP metadata into easy readable text.

The plug-in can even automatically detect if the IPTC text in JPEGs is UTF-8 encoded (and of course return this metadata correctly formatted!). Now metadata with higher Unicodes, like Japanese or Chinese will be handled correctly, without you needing to do anything.

Several other smaller enhancements

Apart from the bigger changes, we fixed several small issues and made several smaller improvements:

• Improved the TrFile_SetFileAttribute function: you can now also set the (color) Finder Label for folders (Mac OS X only).
• Improved the GetExif.fp7 example file: now the orientation tag is also parsed out, so you can see if the image is in portrait or landscape format.
• Updated several example files and the user guide to reflect the new functionality of Troi File Plug-in 6.

Ready for OS X Lion and Mountain Lion

Troi File Plug-in 6.1.1 is compatible with Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Mountain Lion with FileMaker Pro 12. It also runs natively with FileMaker Pro 10 and 11. The Mac OS X version is a Universal plug-in which runs natively on PowerPC and Intel Macs. The Windows version is compatible with Windows 7, Vista and XP. On the version history page you can find the complete list of changes of this and previous versions.

Easy installing and updating

With FileMaker Pro 12 plug-ins can be installed directly from a container field! this means you no longer need the AutoUpdate feature of FileMaker Server. In our downloads formatted for FileMaker Pro 12 (.fmp12 format) we have included an example file EasyInstallTroiPlugins.fmp12 which installs (and autoupdates!) our plug-ins with FileMaker Pro 12.
If you use FileMaker Server 11, you can still use auto update to update plug-ins for FileMaker Pro clients. See also the AutoUpdate example on our AutoUpdate page.

Powerful listing of folders and searching

Troi File Plug-in 6.1.1 lets you recursively list the contents of a folder with one call to the plug-in! The plug-in will return a list of all files and/or folders and all the subfolders contained in the folder you are listing. This makes processing all the items in a deeply nested folder very easy, like for example listing all the Word documents contained in a folder.
On Mac OS X you can optionally even list the internal contents of a package folder (like for example a Mac OS X app). We also improved the handling of Unicode characters in the TrFile_ListFolder and TrFile_Search functions.

click the image to enlarge

Be Square: square thumbnails

With Troi File Plug-in 6.1.1 you can create square thumbnails, which is great for presenting multiple images to a user in a compact grid. On top of that you can create thumbnails and read Exif information from RAW files (like shutter speed, aperture etc). This should work for several RAW formats (currently only tested with Canon's CR2 format). We also added a switch "-GetFullSizeRawThumbnail" to the TrFile_CreateThumbnail function: this switch will return the full size thumbnail embedded in the RAW file.

Run as a server-side plug-in

Troi File Plug-in 6.1.1 is compatible to run under FileMaker Server: it can run as a server-side plug-in or as a plug-in used by the web publishing engine when using FileMaker Server. This means that you can use the powerful file management functions in server-side scripts, opening up lots of new possibilities.

Drag and drop files and folders

Troi File Plug-in allows you to drag one or more files or folders on a FileMaker window or even a drop zone. The paths of the dropped items can then be handled by a triggered script, for example to put them in a container field. You can specify up to two drag destination rectangles (even on the same window), and each drag can trigger a different script.

Use FileMaker styled paths

Troi File Plug-in 6 is compatible with FileMaker styled paths, like for example "filemac:/MacHD/folder/file.txt". Each function with a path parameter can be given a FileMaker styled path. You can also still use all the FileSpec formats of previous versions of Troi File Plug-in, like for example "MacHD:folder:file.txt" on Mac OS X and "C:\folder\letter.txt" on Windows.

Get the Type of an Item

The function TrFile_GetTypeOfItem provides an easy way to see if a path points to a folder or file.

Get and Set creation and modification dates of folders

The TrFile_GetDateCreated and TrFile_GetDateModified functions and their variants, like TrFile_GetTimestampModified, will also get the creation and modification date of a folder. Moreover, you can also set the creation and modification date of a folder, using the TrFile_SetTimestampCreated and TrFile_SetTimestampModified functions.

Powerful functions!

Together with several improved example files and a new User Guide this plug-in is a powerful toolbox no FileMaker developer can do without.

On the version history page you can find the complete list of changes of this and previous versions.

Suggested uses

Troi File Plug-in is a very powerful tool for getting access to information outside the FileMaker database. Any files stored on the rest of the computer can be accessed through the functions of the plug-in. All from within FileMaker you can:

• get the data out of files on the disk of the computer and put it in FileMaker fields
• create files anywhere on the hard disk and put data from FileMaker fields into it
• manipulate files and folders on the disk, like creating, deleting, copying, moving, renaming
• query detailed information of files and folders: the size on disk, creation and modification dates and much more
• count the number of folders or files on a disk
• get images and their metadata (IPTC, Exif, GPS, XML) inside your FileMaker database and write IPTC and Exif metadata too!

All functions of the plug-in can be used in a script enabling you to automate this power.
Check out the Suggested Uses on the detail page.

63 Functions give you ample power

Troi File Plug-in adds 63 functions to FileMaker Pro, giving you virtually limitless possibilities! Below you find a bit more detail on some of the functions:

Command your shell

With the TrFile_ExecuteShell function you can execute a command in the command shell of the operating system. On Mac OS X this will be a command executed in the UNIX Bourne shell, and on Windows this is the Windows CMD shell.

Manage your media

Troi File Plug-in allows you to retrieve extensive image and movie data like width, height and depth, and much more. While we were at it we also added an extensive example file ManageMedia.fp7.
This example file combines some of the Troi File Plug-in's functions to create a powerful Media Manager for images ànd movies. It shows how to import one or multiple images from a folder.

It also retrieves a wealth of metadata like width and height, IPTC metadata (amongst others caption, description, keywords, copyright) and Exif metadata. Exif metadata is information about the time a photo was taken, aperture, shutter speed and the like. And did we mention the example file also works with movie files?

Mount and unmount

With the powerful MountDisk function you can mount remote disks on a server. On Windows you can map a remote drive to a drive letter. On Mac OS X you can even mount AFP servers across the Internet! The UnmountDisk function is available on all platforms. It is all explained in the DiskMount.fp7 example file in the download.

Just substitute text in files on disk

With Troi File Plug-in you can search for a text string in a file and substitute it with another text. You can substitute text and have the result saved in the same file! And you can use replace strings of up to 150,000,000 characters, making it possible to substitute tags with much longer replacements in template files.

Extensive example files and user guide

We can not discuss everything here, that is why the demo is fully functional and comes with a 95-page user guide and 37 extensive example files demonstrating every functionality.

Try Troi File Plug-in before you buy

You are free and invited to test the program before you pay. You may also make copies of the original and complete package (including the Read Me file) and distribute it to customers, friends etc. However, you may not distribute a modified or registered version.

Troi File Plug-in 6.1 works with FileMaker Pro 12, 11, and 10. The plug-in can also run with runtimes from FileMaker Pro Advanced 10, 11 and 12. The plug-in is available for Mac OS X (10.5.7 or later) and for Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP (Service Pack 3).

Licenses for Troi File Plug-in cost US$ 89 per user.
If you bought a license on or after Sept 1st, 2011 the upgrade is FREE! We will email all eligible customers a new registration string . Contact us if you have not received yours after March 7th, 2012.

If you bought a license before Sept 1st, 2011 you will need to upgrade to use the 6.x version. Upgrades are available from US$ 49 per user. For multiuser discounts and other more detailed price information see the Troi File Plug-in Details Page.

© 2013 Troi Automatisering, all rights reserved.