Serial port plug-in updated for FileMaker 19
Lienden, the Netherlands, May 5, 2021–Troi today announced the immediate availability of Troi Serial Plug-in 7.0 for Claris FileMaker Pro 19.
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 7.0?
Troi Serial Plug-in 7.0 has the following changes:
Improved compatibility
- Tested and made compatible with Claris FileMaker Pro 19, up to and including FileMaker Pro 19.2.
- Tested and made compatible with macOS 11.0 (Big Sur).
- Tested and made compatible with Windows 10 version 20H2 (October 2020 Update) and Windows 10 version 2004 (May 2020 Update).
New function and functionality
- Added new Serial_DelayMilliSeconds function, which will wait for the specified number of milliseconds.
- (macOS) Prepared the plug-in for Apple Silicon: made the plug-in a universal binary by adding code for the arm64 architecture of macOS.
- Added new switch to the Serial_SetDirectInsert function: -ConvertBytesToNumbers. When data is directly inserted into the database all received bytes are first converted to their numeric value. The plug-in will for example insert “65 66 67 “, which would be Unicode “ABC”. Note that each number is followed by a space, as separator, also after the last number.
- (macOS) If the plug-in can’t load a bundle at start-up, the plug-in will now write a detailed error to the system.log. See the Console.app in this case (search for FileMaker in the system.log).
- (macOS) Improved compatibility when running FileMaker Pro 19 in dark mode, the flash dialog is now more visible.
- Improved the EasyInstallTroiPlugins.fmp12 example file: updated the plug-in install scripts to be compatible with Apple Silicon. These scripts now also give more detailed instructions.
- Small cosmetic improvement of the Regifunc.fmp12 example.
Other changes and bugfixes
- Fixed a memory leak in the Receive Serial Data script step and the Serial_Receive function.
- IMPORTANT The minimum supported FileMaker version is now FileMaker Pro 16. Also the minimum supported macOS version is now OS X 10.12 (Sierra), and Windows 8. You can keep using v6.0 for older versions of FileMaker Pro, Windows or Mac OS X.
- 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 7.0 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 7.0 uses a new v7 registration code. The upgrade is free for users who bought a license for Troi Serial Plug-in on or after September 4, 2019. Eligible users will be sent a new v7 registration. Contact us if you have not received yours after May 7, 2021.
Upgrades from a cross platform developer license bought before September 4, 2019 are available for US$ 399. You can order upgrades from the Serial Plug-in page or from our shop.
