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Can you parse out XML data in FileMaker Pro in one step?

If you regularly have to work with XML formatted data in FileMaker Pro®, getting the relevant parts of that data, and putting it into text fields can be a daunting task.
And you would probably say it is impossible to get a node of the XML out in one step as it would need a lot of script steps. But that is not the case if you use a plug-in.

Yes, it can be done!

It can be done if you install Troi Text Plug-in. This plug-in adds a function TrText_XML( ) to your arsenal of tools.
This function allows you to easily parse out a node from XML in one step! Here is the syntax of this function:
TrText_XML ("-GetNode"  ; Node_to_get ; XML_data )
The function has three parameters: the first parameter specifies the action to take, in this case to get a node from the XML. The second parameter specifies which node you want to get. Finally the third parameter is the XML data you want to parse.
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Plug-ins are going to Las Vegas

If you want to meet FileMaker Plug-in makers in person: Troi Automatisering is going to the FileMaker Developer Conference in Las Vegas this year.
We will have a booth at the Product Showcase and hope to show you all the exiting new stuff we have with the Troi Plug-ins for FileMaker Pro. The FileMaker DevCon 2016 will be held July 18-21, 2016 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Nevada.
We hope to see you there!

Receive data from an external device in FileMaker Pro

With Troi Serial Plug-in you can receive data sent from an external device with a serial (RS232) interface in FileMaker Pro. You can have the plug-in start a script upon receiving in order to process the received data in your database.

Receiving the data

Assume you have an external serial device connected to a (virtual) serial port on your computer. You can use a serial-USB adapter to connect to a USB port on your computer, which will then act as a virtual serial port.

To receive data from this device, first open the (virtual) serial port on your computer using the Serial_Open function. Add this script step to a ScriptMaker script:
Set Variable[ $ErrorCode; Serial_Open( "-Unused"; "COM1"; ) ]
This will open the COM1 port.
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Selecting Files in FileMaker

With Troi File Plug-in you can easily let a user select a file on disk, for example to get the contents into filemaker. With the plug-in you can also move or rename it, to indicate the file has been handled.

Selecting the file

Use the TrFile_SelectFileDialog function to open up a dialog which lets the user select a file. By default all the files can be selected. If you want the user to be able to select only files with a certain extension use the TrFile_SetDefaultType function first.

To let the user select any file add these script steps to a ScriptMaker script:
Set Variable [$DontCare; TrFile_SetDefaultType( "-Unused"; "")] Set Variable [$FilePath; TrFile_SelectFileDialog( "-Unused"  ; "Please select a file.") ]
This will return the path to the file for example:
MacHD:Users:John:Documents:FinancialReport2014.xlsx
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Troi URL Plug-in helps Rob connect

Rob Salusbury wrote to us that he is using our Troi URL plug-in to make FileMaker Pro into an incredibly powerful web client, in particular for communicating with SQL databases.

He thinks we are sitting on a real game changer that potential customers might not be aware of. Combined with Troi File and Troi Encryptor it delivers the ability to create very fast (VERY fast), very secure SQL applications that provide a ton of extended capabilities over any browser-only based solutions.

You can find the quote on our comments page.

The link below points to a page on his site that explains a little more about the concept.

http://customdataservices.net/sqlclients.htm.

We have to admit we don’t completely understand how this works, so you’ll have to quiz him on the details. We are amazed what our users can accomplish with the help of our plug-ins.

Many more functions

This is just one of the functionalities added by the Troi URL Plug-in. Another possibility is for example to send tweets to Twitter.

image

On the Troi URL Plug-in page you can download a fully functional demo with all the functions explained:

www.troi.com/software/urlplugin.html

It is a great and easy way to enhance your database for you or your customers.

Second Value List in a dialog pop-up

With the recently released Troi Dialog Plug-in 6 for FileMaker Pro you can create very powerful Input Dialogs in a few script steps.

Below we show how to display an input dialog with a popup, which displays the values of a second value list, while returning the chosen value from the first list.

This (simplified) example uses fixed text to build the dialog, normally you would fill the dialog with data from your database. In ScriptMaker you need to add script steps to a script, but you can of course copy the script from the example files in the download of Troi Dialog Plug-in.

Implementing the InputDialog

First set the values for the popup. For this popup we fill the optional last parameter, which holds a second value list (with item names).
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