“Thought you might be interested to hear about something we’ve done using Troi File and Troi Coding.
One of our clients has a database setup where some of the FileMaker files are hosted using FileMaker Server, but each workstation also has several local FileMaker files. These local files are part of the user interface; they don’t store data. The challenge for us has been updating these local files. Every time we make a change to the interface, we have had to reinstall the local files on each workstation — an operation both time consuming, and disruptive to the client’s office unless done outside of business hours.
The solution? Using Troi File, I read the local files (in binary form) into FileMaker, encoded their binary data into ASCII using Troi Coding, and stored it in a field in one of the hosted FileMaker files. Now, every time a workstation computer connects to the server it downloads a clean copy of the local files: A script runs which takes the data in the field, runs it through Troi Coding in reverse to convert it back to binary data, and writes it out to the hard drive using Troi File.
Now when we make a change to the interface, we just have to load a new copy of the local files into the database using the above routine. Not only does this save us a lot of time in re-installing on each workstation, it also means that we don’t have to worry about local files becoming corrupted. If a local file is damaged in a crash to the point where it won’t open, no problem — a new copy of the file will be downloaded the next time the workstation connects to the server”.
Noam Sturmwind, Oak Bay Softrends, Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada
