24U SimpleDialog Plug-In 4.1

This ReadMe file contains some important information about 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In, such as system requirements, installation guide, quick start, troubleshooting, license notice, contact information, and copyright statement.


1. Introduction

24U SimpleDialog Plug-In is a FileMaker Pro plug-in. It allows your FileMaker Pro databases to display dialog boxes with text prompts, text fields, password fields, check boxes, radio buttons, pop-up menus and pictures based on real-time data from your database. You can use this plug-in to prompt user for required data input just the same way you are used to work with the built-in Show Custom Dialog script step. Starting with the version 2.0 you can also display progress dialogs to indicate work progress to user.

2. System requirements

Recommended configuration:

Mac OS X: Intel Mac, 4096 MB RAM, OS X 10.8, FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced.

Windows: 1.6 GHz processor, 4096 MB RAM, Windows 7, FileMaker Pro 12 Advanced.

Minimum requirements:

Mac OS X: Intel Mac, 512 MB RAM, Mac OS X 10.4.11, FileMaker Pro 10.

Windows: 500 MHz processor, 512 MB RAM, Windows XP SP3, FileMaker Pro 10.

3. Installation

To install 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In, follow these steps:

  1. If you did not do this yet, download and open the 24U SimpleFile Plug-In distribution archive.
  2. To install the plug-in, copy its binary file into Extensions directory of the FileMaker Pro application. Pick one directory from the list below. Do not copy the plug-in into all of them.
  3. On OS X the FileMaker Pro 9.0 and higher searches for the plug-in in the folder:
    [Home folder]/Library/Application Support/FileMaker/Extensions.
    On OS X 10.7 and newer the folder "Library" is hidden by default, you need to use command "Go to Folder" in Finder. Copy the plugin binary (fmplugin) into the Extensions folder and restart the FileMaker Pro. If any of these folders don't exist create it.
  4. On OS X the FileMaker Pro 12 searches for the plug-in also in the folder:
    [Home folder]/Library/Application Support/FileMaker/FileMaker Pro Advanced/12.0
  5. On Windows XP the FileMaker Pro 9.0 and higher searches for the plug-in in the folder:
    C:\Documents and Settings\[User name]\Local Settings\Application Data\FileMaker\Extensions
    The "Local Settings" folder is hidden by default, you need to turn on "Show hidden files" in Explorer settings. If any of these folders don't exist create it. Copy the plugin binary (fmx) into the Extensions folder and restart the FileMaker Pro.
  6. On Windows Vista and newer the FileMaker Pro 9.0 and higher searches for the plug-in in the folder:
    C:\Users\[User name]\AppData\Local\FileMaker\Extensions
    The "AppData" is hidden by default, you need to turn on "Show hidden files" in Explorer settings. If any of these folders don't exist create it. Copy the plugin binary (fmx) into the Extensions folder and restart the FileMaker Pro.
  7. FileMaker Pro 7.0 and higher also searches for the plug-in in the Extensions folder inside its own installation folder. You can copy the plug-in there but you will need system administrator privileges. Folders mentioned above have higher priority.
  8. Restart or start the FileMaker Pro.
  9. The plug-in should be visible in the "Plug-Ins" preference pane inside FileMaker Pro preferences (Mac OS X) / Edit->Preferences (Windows).

4. Quick start

If you are new to FileMaker plug-ins, start by checking the UsingFMPlugIns.html file inside the Documentation folder. It briefly explains what plug-ins are, why they are useful, and how they are usually used.

To learn how to use this plug-in it is recommended to open the SimpleDialogTutorial.fp7 tutorial from Documentation folder. It will show you how to create most basic input and progress dialogs and what is the meaning of SDialog_ functions parameters.

5. Troubleshooting

Before you contact our technical support regarding problems or difficulties using 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In, please check if your issue is not listed below:

Italic font style does not work on Mac OS X
Standard Mac OS X dialog font does not support italic style. You must explicitly define text font which support italic style using TextFont function.

Indexes of lines in pop-up menu are shifted
24U SimpleDialog Plug-In 3.x used incompatible indexing for field "menu". Menu indexing has been 0-based (0 first line, 1 second line...) in version 3.x. This has been changed in version 4.0 to 1-based indexing (1 first line, 2 second line...). Solutions which used 0-based indexing must be changed to 1-based indexing. The only compatible number is 0 - it means the first line in both cases.
In 3.x the menu also supported line separators (character "-" placed alone in single line) but separators had indexes. In 4.0 menu separators are not counted to indexing. For example SDialog_Get function will return the same index regardless how many separators you add or remove from the menu.

Initialization error: Duplicate plug-in binary on Mac OS X
On Mac OS X the plug-in must be installed only in one of all possible Extensions folders. If it is installed in multiple folders the plug-in cannot work properly. Please delete all extra plug-in binaries located in folders mentioned in Installation.

Plug-In is not visible in the FileMaker Pro
Check if the plug-in binary is present in the one of "Extensions" folders of the FileMaker Pro. See Chapter 3 "Installation" to learn where the plug-in binary can be placed.

SDialog_InputDialog returns a non-zero number as its result
If some SimpleDialog function fails, it will return a non-zero error code as its result. This can be caused by a system error, but more likely the reason will be an incorrectly specified dialog definition.
There is short list of possible error codes:

My upgrade code doesn't work
Our new products with new about screen have a stronger checks for upgrade codes. Upgrade codes must be entered together with original code from the previous version.
For end user license: When registration dialog pops-up enter original code first, divide by space, and enter your upgrade code.
For developer license: Call Plugin_Register( "original-code upgrade-code" ).

The plug-in functions return an "?" as a result
The 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In is probably not installed or deactivated in your application preferences. Open the Application Preferences, click on the "Plug-Ins" tab, and make sure that 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In is there and that it is enabled.

I get a "Powered by 24U Software" splash displayed when quitting FileMaker Pro
Developer licenses and some special promotional licenses cause a splash dialog to appear on the screen for 2 seconds at the quit time of your solution. The splash helps you to comply with our License Agreement without having to design your own about screen. If you don't want your solution to show the splash dialog, send us samples of your about screen and license agreement to registration@24uSoftware.com. We will send you instructions for disabling the splash as soon as your solution is proven to comply with the developer license's sublicensing conditions.

If your problem is not listed above or if the recommended solution does not work for you, please contact our technical support for assistance. Please provide as much information as possible, at least your operating system, version of FileMaker Pro and version of the plug-in. Also try to describe conditions when the problem occurred and attach any crash log file.

6. Shareware notice

Please note that 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In is SHAREWARE. That means it is not free and you have to pay a license fee if you want to keep it. You can install 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In and try it out for the period of 14 days. After this period, 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In can stop working and require a registration code. You will get your registration code after you pay for your license.

You can freely distribute 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In as long as you distribute the original compacted archive untouched and you don't charge money for the distribution. If you want to distribute 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In on a physical medium, such as CD-ROM, or if you want to distribute it in other form than the original compacted archive, you must ask for our permission. If you are a solution developer you can also bundle 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In with your products and sublicense it to your customers, provided you have purchased a developer license.

Please find detailed registration instructions in the file named "HowToRegister.html".

You can find detailed license terms in the file named "24U Software License Agreement.pdf". Individual license types are described in the file named "HowToRegister.html".

7. Contact Information

You can contact us at one of the following addresses. We prefer being contacted via e-mail, but you can use any other method if e-mail is not good enough for you.

E-mail:   info@24uSoftware.com   general information about our products and our company
eval@24uSoftware.com free evaluation codes registration
sales@24uSoftware.com paid licenses ordering and registration
support@24uSoftware.com technical support and bug reports
 
WWW: http://www.24uSoftware.com/
 
Phone: +420-224 910 892
Fax: +420-242 487 778
 
Snail mail: 24U Software
Skochovická 88
252 45  Zvole u Prahy
Czech Republic

24U Software
The software 24U SimpleDialog Plug-In is copyright ©2001-2013 24U Software. All rights reserved.
Portions of the software are ©1984-2013 FileMaker, Inc. All rights reserved.