What's the deal with the Troi Plug-in?

The Troi File Plug-in has been included with Theme Creator to make a few little things work a whole lot nicer.  It is a legal copy of the plug in and is registered, with a couple of exceptions.  It is registered to be used with Theme Creator and only Theme Creator.  If you start FileMaker without starting Theme Creator (which is often going to be the case) you will be presented with the "Unregistered Copy" of the Troi File Plug-In splash screen from time to time.  You can ignore this.  All this means is that you do not have a license to use this fine plug in for files other than those in Theme Creator.

This needs to be stored in the appropriate place for it to work.  On a Macintosh, it needs to be put in the FileMaker Extensions folder in the FileMaker Pro 5 folder.  For Windows, it is placed in the System directory in the FileMaker Pro 5 folder. (The same place where the Web Companion and the ODBC plug-ins from FileMaker Inc. are located.)

If you have previously purchased a license for the TFP, then you will not notice anything anywhere, nor will the temporary registration for TC effect your present license or the way the TFP operates.

What does the TFP do, exactly?

Theme Creator actually only capitalizes on a few of the possible functions and uses of the plug in, as it is a very powerful, cross platform FileMaker plug-in that deals with file creation and manipulation without having to leave FileMaker.

In Theme Creator, it allows us to create the new theme files with the correct Creator Code and File Type (on the Macintosh) and with the correct file extension for Windows, so that your newly created theme file has the appropriate icon.  Themes files without the correct extension will not be read in FileMaker on either platform and those on the Macintosh with incorrect Creator Code and File Type will work, but will show up with a generic text document icon.  Simply a cosmetic nicety.  

Additionally, the TFP allows us to use by default the family name as the file name for your newly created theme file, without having to prompt you for this information.  Also, it allows us to store the default directory locations for your themes files and for your HTML previews so that you are not prompted every time on where you want to save them.  It also allows for us to check to see if the theme or HTML preview being created is unique and in the case of themes, prompts you whether you want to replace or add a copy and  for the previews it simply creates a numbered copy.

However, Theme Creator is also set up to run without the TFP.  It can be a bit confusing at times, but it works just the same.  What happens if the TFP is not active when Theme Creator tries to create a theme file or an HTML preview is that the user is prompted with a standard FileMaker export dialog box.  The problem here is that FileMaker goes to the last used directory, so your default directories are not set and you have to navigate to the appropriate storage location.  The second problem is that the user must enter the file name, remembering to add the appropriate extenstion (.fth or .htm) so that the files read correctly.  The third problem is cosmetic, in that your theme files and previews have generic text document icons on a Mac.  These same problems also come into play when a log file is being saved out as a text document.