Porting Guide

Porting Older Database to use new POP3it Pro Functions

This document is for users who have developed databases using the Classic version of POP3it and wish to upgrade to the new POP3it Pro functions. By updating your databases to the new functions, you will be able to take full advantage of the new features.

Notes:

• POP3it Pro includes the CheckAccount function that does most of the downloading process in a single script step, and without the need for multiple and complex scripting like the Classic version of POP3it used. If you simply need to download email into your database without special processing/scripting in the middle of the downloading process, this may work for you. This can save you time converting all the Old Style functions to the New Style, and instead replace it all with a single script step. You can find examples that demonstrate this in the Example Databases section of the Knowledge Base. If you need help determining if this will work for you, please contact us.

• POP3it Pro does have a “Backward Compatibility” option in its Configuration Dialog (accessible through the FileMaker(R) Pro Preferences dialog). Using this option should allow you to use your old databases with POP3it Pro without any scripting changes. However, in some cases Backward Compatibility may not work and it is recommended that all users upgrade their scripts to the new functions. By setting the “Backward Compatibility” option to “Both”, you will be able to upgrade your scripts as you get to them, allowing you to have a mix of Old- and New-style functions. For more information about backward compatibility, see the “How do I turn on the Old Style Functions in the Pro plug-ins” FAQ article.

• Not all of the Function Equivalents below will be direct equivalents. There may be some functions that take more or less parameters and there may be instances where more than one Classic function is required to do the same as only one Pro function and vice versa. As an example, the Connect function now takes the name of an Account to connect to, which means you may have to use other functions to set up the Account first.

• To determine what parameters are in your existing Old Style functions, see the External Function Reference section of the Classic POP3it Guide.

Example

Assume you have a calculation like the following that uses the Old Style Register function.

External(“POP3-Register”, “John|Doe|123–4567–890”)

Find the “POP3-Register” function in the left column of the list at the end of this page. The New Style equivalent is the “POP3it_Register” function, so find that function in the Function Reference to see how it is used.

POP3it_Register ( FirstName ; LastName ; LicenseKey ; Option )

Next, we need to determine what parameters we are using in the Old Style function. To do so, find the Old Style function in the Classic Plug-in Function Browser. From the Classic Plug-in Function Browser, we see the function looks like:

External(“POP3-Register”, “First Name|Last name|Serial Number”)

This tells us that the “John” value of our Old Style Function is the “First Name” parameter, the “Doe” value is the “Last Name” parameter, and “123–4567–890” is the Serial Number/LicenseKey. Now we plug these values into the New Style function, which would look like:

POP3it_Register ( “John”; “Doe” ; “123–4567–890” )

Since we did not need the optional “Option” parameter, it was omitted from the New Style function. Be sure to check the Function Reference to see what each parameter does and which are optional.

Conversion Chart

Below you will find an alphabetical list of old-style functions with their new-style equivalents.