MBS FileMaker Plugin 9.4

We develop FileMaker plug-ins for macOS, iOS, Linux & Windows.

Download   Getting Started   License   Order a license   Function Reference   User guide

New in version   9.4   9.3   9.2   9.1   9.0   8.5   8.4   8.3   8.2   8.1   8.0

The MBS Plugin is easily the most powerful plug-in available for FileMaker today. There are over 5,900 functions that allow FileMaker developers to extend their solutions in some amazing ways. Each function does a little task and in their combination you can unleash the full power of our plugin. MBS Plugin support FileMaker Pro Advanced, Server (Scheduled Scripts, WebDirect & PSoS), Runtime, Cloud for AWS and the iOS SDK. To learn how to use them together, please check our reference and our more than 500 example databases. A quick overview:

• Enjoy Syntax Coloring in scripts and formulas. Copy scripts with formatted text. (Mac only)
• Show maps via Apple's MapKit framework on your layout with MacOS and iOS, get snapshots and add pins.
• Compress files, data or text to zip archives and uncompress them later.
• Use the telephone API (TAPI) on Windows.
• List and connect to serial ports.
• Read rich text documents on Mac OS X like Word documents, OpenOffice documents or RTF files.
• Enumerate printers and get/set default printer.
• Recognize text in images using OCR functions.
• Receive and send Midi notes.
• Barcodes
  • Create Barcodes and draw them on PDF pages. Export barcodes to files.
  • Recognize barcodes
• Audio/Video
  • Export videos in new format with AVExport or QTExport.
  • Record on Mac and Windows with AVRecorder.
  • Use AVAsset or QTMovie functions to extract metadata from videos, get preview images or play audio in background.
• XL Functions.
  • Work with Excel files without Microsoft Excel by using libXL library in FileMaker.
  • Read and Write older xls files and newer xlsx files.
• Use Audit to log activities in a database.
• SQL Connectivity
  • Connect to multiple SQL databases: Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, SQL Anywhere, Informix, InterBase, SQLBase, MySQL, PostgreSQL, ODBC and SQLite (with encryption).
  • Read values, changes values, add new records, call stored procedures.
  • Use prepared statements for increased security.
  • Use bulk row fetching for maximum speed.
  • Read and write blob values with images.
• CURL Library
  • Download and upload files or data from/to http/https/ftp/ftps/sftp.
  • Compose emails. Send emails over smtp and receive emails over POP3 or IMAP.
  • Perform several transfers simultaneously in background.
  • Send form data directly without Webviewer.
  • Parse and build JavaScript Object Notation encoded data with out JSON functions.
• Network Sockets
  • Control other computers via SSH connection.
  • Use TCP/UDP Sockets, optionally with SSL.
  • Query other FileMaker instance with ServerSocket functions.
  • Query device status via SNMP functions.
• Control the Webviewer
  • Print website, Fill and submit forms.
  • Generate image or PDF of current webpage.
  • Run Javascript in Webviewer and call back FileMaker Scripts from Javascript.
  • Disable Javascript Alerts in the Webviewer.
  • Register WebDownloadDelegate and WebPolicyDelegate scripts to control downloads in Webviewer on Mac.
• Image editing with GraphicsMagick
  • Load pictures from file, container value or create a blank one.
  • Compose pictures together, e.g. add an overlay or watermark.
  • Edit images with crop, rotate, scale and other operations.
  • Draw (round) rectangles, lines, ellipses, circles and arcs into image.
  • Use lots of image effects like blur, sharpen, swirl and others.
  • Save result to container or file.
  • Use Twain or ImageCapture to scan images from scanner.
• Use PDFKit (Mac only) or DynaPDF functions (Mac and Win)
  • Render an image from a page of a PDF with PDFKit or DynaPDF.
  • Extract text from PDF with PDFKit or DynaPDF.
  • Create new PDF with pages from existing PDF with PDFKit or DynaPDF.
  • Add images and text to a page.
  • Use DynaPDF table layouts for creating reports, invoices or catalogs.
  • Print and Fax PDF documents without dialogs.
• Encryption and Hash
  • Calculate MD5 and SHA512 hashes for text.
  • Encrypt/Decrypt text with AES or Blowfish.
  • Encrypt/Decrypt containers with AES or Blowfish .
• Files
  • List directory content, copy, move, rename or move to trash files and folders.
  • Show file/folder selection or save dialogs.
  • Get icon from file or folder and preview images or preview panel with QuickLook (Mac only)
  • Set Icons on Mac with our plugin.
  • Launch files, query file size or file existents, create directories.
  • Query the last used file path in Mac file dialogs.
  • Query special folders.
• Lock your app for Kiosks
  • Query which USB devices are connected and allow only the start of your runtime if special USB stick is connected.
  • Hide system GUI like Dock and menubar with System UI Functions
  • Show a backdrop behind your FileMaker window so user does not see the desktop.
  • Color window content to focus user on a dialog.
• Control windows in FileMaker
  • Show progress dialogs.
  • Add Drag and Drop functions on Mac & Win.
  • Enumerate windows and control any window in FileMaker.
  • Disable close, minimize and maximize widgets.
  • Show and hide any window.
  • Use window transitions on Mac OS X like Apple's applications. (See video)
  • Show popup menus with icons, custom fonts and submenus.
• Mac Integration
  • Add TouchBar with custom buttons to trigger scripts.
  • Customize the toolbar and add your own commands there.
  • Read, change and write events and reminders from the Calendar Database
  • Read image metadata like EXIF, IPTC, JPEG and TIFF fields with CGImageSource functions.
  • Read, change and write contacts from the Addressbook
  • Notify user with User Notifications on Mac OS X 10.8.
  • Query location of a Mac with CoreLocation functions. Map addresses from/to geo coordinates with CLGeoCoder functions.
  • Set your application's dock tile icon and badge text.
  • Put your solution into Apple's Mac App Store and use plugin functions to verify the package receipt.
  • Query printers and their print jobs. Cancel print jobs or send raw printer commands to raw printers, like label printers.
• iOS Integration with FileMaker iOS SDK
  • Send emails with dialog via MailComposer functions including attachments.
  • Send text messages with dialog via MessageComposer functions.
  • Post to social media including Twitter and Facebook via SocialComposer functions.
• Windows Integration
  • Notify user with User Notifications on Windows 8 or newer
  • Query and edit the Registry.
  • Send emails via email client on Windows (MAPI).
• Query system information
  • Need to know computer name, memory size, serial number, OS Version or something else?
• Powerful text functions
  • Get/Set text on the clipboard.
  • Remove accents from texts for easier search.
  • Use SoundEx to have searches for Maier also show results for Meyer, Meier and Mayer
  • Use regular expressions on text and lists.
  • Find similar texts using Text.JaroWinklerDistance or Text.LevenshteinDistance or find best match in a list using List.BestMatch or QuickList.BestMatch
• Utility
  • Run command line tools with our Shell functions.
  • Use remote control functions to move mouse, perform clicks and press keys.
  • Send and receive notifications from other applications or part of your solution.
  • Start a script now or after some time and pass file name, script name and parameter as texts.
  • Set and Get variables which you can see in all files of your solution.
  • List screens and take screenshot from whole screen or from rectangle.
  • Run AppleScript and WindowsScript scripts in FileMaker.
  • Store global preferences for your solution.

And a log of more stuff like Container utility functions. If you miss something, please email us and we may add another function for you.

Upcoming FileMaker Events:

Event	Language	Date	Where	Links
FileMaker Training	Italian	3rd Oct 2019	Bologna, Italia	filemakerguru.it
FileMaker Conference	Italian/English	4th to 5th Oct 2019	Bologna, Italia	filemakerguru.it
FileMaker DevCon UK	English	14th Oct 2019	London, UK	filemaker.com
FM Conferénce	French	16th to 18th Oct 2019	Futuroscope, France	fmconf.com
MBS Plugin Workshop	German	16th Oct 2019	Hamburg, Germany	Details - Register
FileMaker Konferenz	German/English	16th to 19th Oct 2019	Hamburg, Germany	filemaker-konferenz.com
FileMaker DevCon Scandinavia	English	20tb to 22nd Oct 2019	Elsinore, Denmark	devconscandinavia.dk
FM Summit	Dutch/English	21st to 23rd Oct 2019	Den Bosch, Netherlands	fmsummit.info
FM DevCon	Italian/English	23rd to 25th Oct 2019	Bologna, Italia	fmdevcon.com
FileMaker Spanish DevCon	Spanish/English	25th to 26th Oct 2019	Madrid, Spain	filemakerdevcon.es
Asia Pacific DevCon	English	30th to 31th Oct 2019	Sydney, Australia	apacdevcon.com
Asia Pacific DevCon	Japanese/English	6th to 8th Nov 2019	Tokyo, Japan	filemaker.com
FMnext XP III	German	19th November 2019	Meilen	fmnext.ch
New York FileMaker Pro DevelopersÕ Group	English	19th Mar 2020	New York, USA	nyfmp.org
dotfmp.berlin	English	4th to 6th June 2020	Berlin, Germany	dotfmp.berlin

Newest entries on our blog:

Presentation and tutorial videos

DevCon 2019 Presentation	MBS Plugin Juli 2019
IMAP Email Example	FMK 2018 Presentation (English)
FMK 2018 Präsentation (Deutsch)	FileMaker mit Linux und SSH (Deutsch)

For more examples see the other videos

Support

You can of course send us questions by email.

Or subscribe to our mailing list: MBS FileMaker Plugin Mailinglist

Pricing

See pricing page and order page.

System requirements

MBS Plugin 8.5 or newer needs MacOS 10.9 or higher. If you need compatibility for MacOS 10.6 to 10.8, please use MBS Plugin 8.4.

For Windows, we recommend Windows 10. The plugin can run on Windows 7 or newer.

The Linux plugin works on 64-bit Linux Servers including those used for FileMaker Cloud for AWS.

We support FileMaker 14 to 17 and test those regularly.

Best is to always use latest plugins, even for older FileMaker versions. Minimum recommended version:

If you need MBS Plugin for older FileMaker versions or 32-bit version, please contact us.

The plugin runs locally on a FileMaker installation or on a server installation. If you use Instant Web Publishing or FileMaker to Go, the plugin still needs to be run on the server, but results can be viewer on browser or iOS devices.