MBS Filemaker Plugin 3.4

We develop Filemaker plug-ins for Mac OS X and Windows.

Download   Getting Started   License   Order a license   Function Reference   User guide

New in version   3.4   3.3   3.2   3.1   3.0

For FileMaker 13, please use 3.4 plugin or newer.

The MBS is easily the most powerful plug-in available for FileMaker today. There are over 1800 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. To learn how to use them together, please check our reference and our more than 200 example databases. A quick overview:

• Compress files, data or text to zip archives and uncompress them later. (new in 3.4)
• Use Twain to scan images from scanner
• Enjoy syntax coloring on Mac OS X in Filemaker 11 and 12.
• 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.
• Network Sockets
  • Use TCP/UDP Sockets
  • Query other Filemaker instance with ServerSocket functions.
  • Query device status via SNMP functions.
• 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 PHP library to run PHP functions.
• Use Audit to log activities in a database.
• SQL Connectivity
  • Connect to multiple SQL databases: Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, Informix, InterBase, SQLBase, MySQL, PostgreSQL, ODBC and SQLite.
  • 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.
  • 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.
• 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 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.
• 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 previews 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.
• 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 to your Mac solutions.
  • 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)
• Mac Integration
  • Read, change and write events and reminders from the Calendar Database (new in 3.4)
  • 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.
  • 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.
• Register your own URL Scheme
  • Have your solution start with a click on an email or website and process the URL as you need. Plugin calls a script with the name you define when registering.
• 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
• Utility
  • 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.

Newest entries on our blog:

Download the MBS Filemaker Plugin
Mac OS X MBSFMPlugin34.dmg ( 86M )		Windows MBSFMPlugin34.zip ( 87M )
Installation.pdf   Individual files   Alpha and Beta releases

Tutorial videos

	Filemaker, AppleScript and iChat Example project source code AppleScriptChat project files (Mac OS X) 4:09 minutes
	Filemaker WebView Example project source code FilemakerCurrency project and database files (Mac OS X) 7:45 minutes
	Filemaker Window Transitions (Mac OS X) 1:26 minutes

For more examples see the other videos

New in version 3.4

• Added new UnZipFile functions to read zip file.
• Added new ZipFile functions to write zip file.
• Added CGImageSource functions.
• Added new functions for Calendar on Mac OS X.
• Added DynaPDF.DeletePage function.
• Added DynaPDF.EnableEncryption function.
• Added DynaPDF.ExtractImages function.
• Added DynaPDF.ReplacePattern and DynaPDF.FindPattern.
• Added DynaPDF.SetUserUnit and DynaPDF.GetUserUnit functions.
• Added first version with 64 bit support for Mac OS X. This enables you to use our plugin in WebPublishing on FileMaker Server.
• Added GMImage.WriteImages function.
• Added Math.InchToPixel, Math.MillimeterToPixel, Math.PixelToInch and Math.PixelToMillimeter.
• Added much better default rule set for Syntax Colorization.
• Added new SerialPort functions: GetRTS/SetRTS, GetXON/SetXON, GetDTR/SetDTR, GetCTS/SetCTS and SetDSR/GetDSR to set flow control options.
• Added RemoteControl.HideCursor and RemoteControl.ShowCursor.
• Added ServerSocket.GetAllowedScripts, ServerSocket.GetAllowedTypes, ServerSocket.SetAllowedScripts and ServerSocket.SetAllowedTypes.
• Added Windows support for FM.RunScriptIdle.
• Fixed a bug with SQL.GetFieldName and index = 0.
• Fixed bug in Addressbook.searchGroupsWithName.
• Fixed bug with Japanese Characters in Formulas.
• Fixed GMImage.GeticcColorProfile and similar functions to return empty result if there is no profile.
• Fixed memory leaks with NSImage handling on Mac.
• Fixed problems with DragDrop reference number being invalid.
• Fixed XML.Query function to also return string, number or boolean.
• Improved PDFKit handling of Document references to make it not crashing when using invalid reference numbers.
• Improved SQL functions to work on FileMaker 12 and newer version.
• Improved Syntax Highlighting. Invalid MBS Function names are now highlighted with red color like wrong brakets.
• More Windows related functions now return also an error code in the error message to help finding the reason of the error.
• Our Mac plugin is now code signed.
• Streamlined error handling. You can now call IsError function to know if last function returned an error.
• Updated bzip2 library to version 1.0.6.
• Updated CURL to version 7.32.0.
• Updated DynaPDF to version 3.0.29.74.
• Updated FreeType to version 2.5.0.1.
• Updated GraphicsMagick to version 1.3.18.
• Updated jpeg library to version 9.
• Updated LCMS to version 2.5.
• Updated png library to version 1.6.3.
• Updated tesseract library to version 3.0.2.
• Updated tiff library to version 4.0.3.
• Updated Window functions for disabling the close/maximize/minimize buttons on Mac OS X. As FileMaker 12 reenables them all the time, we simply hide them now.
• Updated zlib library to version 1.2.8.

Read about older releases in our release notes.

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

The Plugin requires Mac OS X 10.6 or Windows XP. (Mac OS X 10.4/10.5 or Windows 2000 may work.)

Filemaker version 8.5 to 13 is supported with current plugins.

Last version with PowerPC support was version 2.4. This version also supported Filemaker 7 to 8.5 in PPC.

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.

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