ChartDirector and DynaPDF for iOS

Did you know you can use MBS Xojo DynaPDF Plugin and MBS Xojo ChartDirector Plugin for your iOS projects?

Get a license with our Cyber Monday sale. Use coupon code BlackFriday today!

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Toolbar Display Modes

Did you know the toolbar can run in three display modes?

Here you see IconAndLabel, IconOnly and LabelOnly:


For FileMaker, we add a new Window.GetToolbarDisplayMode and Window.SetToolbarDisplayMode functions to query current mode and to switch to another mode.

Coming soon in next pre-release.

Cyber Weekend Deals

Look at all the deals available on xojo.io website:



Enjoy the discounts!

PS: Sale ended. Any pending order arriving on Tuesday (1st Dec) will still be honored. And then the coupon code is invalid.

Save Records as PDF oddities with FileMaker Server on Linux

Today we looked into things for saving PDFs on server when using FileMaker Server for Linux.

First you need to know that whenever PDF creation fails, it seems to always return error 800. That is not helpful as the error is not about creating the file itself, but about assembling the PDF before writing it.

For example if you have a smiley 😀 in the text, you may see FileMaker on macOS ignore it. The smiley will be missing in saved PDF. But on Linux, we get an error 800 and PDF creation fails. Now you can use Text.FilterUTF16 function in our plugin to prepare all your texts and remove the emojis.

For the fonts itself, please be aware, that Linux comes with a different font list than macOS or Windows. And while you can install a Microsoft font package on Linux to get Arial, Wingdings and others, you may just relay on the font substitution done by the PDF engine in FileMaker on Linux. For example Arial will be converted to LiberationSans. Sadly font substitution doesn't work well for us and using Times or Capitals as fonts gives you error 800 again. Best may be to use PDF Standard Fonts.

We installed Jet Brains Mono font on the Linux machine by copying the font files into a new folder /usr/share/fonts/JetBrainsMono. Then we run the "fc-cache -f -v" command in Terminal to rebuild the font cache. Running "fc-list" shows the font list in Terminal. Once the font is installed and WebDirect noticed (we restarted the computer, but not sure whether it's required.), we successfully used the font for a label on a PDF created on the server.

You can use fonts on Linux for text, e.g. by evaluating TextFont ( "Hello" ; "Caladea" ). If you specify a font not available, it may fall back to the default font. Enjoy!


All about EndOfLine

Did you know there is an EndOfLine class in Xojo? You like a proof? Just run this code in a new project:

Dim e As New EndOfLine Break

Now you see the object in the debugger. This is of course an implementation detail and could change.

When you use EndOfLine in the code as value and not as class, you call a global function called EndOfLine returning the EndOfLine object. This is optimized and we can verify in the debugger that we get the same object each time. If you use it in a string operation, it may invoke one of the operator methods like Operator_Convert to get the string for the current platform.

The individual functions Android, LF, iOS, CR, Unix, macOS, CRLF, Windows are shared methods (or properties?) on the class. Update: Introspection shows those are shared properties, but computed. And they seem to be implemented differently, so some return the same string always, while others just create a new string each time.

Due to the fact that using EndOfLine invokes two functions to get the object and then the string, it makes sense to cache the value. A line like this may speed up access to EndOfLine :

Dim EndOfLine As String = EndOfLine

Following access is at least double the speed, so if that is a bottleneck for you, you can optimize it!
But only worth it, if you call EndOfLine a lot in loops within your code.

Wishes on Feedback

Looking into EndOfLine reminds me to two feature requests, I'd like to see implemented in a future Xojo version. Beside with EndOfLine, they could help us for our own code. All those shared properties could be real properties for the compiler, which could be marked to be read only for access from outside. For example a module could define them and in a Constructor for the module they could be assigned. So we need a kind of constructor for modules like in feedback case 24018. The constructor may only access things in the module and should be called before app.open. The properties could have an attribute to mark them public to get, but private to set. Like the idea in feedback case 49428. If this would be implemented, you could skip all those getter functions and the compiler could make much better code to just lookup the global EndOfLine property easier and skip it for the shared properties.

Let's say we would get those implemented and we could have a module like this:

Module TimeModule
Sub Constructor() StartDateTime = DateTime.Now End Sub
Property StartDateTime As DateTime Attribute ReadOnly
End Module

As said, constructors should be run before App.Open and prepare the module. The compiler would assemble list of modules and call Constructor methods if those exist. Per definition access to other framework methods is possible, but not to other modules as order of initialization would not be defined. Although compiler could sort module names of course and then order is defined!

Finally there is also a Text.EndOfLine global function, which returns you EndOfLine as Text data type. But be aware, that on iOS Text.EndOfLine and EndOfLine.IOS don't return the same result. One returns Chr(13) and one Chr(10).


Save PDF to container in FileMaker

You may know FileMaker has the possibility to save records as PDF to a file. From time to time clients ask how to script to get the PDF into a record. We like to show you a sample script on what you can do and run this either on server (e.g. triggered from FileMaker Go) or on client. 

The script takes the record ID as parameter. We switched to the target layout and the correct record based on the record ID to setup the context. That's important as on a server we need to setup context ourselves. On a client you can skip this, if you know you are on the right record already. We build a file path for the temporary PDF document named "temp.pdf". On a server with multiple scripts running at the same time, you may better use temp folder or put a new unique UUID in the file name. 

Next we ask FileMaker to save current record as PDF to the given file path. If that works and we don't get an error reported, we can use the Container.ReadFile function to read the PDF file. Please note, that we have different file path in either FileMaker style or native OS style for the plugin. If the read operation works, we can try to put the new PDF document into the field. If that works, we can commit changes to disk and report back OK. Per convention we have the script either return OK or an error message, so the calling script can check the result.

Here is the final script:

# pass record ID as parameter

Set Variable [ $RecordID ; Value: Get(ScriptParameter) ] 

# go to target layout

Go to Layout [ “Contact Details” (Contacts) ; Animation: None ]

If [ Get(LastError) ≠ 0 ] 

Exit Script [ Text Result: "Failed to go to layout!" ] 

End If

Go to Record/Request/Page [ With dialog: Off ; $RecordID ]

If [ Get(LastError) ≠ 0 ] 

Exit Script [ Text Result: "Failed to go to record " & $recordID ] 

End If

# build a path for FileMaker

Set Variable [ $name ; Value: "temp.pdf" ] 

Set Variable [ $path ; Value: Get(DocumentsPath) & $name ] 

Set Variable [ $NativePath ; Value: MBS( "Path.FileMakerPathToNativePath"; $path ) ] 

# Let FileMaker save records

Save Records as PDF [ Restore ; With dialog: Off ; “$path” ; Current record ; Create folders: Off ] 

If [ Get(LastError) = 0 ] 

# Read result PDF

Set Variable [ $PDF ; Value: MBS( "Container.ReadFile"; $NativePath) ] 

If [ MBS("ISError") = 0 ] 

# Put in container

Set Field [ Contacts::PDFFile ; $PDF ] 

If [ Get(LastError) ≠ 0 ] 

Exit Script [ Text Result: "Failed to assign PDF field" ] 

End If

Commit Records/Requests [ With dialog: Off ] 

Exit Script [ Text Result: "OK" ] 

Else

Exit Script [ Text Result: "Failed to read PDF document: " & $PDF ] 

End If

Else

Exit Script [ Text Result: "Failed to create PDF document: " & Get(LastExternalErrorDetail) ] 

End If

You may call the script above passing RecordID like this:

Perform Script [ Specified: From list ; “save pdf” ; Parameter: Get(RecordID) ]

Please don't hesitate to contact us with questions.  


Thanksgiving Sale

For this year's Thanksgiving in America, we offer again discounted licenses for our MBS Plugins for FileMaker and Xojo.
Please use coupon code BlackFriday for our web shop to order new licenses with a 20% discount. This includes DynaPDF and LibXL.

Order MBS FileMaker Plugin     Order MBS Xojo Plugins     Order LibXL

If you have special needs, you can email us to get an invoice or Paypal payment link directly. We know some people need to wait till next week to order, so the offer is valid till Tuesday.

Second if you have purchased previously an individual MBS Xojo Plugin part from the Complete Set within the last two years, but not the whole set, we offer you an upgrade to the Complete set for the update price. Please consider to get the whole collection of 40 plugins instead of just one plugin.

See also Xojo Thanksgiving Sale and a xojo.io for a collection of offers for Xojo developers.

PS: Sale ended. Any pending order arriving on Tuesday (1st Dec) will still be honored. And then the coupon code is invalid.

Use Text Finder for TextArea in Xojo

Have you checked the NSTextFinderMBS class for macOS to show a search field within a text area?

With a little code you can provide a find & replace toolbar within the text area like this:

The GUI is standard from macOS and localized by the system.

Here is the sample code you can use:

Sub ToggleFindbar() // get MBS objects for the Xojo controls Dim textView As NSTextViewMBS = TextArea1.NSTextViewMBS Dim scrollView As NSScrollViewMBS = TextArea1.NSScrollViewMBS // first run, we create the TextFinder object If finder = Nil Then finder = New NSTextFinderMBS // connect it to the text view and the finder.client = textView finder.findBarContainer = scrollView finder.incrementalSearchingEnabled = True End If If CheckFindbar.Value Then // enable find bar If scrollView.FindBarVisible Then // show the find interface finder.performAction finder.kActionShowFindInterface Return End If If textView.usesFindBar Then // show the find interface, if it was hidden before scrollView.FindBarVisible = True Return End If // enables find bar textView.usesFindBar = True End If If CheckFindbar.Value Then // show it finder.performAction finder.kActionShowFindInterface Else // hide it finder.performAction finder.kActionHideFindInterface End If End Sub

You may just have a menu command for search and when it's triggered, you can check what Window.Focus points to. If a text area is in focus, you can simply call the method above and pass the text area to show the find bar.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions.


FMNext 2020

Dieses Jahr findet die fmnext.ch Veranstaltung online statt und über mehrere Wochen verteilt mit Vorträgen online:

Medio-Ingeno AG proudly presents
FMnext - Screencasts 📽
ab 17. November 2020, 17 Uhr
Anstelle des jährlichen FMnext XP Events für Entwickler, FileMaker-Enthusiasten und Interessierte veröffentlichen wir
aus bekannten Gründen an dieser Stelle wöchentlich Screencasts aus der Community zum Thema Claris FileMaker ®.

Das Programm dieses Jahr:
  • Episode 1 - 17.11.20
    Wie erstelle ich Add-ons in FileMaker 19?
    In einem 20-Minuten Video wird das Erstellen eines Add-ons sowie der Einbau in eine bestehende Lösung Schritt für Schritt erklärt.
    Referent: Martin Schwarz, Medio-Ingeno AG
  • Episode 2 - 24.11.20
    Protokollieren von Datensatz-Änderungen: einfach und schnell
    Michael Jupe zeigt, wie Änderungen am Datensatz protokolliert werden können, und zwar unmerklich für die Benutzer und unaufwändig für den Programmierer.
    Referent: Michael Jupe, Medio-Ingeno AG
  • Episode 3 - 01.12.20
    Subsummary Reports erstellen und exportieren
    Zwischenergebnisse darstellen kann FileMaker seit langem. Weniger bekannt ist, dass die Daten dieser Subsummary Reports exportiert werden können. Das 20-minütige Video zeigt anhand einer Muster-Datei, wie ein Subsummary Report erstellt und exportiert wird.
    Referent: Markus Spieler, Medio-Ingeno AG
  • Episode 4 - 08.12.20
    Von UFOs und Card Windows
    Card Windows bewegen sich in luftiger Höhe über ein anderes Layout und keiner weiss, von welchem Planeten sie stammen. Was bei Popover-Fenster in FileMaker noch klar ist, ändert sich radikal mit der Einführung von Card Windows. Frühere Beschränkungen werden aufgehoben und plötzlich sind ganz neue Arbeitsflusse umsetzbar. Da Card Windows nun auch mit WebDirect funktionieren, sollte man die Möglichkeiten kennen. Dieses Video ist eine kleine Flugschule für UFO's, die sogenannten Card Windows.
    Referent: Karsten Risseeuw, Kursiv GmbH
  • Episode 5 - 15.12.20
    Neues aus der Monkeybread Schmiede
    Referent: Christian Schmitz, Monkeybread
Alle Videos finden Sie auf der fmnext.ch Webseite.

Xojo 2020r2 arrived

After an extended beta phase Xojo 2020r2 was released today. See announcement, Release Notes and download. This is a huge release, which implements a couple of points on the roadmap and brings us Apple Silicon support, plugins for iOS with iOS getting API 2.0 framework and new worker class and even a few new controls for search and date/time picker.

Apple Silicon

This Xojo version can build applications for Apple Silicon and it can build universal applications, too. We updated MBS Plugins and include Apple Silicon support there in version 20.5. You can try it, but we'll soon have a new beta for the next version as we find issues while more people try building for those new Macs with M1 processor.

All MBS Plugins in 20.5 (and future versions) include an Apple Silicon version. Not all libraries are available yet for Apple Silicon and most functions have not been tested although since it's basically the same code on the same OS with a compiler change, we expect everything to just works. (more)

Black Friday coming soon

As you may know Americans love to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year Black Friday is 27th November. About half our customers are in North America, so we are happy to offer you a discount if they buy this weekend. Our offer will go live in the next days and should be available in time.

We plan to offer coupon code BlackFriday for the web shop with 20% off for new licenses of MBS Plugins, DynaPDF and LibXL.
Updates are already offered with discount (usually 50%) compared to new purchases and and our academic prices already have a discount. If you like, you can email us to get an order link for all licenses you need or provide an invoice if needed.

Order MBS FileMaker Plugin     Order MBS Xojo Plugins     Order LibXL

As usual the discounted offer allows you to buy whatever licenses you may need in the next year. As you know that Apple Silicon is coming to a lot of clients next year, you may want to have current plugin licenses.

If you need a license from Xojo Inc. or their third-party store section, you may to check the Xojo store on the weekend. Everyone interested in a license for the next version 2020r2 featuring Apple Silicon support, should go and buy one.

For FileMaker there is still an offer available for buying one FileMaker Pro license and getting a free one to give away. This offer expires 18th December. If you or your client has an expired FileMaker license for over 6 months, you may get a discount for a welcome back offer with 25% reduced pricing. Also there may be possibilities to get a FileMaker Server for smaller companies with thee or four users.

You have a question? Please don't hesitate to contact us by email or phone. We may help to point you to the right offer.

News from the MBS Xojo Plugins Version 20.5

In this article I want to introduce you the new functionalities from the MBS Xojo Plugins in version 20.5.

Excel - News from the XL topic

Let's start with the innovations in the XL topic. With our plugins you can create and edit Excel documents via Xojo. In this release we have new features that extend the functionality of this topic. With the new method CopyColumn from the XLSheetMBS class you can copy the values of a column of a table into another column. This copying process is not limited to the worksheet or book. You can also copy columns between different books and sheets. In the last parameter of the method you can set the copy options. That means you can decide which type of content is copied. If that option is nil we copy everything.

An other new method is ReadValue from the XLSheetMBS class. With this method you read a value from a cell as variant. Depending on the content we return a number, a boolean, a text or a timestamp. Empty or error cells will return nil.

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New in MBS FileMaker Plugin 10.5

In this article I want to introduce you the new functions from the MBS FileMaker Plugin in version 10.5.

XL - Working with Excel

Let's start with the innovations in the XL topic. With our plugin you can create and edit Excel documents via FileMaker scripts. Also in this release we have new features that extend the functionality of this topic. With the new function XL.CopyColumn you can copy the values of a column of a table into another column. This copying process is not limited to the worksheet or book. You can also copy columns between different books and sheets. These must then be defined in the parameters.

You can use the XL.Sheet.AddDataValidation function to perform data validation for a specific area of a table. For example, you can specify that a column may not be empty or the values are in a range. These data validations can then be removed with XL.Sheet.RemoveDataValidations. This functions works for xlsx files.

The last but not least new function in the component is the XL.Sheet.CellReadValue function. With this function you reads a value from a cell. Depending on the content we return a number, a boolean, a text or a timestamp. Empty, blank or error cells will return an empty value.

CSV Matrix

Another new function is the Matrix.CSVSplit function. With this function we can convert a Comma Separate Value Text into a matrix. For example, if you have the data of a FileMaker database as a CSV file, you can use this function to easily write the data into a matrix and work with it.

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Filter for ListDialog

We had ListDialog functions for years and a few people over the years asked for a filter feature. We got that implemented for next version of MBS FileMaker Plugin:

To support that we have 4 new functions to enable filter and set the filter text:

Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ListDialog.SetShowsFilter"; 1) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ListDialog.SetFilter"; "") ]

When dialog closes, you can query filter value, store it in a field and later restore it when you open the dialog again.

Filter allows to enter multiple values separated by space and filters all columns.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with your questions.


FileMaker Magazin - MBS Artikel

Wir haben einige Artikel zum MBS Plugin aus dem FileMaker Magazin gesammelt hier online gestellt: FileMaker Magazin Artikel.

Mehr Artikel gibts im FMM Premium Abo mit Beispiel Downloads, FMM Wissensdatenbank & Zugriff auf alle Ausgaben seit 1994!

Das FileMaker Magazin ist eine exzellente Quelle von Informationen, Anleitungen und Profitips.


Import CSV with Matrix functions

Let us show you how to use Matrix.CSVSplit function for a custom CSV import. For example you may have a text file and read it with our Text.ReadTextFile function. Here it is important to know the text encoding to expect. Usually nowadays everyone uses UTF-8 except if you get data from ancient database systems with some Latin 1 or Windows ANSI encoding. Once you have some text, you may want to normalize line endings with Text.ReplaceNewline function.

 

Next you call Matrix.CSVSplit function to split the CSV text. We can pass the semicolon as delimiter. If you don't specify one, we auto detect whether it is comma, semicolon or tab character. But you can pass any delimiter you like here, e.g. # character. Once import is done, we can use Matrix.Height and Matrix.Width functions to query the size of the matrix we got. First row is the name of the fields. You may use the fields listed in the CSV later or bring your own field list for the insert operation later. And as we don't like to insert the field names, we remove first row with Matrix.RemoveRow function.

 

The magic to do inserts into your table is done with our Matrix.InsertRecords function. It creates internally an SQL statement to for insert operations. Then it walks over the matrix and runs SQL statement to insert records. If everything is fine, the function returns OK. Finally we can release the matrix object with the Matrix.Release function. You can see the SQL statement by calling FM.ExecuteSQL.LastSQL function.


Here is the sample script:

 

# native file path

Set Variable [ $path ; Value: "/Users/cs/Desktop/test.csv" ] 

# read the file

Set Variable [ $text ; Value: MBS( "Text.ReadTextFile"; $path; "UTF-8") ] 

# change line endings to make sure it's ¶ for FileMaker

Set Variable [ $text ; Value: MBS( "Text.ReplaceNewline"; $Text; 1 ) ] 

# Split CSV

Set Variable [ $matrix ; Value: MBS( "Matrix.CSVSplit"; $text; ";") ] 

# query height

Set Variable [ $count ; Value: MBS( "Matrix.Height"; $matrix) ] 

Show Custom Dialog [ "Number of rows" ; $count ] 

# take first rows with field names

Set Variable [ $firstRow ; Value: MBS( "Matrix.GetRow"; $matrix; 0 ) ] 

Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "Matrix.RemoveRow"; $matrix; 0 ) ] 

Show Custom Dialog [ "Fields in CSV" ; $firstRow ] 

# you may use a different field list for FileMaker (or the one from CSV)

Set Variable [ $fields ; Value: "Name¶Price" ] 

# insert records to our Assets table

Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "Matrix.InsertRecords"; $matrix; Get(FileName); "Assets"; $fields) ] 

# free memory

Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("Matrix.Release"; $matrix) ] 

 

For next plugin version we already got an improvement: While plugin version 10.5 can only do text fields in FileMaker, the next version will detect field type and convert data if needed.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions.


The VariantTypeString function for Xojo

We got a handy function to query a type string for a variant. Useful when displaying variant content in our apps together with stringValue to get text representation. It uses our new GetVariantTypeMBS function to detect unsigned integer types.

The function is using BitwiseAnd to detect if the array bit is set and then BitwiseAnd with the ones complement to remove the bit for the type. For speed we use a dictionary filled on first call. And in case ever a new type is introduced, the break statement should stop in debugging and we can check the new type value and add it to the list.

Please let us know if you like it or have improvement ideas.

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Brackets Highlighting

MBS Plugin in version 10.5 is available and you can try our bracket highlighting for macOS:

For macOS we added a new feature to the calculation dialog to highlight matching brackets. If you put the cursor on a square, curly or regular bracket, the plugin looks for the matching bracket and provides a blue background for both. This usually ignores quoted text, except if your selection is within quoted text. Then we look for brackets in this text to help with e.g. SQL commands.

You can turn this on or off in the preferences dialog. As usual, those function can be configured in script via SyntaxColoring.ShowBracketPositions.SetEnabled function.


Windows 7 compatibility

Our MBS FileMaker Plugin in version 10.5 added newer WindowsML functions for Machine Learning on Windows 10.
Adding those did break compatibility to Windows 7 by referencing newer functions introduced in Windows 8.

If you need Windows 7 or as server version alias Windows Server 2008 R2 support, please get the plugin here:
MBSFMPlugin105-Windows7.zip.

As those Windows versions are unsupported, nobody should use or need them anymore.

In future, we may only provide Windows 7 compatibly plugins on request as current FileMaker Pro doesn't even run on Windows 7 anymore.

MBS FileMaker Plugin 10.5 - More than 6400 Functions In One Plugin

Nickenich, Germany - (November 17th, 2020) -- MonkeyBread Software today is pleased to announce MBS FileMaker Plugin 10.5 for macOS, iOS, Linux and Windows, the latest update to their product that is easily the most powerful plugin currently available for FileMaker Pro. As the leading database management solution for Windows, macOS, iOS and the web, the FileMaker Pro Integrated Development Environment supports a plugin architecture that can easily extend the feature set of the application. MBS FileMaker Plugin 10.5 has been updated and now includes over 6400 different functions, and the versatile plugin has gained more new functions:

If you are interested in Machine Learning, please check our new WindowsML functions for Windows. Beside the CoreML function on macOS, we now can do similar things on Windows like detecting the primary object of a picture.

For macOS we added a new feature to the calculation dialog to highlight matching brackets. If you put the cursor on a square, curly or regular bracket, the plugin looks for the matching bracket and provides a blue background for both. This usually ignores quoted text, except if your selection is within quoted text. Then we look for brackets in this text to help with e.g. SQL commands. For the inspector we got a zoom button to increase control sizes to 125%. Read them easier, although you may need to scroll with the mouse.

For our XL functions we got a new XL.CopyColumn function to copy columns in a sheet. Our new XL.Sheet.CellReadValue function can read a value from a cell and return it as value depending of the cell type. Use the new XL.Sheet.AddDataValidation and XL.Sheet.RemoveDataValidations functions to configure data validation.

DynaPDF got updated and now supports more ZUGFeRD 2.1 and Factur-X variants. The new DynaPDF.InsertBarcode function helps to place vector graphics barcodes on the PDF pages. We added a lot of new JSON based functions for DynaPDF to query content of documents like information on fonts, fields, bookmarks or annotations. For DynaPDF.Print we now support collate and copies options in the print dialog.

This version embraces JSON, so check the new JSON functions like Files.ListAsJSON to list files in a directory or CUPS functions to list printers and jobs.

We got a lot of new ReleaseAll functions to help cleanup objects. Use Matrix.CSVSplit to split CSV into a matrix object, check TextView functions to handle selection, use new list functions to find duplicate entries.

On macOS you can query app memory usage with SystemInfo.AppUsageStatistics function including how much memory FileMaker uses right now. The SystemInfo.CPULoad function tells you how much CPU is used currently.

Finally we updated CURL library to version 7.73.0, DynaPDF to 4.0.44.123, freetype to 2.10.4, LibXL to 3.9.2, OpenSSL to 1.1.1h, SQLAPI to 5.1.3b3 and Xcode to version 12.1.

See release notes for a complete list of changes.

MBS Xojo Plugins in version 20.5

Nickenich, Germany - (November 17th, 2020) -- MonkeyBread Software today is pleased to announce MBS Xojo Plugins 20.5 for macOS, Linux and Windows, the latest update to their product that is easily the most powerful plugin collection currently available for Xojo. MBS Xojo Plugins have been updated and now includes over 2800 classes and 71,000 documented features, and the versatile plugins have gained more new functions:

Recently Microsoft released the newer WebView2 control for Windows 7 and newer. This is a new control to provide a web viewer inside applications based on Edge/Chrome engine. Use our new WebView2ControlMBS control if you need newer JavaScript or CSS compared to older Internet Explorer engine in HTMLViewer or the Chromium version offered by Xojo. Currently your users will have to install WebView2 control, but future Windows versions will include it.

If you are interested in Machine Learning, please check our new WindowsML classes for Windows. Beside the CoreML classes on macOS, we now can do similar things on Windows like detecting the primary object of a picture.

The new plugin embraces DateTime class and adds over 200 new methods and properties. In newer Xojo versions you can use DateTime or Date class, but in older Xojo versions only Date functions are available.

DynaPDF got updated and now supports more ZUGFeRD 2.1 and Factur-X variants. The new InsertBarcode function helps to place vector graphics barcodes on the PDF pages. You can now detect whether the user cancelled PDF print dialog on Windows. In that dialog you can now use collate and copies options. We support LineDash, LineJoin and LineCap for drawing with graphics class.

We improved the handling of unsigned integers with our variant related functions. We got new constants for GetVariantTypeMBS function for unsigned integers. To create arrays from values with specific types, we got ArrayInt64MBS, ArrayStringMBS, ArrayVariantMBS, ArrayIntegerMBS and ArrayDoubleMBS functions. The CompareNumbersMBS function helps to compare signed and unsigned integer values of any size correctly.

For XL classes we got a new function to copy columns in a sheet. Our new ReadValue function can read a value from a cell and return it as variant depending of the cell type.

The SQL plugin can now report last insert ID for CubeSQL. The PostgreSQL plugin part loads LDAP libraries if needed dynamically.

The SSH2ChannelMBS class got a DataAvailable event and a new example for an interactive Terminal.

Finally we updated CURL library to version 7.73.0, DynaPDF to 4.0.44.123, freetype to 2.10.4, LibXL to 3.9.2, OpenSSL to 1.1.1h, SQLAPI to 5.1.3b3, to a newer plugin SDK and Xcode to version 12.1.

See release notes for a complete list of changes.

Neues MBS FileMaker Plugin 10.5 - Über 6400 Funktionen in einem Plugin

17. November 2020 - Monkeybread Software veröffentlicht heute das MBS FileMaker Plugin für FileMaker in Version 10.5, mit inzwischen über 6400 Funktionen eines der größten FileMaker Plugins überhaupt. Hier einige der Neuerungen:

Wenn Sie sich für Maschinelles Lernen interessieren, schauen Sie sich bitte unsere neuen WindowsML Funktionen für Windows an. Neben der CoreML Funktion auf MacOS können wir jetzt unter Windows ähnliche Dinge tun, wie z.B. das primäre Objekt eines Bildes erkennen.

Für macOS haben wir dem Berechnungsdialog eine neue Funktion hinzugefügt, um passende Klammern hervorzuheben. Wenn Sie den Cursor auf eine eckige, geschweifte oder normale Klammer setzen, sucht das Plugin nach der passenden Klammer und stellt für beide einen blauen Hintergrund zur Verfügung. Dies ignoriert normalerweise zitierten Text, außer wenn sich Ihre Auswahl innerhalb des zitierten Textes befindet. Dann suchen wir nach Klammern in diesem Text, um z.B. bei SQL-Befehlen zu helfen. Für den Inspektor haben wir einen Zoom-Button, um die Kontrollgrößen auf 125% zu erhöhen. Dies erleichtert das Lesen, auch wenn Sie eventuell mit der Maus scrollen müssen.

Für unsere XL Funktionen haben wir eine neue XL.CopyColumn Funktion zum Kopieren von Spalten in einem Blatt eingebaut. Unsere neue XL.Sheet.CellReadValue Funktion kann einen Wert aus einer Zelle auslesen und ihn abhängig vom Zelltyp als Wert zurückgeben. Mit den neuen Funktionen XL.Sheet.AddDataValidation und XL.Sheet.RemoveDataValidations können Sie die Datenvalidierung konfigurieren.

DynaPDF wurde aktualisiert und unterstützt nun mehr ZUGFeRD 2.1 und Factur-X Varianten. Die neue DynaPDF.InsertBarcode Funktion hilft beim Platzieren von Vektorgrafik-Barcodes auf den PDF Seiten. Wir haben viele neue JSON-basierte Funktionen für DynaPDF hinzugefügt, um den Inhalt von Dokumenten wie Informationen zu Schriftarten, Feldern, Lesezeichen oder Anmerkungen abzufragen. Für DynaPDF.Print unterstützen wir jetzt die Optionen zum Sortieren und Kopieren im Druckdialog.

Diese Version bring viele neue JSON Funktionen. Probieren Sie die neuen JSON Funktionen wie Files.ListAsJSON zum Auflisten von Dateien in einem Verzeichnis oder CUPS Funktionen zum Auflisten von Druckern und Aufträgen.

Wir haben eine Menge neuer ReleaseAll Funktionen eingebaut, die beim Bereinigen von Objekten helfen. Verwenden Sie Matrix.CSVSplit, um CSV Text in ein Matrixobjekt aufzuteilen. Probieren Sie TextView Funktionen für die Textauswahl in einem Textbereich zu steuern und verwenden Sie neue Listenfunktionen, um doppelte Einträge zu finden.

Unter MacOS können Sie mit der Funktion SystemInfo.AppUsageStatistics die Speichernutzung von Anwendungen abfragen, einschließlich der Abfrage, wie viel Speicher FileMaker im Moment verwendet. Die Funktion SystemInfo.CPULoad zeigt Ihnen an, wie stark die CPU derzeit verwendet wird.

Schließlich haben wir die CURL-Bibliothek auf Version 7.73.0 aktualisiert, DynaPDF auf 4.0.44.123, freetype auf 2.10.4, LibXL auf 3.9.2, OpenSSL auf 1.1.1h, SQLAPI auf 5.1.3b3 und Xcode auf Version 12.1 aktualisiert.

Alle Änderungen in den Release Notes.

Boolean Variant Optimization in Xojo

Did you know that Xojo runtime optimizes boolean variants?

Variants are used a lot with Dictionaries, Introspection and as RowTag/CellTag/ColumnTag in Listbox. They need to be fast.

Take an example code like this:

Dim ObjectCountBefore As Integer = runtime.ObjectCount Dim v1 As Variant = True Dim v2 As Variant = False Dim v3 As Variant = True Dim v4 As Variant = False Dim v5 As Variant = True Dim v6 As Variant = False Dim ObjectCountAfter As Integer = runtime.ObjectCount Dim difference As Integer = ObjectCountBefore - ObjectCountAfter MsgBox Str(difference)

We check object count, create six local variables of type variant with assigning boolean values. Then we check object count again. What difference do you expect?

You may expect six, but the Xojo runtime actually optimizes this and returns the same two variants again and again. Beside the first two boolean variants created, there is no more memory used for variants. Think about that, when storing booleans in a dictionary or as a RowTag.

Even better would be if functions like the one used to create a boolean variant would be annotated, so LLVM could optimize away the calls above with the unused variables and give a difference of zero.


7 Monate bis zur Deutschen FileMaker Konferenz 2020 in Malbun

Noch sieben Monate bis zur FileMaker Konferenz 2021 in Malbun (Liechtenstein) und zur MBS Plugin Schulung Schulung am Mittwoch vorher.

Vom 17. bis 19. Juni 2021 findet die elfte deutschsprachige FileMaker Konferenz in Malbun, Liechtenstein statt. Aktuell läuft die Frühbucherphase bis 28. Februar mit vergünstigten Tickets.

Die Veranstalter vom Verein FM Konferenz erwarten auch 2020 rund 120 Entwickler, Anwender, IT-Fachleute und Entscheidungsträger aus Wirtschaft, Bildung und Verwaltung. Rund um über 20 Fachvorträge und Workshops wird es viel Zeit zum Vernetzen in den gemeinsamen Pausen und beim Abendprogramm geben.

Für den Deutschsprachigen Raum ist diese Konferenz das Treffen des Jahres. Hier finden Sie vom Anfänger bis zum Profi Kontakte zu anderen Entwicklern. Lernen Sie was es neues gibt, nehmen Sie Impulse mit für die eigene Arbeit und erfahren Sie mehr zu FileMaker von deutschsprachigen Experten!



Die MBS Plugin Schulung vorher findet voraussichtlich am statt (im gleichen Hotel).

Bitte planen Sie wenigstens einen extra Tag ein für ihren Besuch in Liechtenstein, damit Sie die Natur in dem schönen Tal geniessen können. Den Aufstieg auf den Sareis können Sie bequem zu Fuß vom Hotel aus starten und die Turnastraße hinauf spazieren bis zum Restaurant am Gipfel. Oder alternativ die Seilbahn nehmen.

Hoffen wir, dass sich im Frühjahr die Corona Lage verbessert und die Konferenz stattfinden kann.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 20.5pr10

New in this prerelease of the 20.5 plugins:
  • Changed WindowsHTMLViewer plugin to not need VCRuntime140_1.dll any more.
  • Added SystemSymbolName property for ICDeviceMBS class.
  • Fixed a problem with loading libiconv.dll on Windows.
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.com/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 10.5pr10

New in this prerelease of version 10.5 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin: Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.

Extract the system libraries on macOS Big Sur

On macOS Big Sur we can load libiodbc, libiconv and other open source libraries just fine, but where are they?

The folder /usr/bin has only a few symlinks, but not the real library files.


Fellow Thomas Tempelmann pointed me to a blog post from Jeff Johnson (who made StopTheMadness!) about Extract the system libraries on macOS Big Sur. And this article informed us how to get the libraries extracted.


The steps are quite accurate, but for Xcode 12.2, I had to adjust a bit.

  • Download dyld-733.8.tar.gz from Apple OpenSource website.
  • Select target to build only dyld_shared_cache_util and not the other stuff.
  • Changed SDK to macos.
  • In dyld.h we change __API_UNAVAILABLE and __API_AVAILABLE defines to not do anything.
    #undef __API_UNAVAILABLE
    #define __API_UNAVAILABLE(...)
    
    #undef __API_AVAILABLE
    #define __API_AVAILABLE(...)
  • In Diagnostics.h we add C declarations for SIMPLE string:
    extern "C" {
    
    typedef struct _SIMPLE*    _SIMPLE_STRING;
    extern void                _simple_vdprintf(int __fd, const char *__fmt, va_list __ap);
    extern void                _simple_dprintf(int __fd, const char *__fmt, ...);
    extern _SIMPLE_STRING    _simple_salloc(void);
    extern int                _simple_vsprintf(_SIMPLE_STRING __b, const char *__fmt, va_list __ap);
    extern void                _simple_sfree(_SIMPLE_STRING __b);
    extern char *            _simple_string(_SIMPLE_STRING __b);
    }
    Further down, change void* buffer variable to _SIMPLE_STRING _buffer = nullptr;, so the _buffer variable has a type.
  • In MachOLoaded.cpp comment out all corecrypto includes.
  • In Diagnostics.cpp we comment out _simple.h and libc_private.h includes. We could have put above definitions into a _simple.h file instead of course. Further down we change abort_report_np to have extern "C" in front to avoid link error.
  • In Closure.cpp we comment out corecrypto includes and System/machine/cpu_capabilities.h include. In hashBootAndFileInfo further below we change the #if to #if 0 to disable the block.
  • Finally build it and run it in terminal: dyld_shared_cache_util -extract ~/Desktop /System/Library/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64

For all you out there, here is my copy with modifications and the built command-line tool (x86_64 + arm64). No warranties as I have no idea whether the commented out code has side effects: dyld_shared_cache_util-dyld-733.8.zip


macOS Big Sur arrived

Yesterday Apple released macOS Big Sur to the public. As far as we see our software seems to work just fine. If you have an issue, please contact us soon.

As usual we recommend to wait with the update for another .1 or .2 release and only put it on production computers once you verified all your software works.

For Apple Silicon, our software should run fine in Rosetta for now. We will provide updated plugins and applications over the next months based on request. But first we wait for Claris Inc. and Xojo Inc. to update their host applications.

We already have a few Big Sur specific functions coming in the plugins and if you need something, please let us know.

PS: If your license has expired maintenance, feel free to order an update to extend it. If you need a new license for our plugins (or Xojo), you can get a trial now and order the license around Black Friday.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 20.5pr9

New in this prerelease of the 20.5 plugins:
  • Updated Xcode to version 12.1
  • Fixed a few memory leaks with ABPickerMBS class.
  • Added asDateTimeValue to SQLValueReadMBS class to return DateTime object.
  • Changed WindowsML plugin to not need VCRuntime140_1.dll any more.
  • Please note that ChartDirector, WebView2, WindowsHTMLViewer, WindowsStore and XMP plugin parts need VS 2019 runtime.
  • Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.44.123.
  • Updated SQLAPI to version 5.1.3b3.
  • Fixed some issues with DateTime handling from pr7.
  • Added new constructors for IEWebBrowserMBS, IENavigatorMBS and IEHistoryMBS to take a HTMLViewer.
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.com/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 10.5pr9

New in this prerelease of version 10.5 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin:
  • Implemented WebView.RenderPDF for WebKit 2 for macOS with Safari 14 or newer.
  • Updated Xcode to version 12.1
  • Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.44.123.
  • Updated SQLAPI to version 5.1.3b3.
Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 20.5pr8

New in this prerelease of the 20.5 plugins: Download: monkeybreadsoftware.com/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 10.5pr8

New in this prerelease of version 10.5 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin: Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.

Working on WebViewer memory leaks

Recently a client asked if we can help with memory leaks in WebViewer in FileMaker. I suggested to try our custom Webviewer via plugin functions. See WebView.Create, which works on Windows, too.

Trying that, we saw also memory leaks with the plugin functions. So we checked our plugin functions and found a couple of places, where our plugin would not free references correctly. That is fixed for next version.

Please try to use WebView.Create, do something with the WebViewer like loading a website there and later call WebView.Close to remove the WebViewer. Let us know if you still find a way, where we leak memory or any problem you may find with next plugin.

PS: Our MBS Xojo Win Plugin also gets a few similar fixes.

Xojo Developer Magazine 18.6

The November/December (18.6) issue of xDev Magazine is now available. Here's a quick preview of what's inside:

Writing Better Code by Christian Schmitz
This is a great collection of programming tips, from how to write comments, limiting the scope of variables, handling errors, advice on method length, and much more.

OOP Listbox (Part 4) by Markus Winter
What Markus had planned to write changed when the folks at Xojo surprised him with a new listbox feature: customizable headers. Now he updates his project.

Get Ready for Git by Justin Elliott
Using a version control system can be intimidating, but in this guide for Xojo developers, Justin takes you step-by-step into the world of Git and makes it painless.

MapKit (Part 7) by Markus Winter
This time Markus shows us how to use customized annotation views in Apple's MapKit in Xojo.

Toolbar Quick Tip by Markus Winter
Did you know that if you create a subclass a Toolbar you can no longer add buttons to it in the IDE? Fortunately, Markus found a solution to this odd problem.

PLUS: Creating PDFs with Xojo, Xojo 2020 Release 1.2, SQLite 3.31.1, Best of the Web, and more!

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 20.5pr7

New in this prerelease of the 20.5 plugins:
  • Added Added WebView2ControlMBS for Microsoft WebView2 control.
  • Added about 200 methods and properties with DateTime instead of Date objects to pass timestamps. Those are hidden if you use the plugin in Xojo 2019.1 or older.
  • Renamed asDateTime to asSQLDateTimeMBS in SQLValueReadMBS class as we now added asDateTime as DateTime there.
  • Changed playerSeekToDateFinished and playerItemSeekToDateFinished events in AVFoundationMBS class to pass date parameter as variant as it may be a DateTime or Date depending on what method you called before.
  • Changed properties in NSDatePickerMBS and NSHTTPCookieMBS classes to be debugger visible.
  • Updated SQLAPI to version 5.1.3b2 with newer 64-bit Informix support.
  • Updated LibXL to version 3.9.2.7.
  • Changed PrintPDFFileWithDialog and PrintPDFPageWithDialog methods in DynaPDFMBS class to tell printer dialog that we are okay with collate and copies, so that option may get enabled on supporting printer drivers.
  • Added 60 second timeout to JavaScript evaluate in WKWebViewMBS class for macOS to avoid endless loops.
  • Fixed a deadlock with Evaluate in WKWebViewMBS waiting endless for JavaScript answer and newer macOS versions.
  • Added PrintCancelled property to DynaPDFMBS class to distinguish between error and cancellation.
  • Updated to newer plugin SDK.
  • Fixed a bug in OpenSSLMBS.VerifyData where it reported an error in reading key.
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.com/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 10.5pr7

New in this prerelease of version 10.5 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin: Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.

WebView2 for Xojo

The last days we played with the new WebView2 control from Microsoft. This control allows any Windows application to use the Chrome based Edge browser as a control within your application. Enjoy all the latest JavaScript, HTML and CSS features and replace use of Internet Explorer.



Please visit the WebView2 website and download the WebView2 Runtime installer there. There is a single installer to download whatever platform you are on or just get the Windows 32 or 64-bit Intel full installers. The control may come pre-installed for future Windows 10 versions, but currently all clients have to install it for Windows 7 and newer.

For next MBS Xojo Plugins version 20.5 we add a WebView2ControlMBS control, which you can drop on your window in a project. If run on Windows, the control will try to load WebView2 and put it in a control. Please try the example project soon with new plugins.

This includes various settings, a dozen events, run JavaScript or call back from JavaScript to the control via web messages. Show developer tools or add JavaScript to run on each website. We may add more things over time, but the first version is set and will be available tomorrow.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions.

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