Door 24 - Goodies

Today we come to the last door of our Advent calendar. I would like to introduce you to some of the free developer functions. MBS has been providing free functions for a number of years to make life easier for you as a developer. Unfortunately, most of these functions only work on the Mac. This is not because we wouldn't like to make the features available to Windows users, but because we don't have the access to Windows, so we can only offer most things on Mac. This year, we were able to make one function available to Windows users. So if you have installed the plugin on Windows and the function is activated, there is an input field with which you can search in the relationship graph.

If you want to use the functions, you need to download and install the MBS FileMaker Plugin and the functions you want to use have to be activated. To do this, you have a checkbox in the Windows preferences dialog that you need to check.

Door 23 - MailParser

Our advent calendar is slowly coming to an end and so we have already reached door 23. In door 21 we saw how to send emails with inline graphics. Today we would like to look at how we can find out what is in an email if we only have the mail file. For this we have the component EmailParser.

The mail file can either be in a container, as a file on the hard disk or we have the source code of an email. In all cases, we can read the data from the mail with the MBS FileMaker Plugin. For each case we have a separate function that loads the mail into the working memory and returns the reference with which we can work. If we have a sourecode of the email we use the function EmailParser.Parse to parse the email. Do we have the mail as a file on the disk then we use the function EmailParser.ParseFile. In our example, we place the email file in a container. To parse this mail we use the function EmailParser.ParseContainer

Set Variable [ $Mail ; Value: MBS( "EmailParser.ParseContainer"; DoortTwentyThree::Mail ) ] 

Door 22 - ListDialog

Sometimes you want to be able to display a dialog from which the user can select one or more options. The ListDialog component allows you to do this. I will introduce this component to you in this door.

The ListDialog is again another dialog that is accessible across the entire solution. This means that I can set settings for this dialog in various scripts and these are then applied to the dialog. So we have to reset the settings of the dialog first if we want to create a new and fresh dialog. For this we have the function ListDialog.Reset.

Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "ListDialog.Reset" ) ] 

Now we can make settings for the dialog: First, we want a text to be displayed in the dialog. We set this with the ListDialog.SetPrompt function. We set the title for the dialog with ListDialog.SetWindowTitle.

Door 21 - SendMail

Did you know that you can also use the MBS FileMaker Plugin to create mails according to your wishes and send them to one or more people? I will show you how this works in today's door.

First of all, we create all the fields we need in our project. Today we want to add a graphic header and footer to our email. We put the image files for each of these in a container. Then we need a field for the subject and a field for the recipient. In this example we only send the mail to one recipient, but I will explain how you can send the mail to other recipients. We also need a field for the mail text. We also want to send an attachment with the mail. We also need a container for this. In addition, we can now also create fields containing our data for the email layout. The layout can then look like this, for example:

Door 20 - MapView

Did you know that you can use the map material from Apple Mapview on your Mac and iOS devices in FileMaker? I'll show you how it works in this door.

Show map with options

First of all, we want to display a map that we can then work with. Two functions are available to us for this purpose. One is MapView.CreateWithSize with which we can create the map in a window by specifying the position and size. We would like to use the second option MapView.CreateWithControl, because here we position the map with the help of a control. The control can be a rectangle, for example. We then give this control a name so that we can also address it. In our case Map. Then we call the function. First we specify the window reference. If the window is in the foreground, it is sufficient to enter a 0. Then the name of the control follows. If necessary, we can then specify an offset with X and Y. This is oriented to the top left corner of the control and causes the map to be shifted.

Set Variable [ $$MapView ; Value: MBS("MapView.CreateWithControl"; 0; "Map")

Door 19 - RegEx

You want to search for mail addresses in a text and extract only these addresses from the text. Or do you want to replace all Internet addresses in a text with a new Internet address of your own? In this case, regular expressions are a good solution for this task. What regular expressions are and how you can use them in FileMaker I will show you in this Door.

What are regular expressions?

With regular expressions you can search for certain patterns in a text or check a string if it meets certain criteria, e.g. if the chosen password contains upper and lower case letters, at least one number, one special character and is at least 8 characters long. If we search for something in a text search then we actually always search for a regular expression. For example, if we enter the word "Miss", then we search for a pattern in the text that searches for the letters M-i-s-s that stand behind each other. We find the word Miss but also the word Mississippi and if we tell the program that we don't care about upper and lower case letters we also find the word missed. So we are looking for a pattern where the 4 letters appear exactly in this order. This is already a regular expression. But now we can build it even further. E.g. for a mail address that the local part is separated from the domain with an @ sign. After the Domain is the Domaintail separated by a dot. abc@xyz.com but also a2x4y@abc.de are valid mailaddresses. We now want to develop a regular expression that finds both mail addresses in one text. So we have to formulate how the pattern looks like. The local part can be composed of upper and lower case letters, numbers and the characters .!#$%&'*+-/=?^_`{|}~ the string has no fixed length. Let's see how to define something like this. If we specify a range from which a character can be taken, we write the characters in square brackets. In this example, all characters that are an a, b or c would be found.

[abc]

Door 18 - Preview

Did you know that MBS offers a PDF preview for Windows and Mac, with which you can view the document and even copy content with the mouse?

We have included this control in our plugins since version 13.3 of this year. You can use this function on Windows 10 and MacOS. You can easily test whether your system fulfills the requirements with the Preview.Available function.

If [ MBS( "Preview.Available" ) ] 

If this fits, you can create the preview control. We have two options for this. First, we can create a PDF control with a fixed size and a specific position. To do this, we use the Preview.Create function. We first enter the window reference in the parameters. If it is the window that is furthest forward, enter a 0 or find out the reference with Window.FindByTitle or Window.FindByIndex. Then comes the position, which we specify with x and y for the top left corner. Finally, enter the width and height of the control.

Set Variable [ $$Preview ; Value: MBS( "Preview.Create"; 0; 177; 64 ; 320; 420 ) ] 

Door 17 - Dialogs

The dialog box for displaying information to the user is essential and can be found in almost every application. But sometimes you want more design options for the dialog box and this is where the plugin comes into play, because with this you can build your dialog box according to your wishes. I will show you how this works in this door.

Such a dialog is valid for the entire application, which means that you can make the settings for a dialog in one script and call the dialog in another script. However, this also means that we have to get rid of old settings at the beginning. To do this, we use the Dialog.Reset function, which resets all dialog settings to their original state.

Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "Dialog.Reset" ) ]

Door 16 - GraphicsMagick

Did you know that with FileMaker and the component GraphicsMagick you can change a lot in your images?

Last year we had an advent calendar that only dealt with GraphicsMagick. You are welcome to have a look here as well. To be able to work with an image, the image must be loaded from a file or a container. The appropriate function then gives us a reference number with which we can continue working.

Set Variable [ $Image ; Value: 
	MBS("GMImage.NewFromContainer"; DoorSixTeen::Container) ]

First of all, you can easily query the height and width of an image in a container using the functions GMImage.GetWidth and GMImage.GetHeight.

Door 15 - DynaPDF

Today I would like to introduce you to an area that is very appreciated by our customers. We are talking about DynaPDF. With our DynaPDF functions you can work with your PDF documents. You can create PDF documents according to your wishes, write in these documents, sign them, create forms and much much more. In order to be able to work with DynaPDF without a watermark being permanently superimposed on your PDF pages, you need the correct additional DynaPDF license. Which license you need depends on what you want to do with DynaPDF. If you are only working create a PDF from scratch, for example, then all you need is a Starter license. If you want to load an existing PDF file, you need a Lite license. If you also want to optimize or render your PDF file, you need a Professional license. This table can help you decide which licenses you need.

Today in the example I would like to show you how to merge two PDF files and then add page numbers to them. As with LibXL, we first have to initialize DynaPDF and specify a library to work with. From the examples, you can use the InitDynaPDF script in your database and place the appropriate library file in the same folder as your database, or you can use the DynaPDF.Initialize function and enter the path to the appropriate library and your license key in the parameters. If you do not have a license key yet, because you want to test DynaPDF, then leave the license key blank. If you want to test whether your solution works with a specific license, then write the license name in the place of the license key. If you are using Windows, you must use the dll files. There are two dll files, one is for use on 32 bit systems and the other on 64 bit systems. On Mac you need the file with the extension .dylib. For use on a Linux server you need the dynapdf.linux.so file.

Door 14 - Progress Dialog

Do you know this? You have to go through many records and it takes and takes and takes time? Some users then become frustrated and start hammering on the keyboard or pressing all kinds of buttons because they don't know that there are already processes running in the background that simply need its time.

With the MBS Progress dialog, you can display a dialog to your users so that there is no confusion or panic. To do this, you have the functions from the ProgressDialog component.

Before we can display the progress dialog, we first have to make a few settings for the dialog. The special thing about the dialog is that you can set the content in a script and then call it up at a later time in the different layouts in our solution. For this reason, we must first reset the dialog to its initial state to remove legacy content before we make new settings. To do this, we use the ProgressDialog.Reset function. Now we can give the dialog box a title. We use ProgressDialog.SetTitle for this. In the dialog you can also enter a text above the progress bar and one below. We use the ProgressDialog.SetTopText and ProgressDialog.SetBottomText functions for this. We can also select a font and size for these two texts. We set these values in the ProgressDialog.SetFont function. To make the dialog look nicer, we can also display an icon in the dialog to make it easier to understand. In our case, this is the monkey with the Christmas hat. We set this image, which is in a container, with the ProgressDialog.SetImage. If you use a PNG with transparent background, you don't get the white border around.

Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ProgressDialog.SetTitle"; DoorFourTeen::Title) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ProgressDialog.SetFont"; "Comic Sans MS"  ; 14  ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ProgressDialog.SetTopText"; DoorFourTeen::Text) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ProgressDialog.SetBottomText"; "Wait...") ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ProgressDialog.SetImage"; DoorFourTeen::Container) ]

Door 13 - LibXL

Welcome to door 13 of our advent calendar. Today it's all about the LibXL component. Did you know that you can use the MBS FileMaker Plugin to read, create and modify Excel files without having Excel installed?

This is made possible by the LibXL component. LibXL is an independent product that can be used in FileMaker with the plugin. This means that you need an additional LibXL license in addition to your plugin license to be able to use the functions properly. Today I will show you how you can read and modify data with LibXL and even create your own files.

Preparation

But before we start our work, we first need to make the LibXL library available so that we can use the functions in the plugin. The library file you need can be found in the examples supplied with the plugin download. Exactly which file you need depends on your operating system. If you want to initialize the library on a Mac, then you need the library file with the extension dylib. If you use Windows, we have a file for the old Windows computers that work with 32 bit and a file with the extension dll for the 64 bit systems. If you want to use LibXL on a Linux server, we have included libxl.so with the Linux plugins.

Door 12 - Files

Today we come to a topic that I already mentioned in a previous door: Today we come to the Files section. This is all about your files. In Door 3, we already got to know the Files.FileExists function, which can tell us whether a file is stored behind a certain path. However, this function is not only available for files but also for folders. With Files.DirectoryExists you can check whether a path specified in the parameters leads you to a folder. If a file is hidden behind the path, the result is 0 and if it is a folder, the result is 1. If we want to know whether a folder or a file is hidden behind this path, we use the Files.ItemExists function, which returns a 1 for a file and a folder.

Door 11 - WindowsLocation

In Door 8 we have already seen how we can determine a location from a Mac or an iOS device. With the WindowsLocation component, we also have a way to determine the location for Windows.

First we have to initialize the location functions for Windows with the function WindowsLocation.Initialize. Once this has worked, we ask Windows for permission to query the location. To do this, we use the WindowsLocation.RequestPermissions function. Now we can get the following statuses with WindowsLocation.Status.

• Not supported
• Error
• Access Denied
• Initializing
• Running

{
    "Latitude":    50.4833,
    "Longitude":    7.4655,
    "Altitude":    0,
    "ErrorRadius":    6713,
    "AltitudeError":    0,
    "SensorID":    "{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}",
    "Timestamp":    "06.12.2023 12:38:40,532"
}

We can then read this information from the JSON using JSON functions. For example, here we see the script step with which we read the latitude:

...
Set Variable [ $JSON ; Value: MBS( "WindowsLocation.Location" ) ] 
# 
Set Variable [ $lat ; Value: JSONGetElement ( $JSON ; "Latitude") ] 
Set Field [ DoorEleven::Latitude ; $lat ] 
...

Door 10 - Phidgets

Do you already know the small input/output devices from Phidgets Inc. Phidgets are small additional devices that you can connect to your computer and with which you can then input or output data. For example you can connect a small motor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a gyroscope or a small LED display and exchange data with these devices.

In this example, I would like to introduce you to three different Phidgets and how we can read data from these Phidgets in FileMaker. Our three phidgets are a light sensor, a temperature sensor and a slider. In our example, the phidgets are all connected together to a hub. This hub has various outputs to which the individual Phidgets can be connected. This hub is then connected to the computer with a USB cable. All Phidgets also draw their power via this USB cable. It is also possible to purchase a wireless HUB. In this case, a separate power supply is required.

I would now like to show you how to retrieve the Phidget data via FileMaker. First of all, we need to load the Phidget libary. To be able to load the libary, we first have to download it. You can find the appropriate download here.

Door 9 - IBAN

Today I would like to introduce you to a component that currently only contains 7 functions, but can be very useful to you if required. We are talking about the IBAN component. The IBAN number is an international number that can be clearly assigned to a specific account. It is intended to contribute to the standardization of global payment transactions. Mainly the EU countries have already implemented this standard, but countries outside of Europe are also adopting this standard.

Door 8 - Determine your own position (for Mac users)

Fact of the day
A man from Munich parked his car in a parking lot in 2015 and was unable to find it again. The car was reported stolen in the meantime. After around 6 months, he was informed by the parking garage company that his car was still in the parking lot. This man should have remembered his location

Today I would like to show you how you can determine your own position as a Mac or iOS SDK user. The CoreLocation component is available for this purpose.

If you want to use this option in your apps, we need authorization. We can request various authorizations. The Always authorization requests permission to use location services whenever the app is running. The next weaker authorization is the when in use authorization. It Requests permission to use location services while the app is in the foreground. There is also the temporary full accuracy authorization. This access will expire automatically, but it won't expire while the user is still engaged with your app. In our example, we use the Always authorization. If the authorization fails, please check the settings in Security. You can check whether the authorization was successful using the CoreLocation.authorizationStatus function. It displays the current authorization status. The following responses are possible.

Door 7 - Paths

Today it's all about how you can build paths in FileMaker with the help of the MBS FileMaker Plugin. We already got a little insight into this topic in the third door, where we created a path to a file on the desktop. The MBS FileMaker Plugin offers you some of these paths to special folders in your system. For example, you can use the Folders.UserDesktop function to determine the path to a user's desktop. Or you can determine the path to the temporary folder with Folders.UserTemporary. In this picture you can see the functions that are available for special folders.

Door 6 - MongoDB

Welcome to December 6th. Today is St. Nicholas Day and we also want to take part in filling the Christmas boot with our calendar. Today it contains MongoDB. The special thing about MongoDB is that it is not a relational database based on tables and relationships, but its data has a JSON-like structure. This allows you to perform queries that were previously not possible due to the restriction of relationships or table limits.

In a MongoDB database we can have several collections. These collections can in turn contain several documents. The documents can be compared with data records, with the difference that different documents in a collection do not have to share the same structure. For example, you can have data in one and the same collection that describes the data for an employee and for a warehouse item. So you can easily find out who is in your company longer: the carpet in the warehouse or your trainee.

Door 5 - WindowsOCR

In Door 2 we already introduced you to a way of performing text recognition under Mac. But this possibility is not only available for Mac in the MBS FileMaker Plugin, but the MBS FileMaker Plugin also makes it possible to use Windows' own OCR functions. These WindowsOCR functions are available under Windows 10 and 11.

You can test whether you can use the functions under an operating system by running the WindowsOCR.Available function. If you can use the functions, first create a new OCR engine with WindowsOCR.New. This function returns a reference number which you can use in other functions to address the OCR engine. In this function, you can also optionally specify which language is to be recognized by the engine. If you skip this parameter, the language, that you get back with the WindowsOCR.CurrentInputMethodLanguageTag function, is automatically used for language recognition. Which languages can be recognized depends on which languages are installed on your system. You can obtain a list of the languages that you can currently use in your system with WindowsOCR.AvailableRecognizerLanguages.

Door 4 - Speech

In this door, you have the opportunity to ensure that your solution never has to be at a loss for words again. Today we are teaching your application to speak, because MBS offers speech output for Windows, Mac and iOS with the Component Speech.

If we want to output a text, we can use the Speech.Speak function. We first pass the text to be read out in the parameters. That's enough for now. Optionally, we can also choose from various speakers. You can find out which speakers are available with the Speech.AvailableVoices function. This function provides you with a list of all speakers. You can specify in this function whether you want the speaker names or the ID for the speaker to be displayed in this list.

If you want to use a specific speaker in the Speech.Speak function, you need to enter the ID. In the Speech.Speak function, you can also set whether or not your script should be continued while the speech output is running. Stopping a script also makes sense if you call the Speech.Speak function in the script several times so that the text that follows is also read out and is not lost because another text is being read out. You can also set the volume and playback rate in the function. The volume is between 0.0 (silent) and 1.0 (full). The playback speed ranges between 0.0 (silent) and 2.0 (double speed). The default value for both settings is 1.0.

Door 3 - Binary File

Behind door 3 is a component that is mostly unseen, but is used in many applications by customers and has become essential. It is the BinaryFile component. You can use it to read binary data from a file and also write it to a file.

But what is it actually good for? Although the texts are saved as binary data, you can also create normal text files with this component and read them out again later. For example, you can create a log file yourself in which you can write information. We would like to do this now by logging in the file when a certain script has been called and what result it has. The aim is to have as less code as possible in the script that we want to log so that the script doesn't become confusing. For this reason, we use the Perform Script script step and call a script that writes the desired text to the log file. We pass the text that we want to write to the log file as a parameter. In this way, for example, the results that were calculated in the script can also be written to the file.

Door 2 - Vision

The second door provides something for Mac users. Apple provides a framework called Vision. With this framework you can recognize barcodes, recognize texts from images or classify images into categories with the help of machine learning, e.g. so that you can search for them in your image database. This framework makes MBS usable with the plugin for FileMaker.

Barcode recognition

Let's first look at the possibility of recognizing multiple barcodes on an image. You simply pass the image to the Vision.DetectBarcode function as a parameter and Vision then searches for the barcodes on the image and returns a JSON in which the barcodes are listed. If you only want to search for QR codes on the image, for example, you can restrict the barcode types in the search by specifying the desired types as parameters. You can find out which barcode types can be recognized with Vision on your computer using the Vision.SupportedSymbologies function.

Result from Vision.DetectBarcode

Door 1 - Barcodes

Welcome to the first door of our advent calendar. In this advent calendar I will introduce you to various components of the MBS FileMaker Plugin and show you how to use them. Today it's all about barcodes. Did you know that you can create over 80 different barcode types with the MBS FileMaker Plugin? How this works I will show you today in a project in which we create a WIFI QR code. If your guests get bored over the Christmas period, they can simply scan this QR code with their smartphone to gain access to your WiFi.

First of all, let's consider the question of how such a WiFi QR code is actually structured. The information you need for the QR code is the SSID, In other words the network name, the access password, the type of WiFi encryption and the visibility. For this test, let's imagine we have a WLAN with the following data: