MBS Plugin changes for FileMaker 2023
Claris just released a new version of the Claris FileMaker platform, now labeled as version 2023, internally 20.1. This could also have been a 19.7 release, but they brought together so many new things over time, that they decided that it is time to move finally to a version 20. The new icon makes a difference visually:
FileMaker 14 | FileMaker 16 | FileMaker 18 | FileMaker 19 | FileMaker 2023 |
FileMaker developers and users coming from version 18 or older or even 19.0 will see all the changes from 19.1 to 19.6 as well as a few new things for FileMaker 20. Here your top 10 feature list:
- Ubuntu 22 installer for ADM64 and ARM64. We can now run FileMaker Server in a VM on Macbooks with M1/M2 CPUs.
- Perform Script on Server with Callback script step, so you can run something on server and trigger a script in FMP when finished.
- SFTP support for Insert from URL *
- AD support for Ubuntu via Directory Service
- OnWindowTransaction trigger
- Send Mail via OAuth 2.0 *
- Trigger Claris Connect Flow script step, finally an integration between FMP and Claris Connect without .
- ReadQRCode on all platforms using zbar library *
- Get(LiveText) server side *
- Java improvements with version 17 and better memory management.
* functions also available via MBS Plugin in all versions of FileMaker.
We updated MBS FileMaker Plugin to support FileMaker 20. Please update the plugin to version 13.x for use in FileMaker 20.
Our plugin has hundreds of places, where it behaves differently for different versions of FileMaker or Claris. An old plugin may thus pick the wrong route as you need a new plugin to be programmed for the new version in mind. We usually play with new betas in advance and can prepare for them months before release.
Since we can query base table IDs within FileMaker 20.x via SQL and the new FileMaker_BaseTables virtual table, we can show these IDs in addition to the table occurrence IDs.
We updated our plugin to recognize the new FileMaker platform version, so it doesn't show up as another version. We already had code in place for a potential 19.7 version, but that version number was skipped.
On Windows the internal class name for the window class has the version number inside, so we have to recognize the FMPRO20.0APP there. Older plugins will fail to recognize the window class.
All cases where we use FileMaker's URL scheme, we added fmp20: in addition to fmp:, claris: and fmp19: schemes.
We added the new get() functions for our syntax coloring and help feature.
We build an ARM version of the plugin for Linux and made adjustments for Ubuntu 22. We still produce the Intel plugin in a unified version. It runs on all Linux flavors from old CentOS, Ubuntu 18, 20 and 22 versions, all in one file. We include the new Linux ARM version for the 13.2pr4 later today.
Finally a few little bug fixes are needed for little changes with timing or layouts. But otherwise so far everything is working for 13.x plugins. Most of the changes above went already in 13.0 and 13.1. If anything is found in the next week, it'll go in the 13.2 release.
As usual, please don't install the new version in production right away. FileMaker 20 is new and you may need to verify your scripts work the same, before you deploy it. Our plugin can be tested with it in either v13.1 or 13.2pr. We take the next week to collect feedback, before we release the final 13.2 version. Please let us know if you see any problem.