In this article I want to introduce you the new functionalities from the MBS Xojo Plugins in version 23.4.

MongoDB

Also in this release we have something new for MongoDB. We updated our SSL support for our MongoDB plugin. We switched to using OpenSSL as the transport encryption for the MongoDB library for macOS and iOS. The SSLLibrary function tells you which SSL library is in use. You can use MongoSSLOptionsMBS class to specify SSL options in addition to putting them into the connection string. To check about possible reasons for connection problems, we got a new trace logging functionality with Trace property in MongoClientMBS class. And by regularly calling ping method you can check whether the connection is alive and keep it open.

CURL

For the classes CURLMBS, CURLNMBS and CURLSMBS we have 2 new methods each. When we work with URLs, we mostly need the absolute URL. The new method ProcessRelativeURL now offers us the possibility to convert a relative URL into an absolute URL by additionally specifying the base URL.

With the second new method RemoveAll we can remove all curl handlers at once. So that we don't have to take the way over a loop with RemoveCURL. This makes our work easier and the code remains clearer.

SerialPort

The new Methode OpenPath from the SerialPortMBS class, opens a special file, device or pipe. That you define in the parameters. This allows you to e.g. open a pipe on Windows and communicate with another application.

XML

With the new method importNode from the XMLDocumentMBS class, you can import a node from one document into another. To do this, the node is cloned in the source document and then inserted into the new document. Previously you always had to do this manually, from now on the plugin will do it for you automatically.

Base32

With the two global methods DecodeFromBase32MBS and EncodeToBase32MBS we have two methods for decoding and encoding Base32 strings. So you can write e.g. Hello World as Base32 text.

DynaPDF

In the last release we already discussed the topic DPartNode. Starting from the last release you can add the Document Part metadata in the PDF document. Now we give you with the new method DeleteDPartNode from the DynaPDFMBS class the possibility to delete a DPartNode and the attached structure.

New functionalities for Mac

The MBS Xojo Plugins in version 23.4 offers some more new features for Mac users

Split View

Surely you already know the function from your iPad, iPhone or Mac, that you can split your screen. So you can view different applications side by side. We want to make this function available to you now for your applications under Mac. For this purpose we have added the controls NSSplitViewControlMBS and DesktopNSSplitViewControlMBS to the plugin. These provide you various events with which you can work in your application. With the class NSSplitViewMBS you can define with addArrangedSubview Methode several splits of your screen.

Photo Picker

We have two new methods in the PHPickerConfigurationMBS class for working with the photo picker. The picker can show us the photos of the photo library in a panel, from which we can choose. With the new method DisabledCapabilities you can set and get which Capabilities of the picker should be disabled. Here we can set or get a combination of the following values:

Also new is the Mode method with which we can set and query the mode of the PhotoPicker.

New functionalities for Windows

Last but not least we offer some more new features for Windows users

WindowsPowerState

With the new release we rewrote the WindowsPowerStateMBS class, so it is now possible that you can monitor Windows various information of the laptop power. With the event BatteryCapacityChanged you can track the current charge level. If the charge changes, the event fires and gives you back the current charge level. With the event LidSwitchStateChanged you can monitor when the laptop lid is opened or closed. If the laptop lid is closed we get a 0 back and if it is opened we get a 1. With the event PowerSourceChanged you can detect if the power supply changes. We can detect if the power is coming from a power supply, if it is coming from the built-in battery or if an external power source like a powerbank is connected. Matching these events we also have the methods ListenForBatteryCapacityChanged, ListenForLidSwitchStateChanged and ListenForPowerSourceChanged with which we register our events in the program. If something has changed in the power setting, we can detect this with the new event WindowsPowerStateMBS.

Webview2

Also in the WebView2 section there are two new methods for the DesktopWebView2ControlMBS and WebView2ControlMBS classes. With the SetVirtualHostNameToFolderMapping method we set a mapping between a virtual host name and a folder path to make available to web sites via that host name. With the ClearVirtualHostNameToFolderMapping we can remove it again.

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth LE classes got updated to support pairing with new WindowsDeviceInformationPairingMBS class. Here you can also Query informations like the protection level.

We hope you will also find some interesting new features. We wish you a lot of fun with MBS Xojo Plugins version 23.4. If you have any Ideas for new cool features, need a license or have any questions, please contact us.