Since our plugin supports AWS and we built a Linux version of it, we had questions on how to troubleshoot problems. First, the plugin can be installed twice on a FileMaker Server, once for server scripting (PSoS and Scheduled Scripts) and for Web Direct. Both are separate folders, but usually you'll just use the Install Plugin Script Step to install them automatically.
Sometimes you may want to debug a problem related to MBS FileMaker Plugin calls on a FileMaker Cloud server on AWS. So here a few notes:
Trace
First you may want to try our
Trace function. This function logs calls to the MBS Plugin. You may see them on MacOS in Console.app, on Windows in
DebugView application and on Linux in the log file.
When the plugin starts on Linux, it may output an info line like this:
MBS Plugin version 9.3.0.04 (Linux 64-bit) loaded for ServerScripting, SDK version 18.
You see the plugin version loaded, the platform, which part of FileMaker loaded it and the SDK version of FileMaker. Platform is ServerScripting for the scripting engine on a FileMaker Server. If the plugin is also installed for Web Direct, you may see an entry there with Web as platform.
Next you may see calls in the trace log like this one. We show the current number of the cal and the parameters:
MBS Plugin call #6 with 1 parameters.
Parameter 0: "
ProgressDialog.Reset"
Result #6: "[MBS] This function is only available on macOS and Windows:
ProgressDialog.Reset"
When the call finishes, the result is print. Calls taking longer may also print how long they run in seconds.
On Linux, those log entries are redirected into files to help debugging. So MBS Plugin redirect stdout into /FileMakerData/Logs/ServerScriptingPluginsStdOut.log and stderr with the error messages /FileMakerData/Logs/ServerScriptingPluginsStdErr.log. You find the trace messages in ServerScriptingPluginsStdErr.log file. For WebDirect the file names are WebPluginsStdErr.log and WebPluginsStdOut.log.
For the log files, it can be very useful to just login via ssh and use tail -f command to show new messages as they arrive in the terminal window:
tail -f /FileMakerData/Logs/ServerScriptingPluginsStdErr.log
CURL
Next if you do CURL transfer, be sure to always check the debug log messages. You query the log with MBS("
CURL.GetDebugAsText"; $curl) function after you performed the transfer. In case you look for a problem which causes a crash in the curl library, you can ask the plugin to log to a file. Use the function
CURL.CreateDebugOutputFile like this: MBS( "
CURL.CreateDebugOutputFile"; $curl; "/tmp/curl-upload.log" ). This will write a log file live, so when a crash happens, you can inspect last line.
If needed, you can include data in the log with
CURL.SetDebugWithData. If you use
CURL.SetDebugWithTime, you also see the time stamps. With
CURL.SetDebugWithProgress we can log the progress happening, so you see how far the transfer got. The whole lines
# create a new debug log file for live log including times and progress details, even if app crashes while the transfer:
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("
CURL.SetDebugWithData"; $curl; 0) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("
CURL.SetDebugWithTime"; $curl; 1) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("
CURL.SetDebugWithProgress"; $curl; 1) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("
CURL.CreateDebugOutputFile"; $curl; "/tmp/curl-upload.log" ) ]
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es ist wieder ein Jahr vergangen und FileMaker hat die neue Version 18 im Mai vorgestellt.
Gemäß unserer Tradition möchten wir wieder zum "FileMaker 18 - Exklusives Business Event - Launch Event" mit Michael Valentin und Christian Schmitz einladen:
Am Dienstag, den 16. Juli 2019 ab 18 Uhr haben wir folgendes Programm:
ab 18:00:
Einlass und Begrüßung bei der denkform® GmbH in der Alten Ziegelei in Wiesbaden-Igstadt
ab 18:30 Uhr:
Vorstellung der FileMaker 18 Plattform durch Michael Valentin (Solution Consultant, FileMaker, Inc. - An Apple Subsidiary)
ab ca. 19:30 Uhr:
Vorstellung neue Funktionen im mbs Plug-in durch Christian Schmitz (Inhaber von Monkeybread Software)
ab ca. 20:15 Uhr:
Networking
Da die Plätze auf 25 Personen limitiert sind, bitten wir um eine
verbindliche Anmeldung.
We just fixed our sign up form for the MBS FileMaker Plugin Mailing list. See the
mailing list page here.
Please do not spam the lists and be polite. If we catch you with an auto responder, we may put you on moderation.
You are welcome to ask questions about our plugin there and get responses from other users.
The list is archived here:
Mail Archive
New in this prerelease of version 9.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin:
- Changed C++ to 2017 dialect for Xcode 11.
- Fixed bug in Text.DecodeFromBytes function.
- Fixed memory leak in XML.ReadContainer function.
- Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.29.84.
- Fixed MapView.ShowAddress to correctly center on the found placemark instead of the region for that placemark.
- Changed web viewer functions to look in front document window on MacOS and Windows instead of any window. This way functions now work in data viewer or the dialog to enter a new calculation.
- Changed FM.CompareTables to skip formulas, summary and global fields.
Download at
monkeybreadsoftware.de/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.
Please join
FileMaker DevCon 2019 and come by to our booth. Our vendor session will be Wednesday,
7th August 2019, from
12:00pm to 12:30pm. This is during lunch time, so if you are early, you can grab some food and take a seat in the theater. Or you get your lunch after the session.
Please join us 5th to 8th August 2019 in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Monkeybread Software has a booth as usual and we'll be there for a whole week.
You can book the conference for 2 days (1199 USD) or 3 days ($1699), but I would suggest to add training day for ($399) and make it a 4 day conference. And if you come from far away, please make sure you have a day before/after to enjoy some extra activity with other attendees, like a visit to a Disney Park.
Recently we got a nice idea where the
MBS FileMaker Plugin could help. We got a new
FM.CompareTables function, where the plugin compares two tables and reports the results. The idea is that we can query data about structure and content via SQL and compare it. Very useful to compare the copy of the table form yesterday with the table from today.
MBS( "
FM.CompareTables"; FileName1; TableName1; IDField1; FileName2; TableName2; IDField2 { ; Options } )
You pass the plugin the file names, table names and for each the name of the field for the unique IDs to compare. We first query for both tables the field names and field types. The field names allow us to report which field names are added or removed and find the common set of field names.
Once we have the field names, we can run a query in both tables to query the IDs for the records. This queries the given ID field and not the record numbers given by FileMaker internally. This allows to import a table into another one where the internal row numbers change to still compare the values.
Once we have list of IDs, we can report which IDs are added and which removed. For the common IDs, we load data in blocks of 100 rows and compare values. A value is same if the data type is the same and the content compares as equal. We can then report which fields in which records changed or if you don't need full details just report the changed IDs.
Here a sample query:
Show Custom Dialog [ MBS( "
FM.CompareTables"; "Assets Backup.fmp12"; "Assets"; "PrimaryKey"; "Assets.fmp12"; "Assets"; "PrimaryKey"; 1 ) ]
The field named primary key is the field with the UUIDs to identify the records. The result may look like this:
{
"Messages": [],
"TableName1": "Assets",
"TableName2": "Assets",
"FileName1": "Assets Backup.fmp12",
"FileName2": "Assets.fmp12",
"FieldsIgnored": ["gTest"],
"RemovedFields": ["Serial Number"],
"Fields": ["CreatedBy", "CreationTimestamp", "Description", "Image", "ModificationTimestamp", "ModifiedBy", "Name", "Price", "PrimaryKey", "Purchase Date", "Type", "Vendor"],
"AddedFields": ["Weight"],
"RemovedIDs": ["880F4BC1-7410-4ED0-A3E6-D9BD1B828A16"],
"AddedIDs": ["A8B447FA-74B9-4911-9180-A940CD251DB5"],
"ChangedRecords": {
"B982C9FE-A3A2-49F6-A0A9-8FB9A2CB421B": [{
"Field": "ModificationTimestamp",
"OldValue": "2019-06-21 15:54:33",
"NewValue": "2019-06-21 15:55:25"
}, {
"Field": "Price",
"OldValue": "2",
"NewValue": "2.5"
}]
}
}
As you see we identified the removed and added fields and the common fields. Calculated and summary fields are ignored and global fields skipped. If someone needs to compare those, we may be able to add an option for them. For changed records, we opt-in for the extended version with an array of objects containing the records changed. The detailed array has the list of field changes with field name, old and new value.
If you like, you can show progress dialog via
ProgressDialog.Show and the plugin will update the progress value while comparing data.
We hope you find this useful and if you have further ideas, please contact us.
MBS FileMaker Plugin 9.3pr3 has the function included and for pr4 we changed it to skip globals, summary and calculated fields.
New in this prerelease of version 9.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin:
Download at
monkeybreadsoftware.de/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.
Vom 16. bis 19. Oktober 2019 findet die zehnte deutschsprachige
FileMaker Konferenz in Hamburg, Deutschland statt. FileMaker Anwender und Entwickler können ihre Teilnahme a sofort buchen. Anmeldungen bis zum
21. Juni erhalten einen
Frühbucher-Rabatt auf die Konferenzpauschale.
Die Veranstalter vom Verein FM Konferenz erwarten auch 2019 rund 180 Entwickler, Anwender, IT-Fachleute und Entscheidungsträger aus Wirtschaft, Bildung und Verwaltung. Rund um über 25 Fachvorträge und Workshops wird es viel Zeit zum Vernetzen in den gemeinsamen Pausen und beim Abendprogramm geben.
Dieses Jahr gibt es wieder eine
MBS Plugin Workshop, diesmal am 16. Oktober 2019.
Anmeldung bei Monkeybread Software.
Did you know you can search within the data viewer using
MBS FileMaker Plugin on Mac?
Just click on the list to set focus, press Command-F and the find bar shows.
If you like to see more:
Reasons for FileMaker Pro users on MacOS to install MBS Plugin
One of the features may be worth the license purchase? or using FileMaker on a Mac?
With the last DynaPDF update we got new support for ZUGFeRD 2.0 and Factur-X, two standards to deliver invoices as PDF files with embedded XML data. We supported ZUGFeRD 1.0 before and now upgraded code to support version 2, too.
So here is a little FileMaker script to convert an existing PDF into a ZUGFeRD 2.0 document. Before you start, please assemble the XML for the invoice and know whether it's Minimum, Basic, Comfort or Extended level. So the script here initializes DynaPDF library if needed and then creates a new PDF environment. We set import flags to import all content and prepare for PDF/A. If needed, you could skip some content like annotations directly here.
# Initialize DynaPDF if needed
If [ MBS("DynaPDF.IsInitialized") ≠ 1 ]
Perform Script [ Specified: From list ; “InitDynaPDF” ; Parameter: ]
End If
# Make new PDF environments
Set Variable [ $pdf ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.New") ]
# Set import flags with Prepare For PDF/A enabled
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "DynaPDF.SetImportFlags"; $pdf; "ImportAll¶ImportAsPage¶PrepareForPDFA" ) ]
Next we load an existing PDF from a container field. Of course you can also use functions to create new pages here or open an import PDF from a file on disk. The next line imports the whole PDF file we opened into our work PDF. If you repeat the open and import step, you can merge several documents here. If you need only one page, you can use DynaPDF.ImportPDFPage function.
# Load PDF from container
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.OpenPDFFromContainer"; $pdf; ZUGFeRD Invoice::Invoice Template) ]
# Import all pages
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.ImportPDFFile"; $pdf) ]
Per PDF/A requirement, we add here the language setting and a structure tree:
# PDF/A requires a language set
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.SetLanguage"; $pdf; "en-US") ]
# PDF/A requires a structure tree
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.CreateStructureTree"; $pdf) ]
If the PDF contains colorspaces which are not backed by an ICC Profile, we pass in replacement profiles to the PDF engine. So if there is a colorspace missing the profile, it will be using one of our replacement profiles for RGB, Gray or CMYK.
# Set replacements for missing ICC profiles
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.SetReplaceICCProfileData"; $pdf; "rgb"; ZUGFeRD Invoice::RGB ICC Profile) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.SetReplaceICCProfileData"; $pdf; "gray"; ZUGFeRD Invoice::Gray ICC Profile) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.SetReplaceICCProfileData"; $pdf; "cmyk"; ZUGFeRD Invoice::CMYK ICC Profile) ]
Next we attach the XML invoice to the PDF. You can pass attachments as container, file or text, but please use the corresponding function. Here we pass it as text from a field, specify UTF-8 encoding and the ZUGFeRD specific file name. The attachment is associated with the main catalog as an alternative version.
# add xml with invoice data
Set Variable [ $FileHandle ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.AttachFileText"; $pdf; ZUGFeRD Invoice::Invoice XML; "UTF-8"; "ZUGFeRD-invoice.xml"; "Invoice as XML") ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.AssociateEmbFile"; $pdf; "Catalog"; -1; "Alternative"; $FileHandle) ]
Now we do the conformance check. If you licensed the PDF/A converter from us (Add-on for DynaPDF Pro), you get the PDF fixed if needed. If the PDF was already PDF/A, this should return okay and tel you which output indent is recommended. We than add the ICC Profile for RGB or CMYK to indicate how the PDF likes to be viewed.
# Check if this PDF conforms to PDF/A-3b
Set Variable [ $c ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.CheckConformance"; $pdf; "ZUGFeRD2 Basic"; "Default") ]
If [ $c = 1 ]
# A RGB ICC profile must be added to the document
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.AddOutputIntentEx"; $pdf; ZUGFeRD Invoice::RGB ICC Profile) ]
Else If [ $c = 2 ]
# A CMYK ICC profile must be added to the document
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.AddOutputIntentEx"; $pdf; ZUGFeRD Invoice::CMYK ICC Profile) ]
Else If [ $c = 3 ]
# A Gray, RGB, or CMYK ICC profile must be added to the document
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.AddOutputIntentEx"; $pdf; ZUGFeRD Invoice::RGB ICC Profile) ]
End If
Finally we save the PDF in a field, commit the record and cleanup the PDF environment.
# save to container
Set Variable [ $PDFData ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.Save"; $pdf; "invoice.pdf") ]
Set Field [ ZUGFeRD Invoice::Output PDF ; $PDFData ]
Commit Records/Requests [ With dialog: On ]
# cleanup memory
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.Release"; $pdf) ]
We hope you enjoy this blog post. Please check the example databases included with MBS FileMaker Plugin 9.3.
New in this prerelease of version 9.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin:
Download at
monkeybreadsoftware.de/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.
Due to WWDC, I'll come for a visit to California in June. As usual I like to meet other developers beside the conference and like to join local meetings for FileMaker developers in Los Angeles and San José area.
13rd June 2019 @ DIGFM
Database Interest Group for FileMaker: The user group hosted at FileMaker Inc. headquarters in Santa Clara, California. It's like a free DevCon in monthly doses. Meets 2nd Thursday of the month: 1:30pm, Meet & Greet; 2:00pm, Presentation
FileMaker, Inc (The Wedge), 5201 Patrick Henry Dr., Santa Clara CA 95054
see
FileMaker Community and
website
14th June 2019 @ FMDiSC
FileMaker Developers in Southern California started in March of 1999 with a small group of FileMaker Pro developers getting together once a month to exchange development tips and ideas. Meets 2nd Friday at 9:30am
184 Bimini Pl, Hollywood/Korea Town CA
see
meetup.com/de-DE/FMDiSC-FileMaker-Developers-in-Southern-California/ or
website
Please sign up for the groups and let them know if you like to join the meetings. Exact times may change and if you are registered, they may remind you with an email.
If you are interested in private time for consulting, training or discussion MBS or FileMaker topics, we can of course schedule a meeting. Please contact me directly if you are interested.
Today the early bird offer ends for
FileMaker DevCon 2019. Please sign up today (7th June) to get a better ticket price than tomorrow.
Please join us 5th to 8th August 2019 in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Monkeybread Software has a booth as usual and we'll be there for a whole week.
You can book the conference for 2 days ($999 USD) or 3 days ($1299), but I would suggest to add training day for ($399) and make it a 4 day conference. And if you come from far away, please make sure you have a day before/after to enjoy some extra activity with other attendees, like a visit to a Disney Park.
Hotel room is $189 including resort fee, but plus tax.
We'll add new function for next plugin for our
MapView functions:
The new
MapView.SetScript function allows you to define a script to be called when someone clicks on a pin. Showing 10 clients on a map your user can than click on the pin and you get the identifier for the pin. As you can pass the identifier when adding the pin and choose it yourself, you can use e.g. the record ID for your related record.
MapView.AddPin,
MapView.AddPinWithAddress,
MapView.PlanRoute and
MapView.ShowAddress now accept color values beside the new identifier value. The color allows you to color the pins individually.
Coming soon for Mac and iOS in
MBS FileMaker Plugin 9.3pr2.
All functions are available for Xojo, too. Check the
MapKitViewControlMBS control in our
MBS Xojo MacFrameworks Plugin to do the same in your Xojo app.
New in this prerelease of version 9.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin:
Download at
monkeybreadsoftware.de/filemaker/files/Prerelease/ or ask for being added to the dropbox shared folder.
We got the question what the difference is between the new script steps in FileMaker 18 and the
BinaryFile functions in
MBS FileMaker Plugin. First the script steps from FileMaker 18 only work in the new version, while our plugin functions can work in current as well as several older FileMaker versions. Next FileMaker 18 introduced new script steps, so you may still need the plugin to write files in custom functions or calculations. Here an overview table:
| Platform | FileMaker 18 | MBS Plugin |
|---|
| FileMaker Pro | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| FileMaker Server | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| FileMaker Cloud for AWS | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| FileMaker Go | ✔︎ | - |
| FileMaker iOS SDK | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| FileMaker Runtimes | - | ✔︎ |
| Older FileMaker versions | - | ✔︎ |
| Use in Scripts | ✔︎ | ✔︎ |
| Use in Calculations | - | ✔︎ |
| Use in Custom Functions | - | ✔︎ |
|
High level read and write functions
But before you look into the
BinaryFile functions, maybe let us point to some high level functions. To just write some text to a file, you can use
Text.WriteTextFile function. If you need to append text, you can use
Text.AppendTextFile function. For both you can specify text encoding and if needed, you can change line endings with
Text.ReplaceNewline function.
To write something to a file, you can use
Files.WriteFile, which works for containers and text. And this function can do hex/base64 decoding of the data to write. To write just a container value, you can use
Container.WriteFile function.
For reading you can use
Container.ReadFile,
Files.ReadFile,
Files.ReadJPEG,
Files.ReadPDF,
Files.ReadPNG or
Text.ReadTextFile. Depending on what you need to read, you can pick a specialized function or a more generic one.
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We got a new Page Setup Dialog example for you. As the MBS FileMaker Plugin can control the page setup dialog on MacOS, the following example can create serveral PDF files from one layout and switch between landscape and portrait as well as between different paper names.
The example also shows how to use Schedule.EvaluateAfterDelay in a clever way to run menu commands while a script is paused. Today we use menu entry with ID 57606, which is the page setup menu command.
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.Install" ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.Enable" ) ]
#
# A4 Portrait
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetPaperName"; "iso-a4" ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetPaperOrientation"; "portrait" ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetNoDialog"; 1 ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "Schedule.EvaluateAfterDelay"; ,1; "MBS( \"Menubar.RunMenuCommand\"; 57606 )") // run Page Setup Dialog in 0.1 seconds ]
Pause/Resume Script [ Duration (seconds): 1 ]
Save Records as PDF [ With dialog: Off ; “test A4.pdf” ; Records being browsed ; Create folders: Off ]
#
# A5 Portrait
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetPaperName"; "A5" ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetNoDialog"; 1 ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "Schedule.EvaluateAfterDelay"; ,1; "MBS( \"Menubar.RunMenuCommand\"; 57606 )") // run Page Setup Dialog in 0.1 seconds ]
Pause/Resume Script [ Duration (seconds): 1 ]
Save Records as PDF [ With dialog: Off ; “test A5.pdf” ; Records being browsed ; Create folders: Off ]
#
# A4 Landscape
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetPaperName"; "iso-a4" ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetPaperOrientation"; "landscape" ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.SetNoDialog"; 1 ) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "Schedule.EvaluateAfterDelay"; ,1; "MBS( \"Menubar.RunMenuCommand\"; 57606 )") // run Page Setup Dialog in 0.1 seconds ]
Pause/Resume Script [ Duration (seconds): 1 ]
Save Records as PDF [ With dialog: Off ; “test A4 wide.pdf” ; Records being browsed ; Create folders: Off ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "PageSetupDialog.Disable" ) ]
The example project will be included with next plugins. For Windows, please use Printer functions.
