Get a trial license key

We got trial keys about 6 years ago added to our FileMaker and Xojo plugins.

A trial key is only valid for a limit time and allows to test all features without demo limitations. Due to the time limitation of the key, you can use it for a few weeks. The key later expires and you are back to demo mode or you order a license to get a permanent license.

We setup a form to request a license key:
Request Trial License Key

We may limit who can get a trial and filter out the requests looking like spam. But so far we issued over 1800 trial keys to various people.

Please understand that trial keys are not intended for deployment of solutions as keys expire. Our regular keys don't expire and can be used forever with the plugin versions released before the license's expiration date.

You can also explicit register for newsletter, so you know about new releases and events.

Let's meet at a FileMaker conference!

There are six conferences left for FileMaker this year and still time for you to sign-up to one and enjoy meeting your fellow developers. Meet Claris staff and us to ask your questions, bring ideas and show what you do with FileMaker.

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Insert and return new record ID

There is a little thing we can easily do in FileMaker when creating new records. We can get the ID of the new record. But if we insert via SQL, we can't get it. Usually we workaround by using UUIDs and then put in a new UUID for the record into the insert command. This way we know in advance which ID the new record will have.

 

Now in PostgreSQL you can use INSERT command with RETURNING option to return the new record ID. As we can use our SQL functions to connect to PostgreSQL databases, we can use that feature here.

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MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 14.3pr5

New in this prerelease of version 14.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin: Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/

You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.


MQTT in FileMaker

Recently a client asked about whether we can do MQTT inside FileMaker to subscribe to a topic and receive messages or even send messages. Let's summarize what MQTT is for you:

 

MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a lightweight messaging protocol designed for devices with limited resources and for low-bandwidth, high-latency, or unreliable networks. It operates on a publish/subscribe model which allows for efficient distribution of information to many receivers.

 

We discovered that we have MQTT capabilities built-in to the CURL library. Just use an URL with "mqtt://" followed by IP or domain name of the server. In the path of the URL goes the subject to subscribe or post to. If you like, set a user name and password. Run the transfer and check the debug messages for success. Let us show you how to this in a script below.

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Using Python in FileMaker

For MBS FileMaker Plugin 14.3 we add the possibility to evaluate Python code in FileMaker and run scripts. This enables you to integrate existing Python code and use it in FileMaker. That may be a quick calculation to calculate a checksum, process some text, JSON or XML data or to utilize an existing script by running it within FileMaker. Python comes with hundreds of available modules that you can import and use.

 

Initialization

 

Depending on the platform, you install Python libraries in different ways. For macOS you can use Homebrew command line tools to install the python package. For Windows you can download the official Python installer and run it. For Linux you use your package manager to get the python package installed. When done, you have on each system a folder with the libraries and you tell the plug-in where to find them.

 

For macOS you usually check look for the Python.framework:

 

/opt/homebrew/Cellar/python@3.12/3.12.3/Frameworks/Python.framework

or

/usr/local/homebrew/Cellar/python@3.12/3.12.3/Frameworks/Python.framework

 

For Windows the path to the dll may include the version number, so please adjust as needed. If you like use our Files.List function to check the names in the path in your script.

 

C:\Users\cs\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\python312.dll

 

For Linux the package is usually in the library path, so you can just refer to it by the name.

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Any Script can get called anytime by anyone

In the last days we had a discussion with a client about FileMaker 2024 and the quick open feature. The user may press Command-K (macOS) or Control-K (Windows) and search for things. This includes layouts and scripts and they can go to layouts and run scripts, when you wouldn't expect it. 

 

We love to give everyone a reminder on a little security thing: Any script in FileMaker may get called anywhere by anyone.

 

When you write a script, you usually make assumptions. The script expects to be in a certain layout on a specific record to do its job. You expect it to be called because a user pressed a specific button or used the custom menu to only call it in a specific situation. But your script can be triggered:

 

  • with the open quickly feature in FileMaker 2024.
  • using the script menu, maybe after switching back to standard menus.
  • via Apple Script
  • via Data API
  • via fmp:// URL
  • via various plugins
  • via another FileMaker file where someone writes a script to perform a script in your file.
  • via Siri intents
  • via notification response trigger

While you could put in some guard rails using the permissions and denying linking your file to another one, we hardly ever want to restrict calling triggers via fmp URLs or plugin since we use that regularly for integrations like with the WebViewer.

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MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 14.3pr4

New in this prerelease of version 14.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin: Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/

You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.


Use web viewer in FileMaker to show 3D models

Recently a client asked how to show 3D models in FileMaker on Windows. We looked for various solutions and on the end came to using JavaScript viewer for 3D objects: js-3d-model-viewer.

To show a file, you would export it to a temporary folder with FileMaker. You put the JavaScript file into the same folder and have your script export also the html file there. The HTML file needs to reference the model file by name. Although you could just name the model file the same each time and just use the same html.

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MBS @ dotfmp 2024

We recorded the MBS Plugin talk at the dotfmp 2024 FileMaker conference in Berlin:

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MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 14.3pr3

New in this prerelease of version 14.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin: Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/

You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.


Store large texts as container fields

Recently at the dotfmp conference, we talked about storing text vectors for LLMs in FileMaker as container instead of text to save space. But does it? Let's check with current FileMaker Pro.

We can store text in a FileMaker database. The size to store the record is a bit more than the text. Our test table has primary key, two time stamps and the account name for creation and modification. With the overhead for managing the blocks this takes about 270 bytes per record in our test database.

If you store the text in a container field, you basically get the text stored and there is a 12 byte overhead for the container, if you just write text there.

Set Field [ Test::ContainerField ; $text ]

Alternatively we can package the text as UTF-8 with Text.WriteToContainer function. That will package the text as a file. This causes an overhead of about 200 bytes as multiple streams of data are managed including a file name. Total size of the container value itself is 36 bytes more than the text length. But by using container instead of a text field, we can save on indexes.

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MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 14.3pr2

New in this prerelease of version 14.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin: Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/

You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.


Additional variable levels in FileMaker with MBS Plugin

You may know that FileMaker has variables within Let(), $ variables in a script and $$ variables as per file globals. But MBS FileMaker Plugin provides higher levels. Our plugin based variables (see FM.VariableSet) stay in the process space of the current loaded plugin. But there is also shared memory to store something per computer, independent of the current application.

On a FileMaker Server you can have three times the plugin installed and also on each web direct worker. You may run one or more FileMaker Pro copy on a machine and each has plugin managed variables for itself. But they can also access the shared memory (see SharedMemory.SetValue) on the same machine and share variables.

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MBS @ FMTraining.TV - Exporting FileMaker Settings into Excel Files using the MonkeyBread Plug-in with Christian Schmitz

Check out the FMTraining.tv website. Richard Carlton and his team do a daily free live stream about FileMaker to watch.

A few days ago Christian Schmitz from Monkeybread Software joined a live episode to talk a bit about the MBS FileMaker Plugin. Watch it on YouTube.

We talk about XL functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin to do custom exports.

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FileMaker 2024 released

Claris released today FileMaker 2024 in version 21.0. Works fine with MBS FileMaker Plugin 14.2.

You get new AI script steps, writing via Execute FileMaker Data API script step, Let's Encrypt certificates (instructions here), an Open Quickly shortcut, Revert transactions in subscripts and you may enjoy a few bug fixes. But please read details in the release notes:

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MBS FileMaker Plugin, version 14.3pr1

New in this prerelease of version 14.3 of the MBS FileMaker Plugin:
  • Added Python functions.
  • Added Plugin.LockedFunctions function.
  • Enhanced execute button for calculation dialog to allow pressing option key to only evaluate the selected text.
  • Updated for future FileMaker version.
  • Improved variable auto completion to better handle custom functions starting with underscore.
  • Updated to newer plugin SDK for FileMaker 21.
  • Fixed problem with JSON returning negative floating point numbers without leading 0.
  • Updated to Xcode 15.4.
  • Updated SQLAPI to version 5.3.2.
  • Fixed the WordFile.ReplaceTag function, which broke in 14.2.
  • Improved the formatting code for calculations to handle special words like or and and better.
  • Update LibXL libraries for macOS and Windows to version 4.3.
  • Fixed a bug in WebLink() function in DynaPDFMBS class returning negative number.
  • Changed XL.Book.Version to have the book parameter optional.
  • Added EmailParser.ReleaseAll function.
  • Renamed EmailParser.Free to EmailParser.Release, but old name will stay valid.
  • Fixed a memory leak in loading Excel file from disk with XL.LoadBook function.
  • Fixed a problem with XL functions where license key was not recognized properly.
  • Fixed a problem with copying script text would duplicate field names or calculations.
  • Changed trace function to not log the password for a Files.Mount call.
  • Added check to XL.Initialize and DynaPDF.Initialize to return an error if the license key includes invalid characters like a space character.
  • Added Mutex.ReleaseAll function.
  • Renamed Mutex.Free to Mutex.Release, but old name will stay valid.
  • Updated SQLite to version 3.46.0.
  • Updated our ICU integration for SQLite to the new SQLite version.
  • Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.87.251.
  • Enhanced format button for calculation dialog to allow pressing shift key to only format the selected text.
  • Updated curl to version 8.8.0
  • Enhanced check syntax button for calculation dialog to allow pressing shift key to only check the selected text.
Download at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/

You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.


FileMaker Konferenz 2024 in Malbun - Noch vier Monate

Vom 1. bis 4. Oktober 2024 findet die nächste deutschsprachige FileMaker Konferenz in Malbun, Liechtenstein statt. Die Tickets für die Konferenz sind jetzt verfügbar, bis 20. April noch zum Frühbucherpreis.

Die Hotelzimmer im JUFA Hotel sind begrenzt. Bitte dort bald ein Zimmer buchen. Wenn das JUFA Hotel voll ist, werden Sie automatisch ein Zimmer aus einem anderen Hotel in Malbun bekommen.

Monkeybread Software ist als Sponsor mit Stand und Session vor Ort. Bitte kommen Sie mit Ihren Fragen vorbei!

Wir haben einen MBS Plugin Vortrag, Stefanie präsentiert zu eigenen Funktionen bzw. Entspannungstechniken und wir planen noch für den 1. Oktober einen Wandertag ein (Anmeldung bei uns). Wer mit möchte, kann dann bei hoffentlich schönem Wetter mit uns durch die Berge wandern. z.B. von Malbun aus am Sass-Seeli vorbei zur Alpe Guschg.

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