One month left until Claris Inc. runs their annual Claris Engage developer conference. Once again they do a conference in Austin, Texas from 25th to 26th March 2025 with an optional training day on 27th March. Please join the biggest FileMaker developer conference of the year:
Tickets are from $1200 USD for very early bird tickets to later $1699 USD for the full price ticket with training. Be sure to arrive 24th, so you can join others for a dinner meet-up on the conference eve.
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New in this prerelease of version 15.1 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.
You think about going to Claris Engage 2025 in Austin Texas and you wonder what you could do there with a few extra days?
Especially if you come over from far away, you may enjoy a few extra days to adjust to the time zone and see the surrounding area. I've been seven times in Texas to various conferences and so I can give you a few ideas on what you could do.
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When you receive an electronic invoice in the formats ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, X-Rechnung or UBL, you may need to validate the XML file. You can use our DynaPDF functions to extract the XML from the ZUGFeRD invoice. Once you have the XML, you can do some automated validation. We leverage the XSL and XSD files coming with the ZUGFeRD 2.3 download. They provide a way to check both the structure with the XSD file as well as the content with the XSL file. The XSL file is based on the schematron file with all the business rules, but converted to a stylesheet for using it with the XSLT function. While the schema check makes sure you have the right nodes in the right places, the business rules define what can go in a field and how fields are related.
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New in this prerelease of version 15.1 of the
MBS FileMaker Plugin:
- Added Saxon example to visualize electronic invoices in UBL, ZUGFeRD, Factur-X or X-Rechnung format.
- Added Saxon example to validate the ZUGFeRD, Factur-X or X-Rechnung invoice.
- Updated CURL library to version 8.12.1.
- Implemented keep alive for MQTT feature in CURL functions. Use CURL.SetOptionUpkeepIntervalMS function to enable.
- Added check for menu sorting to not do it when a dialog shows.
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.
When you receive an electronic invoice in the formats ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, X-Rechnung or UBL, you may need to visualize the XML file. You can use our DynaPDF functions to extract the XML from the ZUGFeRD invoice. Once you have the XML for one of the formats UBL or Cross Industry Invoice, you may want to convert it to HTML and show it in a web viewer.
We leverage the XRechnung Visualization Transformators project from GitHub. This project has a couple of XML stylesheets to convert our invoices to HTML. For this they first convert the UBL or CII XML to an intermediate XML and finally convert that to XML with a second transformation. There is also an alternative output to produce a XML for Apache FOP to make it a PDF file.
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This script utilizes the DynaPDF functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin for FileMaker to add an image into a PDF document. It initializes the DynaPDF library, imports an existing PDF, adds an image to the PDF, and saves the final version. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of each action in the script.
1. Initializing DynaPDF
If [ MBS("DynaPDF.IsInitialized") ≠ 1 ]
Perform Script [ Specified: From list ; “InitDynaPDF” ; Parameter: ]
End If
This section checks if the DynaPDF library is initialized. The function MBS("DynaPDF.IsInitialized") returns 1 if DynaPDF is already initialized. If not, the script calls another script (InitDynaPDF) to perform the initialization. Initializing the DynaPDF library ensures that FileMaker can interact with PDF files and make modifications like importing, editing, and saving PDFs.
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Sometimes plugin users wonder why the plugin doesn't see the WebViewer on the layout, so let's check the various cases:
1. Empty WebViewer
Just put an empty web viewer on a layout. No URL. Does it exist?
When you go to the browse mode, you see the outline drawn, but if you ask the plugin about the web viewer, it can't find it.
Until FileMaker loads something into the WebViewer, it doesn't exist as a control with the operation system and the plugin can't see it.
2. Blank WebViewer
You can put in the URL "about:blank" and then FileMaker creates the WebViewer right away.
If you do something in the script trigger for layout entering, you may need a short pause of 0.1 seconds for FileMaker to create the WebViewer. Same when you just switched layouts. FileMaker delays building the layout on screen to avoid flickering.
3. Out of sight
If the web viewer is not in the visible area, FileMaker doesn't create it. This can mean that resizing the window may bring the WebViewer in sight and thus FileMaker creates the control and we can see from the plugin.
4. On tabs
If you have a tab control with various tabs, the WebViewer can be on a tab. But FileMaker only creates it, if you go on the right tab. If you move to a different tab, the WebViewer is removed from the window, but not freed. So if you come back later, FileMaker can put the same WebViewer on the tab and it keeps the content. Same for slide control and multiple pages there.
5. Hide object when
You can use the calculation to hide the layout object with your WebViewer. But if this hides the WebViewer, there is none in the window. Once the calculation changes to return zero, the WebViewer is created. And that may need a short pause if it happens by script, before it happens.
6. Behind something
You can have another layout object in front of the WebViewer, e.g. a rectangle. This way you can run JavaScript or interact with a website, but not show it to the user. Just put a white rectangle in front of the WebViewer.
7. Plugin based WebViewer
If you use
WebView.Create in
MBS FileMaker Plugin to create a WebViewer, then FileMaker doesn't know about it. Our plugin can use the WebViewer to show content, but FileMaker has no clue. The WebViewer can lay on top of your layouts. If FileMaker moved from record to record, the WebViewer from our plugin stays there and doesn't reload. But if FileMaker rebuilds the layout for the window, there is a chance, that FileMaker removed all existing controls including ours and then you may need to rebuild the plugin based WebViewer.
Check out our WebViewer functions to work with WebViewer controls in FileMaker. Let us know if you have questions!
You have XSLT 1.0 in FileMaker and Xojo built-in as well as in our plugin function to use XSLT (XML.ApplyStylesheet). With our Saxon functions you get XSLT 3.0 and you can enjoy all the 2.0 and 3.0 features in your FileMaker solution and Xojo applications.
XSLT 2.0 and 3.0 introduce several significant improvements and new features compared to XSLT 1.0. Here are the key benefits of XSLT 2.0 and 3.0 over XSLT 1.0:
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You may have seen similar barcodes, which use circles instead of blocks to draw a barcode. We can do the same with MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.1 using Barcode.GenerateJSON function. In order to do this, we added the option to output the drawing commands as JSON instead of drawing them to an image directly.
The JSON includes the width and height of the barcode, which depends on the Scale parameter in the options. For our vector drawing, we would prefer bigger numbers, so a Scale of 4 or 8 may be good. The JSON contains arrays for rectangles, strings, hexagons and circles. For the QR-Codes, we only get rectangles, but an EAN code would have a text below the code. A Maxicode barcode would have hexagons for the dots and circles in the middle.
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New in this prerelease of version 15.1 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.
Noch sieben Monate: Vom 14. bis 17. September 2025 findet die nächste deutschsprachige FileMaker Konferenz in Hamburg, Deutschland statt. Das JUFA Hotel Hamburg HafenCity liegt direkt neben dem Ausgang der U-Bahn Station HafenCity Universität, nur drei Stationen vom Hauptbahnhof via U4, so dass sich die Anreise per Bahn empfiehlt. FileMaker Anwender und Entwickler können ihre Teilnahme buchen.
Anmeldung mit Frühbucherrabatt
Bitte melden Sie sich an, wenn Sie Interesse an der Konferenz haben. Bis zum 30. April 2025 gibt es den Frühbucherrabatt.
Möchten Sie Sponsor oder Sprecher werden?
Aktuell sucht der FMK Verein Vorschläge für interessante Vorträge.
Die Veranstalter vom Verein FM Konferenz erwarten auch 2025 rund 120 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.
MBS Beitrag
Wir werden wieder ein paar Vorträge beisteuern. Darunter was es neues im MBS Plugin gibt und vermutlich etwas für neue Entwickler. Aktuell steht noch nicht fest, ob es ein Vorprogramm gibt. Bitte meldet euch, wenn ihr Interesse an einem MBS Workshop Tag vorher/nachher habt.
For the 15.1 version of MBS FileMaker Plugin, we made a little change to Text.ReadTextFile to be able to read from /proc directory on Linux. This way you can read various system things. There are hundreds of things you can read there, so let us show you a few useful picks:
Memory Information
The meminfo entry provides information about memory utilization. This varies for different linux versions, but you should be able to query the text and find the entries you like.
Set Variable [ $meminfo ; Value: MBS("Text.ReadTextFile"; "/proc/meminfo") ]
The MemTotal is the total memory in the system. MemFree would be the free memory, but on a Linux system free memory is a waste as every free page could be used for file caching. So MemAvailable defines how much memory is available for use, which includes the free memory, but also memory that could be freed dirctely like file caches. Unevictable shows how much memory can't be moved to swap. You may use these values to calculate some memory statistics and watch it over time.
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New in this prerelease of version 15.1 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.
I got asked what the differences between XLS and XSLX formats are for our LibXL functionality. Some of the features are only available if you opted for the new or old format. In general we nowadays prefer the newer XLSX format based on XML.
Here is a table to compare:
| What | XLS | XLSX |
|---|
| File Format | Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF) | Office Open XML Format |
| Compatibility | Readable by all Microsoft Excel versions | Readable by Excel 2007 and later versions |
| Rows | up to 65,536 rows | up to 1,048,576 rows |
| Columns | up to 256 columns | up to 16,384 columns |
| Formulas | Supports older Excel functions | Better compatibility with newer Microsoft Excel functions
(such as IFERROR, XLOOKUP, TEXTAFTER) |
| Maximum Number of Fonts | 504 | 65429 |
| Conditions Formats | no | yes |
| Pictures | yes | yes |
| Picture Links | no | yes |
| Cell Comments | yes | no |
| Auto Filter | no | yes |
| Data Validation | no | yes |
| Form Controls | no | yes |
Check out the XL functions for our MBS FileMaker Plugin and the XL classes in our MBS Xojo Plugins, which allow you to read and write Microsoft Excel files using LibXL library.
New in this prerelease of version 15.1 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.