MBS Xojo Conference Update

Just one month until the MBS Xojo Developer Conference and our Training Day.

So far we have over 40 attendees from 15 countries:

🇩🇪 Germany, 🇳🇱 Netherlands, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, 🇨🇭 Switzerland, 🇺🇸 United States, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇬🇷 Greece, 🇫🇷 France, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇩🇰 Denmark and 🇷🇴 Romania.

The hotel has three free rooms left. So if you like to join, please sign-up soon.

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MonkeyBread Software Releases the MBS Xojo Plugins in version 26.1

Nickenich, Germany - (March 17th, 2026) -- Monkeybread Software today is pleased to announce MBS Xojo Plugins 26.1 for macOS, Linux and Windows, the latest update to their product that is easily the most powerful plugin collection currently available for Xojo. MBS Xojo Plugins have been updated and now includes over 3000 classes and 83,000 documented features, and the versatile plugins have gained more new functions:

We updated DynaPDF to version 5. Please note that DynaPDF 5 sets UseTransparency to false by default instead of true in version 4 and the UseImageColorSpace flag is now enabled by default, instead of disabled. The ImportPDFPage function is included in Lite.

The CURL library is updated to fix a few bugs we had in the last version. We enabled native CA to verify SSL certificates on Windows.

We updated LibXL and got new functions for querying conditional formatting rules. You can load a book only to query the metadata. Please note that AddConditionalFormatting now needs an area in LibXL 5.1. There is an Errorcode property and you can remove conditional formatting.

The phidgets classes are updated to the newer library. This adds PhidgetCurrentOutputMBS and PhidgetLEDArrayMBS classes, new constants and properties. Check out the LED array modules where you can turn LEDs on/off or run animations.

Our Llama classes allow you to load a local large language model. Use the LlamaBackendMBS and LlamaDeviceMBS classes to check what backends are available. Please check the chat example file for a local chat bot.

We added methods for NSWorkspaceMBS class to query which application opens a file or URL. Then we added methods to open URLs or files asynchronously. Use the NSWorkspaceOpenConfigurationMBS class to pass options. Find applications based on their bundle identifier with ApplicationWithBundleIdentifier method.

Smaller additions:

• Use our SetQOSClassMBS function to change the priority of a thread and move background tasks to an efficiency core.
• Use Profiles function in GMImageMBS class to check what profile data is available for an image.
• Use ProcessPages method in TessEngineMBS and the TessResultRendererMBS class to output recognized text inside an image as a PDF file.
• Use TitleIcon property in TaskDialogMBS to add an icon to the title bar.
• Use ToToon method in JSONMBS class to pass JSON in a compacter form to LLMs.

Finally we updated ChartDirector to version 7.2, CURL to 8.19.0, DynaPDF to 5.0.0.7, expat to 2.7.4, libarchive to 3.8.6, LibXL to 5.1, Llama, openssl to 3.5.5, Phidgets, SQLite to 3.51.2, taglib to 2.2.1, Xcode to 26.2 and zlib to version 1.3.2.

See release notes for a complete list of changes.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 26.1pr8

New in this prerelease of the 26.1 plugins:

• Updated libarchive to version 3.8.6.
• Fixed a crashing issue with control events.
• Updated CURL library to version 8.19.0.
• Enabled native CA for CURL on Windows.

New functions in documentation

Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip

Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared DropBox folder.

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

Moving background threads to efficient cores

For next MBS Xojo Util Plugin, we add new functions to get and set the quality of service level for a thread:

GetQOSClassMBS as Integer
SetQOSClassMBS(QOS as Integer) as Integer

If your thread is marked with the highest level, usually named user interactive, the threads gets more attention and a better CPU core if available. On the other side the lower levels like background moves the thread to a lower priority and if possible a more efficient CPU core. All the levels between are scheduled on depending on the work load and what is available.

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MBS Xojo Plugins, version 26.1pr7

New in this prerelease of the 26.1 plugins:

• Added TitleIcon property to TaskDialogMBS class.
• Updated taglib to version 2.2.1
• Improved SSH tunnel for macOS/iOS to mark the thread with background priority.
• Added GetQOSClassMBS and SetQOSClassMBS to change the priority of a thread and move background tasks to an efficiency core.
• Added Profiles function to GMImageMBS class.
• Updated ChartDirector to version 7.2.
• Fixed a bug with newer license keys for ChartDirector.
• Fixed a crashing issue with control events.
• Fixed an issue with InstrumentIDOnChannel() for MidiPlaybackMBS class.

New functions in documentation

Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip

Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared DropBox folder.

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

ChartDirector 7.2

We got the notice that ChartDirector received a bugfix update, so we update our MBS Xojo ChartDirector Plugin in the next days.

Here the announcement from Advanced Software Engineering Ltd:

ChartDirector for C++ 7.2 is a bug fixing release. It fixes bugs discovered since ChartDirector for C++ 7.1.

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MBS Xojo Plugins, version 26.1pr6

New in this prerelease of the 26.1 plugins:

• Updated DynaPDF to version 5.0.0.4.
• Added more methods to DynaPDFRectMBS and DynaPDFPointMBS classes.
• Added more constants for DynaPDFMBS class.
• Updated CURL library to version 8.19.0 rc3.

New functions in documentation

Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip

Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared DropBox folder.

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

xDev Magazine 24.2 Issue

The March/April (24.2) issue of xDev Magazine is now available. Here's a quick preview of what's inside:

Ultrasonic Range Sonar by Eugene Dakin
One cool thing about Raspberry Pi development is building physical devices that do things in the real world. How about using sonar to measure the distance to an object? Today, Eugene shows how to hook up an Ultrasonic Range Finder to your Raspberry Pi and use Xojo to calculate the distance to wherever it is pointing!

The Subclass Reflex by Tim Dietrich
When you're working on a project, it's natural to just produce a subclass of a class. But is that always the best decision? In this piece, Tim explains how subclassing can be a problem in some situations and demonstrates a superior technique. He shows how to decide when to use which approach, so in the future you'll make the right call.

Doing the Impossible by Marc Zeedar
Modern AI models are seemingly capable of helping us code just about any project. Except that the two Marc attempted are considered "impossible" by even AI. Yet he stuck with it, and after hours of technical conversations with ChatGPT, he figured out a good workaround for his technical dilemma. It turned out to be a fascinating experience with the genius and idocy of modern AI.

Plus: Happy 30th Birthday, Xojo! An introduction to Xojo Libraries, how to highlight PDFs with MBS, AI taking over, and more!

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 26.1pr5

New in this prerelease of the 26.1 plugins:

• Updated zlib to version 1.3.2.
• Updated taglib to version 2.2.
• Improved DigestMBS class to raise OpenSSLExceptionMBS in case of failure instead of simply returning an empty hash.
• Added MD4 method again to DigestMBS class.
• Added XOFLen property to DigestMBS class.

New functions in documentation

Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip

Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared DropBox folder.

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