We got asked by clients for support contracts or options. In general we offer support to all our clients at a best effort level. You know, as time permits. Usually that tends to be within minutes or hours when someone is in the office. But sometimes when traveling, vacation, holidays or similar, there is a delay. And some more complex support requests may take days until we get an answer.
Our clients in general appreciate our responsiveness. We get praises about having a very complete documentation and functions working as advertised or documented.
Since we got asked, we will introduce a priority support level. If you get priority support for a fee, we make sure your support requests are flagged as important and answered quicker. Usually this may not make a difference, except when time for support is tight and we have to pick who to answer first.
Our priority support comes in two variants. General MBS Plugin support and separated DynaPDF support. And if you order priority support for DynaPDF, we include the priority support from DynaForms with 24h reaction time and 7 days fix time.
Beside standard or priority support, there is also paid support available. Some clients prefer to pay by the hour to get their problems resolved or a helping hand implementing a plugin feature.
We'll see how well this is received and appreciated.
Let us know if you have a question.
This year in early April our company turned 25 years old.
We plan to have a party here in Germany near our office with around 100 guests.
Today we emailed everyone who is on the guest list. If you do not receive an email today or lost your invitation, please contact us.
So far it looks like our party will be the biggest Xojo developer conference this year. For FileMaker, it will be the second biggest gathering of FileMaker developers behind the German FileMaker Konferenz.
We look forward to meet you guys and celebrate!
(more)
Rendering text in a PDF might seem straightforward—until you try working with languages like Arabic or Hebrew. These languages require more than just placing characters from left to right. Without proper handling, the result can be unreadable or even misleading.
Let’s look at how DynaPDF handles this challenge using Bidirectional (Bidi) Mode and Complex Text Rendering.
(more)
Over time, we’ve built a few web forms—some simple, some more complex. Unfortunately, bots love web forms. They fill them out with spam, test vulnerabilities, or just cause general headaches. If you’ve ever maintained a form in production, you know exactly what I mean.
To cut down on junk submissions, we’ve implemented a few strategies that have worked well for us. These aren’t foolproof, but they definitely raise the bar and help filter out a lot of automated noise.
(more)
Today we like to connect to a DuckDB database from FileMaker using the SQL functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin. For that we need the client libraries for DuckDB, but where to get them?
macOS with homebrew
For macOS you can use homebrew to install the duckdb package. Then you get the duckdb library installed.
You find the library on an Apple Silicon Mac:
/opt/homebrew/Cellar/duckdb/1.2.1/lib/libduckdb.dylib
For an Intel Mac, you find it in the /usr/local folder in a sunfolder.
(more)
Today we like to connect to Postgres Database server from FileMaker using the SQL functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin. For that we need the client libraries for Postgres, but where to get them?
macOS
For macOS you can download the Postgres App to get a local test server for Postgres on your Mac. You can directly point to the libpq.5.dylib within the application.
We adjusted the install names to make them work into the Frameworks folder of your application. The libpq library needs crypto and ssl libraries, so these must be in the same folder. We got the libraries here for you: PostgreSQL Libraries. You can store these for example in the Extensions folder next to our plugin.
(more)
This month we celebrate 25 years of Monkeybread Software.
In April 2000 I started my self employment with filling the business registration form. Originally I coded shareware applications, but since I got consulting clients in 2000 and needed to write invoices, I had to start a company and register as a business.
In 2001 we needed more and more plugins in REALbasic for the various projects. We got a lot of plugins from Einhugur back then and Björn is still making Xojo plugins as of today! Since we needed more, I went into learning C++ and started my own plugin collection. Thanks to Thomas Tempelmann and others for some help to get started. Over the years we (co-)hosted 13 European Xojo conferences to bring together the developer community.
Later in 2006 we started the adventure into making a plugin for FileMaker. A couple of people asked over the years to port over some functions from my Xojo plugins to FileMaker and eventually Todd Geist persuaded me into making one. It took a few years to grow, but the popularity really toke off when I went to the FileMaker Konferenz 2012 in Salzburg and the FileMaker DevCon in 2013 in San Diego. Once people saw the plugin, they loved it and our business grew.
The Monkeybread Software name came from Matt Ronge, my former US business partner. We separated a few years later and he's now busy as the Cofounder and CEO of Astropad.
There will be a big party here near the office and we invited hundreds of clients, friends and family. If you like to join and you miss an invitation, you can contact us and ask whether your invitation got lost.
If you need a new license for MBS Plugins, we have a special offer for April: Use coupon code Birthday for a 20% discount.
See you at the party or the next conference!
New in this prerelease of version 15.2 of the
MBS FileMaker Plugin:
- Added AbortProc and an event processing loop to DynaPDF printing to help with updating a progress dialog.
- Added DynaPDF.ReadImageFormatFile and DynaPDF.ReadImageResolutionFile function to inspect images files on disk.
- Added DynaPDF.RenderJob function.
- Added ExtensionFilter parameter to Files.ListRecursive function.
- Added flag 128 for matching substring with the ExtensionFilter parameter for the Files.List, Files.ListAsJSON and Files.ListRecursive functions.
- Added MapView.GetWindow function.
- Added more Python functions to query time and library information.
- Added ScriptWorkspace.IsFocusOnScriptList and ScriptWorkspace.SetFocusToScriptList functions.
- Changed tooltips for fields to use FieldType() instead of SQL for better performance.
- Fixed an issue with Audit.BuildCaches function missing the FieldName.
- Fixed SQL.ConvertDateTimeFromSQL to return empty result if the date value is not valid.
- Fixed SSH2 library for Windows to use OpenSSL instead of Windows API again. Broken in last release.
- Implemented a maximum for sockets. Now limited to 1000 concurrent sockets to avoid crashing FileMaker when running out of file handles.
- Implemented text selector for ScriptWorkspace.StyledScriptText function.
- Improved Archive.Compress to compress folder itself if file list is empty.
- Improved exceptions handling for GraphicsMagick functions.
- Improved OCR error messages about missing functions to show the function name. you may see such an error if you have an older tesseract or leptonica library, which doesn't contain the functions we look for.
- Improved PDFKit.SelectPrinter to return an error when we fail to create the dialog.
- Improved performance of DynaPDF generating previews for container values for large files.
- Improved showing IDs for Database Design dialog to not rebuild cache for new fields.
- Improved the If/Loop highlighting to also highlight Enter Find Mode and Perform Find.
- Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.98.281.
- Updated expat library to version 2.7.1.
- Updated libarchive to version 3.7.9.
- Updated Saxon library to 12.5.1 pre-release.
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 ein Monat für den Frühbucherrabatt: 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.
Weitere Konferenzen
Alternativ gibt es noch weitere Konferenzen in Europa:
- Vienna Calling, 4th to 7th June 2025 in Vienna, Austria.
- EngageU, 9th to 11th November 2025 in Antwerpen, Belgium
You can find Stefanie and Christian at the Claris Engage conference in Austin.
Just walk around and talk to us in the breaks. If you need a longer meeting, we could sit together for a chat while a session runs.
If you need a license, please use coupon code
FileMakerConference in our
web shop to place an order. Let us know if you need something special so we can assist the order. The code is valid until at least 5th April, so you have time next week to place an order.
Ideas? Questions? Please don’t hesitate to write us an email, send a
feedback or to find us on the conference.
In this article we want to introduce you the new functions from the MBS FileMaker Plugin in version 15.1.
SendMail
For many years we offer functions in the SendMail area that allow you to create and send emails with a variety of different options. This time we have added functions that allow you to set whether SSL should be used when sending the email. With SendMail.SetUseSSL we set the setting and with SendMail.GetUseSSL we can query it. You can also specify whether 8-bit encoding should be used for encoding instead of Quoted Printable. The functions SendMail.SetUse8BitMime and SendMail.GetUse8BitMime can help you with this.
Encryption
When it comes to encryption, you can now list the available curves for the ECKey function. The ECKey.BuiltInCurvesJSON function, which outputs a JSON with the information about built in curves. We can use the ECKey.CurveNameToID function to determine the ID of a curve by its name.
We have also added two functions for signing and verifying ES256. You can sign data with the ECKey.ES256Sign function and verify it with ECKey.ES256Verify.
(more)
Our mail provider notified us, that they plan to switch to different mail servers within the next month.
Sadly this may cause an interruption in the mail services whenever this happens.
And to prepare for a migration, we cleaned up and deleted a couple of email accounts.
If you send an email to use and it bounces, please try again later. If we don't react to an email, maybe contact us next day on a different way like by messaging service, website form or a different email.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
Exploring the Plugin.LimitToFile Feature in the MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.1
The MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.1 introduces an important functionality for FileMaker developers — Plugin.LimitToFile. This feature enhances control over which files can access and utilize the plugin. It’s a useful tool when creating solutions where limiting plugin access to specific files is essential for security or organizational purposes.
What is Plugin.LimitToFile?
In essence, Plugin.LimitToFile restricts the plugin's functionality to certain files within your FileMaker solution. It ensures that only the specified files are allowed to make use of the plugin. This feature is useful when you want to avoid unauthorized use of the plugin or to limit its operation to a select few files. It adds an extra layer of control over the environment in which your plugin operates.
(more)
Nickenich, Germany - (March 11th, 2025) -- Monkeybread Software today is pleased to announce MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.1 for Claris FileMaker for macOS, iOS, Linux and Windows, the latest update to their product that is easily the most powerful plugin currently available for Claris FileMaker produce line. As the leading database management solution for Windows, macOS, iOS and the web, the Claris FileMaker Pro Integrated Development Environment supports a plugin architecture that can easily extend the feature set of the application. MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.1 has been updated and now includes over 7600 different functions, and the versatile plugin has gained more new functions:
We improve our Saxon integration and licensing. We have two new examples to show what is possible with XSLT. One example uses an XML transformation to validate ZUGFeRD, Factur-X or X-Rechnung invoice. The second example uses XSLT to visualize electronic invoices in UBL, ZUGFeRD, Factur-X or X-Rechnung format.
The Barcode.GenerateJSON function can optionally outputs drawing commands as JSON. Our example project shows how to use this to draw QR-Codes with round dots.
For Windows you can programmatically show the properties dialog for a file in explorer with Files.ShowPropertyDialog function. The Files.ShareFile function can open the Windows share sheet to share a file with contacts.
If you like to protect access to MBS FileMaker Plugin, you can use Plugin.LimitToFile to limit the plugin only to a few files. For encryption you can now list the available curves for ECKey function and do ES256 sign and verify.
For macOS and iOS you can query the change history for contacts database. This informs you about changes, that happened since the last time you asked and provides the list of new, updated and deleted contacts.
If you have multiple Python installations, you can use Python.AddSysPath function to point to the directory where to find libraries.
Sending emails can use 8bit instead of quoted printable encoding. The JSON.Import and XML.Import functions can handle dates and numbers better. For XL functions you can address columns in Excel with letters instead of just numbers (e.g. C instead of 2 for 3rd column). The XML.ApplyStylesheet function got the EXSLT extensions. The MQTT feature in CURL functions can keep up the connection.
We added a checkbox for preferences to toggle whether custom functions get parameters autocompleted when you pick a function. We detect links in calculations and make them clickable. For color blind users we can change the error display in the debugger from red to blue. For your own context menu entries with SyntaxColoring.AddContextMenuCommand functions, you can add a calculation to determinate whether a menu command shows.
Finally we updated CURL library to version 8.12.1, DynaPDF to 4.0.98.278, jsoncons to 1.3.0, lcms to 2.17, OpenSSL to 3.3.3, png to 1.6.47 and SQLite to version 3.49.1.
See release notes for a complete list of changes and documentation for new functions.
11. März 2025 - Monkeybread Software veröffentlicht heute das MBS FileMaker Plugin für Claris FileMaker in Version 15.1, mit inzwischen über 7600 Funktionen eines der größten FileMaker Plugins überhaupt. Hier einige der Neuerungen:
Wir verbessern unsere Saxon-Integration und -Lizenzierung. Wir haben zwei neue Beispiele, die zeigen, was mit XSLT möglich ist. Ein Beispiel verwendet eine XLST Transformation, um ZUGFeRD, X-Rechnung oder Factur-X Rechnungen zu validieren. Das zweite Beispiel verwendet XSLT, um elektronische Rechnungen im UBL-, ZUGFeRD-, Factur-X- oder X-Rechnung-Format zu visualisieren.
Die Funktion Barcode.GenerateJSON kann optional die Zeichenbefehle als JSON ausgeben. Unser Beispielprojekt zeigt, wie man damit QR-Codes mit runden Punkten zeichnen kann.
Unter Windows können Sie mit der Funktion Files.ShowPropertyDialog programmatisch den Eigenschaftsdialog für eine Datei im Explorer anzeigen. Die Funktion Files.ShareFile kann die Windows-Freigabemaske öffnen, um eine Datei mit Kontakten zu teilen.
Wenn Sie den Zugriff auf das MBS FileMaker Plugin schützen möchten, können Sie Plugin.LimitToFile verwenden, um das Plugin auf einige wenige Dateien zu beschränken. Beim Thema Verschlüsselung können Sie nun die verfügbaren Kurven für die ECKey-Funktion auflisten und ES256 signieren und verifizieren.
Für macOS und iOS können Sie die Änderungshistorie für die Kontaktdatenbank abfragen. Diese informiert Sie über Änderungen, die seit der letzten Abfrage stattgefunden haben und liefert die Liste der neuen, aktualisierten und gelöschten Kontakte.
Wenn Sie mehrere Python-Installationen haben, können Sie die Funktion Python.AddSysPath verwenden, um auf das Verzeichnis zu verweisen, in dem die Bibliotheken zu finden sind.
Beim Versenden von E-Mails kann die 8-Bit-Kodierung anstelle von Quoted Printable verwendet werden. Die Funktionen JSON.Import und XML.Import können besser mit Daten und Zahlen umgehen. Bei XL-Funktionen können Sie Spalten in Excel mit Buchstaben statt nur mit Zahlen ansprechen (z. B. C statt 2 für die 3. Spalte). Die Funktion XML.ApplyStylesheet hat die EXSLT-Erweiterungen erhalten. Die MQTT-Funktion in CURL-Funktionen kann die Verbindung aufrechterhalten.
Wir haben ein Option für die Voreinstellungen hinzugefügt, mit der Sie festlegen können, ob bei benutzerdefinierten Funktionen die Parameter automatisch vervollständigt werden, wenn Sie eine Funktion auswählen. Wir erkennen Links in Formeln und machen sie anklickbar. Für farbenblinde Benutzer können wir die Fehleranzeige im Debugger von rot auf blau umstellen. Für eigene Kontextmenüeinträge mit SyntaxColoring.AddContextMenuCommand-Funktionen können Sie eine Berechnung hinzufügen, um zu bestimmen, ob ein Menübefehl angezeigt wird.
Schließlich haben wir die CURL-Bibliothek auf Version 8.12.1, DynaPDF auf 4.0.98.278, jsoncons auf 1.3.0, lcms auf 2.17, OpenSSL auf 3.3.3, png auf 1.6.47 und SQLite auf Version 3.49.1 aktualisiert.
Alle Änderungen in den Release Notes. Neue Funktionen in der Dokumentation.
We are glad to inform you that the new 
