We talked about various things at the FileMaker conference in Rome and security is a concern for everyone. Especially as scripted attacks got frequently.
Rename Admin
Have you ever put a FileMaker Server on the internet? You may note that people knowing your address try to connect with various account names and passwords. You may want to rename the Admin user everywhere to another name. Since there is a chance someone may try the Admin account and FileMaker locks accounts for 5 minutes if you have 5 incorrect passwords for login within 5 minutes, you may run into the Admin account be blocked. Just use a different name to avoid this.
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When receiving invoices in electronic formats, you have several tasks to implement:
Receiving invoice via email.
You may use our CURL functions to regularly download emails from your IMAP postbox and use our EmailParser functions to get the attachments. That may include the ZUGFeRD PDF invoice file. Or a pure XML file with invoice data.
Extract XML for invoice from PDF
Use DynaPDF functions (Lite license or higher) to extract XML from a PDF file using functions for embedded files.
We have sample projects for this included with the plugin download.
Validate the XML to match the schema using the ZUGFeRD XSD files
Make sure the XML is syntactically okay, doesn’t produce a parse error or a schema error.
Below we show how to do this with MBS FileMaker Plugin in FileMaker.
Validate whether the content of the invoice is validate for the business rules
There is a file included with ZUGFeRD download with the rules (.sch file). For example this specifies that the VAT ID starts with the country code, which is not part of the schema in step 3. Implementing this in FileMaker can be a lot of work, but at least you can use our XML.Query function to help.
Read values from XML.
Several people coded the import and the script depends on your field schema in FileMaker. Check our example file and maybe use it as a start. Our XML functions can help and you may read a lot of files simply with a call to XML.GetPathValue.
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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 check what is new in 14.4 release: Announcements, new functions and Release Notes.
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Back from the conference in Liechtenstein, I wrote down a few of the tidbits we learnt.
Missing serial numbers
If you use serial numbers for new records in FileMaker, you may notice that sometimes the serial numbers have a gap. Why could this happen?
- Someone deleted a record
- Someone created a record, but never committed it.
- FileMaker crashed or network got disconnected while a transaction runs, so it never completes.
You need to know that on record creation, the client will request a new serial number from the server. If the record doesn't get committed or gets reverted, the serial value is used, but no record saved. If you like to make sure the serial number doesn't get lost, please call Commit script step after creating the new record to make sure the empty record is definitely stored.
Please consider moving to UUID numbers instead, so people can't get the serial numbers and they are more random but unique.
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New in this prerelease of version 14.5 of the
MBS FileMaker Plugin:
- Added field comment to the tooltips for the export dialog.
- Fixed an issue in Window.PositionNextDialog function for Windows.
- Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.94.265.
- Added DynaPDF.GetAnnotColor and DynaPDF.GetTextBBox functions.
- Fixed an edge case with swiss keyboard layout for RemoteControl.PressKey function and the virtual key lookup.
- Added sample script into extras to launch two FileMaker on macOS, one with HTTP tunneling on and one with it being off.
- Optimized XML functions to better handle thread locking.
- Improved error handling for XML.ApplyStylesheet.
- Added some auto complete for custom functions for parameters and function names:
- Table occurrences
- Field names after ::
- Operator names
- Function names from function list
- Parameter names
- Get/Hole/Obtenir functions
Invoke with fn-F5 in the dialog or we auto invoke it for you.
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.
Recently someone asked about comments for a table and whether we could do something there. In the FileMaker community you find a couple of ideas around this topic, so we through why not. Let us add a comment text for the table definition section of the manage database dialog.
But we run into a couple of questions like where to store comments. Should the plugin store them somewhere or should FileMaker store them. Would we have some kind of user interface to enter the comment?
We can't just store comments in a local preferences file since others would open the database file and miss the comments. We can't store them in a new separate table as that would not survive clone and migration process. We decided to leverage the existing field comments in FileMaker to define a new field _TableComment to store it. Just define a field (can be global) and add a comment there. FileMaker stores the comment and provides the user interface to enter it.
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New in this prerelease of version 14.5 of the
MBS FileMaker Plugin:
- Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.93.262.
- Updated CURL to version 8.10.1.
- Fixed crash with running Python on Windows.
- Added DynaPDF.GetAnnotTextAlign function.
- Added DynaPDF.ClearLicense function.
- Added JSON.InsertRecords function to insert array of records in JSON.
- Updated to libxml2 version 2.13.4.
- Updated to libxslt version 1.1.42.
- Updated LibXL to version 4.4.0.
- Updated OpenSSL to version 3.3.2.
- Note: SSLv3 is disabled now.
- Updated libarchive to version 3.7.6.
- Changed Archive.Content to skip GID, UID, Permissions, RDev, FileType and HardLink fields, if not set.
- Updated zxing library to newer branch.
- Improved Barcode.Detect by using newer zxing library.
- Added Barcode.DetectAsJSON function.
- Updated to Xcode 16.0.
- Updated jpeg library to version 9.6.
- Fixed CURL Multi functions, broken in 14.4.
- Added a field to database design dialog for tables to show comments. To add a comment, define a field _TableComment and put comment text there.
- Fixed an issue with GMImage.WriteToPDFContainer and Twain.Acquire on Windows.
- Added Text.FilterSwissQRCode function.
- Added DynaPDF.GetGlyphIndex and DynaPDF.GetGlyphOutline functions.
- Updated discount library to version 2.2.7d.
- Added Audit.BuildCaches function.
- Updated unicode tables for removing accents for Text.RemoveAccents function.
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.
In this article we want to introduce you the new functions from the MBS FileMaker Plugin in version 14.4.
JSON
We have added a couple of JSON functions for you that you can use to create, update or delete records in your database. With the JSON.InsertOrUpdateRecord function, you even have the option of changing a data record if it already exists or creating a new one if it does not exist yet. With JSON.UpdateRecords and JSON.DeleteRecords, not only one record can be changed or deleted, but several records can be modified or removed at the same time. If you only want to create, change or delete one data record, you can use the JSON.InsertRecord, JSON.UpdateRecord or JSON.DeleteRecord functions. So that we know which data record we are addressing with JSON.UpdateRecord, for example, we first specify the file name in the parameters of the functions, as we get it from the FM function Get(FileName). This is followed by the table name and the primary key of the data record. For updating, we then also specify the value that we want to update.
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For years we had XLST 1.0 and XQuery in the plugins using open source libraries. We could add the Saxon processor library for XLST, XQuery and XML Schema functionality. But that library has a cost as a commercial library, so making a plugin would only work if we have enough people taking it. We are collecting a list of developers interested in this to know whether it is feasible to do this.
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Zu keinem anderen Thema haben aus dem deutschsprachigen Raum so viele Fragen in den letzten Wochen und Monaten bekommen als zu dem Thema E-Rechnung. Ab 2025 müssen die meisten Unternehmen E-Rechnungen zumindest empfangen und lesen können. Im Verlauf der nächsten Jahre müssen sogar kleine Unternehmen E-Rechnungen ausstellen können. Dass die Nachfrage groß ist ist verständlich und so haben wir unsere, bereits seit Jahren existierenden Beispiele, noch einmal überarbeitet und auf den momentanen Stand gebracht.
Das überarbeite Beispiel ZUGFeRD Rechnung erstellen.fmp12 zeigt Ihnen wie Sie mit Hilfe von MBS und einer DynaPDF Professional Lizenz mit PDF/A Erweiterung eine ZUGFeRD Rechnung nach EN 16931 erstellen können. Wir haben dabei die notwendigen, wie auch vereinzelt für uns zusätzlich nützlich erscheinende Informationen, in die Rechnung übernommen. Das Beispiel ist ZUGFeRD in Version 2.2.
Mit der ZUGFeRD Rechnung auslesen.fmp12 Datei stellen wir Ihnen eine Datei zur Verfügung die alle Informationen aus Rechnungen nach EN 16931 ausliest und Ihnen diese darstellt. Das ermöglicht Ihnen ein Script zu schreiben in dem Sie die Feldwerte aus unserem Beispiel in die Felder Ihres bereits bestehenden Rechnungsprogrammes überführen.
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Let's say you received an electronic invoice in Germany or France as a PDF document with embedded XML. You like tp use DynaPDF to extract the XML and we have a sample file for you, which we like to explain here. So let's take a look on the main script to extract the attachment with the XML.
First we initialize DynaPDF and have the script load the dynapdf library. Then we open the invoice PDF with DynaPDF.OpenPDFFromContainer function and then use DynaPDF.ImportPDFFile function to import the content of the PDF into memory into the working PDF.
# Make new PDF environments
Set Variable [ $pdf ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.New") ]
# Load PDF from container
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.OpenPDFFromContainer"; $pdf; ZUGFeRD Extract XML::Input PDF) ]
Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.ImportPDFFile"; $pdf) ]
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A few days ago we got a request on whether we can directly integrate ChatGPT to the ScriptWorkspace in FileMaker. Since we have already plenty of extensions to the ScriptWorkspace on macOS, we can just add a menu command for this. For Windows, the same thing could be done as a hotkey.
If you like to use this, you need to have your own API key and organization ID for ChatGPT and please insert it right into the sample code. Once you have the Let statement, you can pass it to the SyntaxColoring.AddContextMenuCommand function to add as a menu command.
To get the Let statement below, we started with a short script to use our CURL functions to query a completion via ChatGPT. We create the CURL session, set the URL and headers with the authentication details. Then we build the JSON with the request to have our prompt to summarize and the user text to process. Once we set the post content, we run the request and on success pick the output from the JSON and show it with a message box:
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Nickenich, Germany - (September 17th, 2024) -- Monkeybread Software today is pleased to announce MBS FileMaker Plugin 14.4 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 14.4 has been updated and now includes over 7400 different functions, and the versatile plugin has gained more new functions:
We got a few convenience functions to do database operations and pass record data as JSON. Use JSON.InsertRecord to create a new record and pass values for fields as JSON. Our plugin will detect the field types and correctly handles number, date, time and timestamp fields.
You can update a record with the JSON.UpdateRecord function and provide the new field values as well as the primary key to find the record. Use JSON.UpdateRecords to update multiple records. The JSON.InsertOrUpdateRecord function goes a step further and updates an existing record. If none exists, it creates a new record. And finally you can delete one record with JSON.DeleteRecord function or multiple with JSON.DeleteRecords function.
The tidy library allows us to cleanup and repair both XML and HTML. The XML.Tidy function fixes XML. And Text.Tidy function can do HTML, too. If you need to parse HTML, please use Text.HTMLtoJSON function to convert HTML to JSON and then process the JSON.
Use DynaPDF.CreateExtGState to create a new extend graphics state and activate it with DynaPDF.SetExtGState function to use transparency in vector graphics, control overprint and rendering intent. We can create URL actions to have a button open an URL. You can query encryption information for a file and test whether a password is valid.
We added MongoDB.CursorRecords to query the JSON for all found records. The MongoDB.ReplaceOne function takes options and we improved the MongoDB logging.
On macOS you can use Command-Option-Shift-F shortcut in layout editor to jump to the object search field. With SyntaxColoring.AutoCompleteVariables.SetLocals you can set a list of variables to always show up in auto complete. And the dialog to specify a field shows the field type in a tooltip.
The XL functions can now remove printer settings and VBA scripts from an Excel document. Use FM.FieldStatistics function to query size statistics for a field in a table over all records. The Python.RunFile function allows to run a Python script from disk.
Finally we updated CURL to version 8.10.0, DynaPDF to 4.0.92.261, LibXL to 4.4.0, openssl to 3.1.6, SQLAPI to 5.3.4 with DuckDB 1.0 support and SQLite to version 3.46.1.
See release notes for a complete list of changes.
17. September 2024 - Monkeybread Software veröffentlicht heute das MBS FileMaker Plugin für Claris FileMaker in Version 14.4, mit inzwischen über 7400 Funktionen eines der größten FileMaker Plugins überhaupt. Hier einige der Neuerungen:
Wir haben ein paar praktische Funktionen, um Datenbankoperationen durchzuführen und Datensätze als JSON zu übergeben. Verwenden Sie JSON.InsertRecord, um einen neuen Datensatz zu erstellen und Werte für Felder als JSON zu übergeben. Unser Plugin erkennt die Feldtypen und behandelt Dezimal-, Datums-, Zeit- und Zeitstempelfelder korrekt.
Sie können einen Datensatz mit der Funktion JSON.UpdateRecord aktualisieren und die neuen Feldwerte sowie den Primärschlüssel übergeben, um den Datensatz zu finden. Verwenden Sie JSON.UpdateRecords, um mehrere Datensätze zu aktualisieren. Die Funktion JSON.InsertOrUpdateRecord geht noch einen Schritt weiter und aktualisiert einen vorhandenen Datensatz. Wenn kein Datensatz vorhanden ist, wird ein neuer Datensatz erstellt. Und schließlich können Sie einen Datensatz mit der Funktion JSON.DeleteRecord oder mehrere Datensätze mit der Funktion JSON.DeleteRecords löschen.
Die Tidy-Bibliothek ermöglicht es uns, sowohl XML als auch HTML zu bereinigen und zu reparieren. Die Funktion XML.Tidy bereinigt XML. Und die Funktion Text.Tidy kann zusätzlich HTML reparieren. Wenn Sie HTML parsen müssen, verwenden Sie bitte die Funktion Text.HTMLtoJSON, um HTML in JSON zu konvertieren und dann das JSON zu verarbeiten.
Verwenden Sie DynaPDF.CreateExtGState, um einen erweiterte Grafikstatus zu erstellen. Setzen Sie ihn mit der Funktion DynaPDF.SetExtGState, um Transparenz in Vektorgrafiken zu verwenden, Überdrucken und Rendering Intent zu steuern. Wir können URL-Aktionen erstellen, damit eine Schaltfläche eine URL öffnet. Sie können Verschlüsselungsinformationen für eine Datei abfragen und prüfen, ob ein Passwort gültig ist.
Verwenden Sie MongoDB.CursorRecords um ein JSON für alle gefundenen Datensätze abzufragen. Die Funktion MongoDB.ReplaceOne akzeptiert Optionen und wir haben die MongoDB-Protokollierung verbessert.
Unter macOS können Sie die Tastenkombination Befehl-Option-Shift-F im Layout Modus verwenden, um zum Objektsuchfeld zu springen. Mit SyntaxColoring.AutoCompleteVariables.SetLocals können Sie eine Liste von Variablen festlegen, die beim Auto Complete immer angezeigt werden. Und der Dialog zur Angabe eines Feldes zeigt den Feldtyp in einem Tooltip an.
Die XL-Funktionen können nun Druckereinstellungen und VBA-Skripte aus einem Excel-Dokument entfernen. Mit der Funktion FM.FieldStatistics können Sie Größenstatistiken für ein Feld in einer Tabelle über alle Datensätze abfragen. Die Funktion Python.RunFile ermöglicht die Ausführung eines Python-Skripts von der Festplatte.
Schließlich haben wir CURL auf Version 8.10.0, DynaPDF auf 4.0.92.261, LibXL auf 4.4.0, openssl auf 3.1.6, SQLAPI auf 5.3.4 mit DuckDB 1.0 Unterstützung und SQLite auf Version 3.46.1 aktualisiert.
Alle Änderungen in den Release Notes.
When it comes to handling PDF documents, FileMaker developers have a robust ally in DynaPDF and the MBS FileMaker Plugin. This powerful combination opens up a world of possibilities for creating, modifying, and managing PDF files directly within your FileMaker solutions. Let’s dive into the key capabilities that DynaPDF and the MBS FileMaker Plugin bring to the table.
For each point we can link to the relevant functions and on the documentation pages, you find listed examples and further blog articles.
1. Create PDFs from Scratch
With DynaPDF and the MBS FileMaker Plugin, you can effortlessly generate PDF files directly from FileMaker. Whether you need to create a professional invoice, a custom report, or any other document, you have full control over the layout and content. You can incorporate text, images, and graphics to design documents that align perfectly with your needs. This functionality allows for seamless integration of data from FileMaker into beautifully formatted PDFs.
See DynaPDF.New and then DynaPDF.AppendPage to add pages.
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We recently got the 60th live stream on
FMTraining.tv with Christian Schmitz talking about MBS Plugin for FileMaker. Richard and his team even prepared a cake for this event. 60 sessions in about 3 years is a lot and we like to have more in the future.
Watch the cake being presented on
YouTube
Regularly we make new live streams talking about new MBS Plugin versions and Q&A sessions. But we like to get ideas for new topics to make separate special live streams. These can show examples and do live coding, which also shows how we debug issues on the way.
Please let us know what topics you like to see coming up!
Claris Inc. announced that the registration is open for the 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 $1099 USD for very early bird tickets to later $1850 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. If Claris doesn't organize something, we and others may step in and make a reservation.
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Vom 1. bis 4. Oktober 2024 findet die nächste deutschsprachige FileMaker Konferenz in Malbun, Liechtenstein statt. Einige Tickets für die Konferenz sind noch zu haben.
Monkeybread Software ist als Sponsor mit Stand und Session vor Ort. Bitte kommen Sie mit Ihren Fragen vorbei!
Wir planen 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 auf den Sareis zum Bergrestaurant. Der genaue Weg wird kurzfristig je nach Wetter und Öffnungszeiten vom Ziel entschieden. Los geht es gegen 10 Uhr, damit wir rechtzeitig vor dem Apero zurück sind.
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Claris Inc. is looking for a new product manager:
Senior Product Manager – Claris
While it is fascinating to get a look into the job definition, salary, benefits and responsibilities of this job, I wonder what is going on at Claris?
In the last years we saw quite a bit of change at Claris with people leaving and new people arriving. But with everyone going or retiring, there is a brain drain. It seems to be difficult to retain people in Silicon Valley and keep them for more than a few years. But to execute on a strategy in the long run, you need to keep people for a decade or longer.
For this job offer, I wonder whether this is a new position for something new at Claris or if they replace someone, who may have or need to leave. Maybe someone can share?
Reading the job offer, I wonder if people could do this remotely, since Silicon Valley is an expensive place to live. The job offer doesn't specify where you work, just Sunnyvale on the top, where Claris Inc. has their office. If I remember correctly Apple asks for 3 days per week in the office, but not sure whether this applies here.
Claris has some more job offers, if you like to work there:
jobs.apple.com
New in this prerelease of version 14.4 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.
