Community Videos, Tips, & Techniques, Articles.

This forum is ONLY for articles, tips & techniques - NOT for asking questions about FileMaker For all other support requests please choose ANOTHER forum that best applies to your post. ATTACHING A SAMPLE SOLUTION? PLEASE READ!!! If you are planning on including a sample solution you may be better suited to submit this to the Marketplace section of the site http://fmforums.com/files once you do post the file your a post will be automatically be placed here, as a reference and link back to your file. - Thank You.

Have you seen all the entries for the 2025 advent calendar? 24 articles to highlight various MBS Plugin SQL features: Introduction SQL with FileMaker's own functions FM.ExecuteFileSQL FM.SQL.Executeand life in the matrix Count your field and rows Joins Precise entries and their types Error handling Totals and averages Minimum and Maximum Adding records UNION Last SQL SQL and JSON Information about tables and base tables Delete Compare tables Update CSV and TSV Copying records to a new table with SQL XML Table statistics Dictionary Insert or Update You can download the example file here: Christmas2025.fmp12.zip and the complete pdf here. From two years ago, the advent cale…

Since macOS 26 (and iOS 26) you can use the Translate framework to perform on-device translation services. You can use this with the upcoming MBS FileMaker Plugin 16.0, currently in beta test. We also back ported it to macOS 15 and iOS 18 for most of the functionality. Available?First you may check whether the translation services are available. This basically checks only for whether you have macOS or iOS. If [ MBS( "Translation.Available" ) = 1 ] Show Custom Dialog [ "Translation is available" ] Else Show Custom Dialog [ "Translation is not available" ] End If Supported LanguagesNext you could ask for the list of supported language. Currently this list contains:…

There is a new feature in development for MBS Plugin and you can see it 16.0pr6 (see announcement here). We add the possibility to search in all scripts in the script workspace and find things. For this we add a new search button (magnifier glass) to the toolbar on macOS on the right: As well as on Windows with a regular button: We even got a fancy tooltip to explain the button. When you click the button, we take a snapshot of the current scripts in the window. Then we open a search window and pass the scripts. This may take a few seconds (or a minute for huge databases). Once the snapshot is loaded in the search window, you can start searching: As you see we show you …

David Simpson from .com Solutions inc. will be joining us tomorrow at 1PM Pacific to wrap up the week! Join us to learn about his FmPro Migrator tool, an application that migrates FileMaker data to MySQL, Oracle and more! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=6026785670275365286707543300878934302635346438760846791404 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

For the old year, we can check our statistics on the FileMaker Servers. The share of Linux continues to raise. In August 2023 Linux overtook Windows, then in July 2024 the Linux share crossed to over 50%. Now we are at about 80%. If we continue with that adoption, I'd expect Linux to be at 90% end of 2026 and Claris can retired the MacOS and Windows servers in the next years. You all vote withy your wallet, so no complains please. Of course this assumes that Claris sees similar statistics. Here is a graphics for the OS share: The versions are also of interest. For me to know what FileMaker versions to support. Since 2023 got end-of-live mark in December, it may not …

Large FileMaker files don’t just take up disk space, they also hurt performance. HOnza and Vince join us tomorrow at 1PM Pacific to discuss what exactly is making your Database so large, and how you can go about fixing it. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4615701423739033019151864781774264928728273284277388678184 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

We have been using GraphicsMagick functions for years to draw some text, but we can do the same in DynaPDF. We draw text in a new PDF document and then render it as image without ever saving the PDF document. We can even use transparency and render the PDF with alpha channel and save as PNG image. Our first example places some text on the PDF page using the DynaPDF.WriteStyledTextEx function. This function can take text with styles from a field in FileMaker (or variable) and draw it into the PDF. The styles are converted for DyynaPDF's format commands. The text is wrapped to the desired width of 300 points and we use justify for alignment. After the text is drawn, w…

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…

Over the last years we had various instructions to install MBS Plugin on a FileMaker Server. Today we have a new way: an installation script wininstall.ps1 (and wininstall.bat). This script downloads the MBS Plugin and install it. We put a lot of effort into making this secure and verify that the plugin is correct one. Especially we try to avoid installing the Windows plugin on Linux/macOS by accident, avoid installing the wrong plugin if we mixed them up server side, avoid installing a half downloaded plugin or an error page. This script is to help Windows administrators and we may improve it based on your feedback. How to useYou can copy and paste these commands to th…

Over the last years we had various instructions to install MBS Plugin on a FileMaker Server. Today we have a new way: an installation script macinstall.sh. This script downloads the MBS Plugin and install it. We put a lot of effort into making this secure and verify that the plugin is correct one. Especially we try to avoid installing the macOS plugin on Linux/Windows by accident, avoid installing the wrong plugin if we mixed them up server side, avoid installing a half downloaded plugin or an error page. This script is to help macOS Server administrators and we may improve it based on your feedback. How to useYou can copy and paste these commands to the Terminal shell:…

Happy New Year and Welcome Back! We’re excited to kick off a new year of Claris FileMaker LiveStreams with you all. Whether you’re a beginner or advanced developer, thank you for being part of our community. Find the LiveStream schedule here: www.FMTraining.TV [email protected] www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Over the last years we had various instructions to install MBS Plugin on a FileMaker Server. Today we have a new way: an installation script linuxinstall.sh. This script downloads the MBS Plugin and install it. We put a lot of effort into making this secure and verify that the plugin is correct one. Especially we try to avoid installing the Linux plugin on macOS/Windows by accident, avoid installing the wrong plugin if we mixed them up server side, avoid installing a half downloaded plugin or an error page. This script is to help Linux administrators and we may improve it based on your feedback. How to useYou can copy and paste these commands to the linux shell: curl -L…

Today we start with the first door of this year's MBS Advent calendar. This year, we have come up with a themed Advent calendar for you. Over the next 24 doors, you will learn how to work with SQL within a FileMaker database using MBS functions. So let's start today with the question: What is SQL in general, and what can I use it for? SQL stands for Structured Query Language and refers to a language that can be used to query, modify, create, and delete data in a relational database. SQL can be used to work with a wide variety of databases, including MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL. SQL can also be used in FileMaker. On the one hand, it allows you to …

Take a peek "under-the-hood" of the FileMaker clipboard with the free & open source FmPro Clipboard Explorer tool. David Simpson will be on the LiveStream tomorrow at 1PM Pacific demonstrating this tool! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=495661514766752980690354672953568611317873750248136845758 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

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 show what is new in the MBS Plugin version 15.5: Announcement, Release Notes, New Functions. More videos FileMaker MonkeyBread Plug-in 15.5 Update FileMaker MBS Plug-in Q&A FileMaker MonkeyBread Plug-in 15.4 Update Make iOS Apps with the FileMaker App SDK & the MonkeyBread Plug-in FileMaker MBS Plug-in Q&A FileMaker Monkeybread P…

We asked for the audience to send in their files, and now Nick will tackle them live! We will discuss performance, UI, UX, scripting improvements, and more in this fun mini series. Day 1 starts today at 1PM Pacific, register here: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=2913817218533961339393787127949237070258584801585468836792 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

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. This time we had multiple topics and they cut it into nine videos: LibXL for Excel XML Functions Digital Signatures Container Rotate Image Send Email Update Plugin Apple Store Schema Tracking More videos FileMaker Monkeybread Plug-in Q&A FileMaker MonkeyBread Plug-in 15.4 Update Make iOS Apps with the …

With every new release of Claris FileMaker, the question “Should I upgrade my FileMaker?” always comes up. Join us today at 1PM Pacific with Jacob Taylor to learn the pros and cons of upgrading! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=2939729500321978179620389267970113814430779067563588288657 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Vince Menanno and HOnza Koudelka join us tomorrow, at 1PM Pacific, to demonstrate how layout design can impact your FileMaker solution’s performance. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=5366438444646323605001286894857925206178902699465842805809 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

In this article we want to introduce you the new functions from the MBS FileMaker Plugin in version 15.5. Schema Change With the new SchemaChange functions, you can monitor changes to the schema on the server and, when changes occur, log them in a table, for example, or send an email notification. In order for things to be changed on the server, we must activate this monitoring once with SchemaChange.Enable. With SchemaChange.Changes, we can then query the changes, which are then delivered to us as JSON. You may have a scheduled script running on the server to react to changes. The SchemaChange.TimeStamp function, which provides the last change time, is helpful h…

As you may know Americans love to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year Black Friday is 28th November. About half our customers are in North America, so we are happy to offer you a discount if you buy this weekend. Please use coupon code BlackFriday for the web shop with 20% off for new licenses of MBS Plugins, DynaPDF, Saxon and LibXL. Order MBS FileMaker Plugin Order LibXL Renewals are already offered with discount (usually 50%) compared to new purchases and and our academic prices already have a discount, too. If you like, you can email us to get an order link for all licenses you need or provide an invoice if needed. Especially if you like to…

Rick Kalman from Claris stopped by the LiveStream last week to talk about the latest Claris FileMaker Pro and Go release - 22.0.4. Check out the recording to learn more: https://youtu.be/d7zc8o9n61g [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Do you have a FileMaker Server with multiple databases? Do you like to keep track who makes changes? With FileMaker Server 21.1 the Plugin SDK got a new entry point for requesting schema changes. This provides a way for the plugin to be notified about changes to any of the databases on the server. With changes to the schema, we mean changes for these catalogs: custom function custom menu set data source extended privilege field layout privilege set script table table alias theme user account value list There may be more catalogs. Whenever one is these catalogs is touched,…

The live recording of the MBS FileMaker Plugin Presentation at the EngageU conference in Malmö, Antwerp, Belgium in November 2025. Christian summarizes what is new in the plugin for 2025. Watch on YouTube. Let us know if you have questions. The official recording from the conference will come in the next months and have a better quality for the video and audio. More conferences coming up for next year including EngageU 2026, probably in November in Malmö.

"The new open source FmPro Clipboard Explorer manages FileMaker Pro's clipboard data, easing AI-generated script import into the Script Workspace." David Simpson joins us tomorrow at 1PM Pacific to demo this free tool! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=613522345848769014699126518793897090358166123306846899904 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Kick off the week with Nick Hunter, today at 1PM Pacific, for a 3-day mini-series on the latest FileMaker AI toolkit: Perform Find by Natural Language. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=3147857856343244360048943425454407298956192726133263512790 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Introducing CWP Snippets, a way to bridge the gap between your FileMaker database and your WordPress website. Learn more with Ron Glen Cates, tomorrow at 1PM Pacific. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=3417391807086447578791612615928142544695744455960139582875 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Public Service Announcement: Before updating to the latest Operating System, verify that the new OS is fully compatible with FileMaker. Watch the video to learn more! [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

We’re going back to the basics and covering Claris FileMaker WebDirect from a Beginner view point: Friday (11/7): Overview, Planning & Licensing (Register: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4005292776304891489098392226917132152881203942450097695492) Monday (11/10): Design Basics and Strategies for Performance (Register: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4984963331399790103801937832716456592541524262647336059674) [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

As a developer, it’s nice to have some tricks up your sleeve. Join Kevin Frank tomorrow at 1PM Pacific to learn some helpful FileMaker Tips, Tricks & Hacks! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=282503497134853141078388619807912424280284051357637346980 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

If you like to remove sensitive text from a PDF file in FileMaker, you can use the DynaPDF functions. We have parser functions to find text on a page, delete the text and we can draw a black bar on top of the word. Let’s go through the script part by part. First you need to initialise DynaPDF once. This can happen early in the start script of your solution or later in the first script needing DynaPDF. Next we create a new PDF environment and open an existing PDF from a container. Then we import the first page to edit it. You could of course use DynaPDF.ImportPDFFile instead to import the whole PDF file and then later make a loop over the page…

After installing the MBS FileMaker Plugin, register it to unlock licensed features and remove the trial dialogs. There are four ways to register — pick the one that fits your workflow. Ways to register 1) Preferences dialog — manual entry (macOS & Windows) Open the MBS plugin preferences and enter the five registration fields manually: Menu to open preferences macOS: FileMaker Pro → Preferences… → Plug-Ins → MBS Plugin → Configure… Windows: Edit → Preferences… → Plug-Ins → MBS Plugin → Configure… Fill the fields like this (copy & paste each value into the corresponding field) from the email: N…

You may have a license for our MBS FileMaker Plugin, so you may be interested to use more XML features. Since FileMaker has only built-in XSLT 1.0, you may enjoy the enhancements of XSLT 3.0 with way more options. You can use the Saxon library in your projects with MBS Plugin to work on XML: XSLT 3.0 for transformations XQuery 3.1 for queries XSD 1.1 for document validation XPath 3.1 for navigation within documents See our Saxon functions in the documentation. You can get a Pro or Enterprise Validation license from us. If you implement ZUGFeRD, X-Rechnung or Factur-X for electrical invoices, you can use Saxon funct…

Wrap up your week with an open FileMaker Server Q&A with Jacob Taylor tomorrow at 1 PM Pacific! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=2292055175277459201606614769905326119428464976622283348119 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

[Full Access], the Claris FileMaker unconference, is happening this week and FMTV will be there streaming live! Tune in at 1 PM Pacific the next couple days to see what’s happening. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=1868768312048561157426345823769403715508807486614784356457 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

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. First there is a talk from Rick Kalman about the new standby server feature in testing. Then in our Q&A we talk about various topics including DynaPDF.WebLink function and the Events functions for creating events and reminders in your calendar. Later we use WebView functions to click buttons on a webpage. More videos FileMaker Monkeybread Plug-in Q&A FileMaker…

Learn to program AI to deliver customer-facing value with FileMaker in this 2-day event, starting tomorrow at 1PM Pacific! Richard Carlton and Todd Geist will be installing ProofChat into FM Starting Point. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=1203375388269791762235429752896937515487185575279634077533 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Did you know Claris FIleMaker 25 introduced a new technique to rebuild Found Sets? Join Nick Hunter tomorrow at 1PM Pacific to learn more! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=5342338236600112354363867333281995911919208800946107603516 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Did you know that macOS 26 (and iOS 26) come with a small local LLM from Apple? Since it runs local there is no cost involved and no network access. So why not tap into this resource when available to enhance your FileMaker solution? You could use the LLM for: Generate text based on key words Summarize texts Tone editing to make some text sound more professional. Translate text With the FoundationModels functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin, you can load a model and send in requests. Let us show you a sample script: Set Variable [ $session ; Value: MBS("FoundationModels.Initialize"; "General"; "Permis…

Starting TODAY at 1PM Pacific, Nick Hunter joins us for a 2-day event on FileMaker and AI! Join us to learn how to use AI as your FileMaker development assistant. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=5594979929973845877280728529303081816735953813548157730645 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Learn to fully unlock the potential of the MonkeyBread Plugin at this Open Q&A with Christian Schmitz. Join us tomorrow at 1PM Pacific and bring all your MBS questions! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=278604996305661365893724563660769978069660413867262379153 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

If you enjoyed Kevin Frank’s first set of Hacks, Tips, Tricks and Traps for the Claris FileMaker platform, we have some good news for you! Kevin Frank returns tomorrow at 1PM Pacific for more Tips and Tricks. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4712259903414522377694130965057304981623121003939816910722 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Fall into October with Nick Hunter at 1PM Pacific tomorrow for a LiveStream on FileMaker Custom Portal Sorting. Learn how to build powerful custom sorting systems using calculation fields and the GetField() function. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=6178913632030564618894122949409974799942034659026623464682 Review Us on Google: https://bit.ly/fmtrainingreview

When using DynaPDF in FileMaker with MBS FileMaker Plugin, you can set the draw mode with the DynaPDF.SetTextDrawMode function. Each mode has one of three flags set: Whether to draw the outline of the glyphs. Whether to fill the outline of the glyphs. Whether to apply the outline as clipping path. The text draw mode specifies how text should be rendered. Texts can be used as clipping paths such as normal vector graphics; however, the usage is not the same. To use a text as clipping path save the graphics state, set the text draw mode to a clipping mode, paint the objects which should be clipped into the path and restore the graphics state. …

Todd Geist returns tomorrow at 1PM Pacific for a second LiveStream. Prepare to have your mind blown as he integrates ProofChat, an AI Chat, into FM Starting Point! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=5277103645346767236812383848009979615231018758919751640162 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Todd Geist joins us tomorrow at 1PM Pacific to show OttoFMS’s new built in MCP Servers. Learn how you can integrate Claude, Goose n8n and other AI powered tools! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4114019408577786491576928477446982161377737422177523043953 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

In this article we want to introduce you the new functions from the MBS FileMaker Plugin in version 15.4. Plugin In the last release, we talked about the possibility of registering FileMaker functions and script steps so that they can be used across multiple FileMaker databases. In the latest release, the functions for registering functions and script steps were added. To allow you to unregister them again, we have added the new functions Plugin.UnregisterFunction and Plugin.UnregisterScriptStep. You can now register functions to use JavaScript for the implementation. That may provide bigger performance for certain functions like processing JSON. see a…

As a FileMaker beginner, you just want your code to work but what is the next step? Join Nick Hunter tomorrow at 1 PM Pacific for a 2-day LiveStream on designing your code for performance optimization. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=3390670248117134898007179752425715105669974475361243719123 Review Us on Google: https://bit.ly/fmtrainingreview

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 show what is new in the MBS Plugin version 15.4: Announcement, Release Notes, New Functions. More videos FileMaker MonkeyBread Plug-in 15.4 Update Make iOS Apps with the FileMaker App SDK & the MonkeyBread Plug-in FileMaker MBS Plug-in Q&A FileMaker Monkeybread Plugin 15.3 Release with Christian Schmitz MonkeyBread Plug-in Open Q&A wit…

If you need to read RFID cards in your FileMaker solution, you can use the Phidgets functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin and a PhidgetRFID device. You may start with one of our examples, like the one for temperature sensors. There you load the phidget library for the platform you are on. The call for Phidget.Create is modified to pass "RFID" as device type. Then you may connect script triggers for attachment of the device and call Phidget.Open function to open a connection. Set Variable [ $$phidget ; Value: MBS( "Phidget.Create"; "RFID" ) ] Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS( "Phidget.SetScriptTrigger"; $$phidget; "Attach"; Get(FileName); "Attached" ) ] Set Variable…

How your data is displayed can sometimes be just as important as the data itself. Join Nick Hunter tomorrow at 1PM Pacific to learn how to reverse sort numbers in FileMaker with custom functions. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=2099016503798473243070167751415463584874008570215252841011 Review Us on Google: https://bit.ly/fmtrainingreview

Tomorrow’s LiveStream at 1PM Pacific: Jonathan Ray demonstrates how to render HTML as PDFs and insert those into FileMaker Containers! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=5042825844935272710900103351933941839571055460833318657329 Review Us on Google: https://bit.ly/fmtrainingreview

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 show you how to make an application with the FileMaker iOS SDK. This gives you a branded iOS app similar to FileMaker Go, but with your own name, icon and you can embed the MBS Plugin to run on the device. Your app can be configured to run on iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro or Mac. More videos Make iOS Apps with the FileMaker App SDK & the MonkeyBread Plug-in FileMake…

Wrap up the week with Christian Schmitz today at 1PM Pacific and learn all about the latest release of the MonkeyBread Plug-in! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=3497339787386606928281433512677594267945145635455846346506 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

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 answer functions about Shell, DynaPDF and CURL functions. We use SOAP UI to parse the wsdl file for Fedex web service to learn about how to use that with CURL. Then we check XML functions, talk about mounting file sharing drives with Files.Mount and talk about various ways to insert data via SQL functions. More videos FileMaker MBS Plug-in Q&A FileMaker Monkeyb…

Join Nick Hunter tomorrow (9/10) at 1PM Pacific for a LiveStream on the importance of commenting your code. Make sure your scripts and calculations are easier to understand, maintain, and debug both now and in the future. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=618003527084019410717017311309898407246124802836260188604 Review us on Google: https://bit.ly/fmtrainingreview

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 out the new plugin version 15.3: Announcement, New functions, News article. More videos FileMaker Monkeybread Plugin 15.3 Release with Christian Schmitz MonkeyBread Plug-in Open Q&A with Christian Schmitz The MonkeyBread Plug-in 15.2 Update with Christian Schmitz MonkeyBread Plug-in Open Q&A with Christian Schmitz The MonkeyBread Plu…

Did you know you can make an app for the Apple App store using FileMaker iOS App SDK (FIAS)? Join Christian Schmitz tomorrow (9/5) to learn more about how MonkeyBread can help. Register for this LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4740124821388592063401560649619763271346328231833326063734 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Which menu variation do you prefer? With MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.4 we have a feature to sort the menu for the part styles in addition to the menus for object styles. This helps people to find the style in the list by sorting them alphabetically. Not as impressive with a small menu, but once your solution grows and you have 20 or even 50 styles, this really helps!

We often need to collect data from the current found set, for example for interfacing with an API. Over the years several methods have been developed for such purpose, with differing levels of complexity. On many occasions the most convenient method to gather such data would be to use the ExecuteSQL() function. However, since SQL queries operate independently from the found set, this presents two obstacles: • reconstructing a complex find in SQL may be difficult and/or inefficient; • in some cases it is not possible to recreate the find at all since it was performed by the user - possibly even by omitting some records manually. The introduction of the Get…

You can copy and paste stuff in FileMaker: Layouts, script steps, scripts, custom functions, value lists, fields and table definitions. Each time FileMaker puts a XML on the clipboard, but you can't see it. It is kind of hidden, so FileMaker can find it for pasting. But you can't just paste it to your favorite text editor. With MBS Plugin 15.4 we change this. Our plugin monitors when FileMaker goes to back or comes to the front and updates the clipboard: If the clipboard has FileMaker's XML, we copy the XML into the text section, so you can paste it in a text editor. If the clipboard has text, which is valid XML for FileMaker, but not yet the section that F…

Have questions about the MonkeyBread Plug-in? Bring them to our Live Q&A with Christian Schmitz tomorrow (8/29) at 1PM Pacific and get them answered! Register for this LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=5596821672510236438838997538406536204005883658397647436838 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

With MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3 we allow you to dynamically register custom function via plugin functions. Yes, make your own functions on the fly and use them in all your database files. Instead of defining custom functions in FileMaker directly and then copying & pasting them to other files, you can store them in records and register them at startup. Each function gets the following: ID It needs an unique ID which is what FileMaker internally uses to find the function. Please use an ID >= 3 and assign them yourself to the functions. Name An unique name, which doesn't match a FileMaker function or an existing cus…

Last week HOnza and Vince Menanno joined for a quick lesson on “Go to List of Records”. They both return tomorrow (8/28) at 1PM Pacific for an advanced look at the new script step. Register for this LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=6267576476932978591550071579391940020942271731265061483761 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

One day of 360Works’ MirrorSync and FM StartingPoint wasn’t enough so Jesse Barnum is returning tomorrow (8/27) to continue the conversation! Join us to learn how you can sync offline FileMaker solutions. Register for this LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=1421077929525970110963523311304743939349612646002104209874 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Rick Kalman, from Claris, is back with more exciting Claris FileMaker 2025 news! Check out this recording to learn about the latest FileMaker Pro and Go updates. You can also read the release notes here: https://help.claris.com/en/pro-release-notes/content/index.html [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

MirrorSync from 360Works allows you to sync offline FileMaker solutions and now the MS scripts and layouts are pre-setup in FM Starting Point. All you have to do is buy a license and sync. Join Jesse Barnum tomorrow (8/22) to learn more! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4237816003638079921512569608244313097543825304657759769246 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

HOnza and Vince Menanno join us tomorrow (8/21) for a quick lesson on the new “Go to List of Records” script step! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=2380428552311183387876352322730974339446991906129377810219 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

“Using InspectorPro, FileMaker developers can analyze their solutions to gain insight into performance” and it is now FREE! Vince Menanno joins us today (8/19) for a two-day breakdown of InspectorPro 9. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=2791064889353062958575603871484874152766413622727582322698 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

For MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3 we added iOS support to the ListDialog functions in addition to MacOS and Windows. You can just use it anywhere in a script or calculation to have the user pick something from a list. For example you can fill the list with a text field holding all options. or you use SQL to either go over values in a table to collect them (with distinct option) or you use FileMaker_ValueLists in SQL to query a value list content. Here a small example script: Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ListDialog.Reset") ] Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ListDialog.SetPrompt"; "Please select your country:") ] Set Variable [ $r ; Value: MBS("ListDialog.Se…

Todd Geist is back for a full week of Claris FileMaker 2025 and AI! Register for Day1: Basic Concepts: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=2703023610114211989425823178566511211135935067408397617467 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Claris Inc. rolled out two FileMaker Server updates this week! Check out this recording of Rick Kalman, from Claris, who hopped on our LiveStream to give the latest update. You can also read the release notes here: https://help.claris.com/en/server-release-notes/content/index.html. [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

With over 7,700 functions that allow Claris FileMaker developers to extend their solutions, the MonkeyBread Plug-in is an amazing tool. Join Christian Schmitz tomorrow (8/15) to learn about the latest MBS 15.3 release! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=5523573893077451445972837622030260322432735770232146782526 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

HOnza returns tomorrow (8/14) for a Claris FileMaker 2025 performance breakdown! Learn about the insights and results from his latest performance tests, including the JSON functions. Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=3784146308619509647360503524270883034794388641142932231246 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Nick Hunter returns with a two day LiveStream on FileMaker schema naming conventions. We’ll be covering best practices for naming Tables, Fields, and Table Occurrences! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4509108042210648732751639990558475401547226119740700517966 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

For the next version we include round corners for the iOS SDK with the Window.SetRoundCorners function in MBS FileMaker Plugin. You can call Window.SetRoundCorners just after showing the card window. Our plugin will look for the top most card window and apply the corners. Since there may be a short delay before FileMaker actually creates the card and shows it, we need to wait a bit. In our sample script, we perform a short script pause. Then even if FileMaker animates the card, the plugin can find it and apply the corners. Here is a sample script for iOS: New Window [ Style: Card ; Name: "test" ; Using layout: “PlaceHolder” ] Pause/Resume Script [ Du…

Did you know, that our variable auto completion works directly inside the Script Workspace within a line? And you can define the variables with "Set Variable" or within comment lines. See also Auto Complete variables and functions

FM BetterForms allows FileMaker developers to connect their solutions to the web. Charles Delfs (FM BetterForms Founder) joins us this entire week to demonstrate how! Register for Day 1, Intro to Web Apps: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4620076124158292796941918363615500960486037618259855232942 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

In this article we want to introduce you the new functions from the MBS FileMaker Plugin in version 15.3. SQL First of all, I would like to introduce you to the new features for SQL. A very interesting function is the SQL.InternalSQLiteLibrary.Dump function. This function convert an SQLite database into UTF-8 text SQL statements that will exactly recreate that original database. We also have new functions that allow you to activate extensions within SQLite. With SQL.InternalSQLiteLibrary.SetBase64ExtensionEnabled you can enable the base64 extensions to convert (binary) blobs and base64 text into each other. You can also use SQL.InternalSQLiteLibrary.SetCSVEx…

Did you notice that stepping in the debugger in FileMaker scrolls to show the current line? We think it would be better to show you the next few lines, so with MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3 we adjust the scrolling and reveal a few more line. This feature automatically kicks in on macOS if you install the new plugin. We scroll about 3 rows up or down. If you don't like it, you can turn it off with the SyntaxColoring.DebuggerScrolling.SetEnabled function.

Recently we had an user asking how much disk I/O certain script steps cause and whether we can see how much FileMaker writes or reads from disk. In MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3 we added a new SystemInfo.AppResourceUsageStatistics function for macOS to query various statistics and return them as JSON. You can query: CPU Time Memory usage Neural engine memory Instruction counters Energy use Disk i/O Wakeups Pageing counters We can take a direct look on the statistics before doing an action and after the action. We see directly the CPU time spend for how many instructions, the memory allocated and whatever disk …

This may change how you write scripts. Your longer scripts may now have an index on top with goto: URLs jumping to specific lines. The goto:start and goto:end links may help to jump to start or end of the script. And script: links may jump to a different script. And a search: link may do a search in the script and jump to a different line like a section of the script. Let's start with script links. You put in the script name after the script: prefix. The plugin will read the name, decode percent escaped sequences and looks for a script in same file with the given name to show it. If you have special characters in the script name, please use GetAsURLEncoded() f…

In case you missed it, Wim Decorte has joined us for a week of AI on FileMaker Server with Claris FileMaker 2025. Today is Day 2 and we’ll be covering types of models! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4210962530076068049077341935697653854136383729059115080228 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

Did you know, that FileMaker allows you to move lines up and down in ScriptWorkspace with cursor keys while control key is pressed? Pick a line and press down the control key and simultaneously press up or down cursor key. This moves the selected lines in Script Workspace up or down by one line. For MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3, we add the same feature for the calculation editor on macOS. Just hold down the control key and press cursor up/down to move the current selected rows by one row up and down. This feature is enabled by default on macOS and so far it seems to work fine for our clients. Please try it! Shortcuts for calculation editor …

In MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3 we have a Format button on macOS for the data viewer's detail view. If the data is XML or JSON, we can use the format and colorize functions: JSON.Format & JSON.Colorize, XML.Format & XML.Colorize. Let's say you have some variables in the data viewer with XML or JSON content. When you double click the text, you get a new window showing the detail. Here we find the Format button added by MBS Plugin. Press the button and it will format the content: If we get a parse error or the content is not XML/JSON, we beep. If you click OK, the fo…

Don’t miss this! Claris Engineering joins us today (7/16) for a 3 day deep dive on FileMaker 2025! Lucy Chen, Wade Ju and Clay Maeckel start us off today at 1PM Pacific. Register here: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=4406479901408074645562189504814393564030761829183247793771 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

The Claris FileMaker 2025 fun continues! Today at 1PM Pacific we’ll be holding a Q&A for Claris Studio and Claris Connect. More LiveStreams coming this week. Register: https://bit.ly/fm25_fmtv_bulk Claris will be bringing their Community Live events in for a landing tomorrow (7/15) at 8AM Pacific. Don’t miss out! Register: https://bit.ly/fm25_claris_bulk

You can check the system requirements for FileMaker Pro and Server on the Claris website. In general there are two sides: First you install FileMaker software on a supported OS to receive support in case something doesn't work. On the other side, you may still use an older computer with an older operation system. Eventually you may need to upgrade the computers and OS as you want to get security fixes and not loose your valuable data to some malware attack. FileMaker Pro FileMaker Pro operating system requirements FileMaker Pro for macOS is listed to work on macOS 14 and macOS 15. But FileMaker 2024 and 2025 launches and operates fine on macOS 13.…

Since FileMaker 2025, you have a quick and easy function to extract text from PDF files in containers: GetTextFromPDF ( container ) You can call it and quick and easy get some text. Great, but what runs under the hood? For macOS and iOS we expect Claris to use PDFKit functions built-in to macOS. So it should return the same as our PDFKit.GetPDFText function. For Windows and Linux, the system doesn't come with a PDF library, so FileMaker brings pdfium library. This is the one used by Chromium and it can do text extraction. Since Claris uses a different libraries, you may not get the exact same output on both. There will be differences in the…

FileMaker 2025 (v22.0) comes with improved tools. When you install FileMaker Server, you find these tools in the /FileMaker Server/Database Server/bin folder. FMUpgradeTool A command-line utility (developer preview) for applying schema, layout, or script changes to a FileMaker Pro .fmp12 file without affecting the data. It uses XML-based patch files to modify an existing file (the source) and generate an updated version (the destination). Common use cases include delivering critical bug fixes, applying temporary debug patches, or making small enhancements between full app releases. It does not support migrating or altering record data. Best used for lightweight…

Claris released today FileMaker 2025 in version 22.0.1. Works fine with MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.2. You get a few cool new things. Let me point to a few highlights: Artificial Intelligence The new version embraces AI with providing a model server within FileMaker Server. You can install various models using the Miniforge project. Then you can have the server use embeddings to perform semantic search in server scripts. Linux support FileMaker Server supports Ubuntu 24 for Linux in addition to version 22. Please consider moving your FileMaker Server to Linux, if you haven't yet. Upgraded SQL engine …

Claris FileMaker 2025 is here and we have 4 weeks of livestream content! RC and Rick Kalman kick it off today with an overview at 1PM Pacific. Register here: https://bit.ly/fm25_fmtv_bulk Starting tomorrow (7/9) at 8AM Pacific, Claris will start a series of Claris Community Live events for this latest release. Register here: https://bit.ly/fm25_claris_bulk

Starting on July 8th, Claris staff and community leaders will be joining us for multiple LiveStreams on the Claris FileMaker 2025 platform! Find the list of LiveStreams and bulk register here: https://fmtraining.tv/register_bulk.php?eventid=5492522896098769845435058504559314874436564574939744775805 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

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. A question and answer round for the MBS FileMaker Plugin. We talk about automatically installing the plugin with scripts. The we check DynaPDF functions to merge PDFs and convert HEIF/HEIC images to add them to the PDF. We render PDF pages and generate barcodes. A PDF form gets build, filled with data and exported. The user updates data and we import the changes back to FileMaker. We check to…

Recently we had the idea that we could draw charts ourselves with the GraphicsMagick functions. It's more a fun project, but I was able to draw a simple bar chart with a few drawing commands. We use a few filled rectangles to draw bars and calculate them on the fly in the while loop. Let ( [ We start here with a few values. You could of course pass them as parameters in a custom function. But for the example we just pass some example data: cities = List ( "Hamburg" ; "Berlin" ; "Munich" ; "Cologne" ) ; values = List ( 1800000 ; 3700000 ; 1500000 ; 1100000 ) ; And we define a color palette to pick the colors for…

Sometimes you may have a project where you need to output bidirectional text. If you output any of the following languages, you may need to think about how to handle the right to left direction: Arabic Aramaic Azeri Dhivehi/Maldivian Hebrew Kurdish (Sorani) Persian/Farsi Urdu When you use DynaPDF in FileMaker with MBS FileMaker Plugin, you can use the DynaPDF.SetBidiMode function to enable bidirectional mode and set it to RightToLeft layout. Of course you need to load a font with unicode code page to have it cover all the characters. The bidi algorithm makes sure you can mix left to right and right to left text withi…

A couple weeks ago we had Todd Geist join us for a week of OttoFMS. Today at 1PM Pacific, we’ll have Richard and Jacob attempting their own OttoFMS deploy (without adult supervision)! Register for the LiveStream: https://fmtraining.tv/register.php?eventid=3876557265812261929464853932319854139565507419367665785512 [email protected] www.FMTraining.TV www.FMStartingPoint.com www.rcconsulting.com

When you build a mail solution using our CURL functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin, you may use sample code to do an IMAP upload. Commonly you use this to upload an email to the Sent folder when you sent it via SMTP. New in version 15.2 is the CURL.SetOptionUploadFlags function to pass the flags for uploads. In older CURL versions there was a default to set seen flag, but now you can and shouuld control it. For example we can use this to set the seen flag for an email, when we upload it to the sent folder, so it doesn't appear as a new email. Or you can set the Flagged flag value to mark the email as flagged. Here is the list of the flags: …

Did you know that you can use JSON in our Saxon functions? Originally Saxon is a XML library, but it can take JSON as input in various queries. The queries internally work with maps and arrays and these can be filled by JSON. Let us show you how to use JSON for Saxon.XPathQuery and Saxon.XQuery functions: Saxon.XPathQuery XPathQuery (commonly called XPath) is a language used to navigate and select nodes from an XML document using path-like expressions. It's often used within XSLT, XQuery, and XML-processing tools to pinpoint data locations efficiently. We can use the Saxon.XPathQuery function in MBS FileMaker Plugin to run XPath queries directly i…