[ANN] 360Works Plugins: FileMaker 16 Compatibility and New Platform

[360Works]

360Works Plugins: FileMaker 16 Compatibility and New Platform

 

FileMaker 16 is here, and we are ready for this exciting update. At 360Works, we strive to provide the best possible service and support to our customers and to always keep our products compatible and flexible.

New 360Works Plugin Platform: Major Version Update 

We are excited to announce that we have a brand new major version update for 360Works plugins! With this new release of FileMaker 16, the plugin architecture has been significantly improved, and 360Works has taken advantage of all those new capabilities with this upgrade. 

The new 360Works plugin platform will utilize the new features in FileMaker 16 such as better error reporting, calling plugin functions as script steps, and support for enumerated lists. The new platform will now explicitly control the life cycle of the plugin running it as a separate process from FileMaker, which results in plugins being reliably unloaded, making it possible to auto-update without restarting FileMaker and reducing the chance of FileMaker crashing when a plugin fails to load. In addition, it is no longer necessary to install any version of Java to run a 360Works plugin. All plugins on the new platform are fully compatible with FileMaker Cloud. 

Summary of New Features: 
 

• No longer requires Java installation
• Can use plugin functions as script steps with a user-friendly GUI for specifying parameters
• Better error reporting in scripts
• Compatible with FileMaker Cloud
• Better compatibility with FileMaker Server for Perform Script on Server and scheduled scripts
• Each plugin runs in a separate process, increasing reliability and stability
• Plugins can be reliably unloaded, making it possible to auto-update without restarting FileMaker
• Where appropriate, plugin parameters can be selected from pull-down lists and checkboxes
• Support for streaming large container data, allowing unlimited amounts of data to be transferred between FileMaker and the plugin without running out of memory.
• Compatible with the older plugin API, so you can continue to use your existing scripts and calculations with the new plugins.

New plugin versions are available as a paid upgrade. Plugins under valid maintenance, which include Scribe and CloudMail, are available as a free upgrade. 

You can upgrade and download from the page links below: 

• Scribe, New Version: 3 Document automation in FileMaker


• Email, New Version: 3 Send and receive HTML or plain text email with SMTP, POP, and IMAP from FileMaker


• Plastic, New Version: 3 Credit card processing from FileMaker


• CloudMail, New Version: 3 Send email marketing and email blasts and track results in FileMaker using the Cloud


• FTPeek, New Version: 2 Upload, download, and manipulate remote files on an FTP server from FileMaker


• JDBC, New Version: 2 Execution of arbitrary SQL statements on one or more JDBC databases


• Charts, New Version: 2 Quick and easy charts and graphs


• RemoteScripter, New Version: 2 Remotely trigger FileMaker scripts on another computer


• ScriptMaster, New Version: 5 Free, general-purpose plugin including file manipulation, URL and network utilities, shell scripting, encryption, and much more


• Web Assistant, New Version: 2 Submit online forms, access any internet resource from FileMaker, and get the contents of any URL as text or as a container 


 

SuperContainer Update 

The SuperContainer Companion Plugin has been updated with new features for FileMaker 16. It is available as a minor point upgrade, at no additional cost for existing SuperContainer license holders.

 

Here are our current non-plugin products that are compatible with FileMaker 16: 

• Zulu, Current Version: 2.1 Turns any FileMaker Server into a shared calendar server, sync FileMaker to iOS, OS X, Google Calendar, and Exchange/Office 365 calendars 


• MirrorSync, Current Version: 3.17 Sync FileMaker Server with FileMaker Pro/Go and SQL data sources, take your data anywhere with slow or non-existent network connection


• Web Services Manager, Current Version: 1.63 Publishes your FileMaker scripts as XML Web Services, integrate FileMaker with virtually any other system

 

All Plugins Tested and Compatible with FileMaker 16 

We have tested our previous generation of plugins with the entire FileMaker 16 platform and older versions of our plugins will continue to work. However, it is recommended that you use the newest versions of our plugins to get all of the benefits outlined above.

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Are you finding several of our products to be helpful? You may want to look into the 360Works Portfolio Bundle, where you can obtain the entire suite of plugins and add-ons with a savings of 75% off of the full price! Special FBA pricing is available for in-house use, contact us for more details.

If you have any questions about this update, or any of our products, check our documentation, or let us know at [email protected] and we'll be happy to help.