MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.4 development

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1

Hello,

in this thread I want to post to you what's new in development of MBS Plugin, version 15.4.

Download is available as usual here:

monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/

If you like our plugin, bookmark, like or forward this thread.

If not, well you can ignore it.

New functions in documentation.

Thanks for supporting our plugin.

For questions please do not answer here, but start a new discussion.

Greetings
Christian

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15.4pr1:

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While I haven’t tested 15.4 yet, I did not in the 15.3 release a bug with ScriptWorkspace.SetBackgroundColor function.

When I run it, it will change the workspace script colour if the workspace is open. However if it isn’t open it doesn’t. Also once I close the workspace and re-open , it does not retain the colour set. I would have imagined this step could be run on startup and persist for the duration of using either the file open or FileMaker in general?

4

In addition to my request here ( MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3 development - #19 by weetbicks ) I have another request/idea I think would be a nice time saver if doable.

Scripts obviously have context, and the actions are operating on a given TO at any given time. When writing a script and adding a “Go to Layout” or “Go to Related Record” script step, the context of the script can then change. However any subsequent script step you try to configure, always has its selected TO defaulting to that of whatever the current layout is that you’re on while writing the script.

I always find this frustrating, as I don’t really care what the layout is that I’m on while writing the script, the important thing is the context that the script is in at the point I’m working.

What I’d love is some extra button/icon that i can click beside a “Go to Layout” script step, that will actually just run a go to layout step and put me on that layout for whatever the active window is in that file. It’s just a shortcut to let me switch the layout so that when I’m writing the script, future steps like “set field” are already set on the correct context for me to set up.

I hope that makes sense. It’s just a nice time saver when writing scripts to solve an issue that I encounter in pretty much every script I write.

5

Well, the ScriptWorkspace.SetBackgroundColor function just sets color for the current workspace. It doesn't remember the color later. This is just made for some tools to highlight which workspace is active.

For the other wish, the plugin can't do a "Go To Layout". The SDK doesn't have a way for us to run script steps.

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15.4pr2:

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15.4pr3:

  • Rewrote Files.Mount for macOS to user newer API and get mounting of folders on shares via SMB.
  • Updated SQLite to version 3.50.4.
  • Fixed link detection to work again in calculations.
  • Fixed a case where FindBar in database designing dialog doesn't work.
  • Fixed a bug in SQL.ConvertDateTimeFromSQL not returning proper error status.
8

Having problems with FMS 2025 22.0.2 on Ubuntu and the latest version of MBS. It won’t load and the log file says it did not have permission to open it. I don’t manage the server and can’t get to the OS. But I’m going to assume if their DBA changes the file permissions, that will fix it? I assume it only needs read access to the file?

9

Well, we have a checklist here:

Why may the plugin fail to load?

Very common is to mix up intel and arm versions and upload the wrong one. Can you check?

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15.4pr4:

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Thanks, Christian. I don’t administer the database or have access to the server directly, so it is hard for me to know exactly what they have on it. But they replaced the plugin last night and rebooted the machine and it came up properly and MBS is working happily. Maybe they just had a bad downloaded version. But thanks for the response and all is good now!

1 Like
12

OK, but what if you have a script step that changes context (e,g, a GTL or a GTRR)…. could MBS check the script steps above the one you are currently on, and flag new script steps out of context?

13

Sorry, we have no context check.

14

really great feature, already love it :slight_smile:

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15.4pr5:

  • Updated DynaPDF to version 4.0.102.295.
  • Improved the clipboard converter feature.
  • Added DNSLookup.JSON function.
  • Added sorting for the part style submenu in the layout editor.
  • Added QRCode detection for AVRecorder for Windows.
  • Updated SQLAPI to version 5.4.0.
  • Added OLEDB for the client types in SQL.SetClient.
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Screenshot 2025-09-03 at 2.37.03 PM
Screenshot 2025-09-03 at 2.37.03 PM1054Ă—160 16.1 KB

Is there a possibility you could introduce a keyboard shortcut to quick selection of the last accessed TO as per above (SETUP_IF) ?

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Sure, we'd need to come up with a shortcut.

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cmd + shift + f , works for me :slight_smile:

19

I think I try Command-G. No need for shift.

1 Like
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That works thanks!

A while back I had a feature request in another thread ( MBS FileMaker Plugin 15.3 development - #19 by weetbicks ) regarding a feature to do with a way to basically “sync up” the two table occurrence selecting dialogs in a field calculation. The reason being when you choose the context of a calculation (first dialog at top) you 99% of the time need to then set the second dialog (on left for selecting fields) to that same context, otherwise the calculations don’t work. It seems crazy you need to do this but it would be amazing if these could sync up whenever the context TO changes, the field selection TO also auto changes to that same TO , be it automatically or via shortcut key). I’m just following up on this to see whether it’s achievable?