# What is your favorite Plugin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Lounge (Discussions)\ **Tags:** plugins\ **Created:** [January 18, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707 "2022-01-18T17:50:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrewFM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@DrewFM](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/DrewFM)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/1 "2022-01-18T17:50:58Z")
I've been tuning into Richard Carlton's live streams on YouTube... He mentioned MonkeyBread's Plugin.... I checked it out, some pretty cool stuff ! So what's your favorite Plugin? Why? How does it help you? -DrewFM ---
**Author:** ![jwilling](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/jwilling/32/256_2.png) [@jwilling](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/jwilling)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 6:48pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/2 "2022-01-18T18:48:54Z")
MBS is an integral part of my development workflow and sometimes makes its way into production when it offers something that's too hard/expensive to do otherwise (many of the features are otherwise doable but why reinvent the wheel). BaseElements _very often_ makes its way into production apps because it's free and awesome. ---
**Author:** ![weetbicks](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/weetbicks/32/206_2.png) [@weetbicks](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/weetbicks)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/3 "2022-01-18T20:23:19Z")
As far as benefit to me in everyday developing - MBS hands down. Not for the functionality that assists in a solutions functionality, but rather the tools it has to help me as a developer: • Syntax colouring in calculations • Search on relationship graph • Cmd+F to find in any dialog • Search within a script • Evaluate calculation on the fly in dialogs • Script If/Else block highlighting and other colouring Just to name a few - things that should be in the product itself but I fear never will be - the actual interface of FileMaker has not changed in many years which is a shame because life could be made so much easier for developers with a few tweaks and improvements - such as those that MBS has been able to achieve. * * * In terms of a plugin that I have used the most in solutions to benefit the code - BaseElements hands down. ---
**Author:** ![tonywhitelive](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/tonywhitelive/32/208_2.png) [@tonywhitelive](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/tonywhitelive)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/4 "2022-01-19T00:42:58Z")
Here are three favorites, listed by Sort Order... - BaseElements: [About the BaseElements Plugin - BaseElements Plugin Support](https://docs.baseelementsplugin.com/article/442-about-the-baseelements-plugin) - Developer Tool Assistant [2empowerFM Developer Assistant](https://www.dracoventions.com/products/2empowerFM/family/developer.php) - MBS FileMaker Plugin: [Monkeybread Software - MBS FileMaker Plugin 12.0](https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/) I would also put a plug in for AppleScript which (if you do not think about it too hard) could be thought of as a plug-in. ---
**Author:** ![weetbicks](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/weetbicks/32/206_2.png) [@weetbicks](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/weetbicks)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/6 "2022-01-19T01:41:58Z")
Listed by Sort Order? Mate, you've been developing too long lol 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrewFM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@DrewFM](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/DrewFM)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/7 "2022-01-19T16:13:05Z")
We have MBS here on our machines at work, I like the colored scripting. I will have to check out BaseElements and 2EmpowerFM's tool... Thanks for the feedback 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mipiano](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/mipiano/32/1074_2.png) [@mipiano](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/mipiano)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/8 "2022-01-19T16:21:44Z")
MBS plugin is a must! Besides that I use the free 2empowerFM Text Toolkit for regular expressions. MBS can do that too, but I keep using it out of habit. I have had the Text Toolkit in use before in the MBS plugin the regex functions were as extensive as they are now. ---
**Author:** ![harvest](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/harvest/32/231_2.png) [@harvest](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/harvest)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2022, 5:56am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/9 "2022-01-20T05:56:57Z")
1. MBS + some libraries that are supported by MBS (dynapdf, LibXL, tesseract, mysqllib...) without MBS I would have gone out of business 🙂 - or of course changed the whole toolset 1. xmchart comes in on the second place for charts and some rendering jobs ---
**Author:** ![cheesus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/the.fmsoup.org/cheesus/32/182_2.png) [@cheesus](https://the.fmsoup.org/u/cheesus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2022, 10:15am UTC](https://the.fmsoup.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-plugin/2707/10 "2022-01-20T10:15:00Z")
Nothing beats MBS! It provides FileMaker with functions that are long overdue, like searching scripts, RegEx, QR Code generating, and so on. It's worth every penny. Not to mention the excellent support from the developer Christian and his contribution to the community.