MBS Plugin 15.2

We develop Claris FileMaker plug-ins for macOS, iOS, Linux & Windows.

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New in version   15.2   15.1   15.0   14.5   14.4   14.3

The award winning MBS Plugin is easily the most powerful plug-in available for Claris FileMaker today. There are over 7,500 functions that allow Claris FileMaker developers to extend their solutions in some amazing ways. Each function does a little task and in their combination you can unleash the full power of our plugin. MBS Plugin support Claris FileMaker Pro, Server (Scheduled Scripts, WebDirect Data API, & PSoS) and the iOS SDK. To learn how to use them together, please check our reference and our more than 600 example databases.

We support FileMaker 7 to the latest version 21.1. Please use MBS Plugin 14.2 or newer for FileMaker 21 alias 2024. Includes the Linux ARM version of our plugin.

A quick overview:

• Goodies for FileMaker developers on macOS
  • Rule based calculation and script coloring
  • Context Menus to copy content of lists.
  • If/Loop block highlighting
  • Auto Complete for variable names
  • Search in scripts, calculations, custom functions, Relationship Graph and all lists in FileMaker user interface.
  • Show Script IDs, Layout IDs, Field IDs & Table IDs
  • Remember column widths, sort layout names, zoom in scripts & lists.
  • Add custom menu commands for script workspace, e.g. to search & replace within a script.
• Networking with CURL
  • HTTP, FTP & SFTP Transfers with Up/Download
  • Various SSL, TLS, Proxy & Authentication options.
  • Transfers in background or asynchronously.
  • Custom headers and requests, e.g. FTP delete, rename, create directory
  • Web services with SOAP & REST. Send web forms without web viewer.
  • Compose, send and receive emails via SMTP, POP3 and IMAP.
  • Receive web requests with WebHook functions to receive updates from web services.
• macOS features
  • Continuity Camera: Take pictures via iOS device.
  • Read rich text documents on macOS like Word documents, OpenOffice documents or RTF files.
  • Configure TouchBar with custom buttons to trigger scripts.
  • Customize the toolbar and add your own commands there.
  • Set your application's dock tile icon and badge text.
• iOS features
  • Scan documents with the camera, rectify images and store in containers.
  • Receive remote push notifications.
  • Compose text and email messages.
  • Use StoreKit for in-app-purchases and verify the receipts.
  • Use our PhotoPicker functions to import pictures form the built-in Photos library.
  • Use EID SDK to read eID cards with zetes bluetooth card reader on iOS.
• Apple features for macOS and iOS
  • Use machine learning on device to e.g. classify images.
  • Access Address book, Calendars and Reminders databases.
  • Show 2D/3D maps on the layout using Apple Maps, plan routes and add custom points. Export snapshots.
  • Use Vision functions to detect barcodes, people, faces and text in images.
  • Export videos in new format with AVExport.
  • Use AVAsset functions to extract metadata from videos, get preview images or play audio in background.
  • Query location of a Mac with CoreLocation functions. Map addresses from/to geo coordinates with CLGeoCoder functions.
• Windows features
  • Use Windows' built-in OCR or PDF functions.
  • Query current location on Windows via WindowsLocation functions.
  • Play audio and video with WMFP functions on layouts independent of container fields.
  • Use the telephone API (TAPI) on Windows.
  • Query and edit the Registry.
  • Send emails via email client on Windows (MAPI).
• PDF functions
  • PDFKit for Mac/iOS and DynaPDF for cross platform usage.
  • Merge and split PDFs. Add, remove and move pages.
  • Render pictures from pages.
  • Print PDF with PDFKit.Print on macOS and DynaPDF.Print on Windows.
  • Extract or replace text and images. Highlight text.
  • Convert PDF to PDF/A & PDF/X. Embed XML invoices (ZugFeRD 1.0 & 2.0, Factur-X)
  • Create/Set/Query form fields
  • Digitally sign, encrypt and decrypt PDF documents.
  • Create PDF from scratch, use tables for layouts.
  • Add, query, change, remove & flatten annotations, add links.
  • Optimize PDF files, recompress images, convert pictures, fix errors.
• WebViewer features
  • Evaluate and run Javascript in web viewer and get back result.
  • Query html, text, images in web viewer. Render page as image or PDF.
  • Print web viewer.
• Excel Integration with libXL
  • Read / Write Excel files without Microsoft Excel installed. Needs additional libXL license.
  • Add, edit and delete fonts, formats, sheets, cells and images.
• SQL Functions in FileMaker
  • Insert, Update and Delete records in FileMaker without layout switch.
  • Insert Records via SQL query or from CSV text.
• SQL to other databases
  • Connect to other databases with native drivers and without ESS.
  • CubeSQL, Centura SQLBase, DB2, DuckDB, Firebird, Informix, InterBase, MariaDB, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, ODBC, Oracle Database Server, PostgreSQL, SQL Anywhere, SQLite, SQLCipher and Sybase.
  • Run SQL commands, process records, copy records from/to FileMaker database.
  • Use our MongoDB functions to connect to MongoDB server, insert, update and find records.
• Image editing with GraphicsMagick
  • Load images in over 20 file formats. Convert SVG to bitmap.
  • Scale, rotate, crop, compose & mirror images.
  • Work with metadata: EXIF, IPTC & XMP.
  • Draw vector graphics and text.
• Sockets & Serial Ports
  • Control various Phidget devices from the plugin like sensors, motors or input/output ports.
  • TCP connections & UDP sockets, including broadcasts.
  • Use Serial Ports with COMx ports and USB Adapters.
  • Control other computers via SSH connection or tunnel connections through SSH, e.g. MySQL.
  • Query device status via SNMP functions.
• Printing
  • List printers with features.
  • Control print and page setup dialog on macOS & Windows.
  • Switch printer, paper format, orientation & tray.
• Scan documents
  • Scan with flatbed scanners & document Feeders with or without dialog.
  • Using ImageCapture for macOS, Windows Image Acquisition or Twain drivers.
  • Run OCR to recognize text on scan. On Windows use the built-in OCR functions.
• Files
  • List directory content, copy, move, rename or move to trash files and folders.
  • Monitor folders for changes. FSEvents for macOS and DirectoryWatcher for Windows.
  • Compress/Decompress zip/tar archives.
  • Receive files via Drag & Drop on macOS and Windows, e.g. email attachments from Outlook.
  • Read audio tags, e.g. for IDv3 tags in MP3 files.
  • Read and write text files or containers.
  • Show file, folder selection or save dialogs on macOS & Windows.
• XML and JSON
  • Use Saxon library for XSLT 3.0 for transformations, XQuery 3.1 for queries, XSD 1.1 for document validation and XPath 3.1 for navigation within documents.
  • Parse, query values, extract data in XML.
  • Validate XML against XSD schema.
  • Run XPath queries against XML document.
  • Format, colorize and add line numbers for XML & JSON text.
  • Use automatic import of JSON or XML data into FileMaker database.
• Others
  • Integrate Python functions and modules into FileMaker. Evaluate calculations or run scripts.
  • Run JavaScript with our integrated JavaScript engine.
  • Record audio/video on Mac and Windows with AVRecorder.
  • Generate over 80 types of barcodes. Detect barcodes in images.
  • Schedule scripts to run after delay, on idle or at time stamp or by hotkey.
  • Show notifications on macOS, Windows and iOS.
  • Show contextual menus for macOS & Windows with sub menus, icons and styled text.
  • Run command line tools with Shell functions.
  • Compare tables and get detailed report.
  • Receive and send Midi notes.
  • Use Audit to log activities in a database.
  • Query system information. Need to know computer name, memory size, serial number, OS Version or something else?
  • Controls windows, position dialogs and show progress dialogs.
  • Use Encryption e.g. AES and Blowfish and Hash functions.

And a lot of more functions not mentioned here. If you miss something, please email us and we may add another function for you.

Upcoming Claris FileMaker Events:

Newest entries on our blog:

Presentation and tutorial videos

MBS Plugin 14.5 (English)	MBS @ Engage 2024 (English)
MBS FileMaker Plugin - Valencia 2024	MBS FileMaker Plugin - EngageU 2023
MBS at Rome FileMaker Week 2023 (English)	MBS FileMaker Plugin - Sydney 2023 (English)

For more examples see the other videos and our YouTube Playlists: English and Deutsch/German.

System requirements

Current version of MBS Plugin always supports the current version and a several versions back. We recommend to use the latest version to benefit from bug fixes and newer features.

Versions for older FileMaker versions available on request or in archive as well as versions for older operation systems (Windows 2012 or 7 here).

Older plugins used in a newer the FileMaker version may crash, not load, not have required architecture or simply not work as intended.

MBS Plugins can be used with:

• MBS Plugin supports:
  • FileMaker Pro on macOS & Windows
  • FileMaker Server for
    • Scheduled Scripts,
    • Perform Script on Server (PSoS) and
    • Data API,
    • Web Direct
    on macOS, Windows and Linux.
  • iOS apps made with FileMaker iOS SDK and embedded MBS Plugin.
  • FMDataMigration, FMDeveloperTool and FMUpgradeTool
    Needs tools released in June 2025 or later and MBS Plugin 15.3 or later.
• MBS Plugin supports indirectly:
  • FileMaker Go via PSoS and a server with installed plugin. see blog
• MBS Plugin does not support:
  • FileMaker Cloud due to missing plugin interface.
    Use our plugin client-side in FileMaker Pro there. see blog
    Other cloud hosters with plugin support are available.

If you need MBS Plugin for older FileMaker versions, please contact us.