Installatio

Installation instructions for the Monkeybread Software FileMaker Plugin

Link
macO
Get le
Instal
After installatio

Window
Version note
Get le
Instal
Alternate Install Location FileMake
After installatio 1

Install via Scrip 1

Demo Limitation 1
Serve 1
DynaPD 1
LibX 1
Example 2
Preference 2
Registratio 2
Trial tim 2
After you bought a serial numbe 2

Troubleshootin 2
Plugin not loadin 2
Duplicate Installatio 2
Plugin deactivate 2
Errors with Installation by Scrip 2

Contac 25

Page 1 of 25
fi
fi
l
l
s
L
s
s
r
S
e
t
s
F
s
s
s
n
n
n
g
d
g
t
n
s
n

t
r
r
.

 Link

Monkeybread Software Website

https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.com/

MBS FileMaker Plugin Website

http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/ lemaker/

Plugin Referenc

https://www.mbsplugins.eu

Plugin Guide

https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.com/ lemaker/guide/

FA

https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.com/ lemaker/faq.shtml

Blog with tips and new versions and announcements

https://www.mbs-plugins.com

Mailing list for discussion, new versions and announcements

https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.com/ lemaker/mailinglist.shtml

Page 2 of 25
Q

fi
fi
fi
fi
:

 macO
Get le

You rst download the les needed. For FileMaker you need at least the „MBS.fmplugin“
le

The le can be downloaded from https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.com/ lemaker/ where

you can also nd a link to the download page.

There we have the current release version, older versions and newer prerelease versions
of future plugins

The help les on the website are often newer than the one coming with the plugin down-
load and show already features for the next plugin version

You can manually copy the plugin le MBS.fmplugin (may show with folder icon) into the
Extensions folder for FileMaker or use the Install Plugin Script Step

The plugin le has one of this icons, but can also show a generic folder icon

FileMaker 8. FileMaker 1 FileMaker 11 and newe

Page 3 of 25
fi
.

fi
fi
fi
s

fi
fi
0

fi
.

fi
fi

fi
:

 Instal

To install, you drop the plugin le into the Extensions

folder

On the right side you see a picture from the ~/Li-

brary/Application Support/FileMaker/ folder on one of
our Macs.

You can install different plugins for different versions

in the various Extensions folders

We recommend to install our plugin int

~/Library/Application Support/FileMaker/Extension

Since that is a shared folder for all versions

The Install Plugin Script Step installs the plugin in the

version speci c folder

Use the button in preferences dialog in FileMaker to

easily nd the right folder for your version

Page 4 of 25
.

fi

fi
.

fi
.

After installatio

To test whether the plugins have been installed, you can launch FileMaker, go to the calcu-
lation editor and see the MBS function on the external functions:

As you see above, the MBS function is listed for external functions. Also you can run the
MBS("Version") command to query the version of the plugin you have. And nally the MBS
function should be colored blue

Page 5 of 25
n

fi
 Window
Version note

The MBS Plugins should run ne on Windows 7 and newer with FileMaker 7.0 and newer.

Get le

You rst download the les needed. For FileMaker on Windows, please take MBS.fmx64
plugin le. Older 32-bit versions of FileMaker may use the MBS.fmx le. You can put both
in the folder and FileMaker picks the right one

The le can be downloaded from https://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/ lemaker/ where

you can also nd a link to the download page.

There we have the current release version, older versions and newer prerelease versions
of future plugins

The help les on the website are often newer than the one coming with the plugin down-
load and show already features for the next plugin version

First locate the plugin les and locate your FileMaker folder which may look like this:

Page 6 of 25
fi
fi
fi
fi
s

fi
s

fi
s

fi
fi
fi
.

fi
fi

 Instal

First locate the FileMaker directory on your computer. Normally you nd it on your drive C:
in Programs

Page 7 of 25
l

fi
Once you have the FileMaker folder, you can copy the plugin le into the extensions folder

The FileMaker extension folder now looks like the one above and you can launch File-
Maker. Windows 8.1 with FileMaker 13 looks like this:

As you see we installed both 32-bit and 64-bit here

Page 8 of 25
.

fi
:

 Alternate Install Location FileMake

FileMaker has three install locations. The rst is the normal one detailed above

e.g

C:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Pro 18 Advanced\Extension

The other ones are in the user's AppData folder

C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local\FileMaker\Extension

for all versions o

C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local\FileMaker\FileMaker Pro Advanced\18.0\Extensions

for a speci c version

This last install location is used by FileMaker's Install Plugin File script step

Use the button in preferences dialog in FileMaker to easily nd the right folder.


Page 9 of 25
.

fi
r

fi
:

fi
s

After installation

To test whether the plugins have been installed, you can launch FileMaker, go to the calcu-
lation editor and see the MBS function on the external functions:

So in data viewer in the Monitor section you can add a calculation and in this dialog, you
see the result if the use the „Evaluate Now“ button.


Page 10 of 25

Install via Scrip

You can use a script to install the plugin if needed. See the example database called „In-
stall Plugin Update if needed.fmp12“ in the „Utility functions“ folder inside „Examples“ fold-
er. Here is an excerpt which rst nds which container to use and installs plugin via „Install
Plug-In File“ script step

# Check Architecture
# will be ? for older 32-bit FileMaker Pro
Set Variable [$Arch; Value:Get ( ApplicationArchitecture )]
# Check Platform
Set Variable [$Plat; Value:Get ( SystemPlatform )]
#
If [$Plat = 1]
# Mac
Install Plug-In File [Install Plugin Update if needed::Plugin File Mac
Else If [$Plat = 3]
# iOS
Exit Script []
Else If [$Plat = -2]
# Win
If [$Arch = "x86_64"]
# Win 64-bit
Install Plug-In File [Install Plugin Update if needed::Plugin File Win 64bit
Else
# Win 32-bit
Install Plug-In File [Install Plugin Update if needed::Plugin File Win 32bit
End If
Else
# something new or old?
Exit Script []
End If
#
Set Variable [$LastError; Value:Get(LastError)]
If [$LastError = 0]
If [MBS("VersionAutoUpdate") = Install Plugin Update if needed::Version Number]
Show Custom Dialog ["Success"; "Installed MBS Plugin: " & MBS("Version")]
Else
Show Custom Dialog ["Success"; "Installed MBS Plugin: " & Install Plugin Up-
date if needed::Version Display & ¶ & "Please restart …"]
End If
Else
Show Custom Dialog ["Failed"; "Failed to install plugin due to error " & $LastError]
End If

Installing by script is the preferred way to install on FileMaker Cloud for AWS.

Page 11 of 25
:

fi
fi
]

Demo Limitation

Without a license you can test the plugin

The plugin may show a warning dialog if not licensed every few minutes

On the server, the plugin can decide to stop working after 2 hours of usage without li-
cense. In that case you can restart server to continue testing

Purchasing a license and using the license key will remove those limitations

Except for seat and server licenses where plugin can check and fall back to demo mode if
license is used on too many seats or servers.

Page 12 of 25
s

 Serve

To install MBS Plugin on a Server version of FileMaker is easy. The preferred way nowa-
days is to run a script which installs the le using the Install Plugin script step

Or you just drop the plugin in the right folder

macO

/Library/FileMaker Server/Database Server/Extension

Window

C:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Database Server\Extension

Linux

/opt/FileMaker/FileMaker Server/Database Server/Extension

Please activate plugin after installation in the admin console.

Page 13 of 25
S

fi
:

 For Web Direct please put an extra copy in a different folder

macO

/Library/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/cwpc/Plugins

Window

C:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Web Publishing\publishing-

engine\cwpc\Plugin

Linux

/opt/FileMaker/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/cwpc/Plugin

If the plugin is not loaded and active, you may need to restart web direct process.

Page 14 of 25
S

 For Web Publishing there is a different set of folders

macO

/Library/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/wpc/Plugin

Window

C:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Web Publishing\publishing-engine\wpc\Plug-

in

You may need to create a folder named Plugins there if it is missing

Please note that web publishing on FileMaker 12 requires the 64-bit plugin

FileMaker 13 Server and newer always need a 64-bit plugin

For Data API please put an extra copy in a different folder

macO

/Library/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/wip/Plugins

Window

C:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Web Publishing\publishing-engine\wip\Plug-

in

Linux

/opt/FileMaker/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/wip/Plugin

If your admin console has no toggle for Data API, you may need to get a newer version of
FileMaker Server to use plugins there

Page 15 of 25
s

After installatio

It may be required that you restart the server, so the WebDirect or Custom Web Publishing
engine sees the plugin

File permissions must be set correct, so FileMaker Server running under a different user
(FMServer by default) can read it. Best to set le permissions to have the le read- and
executable by all users

A common way to test if plugin works well, is to have global eld in a table where you write
by script some details like MBS("Version") and MBS("Platform"). So you can run script with
Set Field script steps with those formulas and later see on the values which plugin version
is installed and running

If Platform returns Developer or Pro, you run the script locally. If it returns Web, Server,
ServerScripting or InstantWebPublishing, the script is running on the server. Which value
is returned is de ned by which part of FileMaker server you use

Page 16 of 25
fi
n

fi
fi
.

fi
 On macOS you nd a log le named stderr in /Library/FileMaker Server/Logs with various
messages written out by FileMaker Server. Those include messages about loaded plugins
with version

2015-03-08 17:46:05.204 fmscwpc[251:2408] MBS Plugin version 5.0.0.12 (64 bit) loaded

2015-03-08 19:28:20.779 fmsased[233:2342] MBS Plugin version 5.0.0.12 (64 bit) loaded

As you see here both the server side scripting process (fmsased) and the WebDirect
process (fmscwpc) loaded the 64-bit version of our plugin

If the plugin doesn’t show up in the server, please check the le permissions. The server
user account fmserver may need to have permissions to read and execute the plugin le

Log le

MBS Plugin will redirect stdout and stderr to text les in Logs folder. This got improved in
v11.2 for our plugin to be consistent for all platforms

StdErrServerScripting.log

StdOutServerScripting.log

StdErrWeb.log

StdOutWeb.log

StdErrDataAPI.log

StdOutDataAPI.log


Web is for Web Direct, ServerScripting for scheduled & PSoS scripts and Data API for alls
scripts running in Data API

Trace messages and errors go to stderr. We normally don't output data to stdout, but some
library may do so

If you login via ssh, this command can show you live messages. This shows messages
from our Trace function

tail -f /FileMakerData/Logs/ServerScriptingPluginsStdErr.lo

FileMaker Cloud 2.

Please note that FileMaker Cloud 2.0 does not support plugins on the server.


Page 17 of 25
fi
s

fi
.

fi
.

fi
.

fi
fi
.

DynaPD

If you plan to use the DynaPDF functions, you need both to install an extra library and you
need an extra license key. Without a license you are in trial mode and DynaPDF puts a
watermark on all PDF documents

For Windows you need dynapdf.dll and dynapdf64.dll. For MacOS you need the dy-
napdf.dylib le. You can install it where you want and pass the native path to the Dyna-
PDF.Initialize function.

In newer plugins you can pass the le name to this function („dynapdf.dll“ or „dy-
napdf.dylib“) and the plugin tries to nd it in the extensions folder

To purchase a license, please visit the Monkeybread Software plugin website and order it
form us. The license keys sold by dynaforms directly do not work in the plugin

Once you got the license key from us, you pass it as an extra parameter to the Dyna-
PDF.Initialize function.

For iOS you can download DynaPDF.framework from us. See website in Libs folder

Page 18 of 25
fi
F

fi
fi
.

 LibX

If you plan to use the XL functions, you need both to install an extra library and you need
an extra license key. Without a license you are in trial mode and libXL puts a watermark on
all XL documents and reads only the rst 50 cells of a document

For Windows you need libxl.dll and libxl64.dll. For MacOS you need the libxl.dylib le. You
can install it where you want and pass the native path to the XL.Initialize function.

In newer plugins you can pass the le name to this function („libxl.dll“ or „libxl.dylib“) and
the plugin tries to nd it in the extensions folder

To purchase a license, please visit the libXL order website. You may need the libXL Mac
and libXL Windows licenses for cross platform projects. Licenses for MacOS, Windows,
Linux, iOS and Enterprises are available

Page 19 of 25
L

fi
fi
fi
.

fi
 Example

The MBS Plugin comes with over 500 example databases. Please take the time to check
them. Examples are provided in fmp12 format, so you can try them with older and newer
FileMaker versions. You can nd examples for FileMaker 11 or older on the website in a
separate download

The examples for DynaPDF, XL and PHP5 look for a library le located next to database
le. If you move those examples to a FileMaker server, you will have to change that script
steps to nd the library les on the server

With thousands of functions in our plugin the examples are often the only way to learn how
to use our functions together.

Page 20 of 25
fi
fi
s

fi

fi
.

fi
 Preference

The MBS FileMaker Plugin for MacOS has a preferences dialog to con gure the various
options. You reach it by double clicking the plugin in the preferences dialog or clicking the
con gure button.

Please be aware that not all features are available for all FileMaker versions

You can con gure all options by plugin functions. See SyntaxColoring

Page 21 of 25
fi
fi
s

fi
.

 Registratio
Trial tim

You can evaluate the plugin before you order a license

While you are still evaluating the plugin you will certainly see a dialog like this

To test without those dialogs, you can request a trial license key

After you bought a serial numbe

When you register and you provided all data needed like your full name, your postal ad-
dress and if needed your VAT ID, you get an email with your serial number

Now you need to add this serial number to your scripts

for example you can do it like this

MBS( "Register" ; Licensee Name; Component; License Type; Expire Month; Serial
number

You can use this function anywhere that you can create a FileMaker calculation, but most
often people place it in the startup script of a solution. That way the plug-in will be regis-
tered when the solution starts up. You only need to call this function one time for each
FileMaker session

Please make the startup script unavailable to people to look inside and copy the serial
number from a solution

Here an example script to registered if needed for the right platform

If [MBS("IsRegistered") ≠1]
If [MBS("IsRuntime")]
Set Variable [$r; Value:MBS("Register"; "test"; "Runtime"; 123; 123)]
Else If [MBS("IsServer")]
Set Variable [$r; Value:MBS("Register"; "test"; "Server"; 123; 123)]
Else
Set Variable [$r; Value:MBS("Register"; "test"; "5 seats"; 123; 123)]
End If
End If

Page 22 of 25
)

Troubleshootin

Plugin not loadin

Please check if you see an error message in DebugView app (Windows) or Console app
(Mac). For FM Server check the logs for errors about loading plugin

As we ship plugins in 32-bit or 64-bit version for Windows, you can install both every-
where. FileMaker loads the one it needs and ignores the other variant. But if you only in-
stall 32-bit plugin for 64-bit FileMaker, it will simply be ignored. Or you get an error like this:

Duplicate Installatio

Installing two plugin versions at the same time may lead to strange problems. To avoid this
we try to detect that and report an error message to user:

On Mac having two plugins can lead into one plugin calling functions and those could be
located in the other version. As parameters change, this can lead to crashes. So please
only have one copy of MBS Plugin in various folders

Page 23 of 25
g

 Plugin deactivate

If you deactivate any plugin on Mac, this can result in crashes in FileMaker. Especially in
low level cocoa runtime methods

e.g. in method_setImplementation or in +[<class name> initialize]

The cocoa class accessed is in the deactivate plugin. FileMaker loaded the plugin, the
class was registered, the plugin unloaded. The class registration entry in the global data
structures now points to memory which has been freed when the plugin was unloaded

So please never deactivate plugins on Mac. Remove them from the extension folder if
necessary

Errors with Installation by Scrip

You can install the plugin via the Install Plugin Script Step

But this can fail with various reasons

• The Script Step may be disabled by permissions, e.g. in FileMaker Pro Preferences op-
tion for "Allow Solutions to Install Files" or for server in the admin console

• The plugin le already exists and can’t be overwritten due to le permissions

• You tried to install the wrong plugin le, e.g. 32 vs 64 bit mismatch between plugin and
FileMaker application

Page 24 of 25
.

fi
d

fi
:

fi
.

Contac

The author Christian Schmitz can be contacted at [email protected]

All comments are welcome to improve this guide

Page 25 of 25
t