Here are some code snippets for methods, you may want to put in a module and use in your project. They return you the items or true items in a folder sorted by name and optionally with hidden items skipped:
Function Items(extends f as FolderItem, IncludeInvisible asBoolean = true) As FolderItem()
//returnallitemsinafolder//resolovesaliasesorlinks//optionallyfiltershiddenfilesDim items() As FolderItem
Dim c AsInteger = f.Count
For i AsInteger = 1To c
Dim item As FolderItem = f.Item(i)
If item <> NilThenIf IncludeInvisible Or item.Visible Then
items.Append item
endifEndIfNextReturn items
EndFunction
Function ItemsSorted(extends f as FolderItem, IncludeInvisible asBoolean = true) As FolderItem()
//returnallitemsinafolderorderedbydisplayname//resolovesaliasesorlinks//optionallyfiltershiddenfilesDim items() As FolderItem
dim names() AsstringDim c AsInteger = f.Count
For i AsInteger = 1To c
Dim item As FolderItem = f.Item(i)
If item <> NilThenIf IncludeInvisible Or item.Visible Then
items.Append item
names.Append item.DisplayName
endifEndIfNext
names.SortWith items
Return items
EndFunction
Function TrueItems(extends f as FolderItem, IncludeInvisible asBoolean = true) As FolderItem()
//returnalltrueitemsinafolder//doesnotresolovealiasesorlinks//optionallyfiltershiddenfilesDim items() As FolderItem
Dim c AsInteger = f.Count
For i AsInteger = 1To c
Dim item As FolderItem = f.TrueItem(i)
if item <> nilthenIf IncludeInvisible Or item.Visible Then
items.Append item
endifendifNextReturn items
EndFunction
Function TrueItemsSorted(extends f as FolderItem, IncludeInvisible asBoolean = true) As FolderItem()
//returnalltrueitemsinafolderorderedbydisplayname//doesnotresolovealiasesorlinks//optionallyfiltershiddenfilesDim items() As FolderItem
dim names() AsstringDim c AsInteger = f.Count
For i AsInteger = 1To c
Dim item As FolderItem = f.TrueItem(i)
If item <> NilThenIf IncludeInvisible Or item.Visible Then
items.Append item
names.Append item.DisplayName
endifEndIfNext
names.SortWith items
Return items
EndFunction
With the last DynaPDF update we got new support for ZUGFeRD 2.0 and Factur-X, two standards to deliver invoices as PDF files with embedded XML data. We supported ZUGFeRD 1.0 before and now upgraded code to support version 2 in addition.
So here is a little Xojo code snippet to convert an existing PDF into a ZUGFeRD 2.0 document. Before you start, please assemble the XML for the invoice and know whether it's Minimum, Basic, Comfort or Extended level. So the code here starts with a new DynaPDFMBS object and creates a new PDF environment. We set import flags to import all content and prepare for PDF/A. If needed, you could skip some content like annotations directly here.
dim pdf asnew MyDynapdfMBS
dim f as FolderItem = SpecialFolder.Desktop.Child("CreatePDF.pdf")
Next we load an existing PDF from a container field. Of course you can also use functions to create new pages here or open an import PDF from a file on disk. The next line imports the whole PDF file we opened into our work PDF. If you repeat the open and import step, you can merge several documents here. If you need only one page, you can use DynaPDF.ImportPDFPage function.
//importPDFfile
dim ImportFile as FolderItem = FindFile("invoicetemplate.pdf")
call pdf.OpenImportFile(ImportFile)
call pdf.ImportPDFFile(1)
Per PDF/A requirement, we add here the language setting and a structure tree:
//PDF/Arequiresalanguageset
Call pdf.SetLanguage("en-US")
//PDF/Arequiresastructuretree
Call pdf.CreateStructureTree
If the PDF contains colorspaces which are not backed by an ICC Profile, we get an OnReplaceICCProfile event call to provide a replacement profile to the PDF engine. So if there is a colorspace missing the profile, it will be using one of our replacement profiles for RGB, Gray or CMYK. Here is an example implementation of the event, which looks for some generic profiles to replace an existing one:
Next we attach the XML invoice to the PDF. You can pass attachments as container, file or text, but please use the corresponding function. Here we pass it as text from a field, specify UTF-8 encoding and the ZUGFeRD specific file name. The attachment is associated with the main catalog as an alternative version.
//nowaddxml
Dim file As FolderItem = FindFile("ZUGFeRD-invoice.xml")
dim n asinteger = pdf.AttachFile(file, "ZUGFeRDRechnung", false)
ifnot pdf.AssociateEmbFile(pdf.kadCatalog, -1, pdf.karAlternative, n) then
Break //error
endif
Now we do the conformance check. If you licensed the PDF/A converter from us (Add-on for DynaPDF Pro), you get the PDF fixed if needed. If the PDF was already PDF/A, this should return okay and tel you which output indent is recommended. We than add the ICC Profile for RGB or CMYK to indicate how the PDF likes to be viewed.
With the last DynaPDF update we got new support for ZUGFeRD 2.0 and Factur-X, two standards to deliver invoices as PDF files with embedded XML data. We supported ZUGFeRD 1.0 before and now upgraded code to support version 2, too.
So here is a little FileMaker script to convert an existing PDF into a ZUGFeRD 2.0 document. Before you start, please assemble the XML for the invoice and know whether it's Minimum, Basic, Comfort or Extended level. So the script here initializes DynaPDF library if needed and then creates a new PDF environment. We set import flags to import all content and prepare for PDF/A. If needed, you could skip some content like annotations directly here.
Next we load an existing PDF from a container field. Of course you can also use functions to create new pages here or open an import PDF from a file on disk. The next line imports the whole PDF file we opened into our work PDF. If you repeat the open and import step, you can merge several documents here. If you need only one page, you can use DynaPDF.ImportPDFPage function.
If the PDF contains colorspaces which are not backed by an ICC Profile, we pass in replacement profiles to the PDF engine. So if there is a colorspace missing the profile, it will be using one of our replacement profiles for RGB, Gray or CMYK.
Next we attach the XML invoice to the PDF. You can pass attachments as container, file or text, but please use the corresponding function. Here we pass it as text from a field, specify UTF-8 encoding and the ZUGFeRD specific file name. The attachment is associated with the main catalog as an alternative version.
# add xml with invoice data
Set Variable [ $FileHandle ; Value: MBS("DynaPDF.AttachFileText"; $pdf; ZUGFeRD Invoice::Invoice XML; "UTF-8"; "ZUGFeRD-invoice.xml"; "Invoice as XML") ]
Now we do the conformance check. If you licensed the PDF/A converter from us (Add-on for DynaPDF Pro), you get the PDF fixed if needed. If the PDF was already PDF/A, this should return okay and tel you which output indent is recommended. We than add the ICC Profile for RGB or CMYK to indicate how the PDF likes to be viewed.
After a few days passed some of the details in various WWDC sessions show up.
I got a few points of interest to look into till the new releases appear in the wild and this includes:
Text recognition in Vision framework
Speech functions
Encryption functions
Asking for permissions to access user folders
CoreML functions
Enhancements for AppKit
Color picker
Sign-in with Apple button
Anything else? What are you interested in using in your solution with help of our plugins?
The release for MacOS 10.15 and iOS 13 are expected for September/October. The APIs are still in flux and the betas not yet polished. So let's wait for the public betas in July before we change applications. So maybe in August, we could show you some plugins for some new features.
Xcode 11 is working well and our projects build already with a few little changes.
We just built a CubeSQL client library for Mac, the cubesql.dylib. You can download it in our download area in Libs folder.
As you may know you can use SQL functions in both MBS Xojo SQL Plugin and MBS FileMaker Plugin to connect to a CubeSQL server and perform queries. Since SQLabs does not yet provide prebuilt libraries for Mac & Linux, we just made one for Mac 32 and 64 bit with OpenSSL embedded.
Due to WWDC, I'll come for a visit to California in June. As usual I like to meet other developers beside the conference and like to join local meetings for FileMaker developers in Los Angeles and San José area.
13rd June 2019 @ DIGFM
Database Interest Group for FileMaker: The user group hosted at FileMaker Inc. headquarters in Santa Clara, California. It's like a free DevCon in monthly doses. Meets 2nd Thursday of the month: 1:30pm, Meet & Greet; 2:00pm, Presentation
FileMaker, Inc (The Wedge), 5201 Patrick Henry Dr., Santa Clara CA 95054
FileMaker Developers in Southern California started in March of 1999 with a small group of FileMaker Pro developers getting together once a month to exchange development tips and ideas. Meets 2nd Friday at 9:30am
Please sign up for the groups and let them know if you like to join the meetings. Exact times may change and if you are registered, they may remind you with an email.
If you are interested in private time for consulting, training or discussion MBS or FileMaker topics, we can of course schedule a meeting. Please contact me directly if you are interested.
WWDC is the yearly Apple developer conference. With over 5000 attendees and 1000 Apple engineers on site (plus security and host people from Apple), there are people everywhere. It is a great experience and after several years of trying the lottery, I had the honor to join the conference this year. Here a few notes to make live easier:
The keynote room is big enough to sit everyone. No need to hurry to get a seat.
Whether it is worth waiting 4 hours to get a spot in a front row? Next time I'd better come at 9:30, sit in the back and not so close near the screen that I need to move my head to see the other side.
Watching the keynote on a screen at home has a big advantage: You can press the pause button. And you can open a website in parallel with a newsfeed so you have a transcript to look back. This year the keynote was very fast and there was not enough time to read slides with a lot of text.
Bring a jacket. It's cold early morning outside and often the temperature in the rooms is chilly.
Bring a bag folded in your pocket. Over the day, you may need to stuff things there like your jacket, some purchases at the Apple store or simply food for having it later.
Rucksacks are not optimal as you may run into bag checks on the entry. Laptop bags are more likely to be inspected.
Skip the waiting lines for sessions. The sessions are in general not very full, so you can just walk into 5 minutes before the session starts and find a good spot. As you can watch all session later at home, the only benefit of going there is to get the information earlier and then ask questions at the labs. There are no questions taken in the session room.
Go to the labs. Before WWDC make detailed list with things to ask, sample projects to show your issues, radar numbers for the bugs, so they can follow up. And check if the bug is fixed in new beta already before (!) you ask.
If you need the restroom, best go there when sessions start or leave one a minute before it ends. You may even use restrooms in the session room (on the back wall) before the session starts.
Grab some food and drinks early when it's delivered, put it in the bag and walk to find an area where you can eat without a thousand people watching you. If you come late to the food tables, the best stuff is taken...
Bring extra devices to install the beta software. Don't put it on your regular machine unless it's a VM for MacOS. First betas are said to be buggy and may not even boot or cause data loss.
For hotel booking: Either you pick an expensive one in downtown San Jose or you stay outside. As car park is $25 in the conference center and nearby parking space, the best choice seems to pick a hotel near a train station and use those local trains here in the city. I stayed at the Courtyard hotel in Campbell which is just a few stops away and right next to a train station. The train is $5 per day for two trips.
A wish to Belkin and Apple: Please make USB-C Ethernet adapters which can charge the MacBook Pro via Power over Ethernet. That would be even better for sitting in the Café area.
The conference can be a great experience with thousands of developers from all over the world. I learnt a ton of things and got a few ideas for new plugins, but more in a future blog post. You can make friends, find a lot of other developers from your country (lots of German) and ask your questions directly to Apple employer. They may not answer everything, but sometimes you can read between the lines. Next year, I'll not enter the lottery to give others a chance to go there!
The existing classes allow you already to query details on the current user when logged into a Mac with Active Directory or LDAP server.
We also have LDAPMBS class for cross-platform queries to LDAP and Active Directory servers. But Apple deprecated the OpenLDAP library For MacOS, so it is not sure whether it will work in future OS versions. So far it looks like it is still included for MacOS 10.15.
You can try that soon with next prerelease. If you miss additional features, please let us know.
Today the early bird offer ends for FileMaker DevCon 2019. Please sign up today (7th June) to get a better ticket price than tomorrow.
Please join us 5th to 8th August 2019 in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Monkeybread Software has a booth as usual and we'll be there for a whole week.
You can book the conference for 2 days ($999 USD) or 3 days ($1299), but I would suggest to add training day for ($399) and make it a 4 day conference. And if you come from far away, please make sure you have a day before/after to enjoy some extra activity with other attendees, like a visit to a Disney Park.
Hotel room is $189 including resort fee, but plus tax.
We'll add new function for next plugin for our MapView functions:
The new MapView.SetScript function allows you to define a script to be called when someone clicks on a pin. Showing 10 clients on a map your user can than click on the pin and you get the identifier for the pin. As you can pass the identifier when adding the pin and choose it yourself, you can use e.g. the record ID for your related record. MapView.AddPin, MapView.AddPinWithAddress, MapView.PlanRoute and MapView.ShowAddress now accept color values beside the new identifier value. The color allows you to color the pins individually.
Now the are a lot of new APIs, but I'd like to know from you what you'd like to see in our plugins for Xojo and FileMaker.
Usually we provide lower level wrapper for Xojo to Apple's APIs for macOS with hiding all the threading issues from you and translating values from native Xojo types to the matching Foundation types. As there is currently no iOS plugin SDK for Xojo, we can't make all features available via declares.
For FileMaker we usually provide a much more higher level API to do selected things and provide plugin functions for both macOS and iOS.
If you have ideas and wishes, please email me. I'll keep a list and if we have a lot of wishes for a given API, I may give it some priority.
We got the question what the difference is between the new script steps in FileMaker 18 and the BinaryFile functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin. First the script steps from FileMaker 18 only work in the new version, while our plugin functions can work in current as well as several older FileMaker versions. Next FileMaker 18 introduced new script steps, so you may still need the plugin to write files in custom functions or calculations. Here an overview table:
Platform
FileMaker 18
MBS Plugin
FileMaker Pro
✔︎
✔︎
FileMaker Server
✔︎
✔︎
FileMaker Cloud for AWS
✔︎
✔︎
FileMaker Go
✔︎
-
FileMaker iOS SDK
✔︎
✔︎
FileMaker Runtimes
-
✔︎
Older FileMaker versions
-
✔︎
Use in Scripts
✔︎
✔︎
Use in Calculations
-
✔︎
Use in Custom Functions
-
✔︎
High level read and write functions
But before you look into the BinaryFile functions, maybe let us point to some high level functions. To just write some text to a file, you can use Text.WriteTextFile function. If you need to append text, you can use Text.AppendTextFile function. For both you can specify text encoding and if needed, you can change line endings with Text.ReplaceNewline function.
To write something to a file, you can use Files.WriteFile, which works for containers and text. And this function can do hex/base64 decoding of the data to write. To write just a container value, you can use Container.WriteFile function.
Did you know that Bitcode feature in Xcode and LLVM made it possible for Apple to recompile all 32-bit apps for the Apple Watch as 64-bit versions?
Bitcode is the representation of the app as the LLVM compiler internally uses it. The platform independent part parses code, optimizes and then passes this intermediate representation to the platform specific code generator, which then builds machine instructions for the target processor. Instead of outputting 32-bit code, Apple took the intermediate representation (the Bitcode) and let LLVM make a 64-bit version. A few tweaks may be needed like stubs to take 32-bit arguments and than call system functions with 64-bit values, but it looks like Apple figured that out.
Now if Apple goes someday with ARM processor for MacOS, the Bitcode in Mac apps (on the App Store) could allow the system to recompile the app for ARM 64-bit automatically. The developer uploaded his applications to Mac App Store and if bitcode is included, Apple could deliver them as ARM 64-bit for newer Macs automatically. Or if the bitcode is delivered with the final application, this could be done on the Mac on first-run.
I think that is a great way to make transition easier and not require an emulation at runtime like Rosetta for PPC code.
And to play with the bitcode option, I build a couple of libraries with bitcode and got a the MBS FileMaker Plugin for iOS built with Bitcode included. For a test with our MBS Xojo Plugins, I built a few of them with bitcode enabled. Maybe I can do the same for MacOS and make sure our plugin would benefit from an on device recompilation if such transition happens. But for now, we keep this as an experiment and disable bitcode again.
We got a new Page Setup Dialog example for you. As the MBS FileMaker Plugin can control the page setup dialog on MacOS, the following example can create serveral PDF files from one layout and switch between landscape and portrait as well as between different paper names.
The example also shows how to use Schedule.EvaluateAfterDelay in a clever way to run menu commands while a script is paused. Today we use menu entry with ID 57606, which is the page setup menu command.
As an author from the start of the first issue, I've already written myself 60 articles/columns for the Xojo Developer Magazine. The magazine itself is at 99 issues and will probably celebrate next issue as #100.
I made a new website to show you all the 60 articles I made: My XDevMag articles
Want to read the magazine? Ask us via email or comment for a free subscription. We give away three free six month subscriptions. Raffle will happen on Sunday night, so contact us before the deadline to be on the list.
Williiam OKeefe (CubeSQL Library f…): ....and it works great! Mark Franken (Plugin wishes for…): Are there any new APIs fo… Christian Schmitz… (Using a HTML slid…): You missed a lot of updat… Massimo Maioli (Using a HTML slid…): Hi, i use this technique … Markus Winter (Celebrating 60 ar…): Congratulations on all th… Sunil Abraham (Celebrating 60 ar…): I am in the list. Stephen (MBS Plugin Releas…): Very informative! Appreci… Mike M. (Code Signing File…): Christian, I just wanted … William OKeefe (List Dialogs with…): Perfect! And excellent! Sunil Abraham (MBS Xojo Plugins,…): libxl ver. 3.8.5 is relea…
Here are some code snippets for methods, you may want to put in a module and use in your project. They return you the items or true items in a folder sorted by name and optionally with hidden items skipped:
With the last DynaPDF update we got new support for ZUGFeRD 2.0 and Factur-X, two standards to deliver invoices as PDF files with embedded XML data. We supported ZUGFeRD 1.0 before and now upgraded code to support version 2, too.
After a few days passed some of the details in various WWDC sessions show up.
We just built a CubeSQL client library for Mac, the cubesql.dylib. You can download it in our 
WWDC is the yearly Apple developer conference. With over 5000 attendees and 1000 Apple engineers on site (plus security and host people from Apple), there are people everywhere. It is a great experience and after several years of trying the lottery, I had the honor to join the conference this year. Here a few notes to make live easier:
Did you know that Bitcode feature in Xcode and LLVM made it possible for Apple to recompile all 32-bit apps for the Apple Watch as 64-bit versions?
We got a new Page Setup Dialog example for you. As the 
