ISO FileMaker Magazine

Living the 100% FileMaker native life is certainly possible, but can be seriously limiting when it comes to all the things possible with various other technologies. JavaScript, as one of the predominant languages used across the Internet and beyond, is quickly becoming a must-know for every serious FileMaker developer.

In this video I showcase using the MBS plug-in in order to take advantage of the VERY WIDE world of JavaScript libraries and doing it without the Web Viewer. FileMaker's Web Viewer, while providing a full runtime WebKit engine, is a bit of a liability in certain situations. Because of the Web Viewer's caching, especially if your script does any moving around between records and/or layouts, you have to be extra cautious about how you implement the use of a Web Viewer for running JavaScript. If you're not careful, you won't get the reliable results you might expect as opposed to simply executing plain old JavaScript.

The solution to finicky Web Viewer execution is to take advantage of the JavaScript offered by a plug-in. The most comprehensive plug-in regarding JavaScript is the MBS plug-in. If you've never used its raw JavaScript power, then you're in for a great surprise of how easy it can be and this video will guide you towards taking full advantage of what it has to offer!

If you're using Claris/FileMaker for either part-time or full-time development, and you've not installed the MonkeyBread plug-in, then you're doing something wrong. Many of the most desired features for working with code, such as code folding, extended syntax highlighting, variable auto-completion, the ability to search code, line jumping and other convenience features are available for free when you install the MBS (MonkeyBread) plug-in.

In this video, I go over all the free features and how to simply install the plug-in. If you've not taken the time to investigate what the plug-in offers then you'll get a great head start by just watching this free video.