E-Rechnungen selbst erzeugen, empfangen, prüfen und visualisieren
Die E-Rechnung ist inzwischen mehr als ein PDF, das per E-Mail verschickt wird. Eine echte E-Rechnung enthält strukturierte Daten, die von Software automatisch verarbeitet werden können.
Für Unternehmen, die ihre Geschäftsprozesse mit FileMaker abbilden, stellt sich deshalb eine interessante Frage:
Warum sollte die E-Rechnung außerhalb der eigenen FileMaker-Lösung verarbeitet werden?
Mit dem MBS FileMaker Plugin lassen sich wesentliche Teile des kompletten E-Rechnungsprozesses direkt in FileMaker umsetzen:
- XML erzeugen
- XML aus eingehenden Rechnungen auslesen
- XSD-Strukturen prüfen
- Geschäftsregeln mit Saxon und XSLT prüfen
- E-Rechnungen visualisieren
- ZUGFeRD-/Factur-X-PDFs erzeugen
- XML in PDF/A-3 einbetten
- fertige Rechnungen erneut validieren
- Originaldaten für die Aufbewahrung in FileMaker archivieren
Und das alles lokal, ohne dass die Rechnungsdaten für die Validierung an einen externen Web Service übertragen werden müssen.
New in this prerelease of version 16.4 of the
MBS FileMaker Plugin:
- Updated DynaPDF to version 5.0.5.16.
- Added FM.Relations function.
- Fixed a memory leak in CURL MQTT receiving.
- Fixed a memory leak in FM.SQL.JSONColumn function.
- Fixed a memory leak in DynaPDF.Parser.Content function.
- Fixed a memory leak in the WebViewer message handling.
- Fixed a memory leak in the WebView.Evaluate function for Windows.
- Fixed a memory leak in CURL.GetHeaderAsJSON function.
- Fixed a memory leak in Phidgets event handling.
- Fixed a memory leak in XML to JSON conversion.
- Improved relationship search to show up in the smaller manage database dialog triggered from a field calculation.
- Added support for password fields for Windows to our Dialog functions.
- Improved search over all scripts. Optionally store settings, highlights RegEx, find following steps and filter for disabled steps.
- Updated PCRE2 to version 10.48.
- Updated mongo-c-driver to version 2.5.3.
- Added ScriptWorkspace.SetFocusToScript function.
- Improved ScriptWorkspace.SetFocusToScriptList function.
New functions in documentation
Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip
Downloads at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/:
You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.
New in this prerelease of the 26.4 plugins:
New functions in documentation
Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared DropBox folder.
You can subscribe to our Xojo mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.
20 years of the MBS FileMaker Plugin—that’s quite an impressive time span. For two decades, the plugin has been enhancing FileMaker with features that go far beyond what’s possible with the platform’s built-in tools.
I’ve been working at MBS since 2019 and, since then, of course have also been working with the MBS FileMaker Plugin. During this time, I’ve discovered, tested, and used countless features in FileMaker projects. Some of them are little helpers that save a lot of work in everyday tasks. Others open up possibilities that you might not have even thought were possible without the plugin.
To mark the 20th anniversary, I’d like to share a few of my personal favorite features that have guided me on my journey as a developer.
(more)
Check out the FMTraining.tv website. Richard Carlton and his team do a daily free live stream about FileMaker to watch.
A few days ago Christian Schmitz from Monkeybread Software joined a live episode to talk a bit about the MBS FileMaker Plugin. Watch it on YouTube.
We talk about the new version 16.3 of MBS Plugin. Check out the announcement, the release notes and the new functions.
(more)
Our MBS Plugin started 20 years ago with a release 1.0 in 2006. We didn't expect this to be such a big part of our lives, but how did we get started?
A bit of history
Even back in 2001 when I just started to work on my first plugins for REALbasic, I have emails from people like Todd Geist looking for someone to help write a FileMaker plugin. In the next years we saw similar requests from Nils Waldherr, Ralf Sander and others. In 2003 I got the copy of the FMP SDK, but I didn't get warm with it. In 2004 I got more inquiries from Chris Griffin, Tony Tanevski and even someone named Wim Decorte asking for a FileMaker integration.
In 2006 I saw Todd Geist asking again for help with an Xcode project. Claris released version 7 with a newer and better SDK. Thanks to Markus Herter for pointing me to the new FileMaker SDK. The discussion with Todd got productive with a list of desired functions and I started to build an Xcode project. Todd showed some plugin functions at a Claris DevCon and we had the first people interested to try the plugin. You can still see the
list of 1.0 functions here and
a copy of the announcement here.
Thanks to everyone pushing me to the right direction!
(more)
We have a few customers who use document databases to store Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other documents in a FileMaker database.
To preview these documents in a container field, we need to generate a preview image for each document. JPEG, PNG, and a few other image formats can be displayed directly. However, Office documents need to be converted into images, and this requires an application that can correctly handle document layouts, page breaks, and other formatting.
(more)
New in this prerelease of the 26.4 plugins:
- Updated whisper headers for version 1.9.2.
- Added Version property to WhisperMBS class.
- Updated llama headers to version 0.3.0.
- Deprecated SetWarmup in LlamaContextMBS class.
- Added Version property to LlamaMBS class.
- Removed MemoryBreakdownPrint for LlamaContextMBS class.
- Removed use_direct_io, use_mmap and use_mlock for LlamaModelParametersMBS class.
- Changed InternalSQLiteLibraryMBS and InternalCubeSQLLibraryMBS to not activate internal library if you loaded a DLL/so/dylib already.
- Added ZoomFactor, DefaultBackgroundColor, EnvironmentHandle and ControllerHandle properties to WebView2BrowserMBS class.
- Updated CURL to version 8.22.0.
- Updated libxml2 to version 2.15.3.
- Updated libxslt to version 1.1.45.
- Updated mongo-c-driver to version 2.5.2.
New functions in documentation
Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared DropBox folder.
You can subscribe to our Xojo mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.
New in this prerelease of version 16.4 of the
MBS FileMaker Plugin:
New functions in documentation
Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip
Downloads at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/:
You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.
With the recent DynaPDF update 5.0.4, you can place SVG drawings on a page in a PDF document. By converting all SVG drawing commands into PDF drawing commands, the graphics is preserved as a vector graphics. This avoids any pixelation that a bitmap graphics would have.
You can load a SVG from file with DynaPDF.LoadSVGFile or with container (DynaPDF.LoadSVG. Then query the sizes and insert the graphics to the current open page in a PDF document with DynaPDF.InsertSVG. There you pass a rectangle and optional the name of the symbol.
When you insert a SVG into a PDF page, you can change the size of the drawing by passing a different width and height. You can pick the position where to place and apply transformations if needed. This allows you to rotate the drawing, mirror it or stretch it in one or both axes. You can use SVG drawings for templates and stamp annotations.
(more)
Just two weeks left to get the OmegaBundle 2026 for the $399 USD price.
This year there is no extension and no price hike. If you like to have a bundle with all the goodies, please place an order in time.
Omegabundle for Xojo 2026 is a collection of the most useful tool sets, add-ons, digital books and components for use with Xojo Inc's Xojo development environment. If purchased separately and not including any additional offers, the total cost would be over $7,600 USD. Omegabundle for Xojo 2026 costs $399.99.
Xojo is an award-winning, cross-platform development tool for the Desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux), Web, iOS (iPad/iPhone) and Raspberry Pi. With Xojo, you can create native applications by using drag-and-drop to build your user interface and then one straight-forward programming language to enable the functionality. Xojo is powerful and modern, yet easy to use and learn.
Learn more at omegabundle.net, see what is included and order here.
The September/October (24.5) issue of
xDev Magazine is now available. Here's a quick preview of what's inside:
TF-Luna LiDAR Range Sensor by Eugene Dakin
You can't have too many ways to measure things. After demonstrating sonar distance measurement, Eugene shows how to use the TF-Luna LiDAR range sensor with Raspberry Pi and Xojo to do the same thing with LiDAR.
Breaking Bunny by Marc Zeedar
Marc recently discovered anti-bot software called Bunny Shield was stopping his Xojo app, Comic Downloader, from data scraping a comics website. A discussion with ChatGPT led to a simple solution, using an HTMLViewer control instead of URLConnection to download the page's HTML.
Locked Down—Part 2 by William O'Keefe
In part 2 of his new encryption series, "The Right Way to Get It Wrong," William shows how Xojo encryption code that seems correct and works doesn't create truly secure encryption if you aren't doing everything exactly right. He demonstrates several ways you can get encryption wrong and how to do it the right way.
Plus: Pragmatic programming, DesktopGrid control, MBS SQL, and more!
New in this prerelease of the 26.4 plugins:
- Added PrintToPdf variant taking Folderitem for the path for WebView2ControlMBS and WebView2BrowserMBS classes.
- Deprecated OptionProxyTLSAuthPassword, OptionProxyTLSAuthType, OptionProxyTLSAuthUsername, OptionTLSAuthPassword, OptionTLSAuthType and OptionTLSAuthUsername properties in CURLSMBS class since they are deprecated in CURL library.
- Updated phidgets to version 1.26.20260821.
- Added kDeviceClassVoltageInput constants for PhidgetMBS class.
- Changed WinSparkleMBS class to only call CanShutdown event if you didn't set CanShutdown property.
- Deprecated IKImageViewControlMBS and IKImageViewMBS due to bugs in the frameworks.
- Fixed Configure event for WinPreviewControlMBS control to work if you like to change classID property.
- Updated mongo-c-driver to version 2.5.1.
- Updated openssl to version 3.5.8.
- Added WriteToPkcs12 method to X509MBS class.
- Added fullStateForDocument and fullState properties for AVAudioUnitMBS class.
- Updated DynaPDF to version 5.0.5.15.
- Updated expat to version 2.8.4.
- Updated SQLAPI to version 5.4.3.
New functions in documentation
Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared DropBox folder.
You can subscribe to our Xojo mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.
New in this prerelease of version 16.4 of the
MBS FileMaker Plugin:
New functions in documentation
Download Links: Download Mac dmg or Download Windows/Linux zip
Downloads at monkeybreadsoftware.com/filemaker/files/Prerelease/:
You can subscribe to our FileMaker mailing list to get notified for new pre-release and release versions.
Since FileMaker 26 you can not just define a field annotation, but also provide display names. See Defining advanced field options for more details.
With MBS Plugin 16.4 we show the annotation and the JSON for the field display names as a tooltip for the field. This way you can quickly peek into the display names without opening the advanced options dialog.
(more)
With the recent DynaPDF update 5.0.4, you can place SVG drawings on a page in a PDF document. By converting all SVG drawing commands into PDF drawing commands, the graphics is preserved as a vector graphics. This avoids any pixelation that a bitmap graphics would have.
You can load a SVG from file with LoadSVG methods in DynaPDFMBS class either from a file on disk or a buffer in memory. Then query the sizes and insert the graphics to the current open page in a PDF document with InsertSVG function. There you pass a rectangle and optional the name of the symbol.
When you insert a SVG into a PDF page, you can change the size of the drawing by passing a different width and height. You can pick the position where to place and apply transformations if needed. This allows you to rotate the drawing, mirror it or stretch it in one or both axes. You can use SVG drawings for templates and stamp annotations.
Some SVG files have multiple drawings, so you can use SymbolCount function in DynaPDFSVGMBS class to query the count. Then check the internal name of the drawing with SymbolName() function. Or use SymbolNames to get an array with all names. Once you have a name, you can pass it to InsertSVG for the symbol id parameter.
(more)
We recorded the training day at the MBS Xojo Conference in April 2026 and provide the video to the attendees.
If you attended the training, you should have an email for the playlist with all 4 blocks.
All session videos go into the playlist for the conference.
Updated for ZUGFeRD 2.5.2
and Saxon 12.10
When you receive an electronic invoice in the formats ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, X-Rechnung or UBL, you may need to validate the XML file. You can use our DynaPDF functions to extract the XML from the ZUGFeRD invoice. Once you have the XML, you can do some automated validation. We leverage the XSL and XSD files coming with the ZUGFeRD 2.3 or 2.4 download. They provide a way to check both the structure with the XSD file as well as the content with the XSL file. The XSL file is based on the schematron file with all the business rules, but converted to a stylesheet for using it with the XSLT function. While the schema check makes sure you have the right nodes in the right places, the business rules define what can go in a field and how fields are related.
(more)
Updated for ZUGFeRD 2.5.2
and Saxon 12.10
XRechnung Visualization 2026-01-31 compatible with XRechnung 3.0.x
When you receive an electronic invoice in the formats ZUGFeRD, Factur-X, X-Rechnung or UBL, you may need to visualize the XML file. You can use our DynaPDF functions to extract the XML from the ZUGFeRD invoice. Once you have the XML for one of the formats UBL or Cross Industry Invoice, you may want to convert it to HTML and show it in a web viewer.
We leverage the XRechnung Visualization Transformators project from GitHub. This project has a couple of XML stylesheets to convert our invoices to HTML. For this they first convert the UBL or CII XML to an intermediate XML and finally convert that to XML with a second transformation. All with XSLT with our Saxon functions. There is also an alternative output to produce a XML for Apache FOP to make it a PDF file.
(more)
When installing an MBS FileMaker Plugin on macOS, especially in a production or security-sensitive environment, it can be useful to verify that the plugin has a valid Apple code signature and that its contents have not been modified.
MBS Plugin is available for FileMaker and Monkeybread Software signs its macOS plugins. Apple provides the `codesign` and `spctl` command-line tools for inspecting signatures and checking how macOS security policies treat signed software.
This article shows how to perform those checks from Terminal.
(more)
