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bBox FileMaker external plug-in is a toolbox of functions freely available to all developers. Use it to extend the reach of your Mac OS X-based FileMaker solutions to programs, code libraries, or OS functions that are normally outside your reach.
Consisting of more than 20 powerful functions, bBox extends the reach of FileMaker’s existing commands, and adds completely new functionality. This makes it easier to get your projects done, and without the need for ugly workarounds to provide functionality that should be simple.
What functions does bBox provide?
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run AppleScript, Python and Ruby scripts -
execute shell scripts using sh or Bash, with the output returned as the function’s result -
execute AppleScripts within a calculation, with parameters and the return value as the function’s result -
execute Python or Ruby scripts directly without invoking shell -
XPath evaluation -
get or set raw clipboard (pasteboard) data -
filter text through grep, the powerful pattern matching command -
return the current time with milliseconds -
find out what types of data are currently in the clipboard -
get path type (file or directory), file size, creation, modification and last date opened, and POSIX permissions
What can I do with bBox?
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run Perl, PHP, AppleScript, shell, Python and Ruby scripts -
extract email or phone numbers from text -
check if a file is present -
parse XML with XPath based queries -
strip duplicate values from a return-delimited list -
present a dialog asking user to select a file or choose from a list of values -
determine if a needed type of data is in the clipboard -
execute a command requiring admin authentication -
schedule execution of scripts down to the millisecond
Included in the download is an extensive demo file showing these techniques and more.