Development Guide

4 FileMaker Pro Advanced Development Guide
Chapter 5
Developing third-party FileMaker plug-ins
About external functions 35
About the example plug-in 35
Contents of the FMExample folder 36
Contents of the Example folder 36
Contents of the Support folder 36
Installing, enabling, and configuring the example plug-in 37
Description of the FMExample plug-in’s external functions 38
Using the example plug-in 39
Customizing the plug-in example 40
Customizing the example resources 40
Customizing FMPluginExample.cpp 40
Customizing FMPluginPrefs.cpp 41
Customizing FMPluginFunctions.cpp 41
Requirements for writing external function plug-ins 41
API code files 41
Option string syntax 42
Naming conventions for external functions 42
FileMaker messages sent to the plug-in 42
Initialization message 43
Shutdown message 43
Idle message 44
Preferences message 44
External Function message 44
GetString message 45
Avoiding potential Mac OS X resource conflicts 45
Providing documentation for your plug-in 45
Appendix A
Feature comparison of the runtime application with FileMaker Pro
Application and document preferences 48
Menu command comparison 49
Ignored script steps 54
Stored registry settings or preferences 55
Index 57