MBS FileMaker Plugin - LibXL

LibXL is an independent product for reading/writing Excel files for crossplatform projects.

MBS Plugins can use LibXL to provide Excel file handling functions.

Documentation: XL Functions in MBS FileMaker Plugin.

Blog articles

• Read And Write Excel Files With FileMaker (PDF)
• LibXL for FileMaker with extras (PDF)
• Use formatted text in Excel files with FileMaker and LibXL (PDF)
• How to use XL functions with MBS FileMaker Plugin (PDF)
• New column names in an Excel document (PDF)

Order LibXL License for MBS Plugin

Please order licenses for the platforms you use.

Linux is the platform for FileMaker Cloud for AWS. iOS version is for use with FileMaker iOS SDK. It won't work with FileMaker Go directly, but FileMaker Go can use Perform Script on Server.

The enterprise license covers:

• Multiple developers.
• Multiple server license.
• Windows, Linux, Mac, and iOS platforms.
• Priority technical support by LibXL support team.

If you buy through those links above, we receive a commission and get notified about your purchase, so we can email you instructions for Xojo/FileMaker and provide assistance if needed.

Direct reading and writing Excel files

LibXL is a library that can read and write Excel files. It doesn't require Microsoft Excel and .NET framework, combines an easy to use and powerful features. Library can be used to

• Generate a new spreadsheet from scratch
• Extract data from an existing spreadsheet
• Edit an existing spreadsheet

Simple interoperate, no more Excel dependency

LibXL has C/C++ headers, Delphi unit and .NET assembly for including in your project. No OLE automation.

Customizing the look and feel

LibXL supports numerous formatting options: alignments, borders, colors, fill patterns, fonts, merging cells and so on. alignments, borders, colors, fonts.

High performance

Writing speed is about 2 100 000 cells per second for numbers and 240 000 cells per second for 8-character random strings in binary xls format (CPU 3.2 GHz).

Royalty-free distribution with your application

Our customers can use this library in their commercial applications without any additional fees.

Release Notes

Version 14.4 - 17th September 2024

• Added XL.Book.RemovePrinterSettings and XL.Book.RemoveVBA functions.
• Improved check to XL.Initialize to return an error if the license key includes invalid characters like a space character.
• Updated LibXL to version 4.4.0.
• Upgraded all linux compilers to newer versions.

Version 14.3 - 9th July 2024

• Changed XL.Book.Version to have the book parameter optional.
• Fixed a memory leak in loading Excel file from disk with XL.LoadBook function.
• Fixed a problem with XL functions where license key was not recognized properly.
• Update LibXL libraries for macOS and Windows to version 4.3.
• Updated to newer plugin SDK for FileMaker 21.
• Updated to Xcode 15.4.

Version 14.2 - 14th May 2024

• Added new XL functions to create conditional formatting including XL.Book.AddConditionalFormat and XL.Sheet.AddConditionalFormatting.
• Added keepAllSheets parameter for XL.LoadBookPartially function.
• Added SVG for XL.Book.GetPictureType and XL.Book.GetPicture.
• Added work around for XL.Book.GetPicture to return image data, even if LibXL returns an error, but does provide data.
• Improved handling of font and format reference numbers in XL functions to cache the objects and reuse the indexes.
• Improved XL.Book.GetPicture to return future pictures types as FILE containers.
• Improved XL.Book.GetPictureType to report future types as number.
• Updated LibXL to version 4.3.0.

Version 14.1 - 12th March 2024

• Added check to LibXL.Initialize to return error if you use the license key for a different platform.
• Updated to newer plugin SDK.

Version 14.0 - 16th January 2024

• Added XL.FormControl.JSON function.
• Improved XL functions for form controls to take name of control in addition to index.

Version 13.5 - 7th November 2023

• Changed XL.Sheet.CellReadStyledText function to fall back to XL.Sheet.CellReadText for non styled cells.
• Updated to Xcode 15.0.
• Enabled fortified source checks for libc on Linux.

Version 13.4 - 12th September 2023

• Added XL.Sheet.SetHidden function.
• Updated for future FileMaker version.

Version 13.3 - 18th July 2023

• Added new flag to XL.Book.GetText and XL.Sheet.GetText to return texts as rich text.
• Added XL.Sheet.CellWriteMatrix function.
• Added XL.Sheet.SetColPx and XL.Sheet.SetRowPx functions.
• Updated LibXL to version 4.2.
• Fixed an issue on Linux with encoding text in native encoding.

Version 13.2 - 9th May 2023

• Added Linux ARM 64-bit versions of DynaPDF and LibXL libraries.
• Added XL.Sheet.AreCellsEmpty function.
• Added XL.Sheet.HyperlinkIndex function.
• Updated LibXL to version 4.1.2.

Version 13.1 - 7th March 2023

• Added 45 new functions for XL functions to work on form controls and XL.Sheet.FormControlCount function.
• Added XL.Book.IsWriteProtected, XL.Sheet.DefaultRowHeight, XL.Sheet.GetTabColor, XL.Sheet.GetTabColorRGB and XL.Sheet.SetDefaultRowHeight functions.
• Added XL.Sheet.AddSelectionRange, XL.Sheet.GetActiveCell, XL.Sheet.RemoveSelection, XL.Sheet.SelectionRange and XL.Sheet.SetActiveCell functions.
• Updated LibXL to version 4.1.

Version 13.0 - 17th January 2023

• Added XL.List function.
• Added XL.Sheet.ReadCellsAsMatrix function to copy cell values into a new matrix.
• Fixed a problem with XL.Book.AddSheet function not passing correct name each time.
• Fixed XL.Sheet.SetColumn and XL.Sheet.SetRow to better.
• Changed minimum iOS version for deployment to iOS 12.0.
• Updated for Claris Pro v40.1.
• Updated Xcode to version 14.2.

Version 12.5 - 8th November 2022

• Fixed a but in XL.CopySheet, where it failed if the sheet didn't have a name.
• Fixed XL.Format.SetNumFormat and related functions to not crash if you pass an invalid format number.

Version 12.3 - 12th July 2022

• Updated LibXL to version 4.0.4.

Version 12.2 - 17th May 2022

• Fixed issue with XL.Sheet.CellWriteText to allow you to pass empty value to not change format.

Version 12.1 - 15th March 2022

• Fixed parameters for XL.Sheet.AutoFilter.SetCustomFilter and XL.Sheet.AutoFilter.GetCustomFilter.

Version 12.0 - 18th January 2022

• Updated LibXL to version 4.0.1.