Notes about File Paths
Lots of the BE plugin functions use paths in the parameters or in values they return. Please note :
FileMaker paths and plugin paths are not the same thing.
The paths used by the plugin are Operating System paths. On the Mac, they usually start with /Volumes or /Users and on windows will be something like C:\Folder\Path.
FileMaker paths often start with file: or filemac: and these WILL NOT work in the plugin.
These file: prefixes that you get from things like the Get ( FilePath ) function and others, are unique to FileMaker and don't work anywhere else other than FileMaker itself, including not in the BE plugin. So if you're mixing and matching FileMaker paths and plugin paths, you will need to convert them between the types in order to use them in other places.
Plugin Paths Examples
Mac : /Users/John Smith/Documents/test.xlsx" Windows : C:\Users\John Smith\Documents\test.xlsx Linux : /etc/hosts
To get an example of the sorts of paths that the plugin uses, use the BE_SelectFile function in the Data Viewer, and choose a file with a known path. This will return an example of the sort of path used by the function. You can then adjust this path to suit whatever location you need, or to get an example of the difference between selecting a file on the desktop and running the Get ( DesktopFolder ) function.
FileMaker Path Examples
Mac : file:///Volumes/Clients/contacts.txt Windows : file:///C:/Users/John%20Smith/Documents/test.xlsx Linux : file:///etc/hosts
Note the consistency of the type of slash used, vs the difference in \ vs / in Windows/Mac.
Conversion of paths between types
The best way to convert paths is to use the native FileMaker functions ConvertFromFileMakerPath and ConvertToFileMakerPath. A "plugin" path is the same as the PosixPath for Mac or Linux, and the WinPath for windows operating systems.
ConvertFromFileMakerPath ( $filemakerPath ; PosixPath ) //Convert FileMaker to Mac/Linux Plugin Path ConvertFromFileMakerPath ( $filemakerPath ; WinPath ) //Convert FileMaker to Windows Plugin Path ConvertToFileMakerPath ( $pluginPath ; PosixPath ) //Convert Mac/Linux Plugin Path to file://Mac path. ConvertToFileMakerPath ( $pluginPath ; WinPath ) //Convert Windows Plugin Path to file://Windows path.