shell 1.1

shell is a single-function plugin for executing shell tools and scripts from FileMaker Pro™. It not only launches other applications, but it also gets the result of the called application and gives it back to you. Now you can have bi-directional communication between process, the easy way. The other technologies used by FileMaker are implemented as a one-way mechanism. You can use, for example, AppleScript but you need to add some code into your scripts to return the result into FileMaker. If you change your solution, you need to rewrite your script. Something similar happens with VisualBasic. You can launch an VB script or app but you need to write some code into the script to send the data back to FileMaker. Or develop some complicated system to read a file, etc, etc. Instead, you can use shell to call any tool or application that can be invoked from the command line, pass it any required parameters and get the result of the tool directly on the same call!