Reviews

What users write about the plugins

Testimonial from Don Lyttle

Christian,

"Thanks for the support to us!"

There's two things I have come to believe unequivocally over the past 5 years of my XOJO experience:

  1. Aside from the XOJO personnel themselves, Christian Schmitz is the best and most important thing that’s ever happened to XOJO … without what you provide, there would be a BIG EMPTY HOLE in the language and it’s offerings. I, for one, could not have done what I have without you and the value you bring (not just product, but including the timely advice given to me both here in email form and on the XOJO Forum)
  2. Christian Schmitz is brilliant at what he does … I stand in awe of your programming skills … but even more so, your insight and vision into what the average developer like me really needs to get the job done.

Kudos, Christian … as the saying goes, many of us think, “you’re the best thing since sliced bread”!

… Don Lyttle

Testimonial from Patrick Delaney

I have been using Real Studio for around 6 years and since discovering Monkeybread Software, their plugins have become an integral part of my toolkit. The plugins significantly extend Real Studio functionality and save time writing my own code to fill in the gaps. It's fair to say that if Real Studio is missing something you need, there is probably a Monkeybread plugin to do the job!

As well as the complete plugin set I've also added a few other Monkeybread products to my toolkit - the Bug Reporter and Updater Kit to name just two. Though I could write some of this myself, utilising Monkeybread Software has saved me time and, indeed, has made me money.

The technical support Christian provides is both timely and efficient. He is always willing to help where he can. I'm a big fan of Monkeybread tools and I wholeheartedly recommend them to any Real Studio developer.

Review from Dennis Wallentin

As a developer You know that clients usually evaluate Your softwares from two aspects, the GUI's usability together with the functionality. What we also know is that Real Studio provides us with a basic toolkit but where the toolkit excludes some controls together with some components. In other words, we must consume our limited time with developing own solutions and/or own workarounds to meet the requirements. At the same we also know that we don't get full paid by the clients for all the hours we spend on developing softwares.

So how do we resolve a situation like that? The short answer is; we simple use third-party components. Developers have always been skeptical towards other developer's work and using third-party components was, when they become available, not an exception from that "rule". However, the progress during the last 10-15 years has forced us to change attitude and simple accept existence and the use of third-party components. The benefit is that we can reduce the development time, we can focus on the essential parts of the solutions and by using third-party controls we can also boost the GUI in our solutions.

Yes, using plug-ins definitely solves some problems but it also put us in a different position in that we must trust and rely on third-party vendor(s). And, of course, that the quality of their components and services meets our requirements. Deciding which vendor(s) to use becomes a critical business issue for us putting us in exactly the same situation as our clients face. In my experience Monkeybread Software (MBS) is a vendor with great products and an excellent support. The more we learn about their components the better we can leverage them and we may also get a higher ROI. The components I use from MBS are both reliable and stable. Their controls make the GUIs in my solutions to be more user-friendly and put a quality stamp on both me and my products. To summarize, MBS and their products are highly recommended.

Dennis Wallentin
RB Developer
MS Excel MVP

Testimonial from Tim Jones

I've worked in the realm of software development since 1982. I've used tools from CICS to COBOL to FORTAN, 4 families of C, multiple FORTH implementations, Rexx, TCL, Python, and numerous BASIC variants on computer systems ranging from old NCR systems, Wang VS and OIS systems, IBM System 36 and 38, and various DEC VAXen before moving to more modern Unix and PC based evironments. When I took on the Macintosh platform in 2001, the options were limited. While Apple provided Xcode and a version of GCC, their libraries were different enough from my normal Unix platforms that simple ports became quite an effort.

In 2003, I discovered REALbasic and very quickly became a fan for its ease of use as a RAD tool. I was able to very quickly create GUI wrappers for our ported Unix tools that enabled non-sysadmin users to access to power of the Unix command line on OS X. As I became more familiar with both REALbasic and OS X, I started to realize that a lot of the power in the OS X platform was not easily available from a default REALbasic installation. Finally, in 2005, I found and started using the Monkey Bread Software plugins - a very funny name for a very important addition to my programming toolbox.

I've been an MBS user continuously since then and all of our products on the three supported platforms - Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows - would not have been possible without a lot more effort on my engineering team's part if not for Christian's powerful and versatile Monkey Bread Software Plugins.

Tim Jones
President and CTO,
TOLIS Group, Inc.

Testimonial from Stephen Dodd

Christian delivers what he says he will, promptly and on budget. For outsourcing, that's just what you need.

Stephen Dodd
OfficeTime
10714 106 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5H 0R1
Canada


MBS Product Testimonial from Dave Hurley

I've been writing RealBasic applications for approximately five years as part of my job supporting teaching and research in the Biology Department at the University of Washington. In addition to the speed with which I am able to create cross-platform applications using RealBasic, the vast number of additional functions that the MBS Plugin provides have enabled me to complete a variety of solutions at an incredibly low additional cost. Functions as varied as video capture, keyboard presses, and extensions to Realbasic's graphics and Quicktime classes have enhanced my applications and simplified my development process. I have come to think of MBS plugin functions as an integral part of RealBasic itself. Thank you, Monkeybread Software, for continually refining and adding to this superb resource.

Dave Hurley
Manager of Departmental Computing
Biology Department
University of Washington
Seattle, WA USA


MBS Product Testimonial from Robert Chomko

Dear Mr. Christian Schmitz:

All of us at Computer-Aided Learning thank you for your outstanding support of the MBS Plug-in. Every time we needed help, you responded quickly with answers that allowed us to move forward. When problems arose within Realbasic, you went to your Realbasic contacts on our behalf and got the defects fixed. As we transitioned to Realbasic for Windows, you quickly made the necessary changes to the MBS plug-in so that MBS functions could be generated in a Windows application.

The speech portion of your MBS plug-in works flawlessly in our text-to-speech application. John Melson, a Realbasic consultant, working with us has begun to extend the use of your plug-in to solve other problems. The MBS plug-in dramatically increased our programming productivity. Your plug-in is certainly a great value when one measures the programming productivity gains against the cost. If fact at $80, the MBS plug-in is a real bargain when you consider it has 4,000 functions. I enthusiastically recommend the MBS plug-in for companies looking for a quick inexpensive solution to solving difficult programming tasks.

Again, Christian thank you so much for providing us with an outstanding product and outstanding support.

Robert Chomko
Vice President
Computer-Aided Learning


A comment from Jason Toews

Production Systems Analyst at Trader Publishing Company

Without the MBS plugin, every one of my current projects would be lacking vital features. I'm using the MBS QuickTime functionality for importing images and performing high-quality scaling. I'm using MBS' PressKey methods to control some non-scriptable Quark dialogs. I'm using MBS to verify that all the necessary QuickTime components are installed on the user's machine, returning a detailed list of the missing items. I'm using MBS to... well, to do a lot of stuff that I couldn't otherwise! I can't tell you how many times I've gotten stuck on a seemingly insoluble problem, only to realize that the MBS plugin has just what I need. Christian has an excellent product, with new functions seemingly added on a daily basis. Plus, he is one of the most responsive developers I've ever encountered. Thanks, Christian.


A comment from John Casasanta

President of Inventive, Inc.

The Monkeybread Plug-in was extremely useful in the development of the latest version of iClip. It seemed like every time a problem came up and I needed to find a workaround for some limitation of REALbasic, the plug-in helped to solve it.

The plug-in made it very easy to add a Hot Key to iClip. I'm looking forward to adding Status Item functionality to iClip and WebKit functionality to iScooper in the future.

One of the best things about MBS is the support provided. Christian is very accessible and always seems eager to quickly address feature requests and bug fixes.

It's hard to imagine being a professional REALbasic developer and not using the MBS Plug-in. It's paid for itself many times over in the time it's saved me.


Reviews from RBGarage.com:

MBS-RB-Plugins Reviews by RBGarage users:

brathbone : "The MBS plugin is a wonderful extension to RB's functionality. If you buy it for one or two of it's functions, you will get your money's worth, and there are still 3998+ more functions! I have saved hundereds of hours of coding by using the MBS plugin. "

ebutterfly : "This plugin is a must-have for any serious REALbasic developer! It includes functions for almost everything but the kitchen sink."

daustin777 : "The CoreGraphics Classes of the MBS Plugin bring PDF creation, manipulation and importing to REALbasic. It was quite easy for me to create an application that imported a PDF, draw two external images ( PDF or other) images, create and draw text in various"


A french review

REALbasic™ est un environnement de programmation très efficace et flexible.

Un peu comme pour les blocs Legos™, cet environnement de programmation permet d'élaborer rapidement toutes sortes d'applications.

En théorie, les possibilités se limitent à votre imagination.

Toutefois, comme pour les blocs Legos, la plupart des programmeurs qui utilisent REALbasic™ régulièrement en viennent souvent à espérer que l'univers ne soit pas seulement peuplé de petites formes géométriques, aux couleurs vives, qui s'emboîtent facilement, peu importe qu'avec un peu d'imagination, elles puissent représenter l'univers ou non.

De la même façon, MBS plug-in, vient enrichir l'univers de REALbasic™ de 9000+ fonctions supplémentaires. 9000!, vous avez bien lu! Toutes ces fonctions sont en effet contenues dans une collection de 7 plug-ins individuels, qui sont tous inclus avec l'achat de l'ensemble des plug-ins MBS.

Comme pour tous les autres plug-ins compatibles avec l'environnement de programmation REALbasic™, vous n'avez simplement qu'à glisser les plug-ins MBS dans le dossier des plug-ins de REALbasic™ pour tirer parti rapidement de toutes les nouvelles fonctions offertes par ceux-ci.

Comme on le dit souvent, la différence et la qualité se voient dans les détails...

Ces fonctions vous permettent donc de tirer parti des nombreuses subtilités de Mac OS™, de Carbon™, de Windows™ et de nombreux autres protocoles et interfaces spécifiques à ces différentes plateformes.

Programmer ces fonctions, même une à une, vous demanderaient le recours à des solutions de rechange parfois douteuses... ou sinon, à de nombreuses heures de programmation dans des langages comme le C++ en plus d'une documentation rigoureuse des différents API de programmation.

MBS plug-in vous permet entre autres de tirer parti de toute la puissance de Carbon, y compris plusieurs libraires de la "Core Foundation". Il vous donne accès aux systèmes de gestion des polices et de la typographie, des autorisations en OSX, de l'encodage, de la compression de fichiers, de l'encryption, du contrôle des réseaux, et bien plus encore.

Pour tous ceux qui programment des applications REALbasic™ pour Windows™, les plug-ins MBS vous permettent aussi de mieux contrôler de nombreux détails essentiels de ce système d'opération qu'il vous serait complexe d'accéder autrement.

La liste de tout ce que peuvent faire les plug-ins MBS pour vous est trop longue pour en faire une énumération complète dans ces lignes. De plus, cette liste s'allonge régulièrement, alors que de nombreuses fonctions sont ajoutées en fonction des besoins des utilisateurs du plug-in et des projets de développements de son auteur, M. Christian Shmitz.

Lorsque survient un problème de programmation compliqué, en plein développement créatif d'une application, il peut s'avérer très frustrant de devoir perdre le temps gagné grâce à la flexibilité de REALbasic, à résoudre des détails qui seraient mieux laissés à des spécialistes.

Comme un vaste inventaire d'épices exotiques, les plug-ins MBS surprennent souvent par les solutions qu'il propose pour vous tirer d'affaires avec un minimum d'efforts nécessaires pour l'intégration de ces nouvelles fonctions à votre code déjà existant.

MBS plug-in permet souvent de trouver le petit élément qui fait toute la différence entre une application qui doit faire des compromis et une qui tire complètement parti des possibilités du système d'opération sur lequel elle tourne.

Finalement, que dire de la précision allemande, lorsqu'elle est appliquée à un outil aussi versatile que REALbasic™? toutes les fonctions testées ont fonctionnent généralement à chaque coup, tel qu'elles sont documenté par une abondante documentation et une librairie d'exemples très exhaustive.

S'il vous arrive parfois d'avoir l'impression d'être vaguement laissé à vous même avec un langage de programmation incomplet et un service après-vente trop occupé pour répondre à vos questions et à vos attentes, le support après-vente de MBS est rapide, courtois et efficace. Une attitude professionnelle essentielle pour quiconque désire utiliser REALbasic™ autrement que comme un hobby, dans le but de réaliser des produits de qualité industrielle et commerciale.

from Louis Veillette.


Comment from Robert Garcia:

"Creating a consistent experience for users across platforms is a daunting task. It is even more difficult when your users are professional photographers demanding the highest level of quality for image manipulation and scaling. After doing months of research, I stumbled on to the new features of the MBS 3.1 plugin, particularly its quicktime classes. The MBS plugin allows me to give our photographers the same quality image manipulation whether they are running Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS Classic, or Mac OS X. The MBS license fee was the easiest money I have ever spent. Now I find myself dumping my other plugins and moving all available functions over to MBS. It is a wise move because of the superb level of support provided by MBS."

from Robert Garcia CTO, eventpix.com President, BigHead Technology

The biggest plugin in space...