Update : Kent Lendrum of Kamar pointed out to me the obvious, but unstated point that all of the below applies to the 64 bit version of FMS and the 32 bit version continues to work as is. Thanks kent.
The new FileMaker Server 12 has been out a few months now and is into it’s second revision already. However some of the minor technical changes with respect to plugins haven’t been documented and have changed considerably since the last major release and even since the first 12 revision. So I’m going to help document them here.
What hasn’t changed
First of all, the details for the plugins for the FMS scripting engine, and the IWP ( Instant Web Publishing ) are still the same. Plugins are 32 bit ( same as they’ve always been ) and they reside in the same locations :
For the FMS scripting engine :
OS X : /Library/FileMaker Server/Database Server/Extensions/
Windows: [drive]:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Database Server\Extensions\
For IWP :
OS X: /Library/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/wpc/Plugins/
Windows: [drive]:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Web Publishing\publishingengine\wpc\Plugins\
All of the existing plugins on the market will continue to work and if made Server or IWP compatible will perform as expected.
What HAS changed
FileMaker Server 12v2 introduced a major change, mentioned only in the release notes :
Added support for loading 64-bit plug-ins used by Custom Web Publishing solutions. Note: Use the FileMaker 12 plug-in SDK to create 64-bit plug-ins.
What this doesn’t mention is that FMS 12v1 and 12v2 CANNOT load a 32bit plugin for CWP. In other words you can’t use plugins at all with 12v1 and CWP and for them to work you need both 12v2 and a 64bit version of the plugin.
The new CWP process is 64bit and it can’t load the existing 32 bit plugins at all.
So there is a new location for 64 bit plugins for CWP to access :
OS X: /Library/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/cwpc/Plugins/
Windows: [drive]:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Web Publishing\publishingengine\cwpc\Plugins\
So if you’re using plugins on Server you may need two versions in up to three different locations.
Plugin developers can download the SDK and presumably are working on their 64 bit versions at the moment. We have a beta 64 bit version of our free BaseElements plugin available now for Mac and Windows and can confirm that this build works in FMS 12v2 where old versions did not. Thanks to David Jondreau from Wing Forward Solutions for help in testing.
I’ve not yet seen release versions of popular plugins such as the Troi or 360 Works software, but presumably they’re on their way. However it’s not a simple recompile and does require some work depending on the code involved. I have only so far seen mentions of this on forums and on other developers blogs.
Short Version
If you’re deploying solutions using CWP and plugins check with the plugin developer before moving to 12.
The only place that documents the new location listed above is the pdf that is included with the SDK, so hopefully adding it here will expand the knowledge.