Other B4A v4.00 BETA has been released

Erel

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SS-2014-12-04_11.24.26.png


B4A v4.00 BETA is now available for download. Users who are eligible for a free upgrade will receive an email with the download link.
Note that starting from this version Basic4android is named B4A :)

New features and improvements:
  • Rapid debugger memory handling was rewritten to provide better performance and to avoid memory leaks.
  • Three new View methods: SetLayoutAnimated, SetVisibleAnimated and SetColorAnimated. With these methods it is very simple to add nice animations effects to your app.
    See this thread for more information: Simple animations in B4A v4.00
  • Designer animations - Layouts added with the designer are (optionally) animated.
  • Support for constants: Dim Const x As Int = 2.
    Constant variables are assigned when declared. Their value cannot be later changed (enforced by the compiler).
  • Screen video capture - Requires Android 4.4+. Very useful for demonstrations.
  • Activity_ActionBarHomeClick event - Handles the action bar icon click event. This event replaces the event from StdActionBar library which doesn't work on Android 5 devices.
  • Better handling of the internal message queue on Android 5 devices.
  • Visual designer supports custom fonts.
  • Visual designer supports adding borders to views that use ColorDrawable. Borders can also be added with ColorDrawable.Initialize2.

    upload_2014-12-4_11-56-16.png


  • New Application object with the following properties:
    • LabelName
    • VersionName
    • VersionCode
    • PackageName
  • Activity.DisableAccessibility - Workaround for this Android bug: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=55933
  • IsDevTool keyword - Useful when reusing code with B4J/B4i.
  • Designer - Select all files option.
  • Designer - Double click on view's name to add to the script.
  • Libraries list - Checked libraries are listed at the top of the list.
  • Duplicate line shortcut - Ctrl + D.
  • AutoComplete shortcut - Ctrl + \ (same as Ctrl + Space).
  • Hide other modules option when right clicking on the module header.
  • Clear logs when program starts option.
  • 3 new warnings related to the manifest editor:
    • No android:targetSdkVersion.
    • targetSdkVersion is lower than 20 and no theme is explicitly set.
    • AndroidManifest.xml is read only
  • New logo.
  • CurrentStatement and breakpoints colors are configurable in the xml file.
  • B4A-Bridge was updated with several fixes and the PHONE_READ_STATE permission was removed (it was used in the past to show the device id).
  • Bug fixes.
The minimum Android version is now version 2.0.

This is a beta version. You are advised to backup your projects before loading them in the new version.

Thank you for your help with the development of B4A and the other tools.
Please start new threads for issues related to the beta version.
 

Troberg

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How beta is it? Is it a "Try it out, but for god's sake don't do any production stuff on it yet!" beta, or is it a "Everything might not be perfekt yet, but it's better than the previous release version." beta?

The new Application object its a really usefull info for the developpers, please consider adding more properties:
  • IsInDebugMode (Internally)
  • lastUpdateTime (From the PackageInfo)
  • firstInstallTime(From the PackageInfo)
Also:
* IsFirstRunOnThisInstall (true if the program has not been run before)
* IsFirstRunOnThisVersion (true if this version of the program has not been run before)

It's a very common situation to want to do some things on the first run, and it's always nice to not have to make your own framework to keep track of it.
 
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tremara1

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Thanks for the great work.....I just had a quick look and was attempting to add font in the designer and it seems the font file has to be in the files folder of the project. Is this correct. I tried to add from Windows font folder and the dialog shows no files.
 
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Martin Larsen

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What a nice surprise. So far, it works fine.

ivan.tellez has a number of suggestions, considering this is a major release.

I have one more: please add context sensitive help to the IDE. Would be awesome for a beginner like me if pressing F1 on a keyword would look that up in the docs!
 
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corwin42

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ֲ It is better to rely on the native methods instead of adding a dependency on another project into the core library.
I think Informatix just wanted to say that with NineOldAndroids there is another useful library for animation additionally to Animation and AnimationPlus.
 
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Cableguy

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[* said:
Visual designer supports custom fonts.


Hi Erel, this is great news... as said, an amazing xmass gift.

Been playing around with beta version... I can't find this custom font feature on the designer...
 
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blong

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Erel ... note the new Application Object properties has a version code... any chance we could have an option that this could auto-increment when re-build ? Or add a build number as well as Version code .. Thanks in advance and sincere thanks for making B4A a great product.
 
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tdocs2

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WOW!!!

I tried to pick my favorite improvements:

New features and improvements:

1. Screen video capture - Requires Android 4.4+. Very useful for demonstrations - effective for sales and training.
2. Visual designer supports adding borders to views that use ColorDrawable. Borders can also be added with ColorDrawable.Initialize2.
3. Three new View methods: SetLayoutAnimated, SetVisibleAnimated and SetColorAnimated. With these methods it is very simple to add nice animations effects to your app - right in line with Android's direction in v 5.0.
4. The rest.

I agree with desolatesoul "(Feels like B4A grew from a baby to a teenager)".
THANK YOU!

Sandy
 
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Cableguy

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If I install this version, I can have 2 version to choose? Meaning I do not need to uninstall version 3.82?
Install to a different folder than your current install and you can run both version independently
 
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Erel

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I thought that you suggested to implement the new View features based on NineOldAndroids open source project. Never mind...

I just had a quick look and was attempting to add font in the designer and it seems the font file has to be in the files folder of the project
The font files will be copied to the "files folder" when you add them from the designer.
 
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Cableguy

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The font files will be copied to the "files folder" when you add them from the designer.
Yes, but I just don't see where I set custom font... On the typeface properties I get just the usual fonts that where already available.
So how to set custom font on the visual designer??
 
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microbox

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Just want to say thank you Erel for keeping B4A as a great and fun software to use...can't wait to upgrade and try it.
 
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eSolution

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I have found something ...a possible bug: I have a project that is working fine in v 3.8 but when I open it in v 4 beta is asking for a missing lib in debugger (I have checked, I have all the libs from v3.8 imported in v 4 , the lib folder is the same and the lib list is the same in both versions)
YP4UeMR
Untitled-1.jpg


Can anyone tell me how to fix this in v4? is this a bug?
 
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derez

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I succeeded in recording a video with my nexus 5, but how do I upload it to a post ?
 
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Erel

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an anyone tell me how to fix this in v4? is this a bug?
Do you see a file named youtubeandroidplayerapi.jar in the additional libraries folder?
I don't think that this issue is related to v4.

I succeeded in recording a video with my nexus 5, but how do I upload it to a post ?
You need to upload it to YouTube and then post the link (with the video icon).
 
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