This version includes several important new features including UI Cloud and support for embedding Objective C code inside the B4i code.
New features and improvements:
B4i UI Cloud. Similar to B4A UI Cloud. Allows developers to easily test their layout on multiple devices (hosted by Anywhere Software). Currently there are 4 devices: iPad, iPhone 6+, iPhone 5 and iPhone 4.
Take screenshot feature - While debugging you can take a screenshot of the device (Debug - Take Screenshot). Note that the screenshot only includes the app UI elements. Special elements such as camera preview panel will not appear.
This is a beta version so make sure to backup your projects before using the new version. I expect it to be stable however there could always be surprises...
The mac builder itself was not updated. However the libraries were updated. So you need to update the Mac Libs folder (no need to stop the server).
All B4i users will receive an email with the download links.
No, it is not about performance. Its about extendability.
It allows you to take a code snippet with a feature that is not implemented in B4i libraries and add it to your program.
NativeObject which is very useful to access "unwrapped APIs" can only access some of the APIs due to the way Objective C is built. With this solution can native code can be added.
Technically this feature is quite simple:
The compiler goes over the native code looking for #imports. #imports are added at the beginning of the generated module. The other code is added right before the closing @end.
Note that you can even add new objects by starting the block with @end.