Other B4J - New IDE is available (BETA)!!!

Erel

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I'm excited to release the first beta version of the new IDE.

SS-2015-04-30_15.13.23.png


As discussed in this thread, the IDE was rewritten.

The new IDE is significantly more powerful, smarter, more modern and more scalable.

There are too many improvements to list them all.

I will just list some features that are less obvious:

- Press on Ctrl + Click to jump to an identifier (sub, variables, etc.).
- Themes - Ctrl + T
- Sophisticated conditional compilation: #If, #Else If, #Else and support for OR and AND.
- Dockable layout. Including support for multiple open editors.
- Find all references - F7.
- Quick search - Ctrl + F.
- Goto sub / module - Ctrl + E.
- Smarter autocomplete.
- Hover over variables and expressions in debug mode.
- Structure matching.
- Automatic warnings and errors highlighting.

Requirements

- Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0+ is required. If you are running Windows XP then you should install .Net Framework 4.0: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17851

- Developers running Vista or above should install .Net Framework 4.5.2: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42642
It is important to install the latest version as it includes important fixes. Some of the optimizations will be disabled with older versions.

This is a beta version of a new IDE. Please make sure to backup any important project before opening it with the new IDE. You can install this IDE together with a previous version (install it to a different folder).

You can download the beta version here: www.b4x.com/b4j/files/beta.exe

Please post any issues you encounter in a new thread in B4J forums.

:)
 
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Daestrum

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If I use the Edit > find/replace from menu bar or F3 shortcut, I get this
 

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Peter Simpson

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Hello @Erel,
No errors to report, no crashing, no slowdown, no IDE (flashing, colour) issues or any other bugs to report from me (apart from the previous post). This is boring, there's nothing new to report, it's near perfect :rolleyes:

May I suggest that you have an icon at the top of the screen maybe '?', or '!', that when clicked brings up a quick reference popup box showing all the short cut keys, as there are a lot to learn now.

For example:
- Press on Ctrl + Click to jump to an identifier (sub, variables, etc.).
- Themes - Ctrl + T
- Find all references - F7.
- Quick search - Ctrl + F.
- Goto sub / module - Ctrl + E.
including Ctrl + Space
F5
Alt-F5
Alt-F3
Ctrl+P
Etc, etc, etc, etc, the list goes on. I know that they are already available in the drop down menu, but a quick reference popup would not go a miss.

My favourite themes of choice are MatroDark and OfficeBlack :cool:

That's all really...

Oh BTW I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE COLOR PICKER ;):D:cool: and the way it automatically creates the following to the clipboard FX.Colors.From32Bit(0xFFFF0000).
 
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moster67

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If I use the Edit > find/replace from menu bar or F3 shortcut, I get this

Yes, I can confirm what Daestrum wrote.

One other thing. There is a layout misalignment in the Paths Configuration screen (see below screen-shot). Maybe the encircled button should be moved further down so it aligns better with the textbox on the left. Nothing important - just thought I should I mention it.

b4j.jpg
 
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sorex

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Virus, Spam etc etc maybe

unfortunately not. I tried without virus scanner, after defragging etc and it still needs 12-15 seconds to open it and another 12-15 for the designer.

b4a needs 6 seconds and designer is instant, but the designer is a totally different matter.

if it only takes longer to open it (B4A/B4i) and the rest works at the same speed or faster then I can live with it ;)

I must say that the autocomplete is a lot better/easier now.
 
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Toley

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I really like the new IDE but the splash screen (enormous B4J) don't look very serious. I hope it will be replaced on the final release.
 
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Erel

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after defragging etc and it still needs 12-15 seconds to open it and another 12-15 for the designer.
WPF applications are slower to start as more libraries are loaded at runtime. On my desktop computer it takes 4-5 seconds to start. On a slower computer it will take longer. There is nothing that can be done about it.
B4J designer shouldn't really be discussed in this thread as it is a third party designer and it is exactly the same one with the same behavior as in previous version.

Nothing important - just thought I should I mention it.
Thank you. Please post any such issue you see.

If I use the Edit > find/replace from menu bar or F3 shortcut, I get this
I see it too. It will be fixed.

One thing that I will need to get used to is the new shortcut for commenting and un-commenting :confused:. I am very used and fond of using Ctrl+q and Ctrl+w. However, a toggle shortcut as it is implemented now in the beta is fine too although I wished that the comment/un-comment icon in the menubar would be highlighted/dimmed to indicate the state. BTW, in this regard I noted that the menu-hint indicates Ctrl+' as shortcut but this shortcut does not work for me (with Italian keyboard layout). I finally found the key - see image:
The state is determined based on the first line. If there is a comment in this line then it will uncomment all lines and vice versa. This is a feature "borrowed" from Eclipse which I think is nice as in most cases you either want to comment uncomment lines or uncomment commented lines.

This keyboard shortcut is indeed a problematic key. It is call OemQuote. On the computers I tested it the correct natural key was handled ('). It will be possible in the future to change the shortcuts (the IDE is built for this, only the UI is missing).

Thank you all for your feedback :)
 
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Daestrum

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After a day trying the new IDE, and only finding one bug and one minor niggle (font colour for java, which was easily sorted), I must congratulate your Alpha tester(s) and you Erel on a very good IDE replacement.
 
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aeric

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I am wondering this Beta version supports Additional Libraries? I just installed this beta and tried out Rob's example
12. Open and load MS Access Database records
http://www.rwblinn.de/b4j/b4jhowto/examples/b4jhowtomsaccess.zip

It prompt me an error cannot find the "ucanaccess" library. I have tried to move the related jar files to Libraries folder but the error still persist.

B4J-Beta3.png


B4J-Beta3-add-lib.png


Edit:
Sorry, is my bad. I just realized I didn't update the version of the libraries in Project Attributes. It compiled successfully now. :)

B4X:
#Region  Project Attributes
    #MainFormWidth: 600
    #MainFormHeight: 400
    ' SQLite driver                             
      #AdditionalJar: ucanaccess-2.0.9.5.jar
    #AdditionalJar: hsqldb.jar
    #AdditionalJar: jackcess-2.1.0.jar
    #AdditionalJar: commons-logging-1.1.1.jar
    #AdditionalJar: commons-lang-2.6.jar
#End Region
 
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LWGShane

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I'm receiving an error message.

"An error occurred.
Error loading ini"
 
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