Android Question I want to upgrade my B4A, but...

[robotop]

...but, what will happen to my old projects ?
I purchased my B4A long time ago (my first post -asking for help- in this forum was on Oct 2011) and the version I'm using is quite old. Now I received the email for special offer to upgrade. I have many projects running and may be some old customer can ask me for maintenance of software. So, I must be absolutely sure that my old projects will compile without errors using the last version of B4A.
Recently. I downloaded the UsbSerial libraries and examples and tried to compile the example with my old version (1.7 or 1.9 - I don't remember now) of B4A, having an error box like "reading after end-of-file". After some experiment I noticed (using hex editor) that the structure of .bal files has changed; Even the "designer" section had the same error, so I had to use again the hex editor to look for what was inside the .bal file. Just four buttons, nothing difficult, so I created a new .bal with four buttons (using the names read with the hex editor) and compiled the example successfully. Now, Is the last version of B4A backward compatible ? Or have I to mantain both the versions on my development PC ? Thank you in advance

 

[Harris]

Although this is of absolutely no help, someone once said - "stay with the program"...

XP is EOL... I have not migrated past it. Now I am SOL... I guess I will have to catch up to the never ending evolving world, such as you.

With B4A, it isn't a matter of backwards compatibility so much (who supports V 1.6?), it is all about the constant evolution (growth / maturity) of the base OS - and new features. For instance - new editbox sucks (where are the box boundaries?)!!!

Don't dismay - you shall not find a finer product for Android dev - even if Bill Gates took up the challenge today (co-inventor of the useful Basic).

Cheers

 

[canalrun]

Hello,
I have B4A projects dating back to B4A 1.5. As matter of fact I am currently updating a project, using B4A 3.5, that was written with B4A 1.8. I had absolutely no problems opening the older project and working with it with the newer version of B4A.

When I upgrade to a newer version of B4A, I have always installed it into a new directory, for example "C:\Program Files (x86)\Anywhere Software\Basic4android35" for the most recent version. I leave the older version on disk in its "last used state" just in case I ever have to return to it. So far I have never had to return to an older version.

I think, however, there will be a problem if you take a project edited on a newer version and try open it with an older version. Some features of the newer versions are not supported by older versions.

B4A has grown with some amazing new features since your older version.

Barry.

 

[Erel]

The latest version is backwards compatible with older versions.

You can see the versions history here: http://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/19332/#content

There were a few backwards compatibility issues in some of the versions. They are mentioned in the announcement posts.

 

[robotop]

Thank you all for the relevant infos. About the XP -end of life- (@Harris) it's a pity, there is a huge quantity of programs (and drivers) that will no more run on any Win7 - Win8 PC I know the B4A is the better developing tool for Android, since i purchased it in 2011 ! Not any will to change it, it's simply the best. So, after such helping infos, now I can upgrade my dated B4A Just to avoid any problem with the new version and to have a back-up of the older, I will follow the suggestion (@canalrun) to store the new version in a different directory like "Basic4Android35".
Obviously, thanks to Erel for creating this tool and for having answers to almost any question (about B4A)