Project Databases: Build your own documentation for components
In a previous blog post, we showed you that documentation for methods has returned in the Explorer. Want to take things even further and use them as documentation for your components? In this blog post, we’ll show you how!
Use an offscreen web area
Do you need to load web pages, extract metadata, or generate pictures from the contents of pages on a headless server? If you answered “yes”, then you’re in luck because 4D v18 R3 makes it possible! Now you can create an offscreen web area with the WA Run offscreen area command.
Download your emails in MIME format with POP3
Do you need to store all business emails, for example, for legal or fiscal purposes? These documents must be stored as they are. That is, how they were received … in their original, unconverted formats. 4D v18 R3 answers this need by providing you with a new method allowing you to get emails in their original MIME format.
ORDA: an up-to-date datastore without restarting
We’re thrilled to announce that 4D v18 R3 includes an enhancement that will have a huge impact on the developer’s experience. A feature many of you have requested, and 4D delivers!
When you work in 4D standalone mode during the development phase (writing and testing your code), you’re no longer required to restart your database in order to have an up-to-date datastore (ds) when the structure is updated!
Now you don’t need to restart the database each time you need a new attribute or a new table in your code! It’s all automatic!
When you call the ds command, you get an up-to-date datastore object. This means that several versions of this datastore object are handled at the same time … depending on when you updated your structure … without breaking running processes.
If you work in client / server mode, this works fine for code running on the 4D Server.
For remote clients, you simply need to restart the client requiring the structure’s update.
Use 4D Write Pro documents as input forms
Do you want to avoid users accidentally modifying a particular 4D Write Pro document (fully or partially)? Are you interested in keeping some parts of a document untouched (e.g., giving users the ability to fill in fields in a non-disclosure agreement while ensuring that none of the information in the document is altered or changed in any way)? If you’re nodding your head, then keep reading! 4D v18 R3 lets you keep parts of your documents protected, or in other words: “non-editable“.
Project Databases: Method documentation is back
When developing an application, it can be very useful to have quick access to the details of a method (e.g., an explanation of what it does, its syntax, and a definition of the parameters passed to it). This becomes even more important when using a compiled component. You can’t look at the content of the method, so you can only rely on its documentation to understand how to use it.
The Explorer’s dialog has been enhanced and documentation is now available in 4D v18 R3 for project databases.
Monitor 4D Server activity with this new tool
4D View Pro: More options to customize your worksheets
To create user-friendly documents, you often need to hide a gridline or header, protect certain cells, or simply change the line color to respect the corporate identity. With 4D v18 R3, you can do all this and more with the new VP SET SHEET OPTIONS command.
Multiple web servers in a single 4D instance
Have you ever needed to use multiple web servers in order to, for example, split your web application code into several business units, or separate the administrator’s web server from the user’s or run an old part, not preemptive-ready yet, in a separate instance, allowing the main part to run preemptive?
If you’re nodding your head yes, then keep reading because 4D v18 R3 allows you to do so … with ease.
Define the font size for automatic font
In a previous R-release, we added two new automatic themes to define font and the font size, so there are three automatic themes at your disposal which respect the guidelines of each platform. To design your interface, the automatic theme is the recommended way to go with each form object using the font and size recommended by the OS.
In some cases, you may need more control and have valid reasons to ignore the guidelines. With 4D v18 R3, you can override the size of the automatic themes and have more control over how your text is displayed.
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