Frightening season. Delightful release ?
What is your disguise costume for this Halloween? Are you a witch? Have you turned yourself into a vampire? A hungry zombie looking for brains? Or perhaps Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is your thing?
Multiple 4D data sources, interested?
We’ve got an exciting new feature to announce in 4D v18 and the title may have already given you a hint!
This feature opens new possibilities for client/server work. Rather than being limited to the current database and requiring a permanent network connection, an application in 4D v18 can get data from another, remote 4D database that’s exposed on a 4D server!
A lot of options become available thanks to this feature. For example, you could organize your applications to work offline and only synchronize local data when remote data is reachable. Or you could consider publishing your data on multiple servers and switching from one to the other as necessary. Another option could be splitting your data model across different databases (e.g. local data, international data). What about having your data distributed in different places yet still accessible through a single 4D client code (project methods and form objects)? All of these scenarios are now possible and this blog post tells you how!
Deployment made easy with 4D v18
4D v18 introduces a new architecture for files and folders to keep your deployed macOS package and Windows application folders intact. In a nutshell, the logs folder and all user-based settings, including 4D backup settings, are now stored next to the data file. In fact, the settings exist twice; one next to the structure to use as default settings for new data files, and one beside the data file, storing user changes.
As a result, the folder containing the structure can be read-only, since nothing is modified inside (*). Deployment becomes easier because the structure folder can simply be replaced, nothing within it needs to be copied beforehand.
(*) only in project databases. In binary databases the user & password tables are stored in the structure, so the folder must not be read-only.
Project databases: Architecture
Project databases, the headliner of the 4D v18 release, allow distributed teams to work collaboratively by storing an application’s code in a source control system, in text files containing everything from the database structure to the user interface, including forms, menus, user settings, or any required resources. And since a project database is made of text-based files, you’ll have several folders and files, stored within a single parent database folder. In this blog post, we’ll go through the architecture of a project database to give you a better understanding of this new type of database.
Headless 4D applications
As a 4D developer, you may have already encountered a need to develop applications without a graphical user interface (GUI), otherwise known as a headless applications. Previously in 4D, this wasn’t entirely possible to do …. until 4D v18! In this blog post, we’ll go through some of the newly available capabilities so you can make your applications “headless”!
Why create headless applications? There are several use cases such as simulating Windows behavior on macOS, or having the Windows service behavior without using the service manager, and so on. But above all, it opens new opportunities such as developing bots with 4D.
Project databases: From binary to text-based
4D v17 R5 marked the start of beta testing for a new type of 4D database: project databases. In 4D v18, we’re thrilled to announce that project databases are now in final release. It’s time to take advantage of the power of the 4D development platform combined with the versatility of a lightweight and distributed format!
Project databases: More than a collaboration solution
Dreaming of a way of to work collaboratively? A way to work wherever you are in the world, with team members in different locations, and no one has to question where to find the latest version of a file or project? A different way to test new features and roll them back if they don’t work out, while being able to choose a restore point from which you want to roll back instead of running a full file backup. Your dreams are becoming a reality, these scenarios are now possible thanks to 4D v18 and project databases!
4D v18 beta starts today
Beta testing for 4D v18, our most spectacular release yet, is starting today! And we couldn’t be more thrilled to share all the novelties we’ve prepared for you. More than +90 advances, including major enhancements to existing features, as well as new ones that were designed to ease your development journey and take your applications to new heights. And in case you want to have an overall idea on this release full potential, we’ve put together this extensive library of examples (HDIs).
Buckle up and let’s discover some of what 4D v18 Beta has to offer:
- Project database – Version control: a solution for collaborative programming. Enabling you to store your code in a source control system (e.g., Github, Perforce, etc.) in plain text files.
- Built-in encryption: protection at its finest with built-in data encryption on a per-table basis.
- 4D for iOS: a product fully integrated into 4D to extend your business applications to mobile with ease.
- ORDA: enhanced commands, enhanced performance … and then there is remote datastore.
- 4D language: extra 4D commands to enlarge your programming capabilities.
- 4D Write Pro: Style Sheets. Tables. Toolbar. Word Export. And much more.
- 4D View Pro: Ribbon Toolbar. Excel import/export. And the list goes on.
- And much more (see below).
4D v17 R6 is here
4D v17 R6, the latest R-release of one of 4D’s most groundbreaking major releases, is now available!
Here’s a sneak peek of what this R-release has to offer:
- Increased interactivity with your 4D for iOS apps thanks to the ability to create, edit and delete your app content using parameters.
- Advanced debugging capabilities at your disposal, such as the ability to retrieve the current execution call chain and a powerful new tool to analyze debug logs.
- Even more ORDA methods to build more sophisticated search criteria and optimize your coding.
- New functionalities have been added to the ever-growing list of 4D View Pro features: from customizing styles, to using collections to read and write values and formulas.
This list is far from exhaustive, see all the blog posts for 4D v17 R6!
How to notarize your merged 4D application
With Catalina (macOS 10.15), it’s highly recommended that you notarize applications distributed over a public network. A significant number of developers transfer their applications using a connected storage device or via file sharing, notarization isn’t required in these cases where the user already trusts the developer. The purpose of notarization is to assure users that the application isn’t malicious and is only required for applications downloaded from a website.
If you use our built-in signature feature when building your applications with 4D v18, your application is ready to be notarized. This process is conducted outside of 4D. It involves adding an electronic signature to your application and submitting your signed application to an automated inspection service. Here’s everything you need to know:
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