4D v18 R4 Beta Starts Today

Starting with 4D v18 R4, ORDA makes it possible for you to create high-level class functions above the data model. This allows you to write business-oriented code to hide complexity, reduce errors, and speed up the development process. You can also expose your project like an API with a REST server.

ORDA classes are automatically available with application projects, and they can be called through REST requests in order to benefit from the exposed API of the targeted 4D project.

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Server code development made easy

Developing and debugging server code in projects becomes easier with 4D v18 R4. To save time and avoid having to restart your server application after a code modification (in standalone mode), now when you connect a 4D Remote on the same computer as the 4D Server, the remote is able to modify the project files (code, forms, resources, etc.).

Develop, fine-tune, and debug code that runs on the server!

New declaration syntax for intuitive autocompletion

4D offers a new, alternative syntax to greatly enhance autocompletion when declaring your variables. The new syntax is very simple, just use the “var” keyword, the name of the variable, and the type of the variable. This syntax can be used to define variable data types, user classes, 4D classes, and ORDA classes.

Simplified access to form object values

If you’re one of the many who have asked for a way to easily access the values of form objects via code, then you’ll be pleased to know that commands specifically for this purpose have been added to 4D v18 R4. 

Enjoy HTTP requests with no CORS restrictions

Have you encountered an “access to HTTP request has been blocked by cors policy” error when creating an HTTP data request to your 4D web server service? Starting with 4D v18 R4 CORS protocol is supported, so you can now explicitly allow cross-origin requests on your server.

permission granted

Following the ability to use your own end user management system, 4D v18 R4 makes it possible to manage end user permissions with a command to dynamically set group memberships. 

4D solutions have always been safe and stable. This is why 4D invests heavily in developing and updating security features.

With 4D v18 R4, 4D delivers a new feature to further enhance 4D’s security toolkit. A new class that provides a set of methods for performing common cryptographic operations is now available: CryptoKey class. 

It can be used for:

• Confidentiality – protect your data from unauthorized access
• Integrity – ensure your data is complete and correct
• Authenticity – validate the authenticity of a message sender/recipient

More engaging apps with push notifications

4D v18 R4 delivers a very exciting feature … push notifications! These are messages sent directly to the user’s mobile device from your app. They provide users with relevant information to encourage them to engage with your app. As of this Feature Release, 4D for iOS makes push notifications possible but also makes it easy to do.

Control app access with email authentication

Email validation is one of the simplest and most secure ways to determine the authenticity and legitimacy of the person trying to log into your app. 4D for iOS enables you to easily handle this validation process by verifying that an email comes from whom it claims to be sent from, and by allowing you to block harmful uses of the email.

More UI options

4D for iOS already provides the ability to build detail forms from the Forms section. Starting with 4D v18 R4, we’ve added even more flexibility to building detail form templates. Many options are available to extend the possibilities of making your perfect custom app.

Free Pro features

You no longer need a 4D View Pro license in order to use advanced features such as list boxes because they’re now free! There’s nothing stopping you from taking advantage of list boxes that can:

• automatically adapt the height of each row to its content (so that the full text or picture is displayed),
• use object arrays in columns (so you can enter and display various types of values in the rows of a single list box column). 

Movable or not?

The 4D language can be used to define or modify tons of list box properties, and with this Feature Release another important property has been added to the list so you can specify if end users can move rows (e.g., to reorder, group rows, etc.) or not!

Many features for sending and receiving emails have been added to 4D. This continues in 4D v18 R4 by taking the first steps for a new way to handle the IMAP protocol. As we did for SMTP and POP3, there’s a new IMAP New transporter command to handle the IMAP protocol. We’ve added commands to choose a mailbox and to download an email. More commands for other IMAP features will arrive with future Feature Releases.

PDF exports and more

Without installing any print drivers or additional software, 4D Write Pro documents can be exported directly to PDF format. This direct export is not only faster and more reliable than going through a print driver, but it also gives you more control over the results. In addition to supporting hyperlinks, it also allows you to optimize image size and more.

Paragraph or line break?

If you’ve ever used formulas to automatically fill in certain parts of your 4D Write Pro documents, you might wonder about the breaks in the returned text: are they line breaks or paragraph breaks? To answer this question, 4D v18 R4 includes a new document property defining exactly how a carriage return should be treated is available: wk break paragraphs in formulas.

Widget to import and export documents

You asked for a way to import and export different document formats via the 4D Write Pro widget, and once again, 4D listened! Starting with 4D v18 R4, a new tab is available in the 4D Write Pro widget interface allowing you to do so.

Offscreen areas

Just in case you want to dynamically generate 4D View Pro documents on a server and, for example, send them by email or calculate values, 4D v18 R4 introduces a new command to manipulate 4D View Pro areas and commands … offscreen!

Merge unmerge cells

Often when creating tables, you may need to combine cells in order to center title for a particular section of your table. As of 4D v18 R4, a new set of commands is at your disposal to help you merge and unmerge a group of cells and create a span by programming.

Recalculate, suspend, resume

4D v18 R4 introduces three new commands to help make your UI more interactive by triggering the calculation of formulas whenever you want. You can suspend and resume the calculation of all formulas in your document, as well as force their recalculation. At any time!