Add actions to your 4D for iOS apps
We’re thrilled to announce that support for actions in 4D for iOS is available with 4D v17 R5! This feature allows you to enjoy more interactivity with your mobile app. For example, you can set a task as completed or finished, or flag events to be checked. All with the swipe of a finger, or by simply selecting an action from a menu.
4D Write Pro: More simple, more powerful
A shout out to everyone using 4D Write Pro and letting us know your thoughts about the product. This lets us better understand your needs and difficulties. Thanks to this input, we’ve realized that some commands have become unnecessary, complex to use, and/or difficult to learn. Sometimes it could be the smallest things that make learning a challenge. For example, if you just want to insert some text in the footer, you first need to create an empty range! Why so complicated? Good question!
Thus, many commands that previously only used ranges have been extended in order to manage almost any kind of target (ranges, elements, sections, documents, etc.). Code is now easier to write and read. If you need to insert text … in a document, a footer, a range, (wherever!) … just use it as the target and you’re off and running.
And that’s not all! Six commands have been renamed with shorter names, so they’re easier to remember.
ORDA member methods to get the structure information
“How can I know the dataClass of an entity? I need it to write generic methods“. “I need information about a field in a dataClass: what is its type? Is it indexed? Is it unique?“. These are the kinds of questions we’ve heard you asking on the forum. 4D v17 R5 provides the answers: introducing new ORDA member methods to provide useful information about your database. Keep reading, because you’ll appreciate the benefits of reducing the size of your code and making it reusable and easy to maintain!
4D Write Pro: a new way to set TABS!
We’re thrilled to announce an exciting enhancement in 4D Write Pro! In addition to the features we’ve rolled out so far, 4D v17 R5 also includes a new feature for tabs.
Placeholders for attribute paths in ORDA queries
The ORDA features keep coming with 4D v17 R5! In a previous blog post, we showed you how to create generic queries with named placeholders for values. This post will focus on how to use placeholders for attribute paths (field names in tables).
4D Write Pro: Handle view properties by programming
4D Write Pro documents can be displayed in different modes (draft, page and embedded), each with their own viewing options. For example in Page view mode, you can choose to hide both the vertical and the horizontal rulers, but keep the headers and footers visible. The same goes for many other display properties such as zoom, spell check, page frames, etc. Thirteen different viewing options can be defined. The good news is that rather than handling all of these properties manually, it can now be done programmatically.
New 4D commands to work with encrypted data
In a previous post, we discussed how to get started with data file encryption. Now we’re going to discuss an additional way to work with encrypted data files: New 4D commands. These commands are designed to support most encryption requirements and allow you to deliver an encrypted solution to your customers.
Add values to your generic ORDA queries
By now you’ve surely noticed that ORDA queries are not only light and readable, they also make it easy to navigate through the entire data model using object-oriented concepts! In this blog post, we showed you how to write powerful and easy-to-maintain queries. One of the methods recommended was providing the query and values separately via placeholders. 4D v17 R5 takes placeholders a step further by allowing you to write generic ORDA queries: say hello to named placeholders for values!
Improved performance: up to 8xs faster (no, that’s not a typo)!
Scalability is one of our primary concerns and 4D v17 R5 brings good news in this area, particularly for those with a heavy process load on their 4D Server. You’ll notice significant improved performance speeds when remote clients (one, two, or even hundreds) are connected to your server.
4D’s internal architecture has been enhanced and now processor usage is fully optimizedopens in a new tab) in preemptive mode and simultaneous read/write accesses on the same table. As a result, you could see performance 4 to 8xs faster!
Object notation to handle files and folders
4D already provides commands to handle files and folders, but what about new commands that take advantage of the power of object notation?
Objects have changed the way many 4D developers write code, making it more generic, flexible, easier, and faster. Now this wave of change is extended to files and folders. In this blog post, we’ll show you how easy it is to manipulate an object in order to retrieve the attributes of a file or folder (rather than calling several commands and storing the information in multiple variables). Things are getting a lot easier!
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