HTTP classes: A New Way to Perform Asynchronous HTTP Requests
In our constant effort to improve 4D syntax and functionalities, we have decided to bring you new commands to perform HTTP requests in 4D: the HTTP classes. They are available right in 4D v19 R6 and will feature many improvements over the coming versions. Let me show you how to use them right away.
Developing Concurrently on 4D Server in Project Mode
Since its release in 4D v18, Projects drastically expanded 4D’s capabilities by bringing compatibility with version control systems —among other things.
With excellent feedback, we couldn’t be prouder to see significant adoption of this feature among the 4D community. This pushed us to improve it to make it even better.
Your feedback included a request for the possibility to work simultaneously on a single development server as a team. Again, 4D listened, and we are thrilled to announce that with 4D v19 R6, you can work on a development server in project mode!
Reduce your 4D apps’ size with these new features
In our ongoing effort to improve the building of 4D applications, we’ve added a few functionalities to 4D v19R5 that you’ll certainly find useful.
The first one is the ability to remove some of the biggest 4D modules from your applications: CEF, Mecab, PHP, Spell Checker, and 4D Updater. If you don’t need some of these modules, you’ll be able to significantly reduce the size of your applications.
We also changed the final directory when you build a compiled structure, in order to accommodate those using multiple compiled versions of the same structure.
As for our Japanese customers, we have merged the Japanese version of 4D and the international one on MacOS.
Let’s delve into the details.
Evolution of the diagnostic log
Year after year, feature after feature, the diagnostic log has grown into a massive file on busy servers. With 4D v19R5, we included a new database parameter allowing you to choose the log level of the diagnostic log file. It will help you control the diagnostic log size by logging only what you really need.
A new command to get detailed information about licenses
It’s sometimes helpful to monitor 4D licenses on your server. That’s why with 4D v19 R4, we decided to provide you with a new command giving all the information about your license usage: Get License Usage. Let me introduce you to this new tool.
High DPI on Windows: Support for high resolution screens
At 4D, we take customer requests very seriously!
In previous meetings, customers showed great interest in supporting high-resolution displays, such as 4K displays, in Windows. Your wish has been fulfilled as we have added support for High DPI in 4D.
New text rendering in forms on Windows with DirectWrite
DirectWrite is the modern text rendering API on Windows. It improves text readability thanks to its subpixel quality, and is fully compatible with the most recent technologies. As such, it is a stepping stone to many improvements. Amongst them, the management of high-resolution screens (4K screens) we’re currently working on, and that many of you dearly expect. 4D list boxes moved to DirectWrite in v16 and we decided to make the switch for our text rendering inside forms in v19R3.
Pause logging and log configuration file
For 4D v19, we started a long-term refinement of our logs. Our first effort was to improve their format to give you better and clearer information. As for 4D v19 R3, we added 2 new functionalities: the ability to instantly pause logging and a way for support teams to easily help their customers configure their logs through a configuration file.
Simplified cross-platform client/server application building on Windows
The release of Silicon Macs had a great impact on the way 4D compiles applications. Before v19, 4D was compiling only for Intel architecture, using the same code on Mac and Windows. But Silicon Macs use a new architecture, and as such 4D needs to compile specifically for Silicon. It affects cross-platform client/server application building.
As long as you build your server on Mac, it’s not much of an issue, as you can compile for both Intel and Silicon platforms. But on Windows, it’s not possible to compile for Silicon Macs. Our current recommendation is to compile the project on Mac for both architectures, and then copy it on a Windows machine before building the server. Unfortunately, for big projects with a lot of data, the copy can take some time.
4D v19: Evolution of Client/Server Application Building
On Mac, application signature has become a standard, and since Big Sur, you can’t even run unsigned applications. In the past, we published a workaround to build client-server applications running on a Windows server and accepting connections from Mac clients. With the release of 4D v19, we have updated the application building in 4D to handle this case. Here is how you can build a single platform or a cross-platform application in v19.
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