UI improvements in Quick Report
The Quick Report user interface has had a small enhancement, but small things can make a big impact on the overall user experience.
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!
Convert an existing database into a Project
As of 4D v17 R5, you can create a database project. One of the greatest benefits of projects is how easy it makes collaborative work for distributed teams … by storing the source in a source control system in plain text files. Whether you’re a single developer or part of a team, this opens a new world of possibilities.
But what about existing databases? Can they be converted to projects? Yes! This blog post is all about showing you how to do this and making you aware of a few things to know before proceeding.
New formula: More power behind simplicity
The New formula command is available since 4D v17 R3. So far you might have thought of assigning a formula as a method to an object or building smart objects that can calculate values or do anything you need. That’s really great, and there’s more than meets the eye!
I had a great demonstration from Vincent de Lachaux – Developer and expert 4D – on how he uses this command. For this blog post, I compiled different scenarios from that demo to give you insight on a different dimension of this command.
New server administration commands
4D continues to deliver features to help you create your own applications to monitor your servers. From programmatically retrieving information about sessions, processes, and the application server, to getting information about the web server.
Having already provided you commands to read about statuses, 4D v17 R4 now gives you the ability to change statuses. You can now create your own administration interfaces as dialogs on the server, client, or even as HTML pages for web access. It’s up to you. These commands allow you to perform the same actions as the standard 4D administration interface. For example, you can send a message to your users to notify them of scheduled maintenance, or block new connections to the application server while you perform an operation on it.
4D Write Pro: WP commands and beyond
We’ve received comments on the forum and TAOW about features that previously existed in the 4D Write plug-in but seem to be missing in 4D Write Pro. Yet, they’ve been available for a long time!
In this blog post, we’ll go through a list of existing abilities in 4D Write Pro that seem to have gone unnoticed. In another words, 4D Write Pro features you didn’t know existed.
After all, 4D Write Pro is not limited to WP commands!
A component to export the structure file
Thanks to 4D v17 R3, you can export your structure file in multiple text files. For example, with only a few lines of code you can create a copy of your database every morning. You can use this to keep track of the history or to send your database to a colleague and see the changes when they’re done working on it.
We provide you a ready-to-use component with only two methods: one to configure the data to be exported, and the other to export your database.
Better documents with two new attributes
To produce a nice document, you need to respect some typesetting rules and fundamentals. For example, the grammar, spelling, and structure of your document shows the quality of your text. One of these rules concerns the distribution of paragraphs and tables over multiple pages.
4D Write Pro offers you two options to manage paragraph distribution:
- Avoid page break inside paragraphs or tables, and
- Avoid widows and orphans for paragraphs or tables.
Let’s dig into more details.
Page layout in 4D Write Pro
When creating a document, you need to define the page size, orientation, and margins. Starting with v17 R3, you can do all this by programming. And for that, new attributes are at your disposal.
Convert classic 4D forms to dynamic forms
Your forms may need to be changed depending on your customer or user needs. For example, the color black might be perfect for one user but not so much for another user (who sees blue as the ultimate perfection). Luckily, dynamic forms (introduced with 4D v16 R6) are here to help you handle your users’ preferences. But rewriting an existing form to a dynamic form could be a difficult task, and it’s not always easy to start with a blank page. Ideally, it’d be best to have a draft that can be modified and improved. With 4D v17 R3, it’s now possible to easily convert a classic 4D form (stored in .4DB file) to a dynamic form.
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