4D for Mobile: Interact with other apps
Several formatters have been made available for formatting your data in the list or detail form. For example, a boolean field can be represented as a red or green circle. If you think this is very convenient, then you will love the new features in 4D v19 R5.
Let’s imagine an application with a list of our customers, if we need to go to their offices, it would be really handy to be able to tap on the customer’s address to open Google Maps. Unfortunately on the way, you are stuck in traffic. Don’t panic, just tap on the phone number, and you can choose to send a message or call directly to let them know. 🙂
Several other formatters are at your disposal, we let you discover them.
New Windows system rendering engine for Web Areas
Web areas can display various types of web content within your forms: HTML pages with static or dynamic contents, files, pictures,… You can choose between two rendering engines for the web area, depending on the specifics of your application:
- the embedded rendering engine
- the system rendering engine
The advantage of the embedded system is the cross-platform portability. No need to adapt to some specifics of a platform. Moreover, it allows you to access 4D methods.
The advantage of the system browser is the security updates that are available right away. There’s no need to wait for the next version of 4D. We recommend it for accessing the public Internet site.
Windows has announced that “Internet Explorer 11 is retiring on June 15, 2022“. So since 4D v19 R5, if you use the system rendering engine, 4D uses Microsoft Edge WebView2. This change allows you to benefit from a modern browser with the latest features and security updates. For example, Microsoft Edge can be used to display PDFs.
A Seamless Way to Manage Parameters
In the declaration of a function or method, you explicitly define its parameters. Then, when calling that function or method, you can pass fewer parameters to it if some are optional. Or, if you used the declaration with ${n}, the number of passed parameters is variable. In this case, you use the Count Parameters command with a loop over the arguments. This code works flawlessly. Still, it’s a little bit heavy.
You asked us for a lighter way to handle parameters, and we listened. Starting with 4D v19 R5, we provide you with a new command, Copy parameters, allowing you to write a seamless, more elegant, and easier-to-read code.
4D for Mobile: What’s new in v19 R5
With every release, the list of 4D for iOS and 4D for Android features is growing bigger. And this feature release is no exception. Without further ado, let’s see what 4D v19 R5 has in store for you:
WHAT’S IN IT?
For 4D for Android and 4D for iOS Editor
- Goods news! The interface of the editor is fully compatible in dark and light modes.
For 4D for Android (already available in 4D for iOS):
- Turn your application into a barcode scanner to fill in a text input,
- Allow to sign directly in the application delivery, an intervention report, an estimate,
- Interact with different applications by touching a field on the screen:
- an address to automatically display a map showing the location,
- a phone number to call or add to contacts,
- a mail to open the mail app,
- a URL to open an URL in the default web browser.
- Create your own Kotlin formatters for your specific needs.
4D Write Pro is embracing the Dark (Mode)!
We are pleased to announce that this is the last step for dark mode on macOS. The last widgets of the library are compatible with dark mode:
- 4D Write Pro Interface toolbar
- 4D Write Pro Interface Sidebar
- Rich text area
So starting with 4D v19 R4, the choice is yours, as you can completely develop and deploy using light or dark mode on macOS.
More options for object set enterable command
There is a multitude of interfaces and rules to be respected. Often, these constraints are linked to the domains of activity. Obviously, some data can be entered or not by the user. For a field that is not enterable, there are two ways of managing the interface:
- users can still select and copy its content, for example to add it to a report
- users are not allowed to copy the field or select its content
New possibilities to customize the code editor
When it comes to customizing the code editor, everyone thinks of the font and colors of the code. But it is also possible to customize the code editor window and some interactions with the code. Everyone has their own preferences and ways of working.
Moreover, the most essential part of a code editor is the writing code area. With 4D v19 R4, we have redesigned the editor to highlight your code and give it as much space as possible.
This is precisely why 4D v19 R4 enables you to show or hide the ten clipboards. If you don’t use all ten clipboards, you can lighten the toolbar with the “Show clipboard” preference.
Tag your comments, a feature by developers for developers
Comments are essential in a developer’s life. When we work on a new feature, we often add comments that are reminders. For example:
- to validate a part of code with a colleague,
- to refactor a function,
- to fix code that is slowing down the performance,
- to split a method or a class into sections,
- to prepare the skeleton of a class and add a todo comment inside each function.
Even if you write some straightforward code, try reading it months or years later. Will it still seem simple, or would you wish you’d added comments?
4D v19 R4 takes comments to a whole new level with comment tags that enables you to better organize your comments.
Improved productivity with Object check syntax
Auto-completion for classes is available since 4D v18 R4. This feature simplifies code writing and limits errors in function names, for example. But it doesn’t avoid them entirely; it’s easy to reverse two letters or to forget a capital letter, and then have to spend time looking for why your code doesn’t work.
So what better way than to ask 4D to check if the classes or functions already exist?
Starting with 4D v19 R4, a warning is displayed in the code editor if you call a function that does not exist.
Quickly jump to different functions of a class
Classes were introduced with 4D v18 R3. They allow you to organize your business logic and separate it from the UI part more quickly.
Classes are composed of several functions of varying lengths, so it’s not always easy to find the function you want to modify, or to move from one function to another. You can use the explorer, which displays classes and functions, but when you’re coding in the editor window, you don’t want to waste time changing windows.
With 4D v19 R4, the list of functions in your class is displayed in the code editor toolbar, allowing you to easily jump to a specific function.
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