Adding and Removing Github and Local Components Made Easy
We’re excited to introduce a major enhancement in the 4D Project Dependencies interface, available in 4D 20 R7, making managing both local and GitHub components easier than ever.
Integrate 4D Components Directly from GitHub
Many 4D developers leverage the power of third-party components found on GitHub, particularly those listed in the 4d-component topic. 4D 20 R6 introduces a fantastic new feature: directly integrating these components within the Component Manager.
This blog post dives into the details, making your development process easier and more efficient.
Explore GitHub Codespaces Possibilities with 4D
GitHub offers powerful tools for developers. One of them is Codepaces, which lets you develop code stored in a GitHub repo online from anywhere using an integrated instance of Visual Studio Code.
This is also the case with 4D projects!
Let’s discover this powerful tool and see a new way of coding!
How to Implement Continuous Integration with 4D: A Step-by-Step Guide
In the world of software development, a new concept has appeared in recent years called “Continuous Integration.” The definition we see or hear everywhere is :
“CI is a process that automates the compilation, testing, and delivery of an application on a regular and frequent basis.”
Having understood this definition, which expresses an interesting and promising process, what do I need to do to implement it in 4D? If you search the Internet, you’ll find that there are many CI tools and frameworks available.
However, there are several prerequisites before using these CI tools.
A class for easy handling of your sub-forms
On the forum, several requests, tips, or questions have been asked about displaying a message, an hourglass, or some interface elements in the foreground of a form while blurring out the rest. You can create this type of interface with sub-forms and call forms. The code can get complicated if you’re working with a multi-page form.
To simplify your work, Vincent De Lachaux has prepared a class to simplify the management of sub-forms displayed in a multi-page form. It handles loading the sub-form on the fly, controlling it from a worker, and repositioning it if the main form is resized. You can focus on your dialogues without worrying about the mechanics.
Build your Compiled Structure or Component with Build4D
With the introduction of the project mode, it’s pretty easy to manipulate the components of your projects.
In the last few feature releases, we have added several functionalities that allow you to create your own build chain adapted to your team, your working methods, and your needs.
For example:
- Launch a compilation by programming,
- Zip/unzip files and folders with these commands,
- Easily Manage your Application’s Information,
- Headless 4D applications to integrate it into a build tool.
To help you create your own build chain or integrate 4D into a continuous integration tool, we have developed a component named Build4D, available on GitHub with the sources.
For this first step, Build4D allows you to create a compiled structure and a component. We will continue to enrich it to enable you to manage a single-user application, client application, or server application.
GitHub 4D Awesome List — Call for Contributions
To stay competitive in the software industry, one should always seek innovation and build momentum for change.
In that spirit, 4D has always given you the right technology to grow and expand. Project mode is one example that comes with a tremendous benefit: the ability to use Git to get your 4D application up and running in a more productive development environment.
So we decided to create a 4D Awesome list, where we gather all the collective wisdom in one place to make 4D developers’ life a little easier.
If you’re a Git/GitHub user and have a fantastic project that you believe could help fellow developers, you might want to contribute to the 4D Awesome list, where awesome projects live!
This blog post explains the concept of an Awesome list and how you can contribute.
4D and Git: From Beginner to Expert
So by now, you know that projects come with a tremendous benefit: the ability to use Git (the revision control system) and GitHub (the hosting service) to get your 4D application up and running in a more productive development environment.
Newbie or full-fledged senior developer version control has been a staple in every work environment where multiple resources collaborate to participate in what could be called a software chain of production.
To help you get familiar with Git, we’ve made available many resources at your disposal. This blog post is a compilation of everything we’ve provided on this topic… so far. If you feel lost and don’t know where to start, keep reading; we’ve included:
- other blog posts,
- a detailed guide,
- a top-rated summit video,
- and even a training course.
How to browse GitHub to find all 4D projects
With the introduction of projects in 4D, the source code of components, demo applications, and other tools in 4D are hosted on GitHub.
4D has three GitHub organizations.
- On 4D, you can find the source code of the internal 4D components. So you can adapt them to your needs.
- 4D Depot contains all the help tools: HDIs, demonstrations, application examples, etc.
- 4D Go Mobile hosts all custom list forms, detail forms, login forms, formatters, and input controls.
You can find these links to the various GitHub repositories from the 4D websites; for example, from the 4D blog to illustrate new features, from the Resources page of the 4D website for demo examples, or from the gallery for Mobile.
But, you can also from GitHub, search, bookmark, and so on… This blog post will introduce some basic features to improve your usage and navigation on GitHub.
An introductory guide to 4D and Version Control Systems
For many years, 4D has allowed you to develop binary databases as part of a team with a 4D Server. This way of developing is straightforward, but many developers asked us to be more efficient on source code management to deliver better traceability. 4D has heard them and developed Project mode to fit this need. This mode opened a new era of collaboration thanks to version control systems!
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