NULL value to blank value? No more default mapping
When you create a new field in your database, 4D allows you to choose to map NULL value to blank values or not. Starting from 4D v19 R4, in new projects, 4D will no longer by default map the NULL value to an empty value.
ORDA – Say Hello to Aliases
4D v19 R4 is shipped with a new ORDA concept: Aliases. They are the logical and complementary continuation of computed attributes.
This blog post explains what aliases are and highlights their advantages, especially when to use one or the other… or both.
ORDA: Thoroughly compare two entity selections
Since ORDA allows you to work with several entity selections simultaneously, we’re sure you take advantage of this by passing entity selections as a parameter to project methods or to functions of ORDA Data model classes.
To work efficiently with object-oriented programming using as few lines of code as possible, you need robust and optimized functions. That’s why with 4D v19 R3, we are shipping a new function available on the entitySelection object: the selected() function.
Thanks to it, you’ll be able to inspect and compare two entity selections. Let’s see the details!
A magic show awaits you with ORDA’s computed attributes!
It is often helpful or even essential that databases be adapted in a flexible and evolving way to users and their businesses in the computer world. The control of accessible data is also a recurrent and sensitive subject. From this point of view, developers use methods and formulas that are sometimes complex to give or restrict access to information, depending on the context or the access rights of the users.
Let’s take a simple example. In your application, you sometimes need to display a list of people. One of the columns displays their full names, but in your database, you have a first name field and a last name field. Currently, you write a formula in the list box column, and you have to manage the sorting on the column yourself. Wouldn’t it be great to have a computed field where you can define its calculation formula and sorting method, and have all the business logic inside the class and not in each interface?
Well, starting with 4D v19 R3, 4D provides a solution to this, with computed attributes.
Full support of BLOB in ORDA
Many of you have already taken the leap and started using ORDA. To ease your coding experience, we are glad to announce that Blobs are now fully supported in ORDA, like any other type. After the first step in 4D v19 R2, with the support of the Blobs in objects, 4D v19 R3 brings the support of Blobs in ORDA.