Use collections and lists within forms objects
Collections are increasingly used in 4D programming. Starting with 4D v19, you can use them to define the content of some interface objects, including through the Form function. This is very useful for generic interface management.
We’ve also added improvements to how lists are used. Let’s see this in detail!
Create, delete, and rename mailboxes with IMAP
The Mail feature, a huge feature set. The first part was released with 4D v17 R4, and since then we have delivered more and more functionalities.
4D v19 is no exception, as it brings new functions to help you manage your mailboxes by programming. That includes creating, renaming, and deleting mailboxes. A mailbox is displayed as a folder in email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail.
ORDA: Easy looping with a new 4D tag
You have probably already used a For each…End for each loop to work with ORDA entity selections or with collections. Its use is simple and straight forward. Would like to use it as a 4D tag in your SHTML pages? Or perhaps with the PROCESS 4D TAGS command?
As of 4D v19, you can! Keep reading to learn more.
4D for iOS: Go fully offline
Nowadays, mobile users expect apps to work even when they’re offline. Otherwise, a poor network connection can give a poor user experience. Offline mode is no longer just an extra feature you can choose to add to your app, it’s something many users expect, especially for delivery apps with GPS navigation, apps for urgent medical assistance, construction businesses, and banking apps.
As you may already know, since v17 R2, 4D for iOS already allows users of the application to view data offline. But something was missing.
What about offline tasks?
Here comes the new Silicon compiler!
We already introduced you to our new Silicon compiler in a previous blog post. This new compiler will be used to build Silicon native applications and will be available only in project mode.
Intel native applications (on Windows and Mac) will continue to use the classic compiler.
Let’s dig deeper and see exactly how it works.
4D v19 is Silicon Native!
Apple’s groundbreaking release of the new Silicon Macs pushed us to release 4D v19 six months earlier to provide you with a Silicon native version of 4D as soon as possible. We reviewed all our code, ensuring its compatibility with Silicon, performed extensive testing on this new platform, and we’re finally ready to provide you with the first Silicon native version of 4D. Let me guide you through this revolution!
4D v19 beta starts today
Beta testing for 4D v19, one of the best LTS yet, is starting today, six months earlier than planned, to provide you with a Silicon native version of 4D!
This includes more than +80 advances, including the introduction of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in 4D thanks to Project mode, major enhancements to existing products, and highly requested features you voted for.
Buckle up, and let’s discover some of what 4D v19 Beta has to offer:
- Apple Silicon support: be ready to give your 4D application a boost right away thanks to Apple M1’s remarkable performance and the brand new 4D compiler.
- ORDA: write business-oriented code to hide complexity, reduce errors, and speed up the development process.
- 4D for iOS: be productive anywhere with our mobile solution. Check inventory in the warehouse, generate invoices during client visits, perform inspections onsite, and more.
- OOP: thanks to Project mode, take advantage of object-oriented programming concepts for greater productivity, better code quality, and lesser maintenance costs.
- 4D language: discover how the versatile tools of the 4D language improve your developer experience.
- 4D Write Pro: Word documents import, PDF export, enhanced UI, more commands to manage your documents with code, and plenty of features to produce beautiful documents in record time.
- 4D View Pro: localized UI. More than +20 new commands to programmatically handle your documents and more.
- And much more (see below).
The making of the new 4D v19 logo
by Julien Banon, UX and Creative Designer at 4D SAS
4D v19 is just around the corner and while our teams are putting the finishing touches on one of the best LTS yet, I thought I’d tell you the story behind the 4D v19 logo design.
4D Data Explorer in Action
Even though the 4D Data Explorer is still in Preview version (there are certainly more features to come in the next versions), we thought we’d show you the product in action and let you discover its capabilities.
This is a web browser interface usable by the administrator as well as the developer, remotely (in a secure way with an HTTPS connection) or locally on the same machine as your opened database.
Need to check your data during development? Need to find data that could cause bugs? The Data Explorer, with its powerful query engine and intuitive web interface, is made for you!
Let’s watch the video:
Apply naming conventions with Form macros
by guest author Michael Höhne, 4D developer (Munich, Germany)
There’s a feature in 4D v18 R5 that may have been overlooked, or at least hasn’t gotten much attention so far: Form macros. To be honest, I hadn’t spent much time on them either, until recently. In this blog post, I’ll show you a macro that saves a lot of time when applying naming conventions to list box columns, column headers, and footers. You can easily change it to fit your needs. A dedicated repo is also available on Github.
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