Android Question B4XPage is the new way to develop for B4A?

[joaquinortiz]

What happen with the old way to start a program, using Main, etc. Do we have to throw it to trash and start learning a new way?.

I spend much time learning on B4A environment, and now you push to learn a new way of programming?. What could be the advantages!.

Thanks in advance for your response!

 

[wes58]

Check the order: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/pages/results/?query=b4xpages

And that is one thing that I don't like.
When I go to the forum, every other day, I look through the last couple of pages to see what is new or what problems people have and what solutions are.
So for me, the order by post date is important, so I know what I have and what I haven't read yet.
But everybody is different.
I guess you can't make everybody happy. But I bet, that creating a new forum/sub-forum for B4Xpages would make everybody happy!

 

[LucaMs]

Try on Google Search:

site:b4x.com -"Search Results" "[B4X] B4XPages" "Android Tutorial" -questions

(I have a bookmark for google search with: site:b4x.com -"Search Results" )

 

[Hilton]

An interesting thread.
I have an app with 20+ modules etc in Android. I initially looked at the b4xpages and could not quite grasp it, so I decided that I would write the app in b4j and use the b4xpages as an experiment.

I did find it confusing going through all the comments in the forum on the subject, however, it is full of gems if you take the time to dig around the information so DO NOT GIVE UP!! Anyway, I started to understand and because I started having some success, I was encouraged, in fact so encouraged that I decided to take the code from the b4j pages and make it a multiplatform (in my case windows and android). Again there was much head scratching and searching (i am not the brightest spanner in the toolbox) I started to develop a pattern and at last things are starting to flow.

It turns out that after the initial head scratching and burning the midnight oil, I find the b4xpages and multiplatform thing pretty good. I am still gaining experience, but it is getting better and the results are coming.

Any new project will definitely be B4XPages and multiplatform as I can now see that it is not difficult at all to make it multiplatform from scratch, just a bit of a nuisance at the start learning it all.

How else do you learn other than by getting some experience by getting your hands dirty?

My suggestion is:
1. Use b4xpages and multiplatform
2. Never, never, never give up.

Bye Hilton

 

[Num3]

I agree with Hilton, I restarted version 3 of my software using B4XPages, yes it will require you to search the forum and make some questions at first, but it is normal.
One main advantage over regular Activity/Service is that you only have one activity that is never closed when sent to background (much like the Starter Service).
Another plus is you can always access and update GUI elements on another page (once it is created) and i really love code compartmentation, each page is set in it's own class, which i think is tidy.
I only found one negative, in debug mode, when changing code in the IDE that handles the GUI (i.e. changing the height of a B4X CustomListview item) and hitting F11 to refresh the code, it wont make any visual changes, you need to stop execution and compile (F5) for the changes to be visible.

 

[Erel]

only found one negative, in debug mode, when changing code in the IDE that handles the GUI (i.e. changing the height of a B4X CustomListview item) and hitting F11 to refresh the code, it wont make any visual changes, you need to stop execution and compile (F5) for the changes to be visible.

This is not related to B4XPages. If you update code that was already executed then it will not change anything until the code is executed again.

 

[wes58]

Try on Google Search:

site:b4x.com -"Search Results" "[B4X] B4XPages" "Android Tutorial" -questions

(I have a bookmark for google search with: site:b4x.com -"Search Results" )

Sorry but you miss the point. It is not about search, but better forum organization. Why can't we have the forum/sub-forum for some important topics - B4Xpages, B4Xdialogs?
You can't have it in one thread, so have it in a sub-forum. Why is it so hard to do?
Instead, we have over 2800 pages in the Question Forum - total mess - at least in my opinion.

Erel replied to my post in other thread, that it is easy to position B4Xdialog anywhere I like. I just have to do a couple of searches.
I didn't find anything meaningful. I realized today why. Because I was searching for "B4X dialog position", but I should have searched for "B4Xdialog position". One simple error and you find nothing!
Erel wrote:

The number of pages in the questions forum is meaningless. The ONLY way to find information that you are looking for is with the search engine.

There were many of things that I learnt over the years by reading forum posts. I was not necessarily looking for something, but when I saw something interesting posted by others, I thought that's good, I could use that, or I didn't know abut that.
You can't search for something if you are not looking for something specific, but want to learn something new.
You will say you can learn about B4Xpages if you search for B4Xpages. Yes you can. But what about other things that are on those (forgotten) 2800 pages? Maybe there is something that you (or new users) might be interested in, you never thought of doing - but you don't know it, because you don't know what is there on those pages.

It is almost ten years since the first post in Question forum - @agraham 8 October 2010.
I read it from the beginning because that's when I started with B4A, but who is going to look there now?
Maybe there is time to refresh the forum on the 10th Anniversary!

 

[kisoft]

The discussion starts to deviate from the topic ... B4XPages is just a simple way to display multiple pages in one activity. However, a lot has changed and that's why I agree with the author of this thread that you should create another category on the forum concerning only B4XPages.

P.S
@wes58 sorry but we wrote at the same time and I didn't see your post. Of course, I agree with you 100%.

 

[Erel]

Here is the category of B4XPages: https://www.b4x.com/search?query=B4XPages
Here is the category of GPS: https://www.b4x.com/search?query=GPS
Here is the category of drawing: https://www.b4x.com/search?query=drawing
And I can list another 10,000 categories.
No reason to create 10,000 more sub forums and no reason to chase members who post questions and ask them to post in the correct sub forum.

And this was my last reply in this thread.

 

[vecino]

If all the examples are going to be made with B4Xpages, then you are really forcing yourself to use it.

And now I understand why I didn't understand the last examples I've been looking at, I was wondering what is this B4Xpages thing?

So you are indeed forcing yourself to use B4Xpages.
And the newbies will have a harder time because they won't understand anything.

The examples should be made in the traditional way and in the new mode, but you can't forget the traditional mode.

That's my humble opinion.

 

[Patrick Clark]

That's right. And it is even harder for people for whom English is not the first language.
Try to search for "B4X pages" instead of "B4Xpages" and you will see what (or how many) meaningless results you get!

But the feature is called "B4Xpages" you wouldn't search for "X UI" would you.?

Beginners should start with the tutorials as it has always been this includes the B4Xpages tutorial.

 

[Patrick Clark]

Here is the category of B4XPages: https://www.b4x.com/search?query=B4XPages
Here is the category of GPS: https://www.b4x.com/search?query=GPS
Here is the category of drawing: https://www.b4x.com/search?query=drawing
And I can list another 10,000 categories.
No reason to create 10,000 more sub forums and no reason to chase members who post questions and ask them to post in the correct sub forum.

And this was my last reply in this thread.

Well said Erel. I am a reasonably new B4A user an I have no problems searching the forum for any topic or transitioning from activities to B4Xpages. programming is a complex task and B4X is not a drag and drop app builder. Searching for answers and asking questions if you can't find is all part of that.

There are many examples of how to do things with activities, the new examples will simply show how these can be implemented in B4Xpages. I really cant see the issue.

 

[incendio]

I am still using the old ways and no plan to use B4XPages stuff near the future.

 

[AnandGupta]

I am still using the old ways and no plan to use B4XPages stuff near the future.

Same here.
Worth waiting for @klaus booklet which will clear all the clouds and everything will be in one place to read.
B4XPages will become more mature by then and hopefully will have orientation options too. I require it as most my apps show reports.

Regards,

Anand

 

[Erel]

I am still using the old ways and no plan to use B4XPages stuff near the future.

To make sure that it is clear, the "old way" is not deprecated or discouraged or anything else. I do recommend developers to try B4XPages as it makes things simpler, however there it nothing bad with not using it.

 

[incendio]

To make sure that it is clear, the "old way" is not deprecated or discouraged or anything else. I do recommend developers to try B4XPages as it makes things simpler, however there it nothing bad with not using it.

There is no bad or good approach, whether using activities or B4XPages, which ever do the jobs, is enough for me.

 

[AnandGupta]

As I said,

Neither Erel will complain or Android will complain.

But your words reaches far

I do recommend developers to try B4XPages as it makes things simpler, however there it nothing bad with not using it.

Hope nobody complains now.

Regards,

Anand