Other Basic4android v3.20 BETA is released

Erel

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I'm very happy to release B4A v3.20 BETA

This version includes many important improvements:
  • Visual designer
    • Anchors feature - makes it easier to target multiple screen sizes.
    • Copy & paste - work both inside the layout or between different layouts.
    • Undo / redo feature.
    • The views are organized in a tree for easier navigation.
    • AutoScaleAll keyword now works with all variants, not just the "standard" variant.
    • Colors fields can be copied and the colors values can be pasted or directly typed.
    • Designer script find / replace dialog.
    • The grid is saved in the layout file.
    • Landscape / Portrait designer keywords to test the current orientation.
    • UI Cloud threshold reduced to 10 seconds.
  • #AdditionalRes attribute - Makes it possible to wrap Android library projects (projects with resources).
  • Sync button in the Files tab - Syncs the project files with the Files folder.
  • Modules added to the Find Sub / Module tool (Ctrl + E).
  • Tabs order in the IDE is preserved.
  • Modules files that were not modified will not be saved thus preserving the correct time stamp.
  • DateTime.SetTimeZone now accepts a Double instead of Int.
  • Shortcuts: F11 - Restart (rapid debugger), F2 in the designer connects to the device.
  • Bug fixes and other minor improvements.
Notes
  • RerunDesignerScript is now considered a deprecated method. It will continue to run as before. However it doesn't support the new anchors feature and will fail when running in Rapid debug mode.
  • Layout files saved with v3.20 cannot be loaded with previous versions.
Make sure to backup your projects before loading them with the beta version.

Users who are eligible for a free upgrade should receive an email with the download link. Please post any issues in the forum, preferably with the BETA prefix.
 
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sorex

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thanks for adding the designer tree view which I requested a year ago, that's a lot easier than the drop down list.

the only thing that's missing is drag'n drop to reorder the z-position of the selected view.

I just notice during entering this post that you can right click and use send to back.

I'm not sure if this works correctly. when I use it on the first child it remains the first one.
Doing it on the second child swaps the position of both childs while it should've doing nothing at all.
Unless you placed them in the wrong order (last first, first last)

Edit: yes, it uses another logic then it is in for example flash. stuff at the back is at the top of the treeview.
 
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woniol

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Hi,
looks like this beta has some problems with opening project after reordering project tabs.
Simply open new project , add new class module and replace class tab with Main tab, save project and try to open.
 
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stevel05

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woniol said:
Hi,
looks like this beta has some problems with opening project after reordering project tabs.
Simply open new project , add new class module and replace class tab with Main tab, save project and try to open.
Click to expand...
This happens when you try to move the main module, the error is:
The given key was not present in the dictionary
Click to expand...
If you create more modules and move them (except Main) it will reload.
 
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Laurent95

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Erel said:
I'm very happy to release B4A v3.20 BETA

The views are organized in a tree for easier navigation.
Sync button in the Files tab - Syncs the project files with the Files folder.
Click to expand...

Hi Erel,

I have try it a bit tonight, really useful the news features.
I have 2 questions :
1- Why we still have the tree view in designer scripts tab ? I have see nothing we can do with it.
2- Maybe i'm lost in the Matrix but i still search the Sync button. What you means and where is it ? Designer or IDE.

Thanks for responses.

Regards.
 
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sorex

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1. the tree works faster to select a view (only 1 click instead of 2) and you can better see what's nested in which panels

Erel: can you add a context menu for "Add view" and its view types?

then we don't need to go to the menu bar all the time and work almost completely with the tree.
 
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tucano2000

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Erel,

Great job, were very good TreeView noods to select Views and also copy and paste Views. All very useful functions.

I would like to make a suggestion:

I have in my project a layout of a panel that is very long and almost comes out of the monitor. I have to put the zoom by 50% in Abstract Design to view and edit the layout and it leaves very little. It would be possible to include a system of scroll to prevent this ?
 
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Computersmith64

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+1
 
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Computersmith64

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This comment is probably not related specifically to v3.20, but I noticed today that there is no "Color" property for an EditText view in the designer. If you want to change the background color of an EditText, you have to set the Color property in code. Was this by design, or just an oversight?

Apart from that, I'm finding the enhancements to the designer to be great - thanks for adding more user-friendliness to it, Erel!

- Colin.
 
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BPak

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Like the new Designer features. Will make doing Layouts an easier task for me.
Thanks for a great product!
 
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Shadow&Max

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Erel... The new designer is great... any way you can make that window save it's size and position when it closes, and restore it to that position and size when it opens back up for the release of 3.2? That would be a huge help...

And somewhere along the way, a Save As... option on the File Menu of the main IDE would be a big help too...

Great work.
 
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Erel

B4X founder
Staff member
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The tab order issue is fixed for the stable release. Note that the main module will always be the first module.

1- Why we still have the tree view in designer scripts tab ? I have see nothing we can do with it.
2- Maybe i'm lost in the Matrix but i still search the Sync button. What you means and where is it ? Designer or IDE.
Click to expand...
1. It helps with understanding the available views and their structure.
2. Sync button:


It would be possible to include a system of scroll to prevent this ?
Click to expand...
Not in this version. Probably in the future.

If you want to change the background color of an EditText, you have to set the Color property in code. Was this by design, or just an oversight?
Click to expand...
It is not possible to change the EditText color. You can do it with code but it will remove the nice background. The EditText background is actually a nine patch image.
 
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imbault

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Erel said:
Existing customers who are no longer eligible for free upgrades will receive a 50% discount offer when the stable version is released.
Click to expand...
Hi Erel,

First, I wish you an happy new year.
I think my 2 years licence is expired, can you confirm? I wish to upgrade for 2 years more, will I receive any mail?

Thanks
Patrick
 
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JakeBullet70

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Ran into a problem.
See pic.

This works is V3 just fine. I even opened the screen file and re-save it.
Any ideas?
 

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udg

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Hi all,

three silly questions about upgrading from v. 2.70.

1. Do I need to install v 3.00 and only then upgrade to v 3.20 or I'm supposed to go just straight to the last one?
2. Due to differences in the Designer Layout I undertsand that once a project migrates to the newer version it cannot "go back". Now, is this true for any "object" like classes, libraries.. or just projects relying on new futures in the Designer?
3. Will the signing key stay the same (I mean, do I simply pint the new config to the old keystore file)?

Actually I use a directory tree like the one below:
- DevB4A
- - ExtraClass - classes from NG authors (like DateUtil, KeyValueStore..)
- - ExtraLib - libraries both from NG authors and myself
- - MyLibs - source code for my libraries
- - Testing - source code for testing projects (mainly from NG)
- - Projects - source code for "real" projects

Is it advisable to duplicate the whole tree and have a v3 branch?
- DevB4a
- - v270
---- all the above
-- v320
--- a copy of what I need to migrate

TIA

Umberto
 
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JakeBullet70

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Sent
 
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