Just 2 months left until we all meet for Geoff's keynote. And for the
Xojo Developer Magazine I wrote an article with a couple of travel tips for sight seeing around Austin. With a couple of pictures from a few years ago when the last conference was in Austin.
The good news on the hotel is that plenty of rooms are still available. And now the
reservation system seems to work fine. It's $169 per room. No suites are available for discounted rates, just the regular ones. Anyway, as we can cancel room up to 2 days before conference, you should make your reservation early and later modify or cancel it.
The 2015
Xojo Developer Conference will take place April 29 - May 1, 2015 at the Radisson hotel in fabulous downtown Austin!
XDC is the best place for Xojo users to learn from the experts, network with other Xojo users from around the world and meet the Xojo engineers. We will have sessions for everyone wanting to get the most out of their tool - from topics for those who are just getting their feet wet, to sessions for the most advanced Xojo developer.
NICKENICH, Germany (February 24th, 2015) -- Monkeybread Software releases version 15.0 of the
MBS plug-in for Xojo and Real Studio.
The MBS plug-in comprises a collection of several plug-in parts which extend the Xojo (Real Studio) development environment with 2,100 classes featuring over 54,000 documented functions. Our plugins support all three platforms Mac OS X, Windows and Linux with all project types desktop, web and console.
Some of the highlights on the 15.0 update:
Our newest plugin version has several enhancement for networking. First we added a couple of
LDAP classes to query directory services. Than we added a new
CURL class to run
multiple transfers efficiently on the main thread and still in background. With improvements to Bonjour classes we can now
query IPs for domain names in background without blocking application. Finally
SSH Session now allows to connect with timeout.
On Windows the
new player class can play MP3 files with various options like rate, pitch and volume. Our
system information module can now properly detect Windows 8.1. We have a new class to get
notifications when a drive mounts or unmounts on Windows.
For
DynaPDF we added new methods to close and sign a PDF on Windows using the certificates installed on the computer. We got new classes for view ports, system fonts and geospatial coordinate data. Most DynaPDF classes now have private constructor to avoid coding errors.
For Addressbook on OS X we have new controls
ABPeoplePickerViewControlMBS and
ABPersonViewControlMBS. Using those controls you can have a person or group picker or a viewer for an addressbook entry in your Xojo windows. The new
account class helps to handle multiple accounts better. And
ABMultiValueMBS class got improved for easier use and better debugging.
If you need audio playback on OS X, the
CoreAudioListenerMBS class informs you about events like changes in the audio setup. Our
AUPlayerMBS class now allows to switch from timepitch to varispeed audio units while playing for better adjustments of pitch and rate properties.
More improvements are made to
Barcode,
AVFoundation,
Twain,
TAPI,
CoreText,
LCMS2 and
Quicklook classes. A couple of new cocoa classes help with
status items,
toolbar item groups,
file wrappers and
text attachments.
The plugin is updated for Xojo 2015r1 SDK and support new text data type in several cases. We updated DynaPDF to version 3.0.38.112, PCRE to 8.36, OpenSSL to 1.0.1j, libPNG to 1.6.14, libJPEG to 9.1, GraphicsMagick to 1.3.20, CURL to 7.39.0, LibXL to 3.6.1 and LCMS2 to 2.7fc1.
Just updated the archives for the
Dash application. Does the auto update work for you?
So here you can click to launch Dash and install our plugin help:
MBS Xojo Plugins and
MBS FileMaker Plugin
You find the docset links also on our reference websites where you can download archive manually if needed:
MBS FileMaker Plugin Documentation for Dash and
MBS Xojo Plugins Documentation for Dash
Feedback is welcome.
New in this prerelease of the 15.0 plugins:
- Improved PictureEditorMBS, PictureReaderMBS and PictureWriterMBS to work better for console target.
- Fixed AUPlayerMBS to switch between TimePitch and Varispeed units.
- Added CIImageMBS.RenderPictureWithAlpha function.
- Updated DynaPDF to version 3.0.38.112.
Download:
macsw.de/plugin. Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.
Retweet or share our Omegabundle for Xojo 2014 post and get two prizes for Xojo developers.
We want your help getting the word out about Omegabundle for Xojo 2014. What you need to do is share on FB, or retweet about Omegabundle for Xojo 2014, and you will get:
- A free copy of Xdev Magazine
- Leroy's Status Bar for Xojo
To collect your prize, register on the Mirye site and post your link in your order.
You will get contacted within 48 hours by xDev Magazine and Leroy Software with your prize download information. You just need to do one share or retweet, but we appreciate your likes and anything else you'd like to do to get the word out.
New in this prerelease of the 15.0 plugins:
- Added support to CURLEMailMBS class for encoding attachment file names.
- Added DynaPDFMBS CloseAndSignPDFFile and CloseAndSignPDFFileWithDialog functions to sign PDFs on Windows using Crypt library.
- Changed AUPlayerMBS to always use NewTimePitch if available and allow switching while in use.
- Fixed AVMutableVideoCompositionLayerInstructionMBS.setCropRectangleRampFromStartCropRectangle method.
- Added/Improved properties for CALayerMBS class.
- Reduced dependencies between plugin, so CocoaBase can be used with Cocoa plugin.
- Added workaround for setEditionHighlightType selector problem with ABPersonViewMBS switching to editing mode.
- Added OutputUnit and TimePitchUnit properties and constants to AUPlayerMBS class.
- Improved variants handling of text data type.
- Fixed AUPlayerMBS to use HALOutput instead of DefaultOutput.
- Fixed bug in GraphicsMagick reading jpeg 2000 images.
Download:
macsw.de/plugin/Prerelease. Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.
Xojo Inc. just released a new version of Xojo, our favored development tool. Again over 100 bugs fixes, a few new things and a couple of changes. The big news is 64bit support for the iOS target, so apps can continue to be available through Apple's app store. Since early February Apple requires 64bit support for applications published to the App Store.
The other new things are an updated icon editor which allows 1024 Pixel big icons. Than there is a new preferences on whether the filter text field should wait before searching for you to finish typing. Structure alignment can now go natively and there is a new TargetARM constant which is true for iOS building.
The plugin SDK has been updated to reflect the new text data type. We updated MBS Plugin for version 15.0 to handle them correctly, but continue to use strings for most functions. If you need a function to take a text and avoid conversion to string, please contact us. There is currently no support for auto data type in the SDK.
I'm happy about a few of the bug fixes. For example the bug with compiler reporting function call as ambiguous if there is a byref in the overloaded method is gone. Also fixed are bugs for comparing numbers to constants and another bug about comparing unsigned integers. Bugs in the compiler are always catastrophic as you get crazy when your code is correct and still produces wrong errors. Those two are bad, but had workarounds and probably 99% never run into them.
A couple of fixes for the new framework help like the fixed memory leaks or broken timers on Windows. Welcome is also the faster sorting, the fix for IDE scripting to build console applications and the fixes on the web framework.
SQLite got updated from 3.8.5 to 3.8.8. This includes a lot of improvements on SQLite itself. Like support for hexadecimal integer literals, the new likely function and a couple of speed optimizations. Beside that over 20 bugs have been fixed in SQLite alone. See
SQLite Release History
So if you have been using Xojo 2014, you should checkout if 2015r1 is not the better release. If you are still using Real Studio 2012, it may be time to reevaluate Xojo again and see if 2015r1 release is okay for you to move on. Later this year you may need to move anyway if your clients ask for 64-bit support.
Did you notice we now have four blog domains?
If you visit the blog here regularly or read the RSS feed, you can now filter to FileMaker and/or Xojo topics.
mbsplugins.de - all blog entries
mbsplugins.de/filemake - all FileMaker blog entries
mbsplugins.de/xojo - all Xojo blog entries
Maybe that helps some of our clients which don't use Xojo or FileMaker to filter out the other development tool.
New in this prerelease of the 15.0 plugins:
- Added more properties to CTFontMBS and CTFontDescroptionMBS
- Added NSStatusBarButtonMBS class.
- Fixed QuickTimePresentMBS function.
- Added TimeOut Parameter for SSHSessionMBS constructor.
- Fixed problem with MacHIDMBS not loading on older OS X versions.
- Changed SQLCommandMBS to allow again setting connection to nil.
- Added parameter for compression to PNGWriterMBS.SetHeader.
- Added JPEGExporterMBS.DCTMethod property.
- Updated LCMS2 to 2.7fc1 and a few fixes.
- Added CIImageMBS.imageByApplyingOrientation function.
- Added handle properties to MacHIDMBS class.
- Fixed memory leak in JSONMBS when adding objects (Circle reference between parent and child).
Download:
macsw.de/plugin/Prerelease. Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.
Nickenich, Germany (February 10th, 2015) -- Monkeybread Software releases version 1.6 of the MBS Updater Kit
The MBS Updater Kit helps you in adding an automatic update feature to your application.
Version 1.6 improves the Kit for use with Xojo.
- Crossplatform update engine for Mac OS X and Windows.
- Full Source code access.
- Using Sparkle on Mac OS X for updating and our own code for Windows.
- Includes all code and help to setup Sparkle for Windows.
- Includes script file for Inno Setup engine. (you can use others if you like)
- Using digital signatures on Mac and MD5 Checksum on Windows to ensure download integrity.
- Includes generator for XML file for your server and code to parse this file and find newer versions.
New in Version 1.6:- Updated for Xojo.
- Fixed Patch App to use Intel instead of Universal for the build folder name.
- Fixed UpdaterEngine to better detect if version is newer or older.
- Updated Sparkle to version 1.6.1
Our Updater Kit requires Real Studio 2011 or newer and a licenses for various MBS Plugins. (Complete Set recommended)
The Updater Kit is available for $99 USD or 79 Euro (+VAT if needed).
You can learn more and try the sample application on our
website.
As all those social services (Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus) like to know where users surf. All the websites with like buttons create a log entry in their logs and include a reference to the profile, if you are logged in. This way they can track you surfing over the web.
One thing I do myself for a long time is to delete cookies automatically. With
Cookies app from Russell Gray. I have 20 cookies on my white list like the Xojo and FileMaker forums auto login. But all others cookies are automatically deleted when I close the browser. This way I'm a new client each time when I visit google web search or browse amazon.
Now I have several browsers: Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome. For my normal surfing I use Safari while the social networks reside in Chrome. They can set their cookies and I have auto login, but they don't monitor me when I use Safari to surf the web.
Finally I disabled plugins. No flash security problems if Flash is disabled. And as YouTube now uses HTML5 by default, that's not even a problem for normal surfing. And of course plugins are just a few clicks away if needed. But with new plugin per website control in modern browsers, you should have plugins disabled for all websites by default. Only enable them where you need. It is amazing how many websites want to use Flash only to track you!
Pro license is required for the following functions:
- BeginTransparencyGroup
- ConvertColors
- Create3DAnnot
- CreateSoftMask
- FlattenForm
- GetPageText
- ImportPage and ImportPageEx
- ParseContent
- RenderAnnotOrField
- RenderPage
- SetCMapDir
- SetExtColorSpace, SetExtFillColorSpace and SetExtStrokeColorSpace.
- SetUseGlobalImpFiles
Lite is required for:
- AddRenderingIntent and AddRenderingIntentEx
- CreateFormFields
- CloseFileEx
- ConvertEMFSpool
- CreateCollection
- CreateExtGState
- InsertMetafile and InsertMetafileEx
- OpenImportBuffer, OpenImportFile and OpenImportStream
- SetPDFVersion for PDF/A and PDF/X
And all functions relaying on those functions internally.
New in this prerelease of the 15.0 plugins:
- Adjusted some functions for text data type.
- Fixed bug in UnixPathMBS.
- Added XLSheetMBS.ReadDate and XLSheetMBS.WriteDate.
- Fixed bug in PictureMBS destructor. Introduced in pr6.
- Recompiled with newer SDK.
- Updated LCMS2 to 2.7fc1.
- Updated DynaPDF to version 3.0.38.111.
- Added ABAccountMBS and related classes.
- Changed SQLDatabaseMBS RecordSet to return RowsAffected for RecordCount. Seems to be right for MySQL with Scrollable=True.
- Fixed bug with dialog functions not showing alternate button.
- Fixed bug in NotificationCenterMBS class.
- Added NSViewControlMBS control.
- Added more parameters for TwainMBS.TransferProgress event.
- Added WinHIDMBS.GetInputReport and WinHIDMBS.SetOutputReport.
- Added TwainMBS.Imagelayout.
- Changed JSONMBS, so with parse error you still get the content we parsed.
Download:
macsw.de/plugin/Prerelease. Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.
Paul Lefebvre, the Xojo Developer Evangelist, got a Xojo app in the App Store:
TipVue, essentially the Tip Calculator example app included with Xojo, was submitted to the App Store a little over a week ago. It was just approved by Apple today and is now available in the App Store.
TipVue on the Apple App Store
It's free and should be appearing in all countries throughout the day.
The great news as it proofs that an Xojo made app can pass the review and made available on the store. Now it's up to you to make more apps with Xojo!
The German
Mac & i magazine issue 1/2015 includes an article about Xojo with iOS support.
Only one and a quarter page and it didn't make it on the title, but still it may attract people to checkout Xojo.
New in this prerelease of the 15.0 plugins:
- Updated LCMS2 to 2.7rc1.
- Added CopyPixelsMemory function for GM16ImageMBS and GMImageMBS.
- Added LDAP* classes.
- Updated DynaPDF to version 3.0.38.109.
- Fixed bugs on TAPI classes.
- Fixed bugs in DirectorySizeMBS class.
- Improved DirectorySizeMBS on Windows to detect reparse points (and ignore them).
- Added BarcodeGeneratorMBS.EANChecksum and BarcodeGeneratorMBS.ISBNChecksum functions.
- Deprecated SpeechChannelMBS, SpeechMBS and VoiceMBS. Apple deprecated it for OS X 10.8 and it stopped working in OS X 10.10. Please use NSSpeechSynthesizerMBS class instead.
- Fixed bugs in DynaPDFMBS Highlight functions.
- Added SQLDatabaseMBS.LastStatement and SQLConnectionMBS.LastStatement to see what SQL was run most recently.
- Added cairo_surface_mark_dirty for cases we edit picture on linux.
- Added ABPeoplePickerViewControlMBS and ABPersonViewControlMBS.
- Fixed EncodingToHTMLMBS, broken in pr8.
Download:
macsw.de/plugin/Prerelease. Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.
Just 2 months left until we all meet for Geoff's keynote. And for the Xojo Developer Magazine I wrote an article with a couple of travel tips for sight seeing around Austin. With a couple of pictures from a few years ago when the last conference was in Austin.