Forum Spam

Due to problems with spam in the Foundation Forum, you now need to pass a simple test to create a new account. You'll be asked "What is the command in the 4D language to procedurally display the debugger window?" Because only a 4D developer would know that the correct answer is "TRACE," this test ensures that only 4D developers can create new accounts and post to the forum.

Foundation Don'ts

Here's a list of things you shouldn't be doing when working with Foundation:

Don't use any version of 4D Insider prior to 2004.5 or 2003.8. Earlier versions of 4D Insider can damage the components in your structure.

Don't add any of the optional Foundation components to your structure that you don't intend to use. Unused components add unnecessary bulk to your structure and increase compile times.

Don't click the Copy button when asked by 4D Insider which table to use for forms. Always click the Link button.

Don't directly use any Foundation variables in your source code. Although this might seem like an easy way to modify Foundation's behavior, it will cause you problems when you try to update the component. It's better to modify the Foundation source code and generate a custom version of the component. If you must use a Foundation variable directly, wrap it up in an EXECUTE statement to hide it from 4D Insider.

Is it Time to Renew?

Don't forget to check your support expiration date the next time you visit the Foundation web site. You'll save $50 by renewing before your membership expires.

Bug Fix Release

Foundation 4 version 4.2.2 is now available. This release includes just a few minor bug fixes.

Find Component

The Find button in the Find dialog may sometimes be sized incorrectly. The problem is fixed by installing version 4.2.2 of the Find component.

Toolbar & I/O Components

We recently discovered that if you hide the toolbar status message in an output form, it wouldn't stay hidden, and could actually get moved into a position where it blocks the buttons. This is fixed by installing version 4.2.2 of both the Toolbar and I/O components.

Date and Time Component

The optional Date and Time component has also been fixed. Sometime during 2006, 4D changed the way the 'Get edited text' function works with Date fields. It no longer returns the value the user sees in the On Before Keystroke  event. Because of this, entering a partial date (such as "23" for the 23rd of the current month and year) stopped working. Date variables were not affected and continue to function properly.

Partial dates work properly with version 4.2.2 of the Foundation Date and Time component. However, you must now also enable the field's On After Keystroke  event (in addition to the On Before Keystroke  and On Data Change  events). The On After Keystroke  event must now be enabled for date variables as well as date fields.

Visit the Foundation Components page for the latest version and the release notes for each component.

Opening a Window at Startup

It's easy to open a window at startup from Foundation's Fnd_aa_Shell_Startup hook. But when called here, the window will open while Foundation's startup screen is still visible. If you'd like the window to open after the startup screen has closed, you can delay the opening of the window by adding this code to the method that opens the window:

While (Process number("$Fnd_Art_StartupDialog")>0)
  DELAY PROCESS(Current process;5)
End while

This will delay the opening of the window until the process that displays the splash screen has finished.

If you want to delay the display of an output form displayed by Foundation, add this code to the Fnd_aa_IO_OuputForm hook.

Note that you can't use this code directly in Foundation's Fnd_aa_Shell_Startup hook. It must run in another process.