4D v11 SQL
4D v11 SQL has just been released!
Due to dramatic improvements in the way components work with this new release, your Foundation databases won’t work with 4D v11 SQL yet. You’ll need a new set of the Foundation components in the new format. I’m hard at work updating Foundation to be compatible with this new architecture. It requires breaking out each component from the FCS into a separate structure file. Then calls to other components must be made through the new EXECUTE METHOD command.
For Foundation developers, the advantage to upgrading to 4D v11 SQL is no more 4D Insider! Rather than installing components with Insider, you’ll just drop the component files into a Components folder. To remove them, just drag them out of the folder. No more possibility of corrupting your structure file! And you can safely test any new component just by dropping it in the folder. If you decide you don’t like it, just drag it to the trash and it’s gone from your database completely.
To convert your existing Foundation projects to 4D v11 SQL, you’ll first need to remove all components using 4D Insider. Then you’ll create a folder named Components, and place each of the Foundation component structure files in this folder. Then you can open the database structure with 4D v11 SQL.
If your Foundation Support membership is current, you’ll automatically get full access to the new version of Foundation as soon as it’s available.
Come to the Foundation User Group meeting at the 4D Summit Conference next month and get a first-hand look at the new Foundation for 4D v11 SQL.
|
4D Summit Conference
|
|
Summit 2007 Network Are you coming to the Summit next month? If so, be sure to check out the 4D Summit 2007 Ning web site. It’s a social network web site for everyone participating in this year’s Summit Conference. If you’re coming, be sure to sign up as a member of the “Foundation Users” group.
|
|
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. |
The 
|
New Features Release
Foundation 4 version 4.3 is now available. This release includes a new Dictionary component, three new Toolbar component methods, and a new Sequence Number method. Dictionary Component Rob Laveaux of Pluggers Software has created and donated a dictionary component for all other Foundation developers to use. This new optional component allows you to create data structures in 4D that can hold almost any type of 4D data. You can easily pass these complex data structures around from one process to another, or save them to records or files (when using 4D 2004). The component provides functionality similar to the features available in ObjectTools from Aparajita Fishman. Although originally written by Rob Laveaux, the source code for this component has been integrated into the FCS as a fully supported Foundation component. Toolbar Component Rob Laveaux has also donated three new methods for Foundation’s Toolbar component. Fnd_Tlbr_Button_Count returns the number of buttons in the current toolbar. Fnd_Tlbr_Button_Name returns the name of a button based on its position. Used together, these two functions allow you to procedurally get complete information about the current toolbar at any time. And now, using the new Fnd_Tlbr_Button_Insert method, you can insert a new button at any position within an existing toolbar without needing to recreate the entire toolbar. Sequence Number Component A Foundation developer pointed out that it takes over 20 seconds (more if you’re inside of a transaction) to get 400 new sequence numbers from the Sequence Number component. That’s just way to long, so there’s a new Fnd_SqNo_GetMany command. Use this method to fill a long integer array with any number of sequence numbers. The new command can grab 400 unique sequence numbers in just 5 ticks. See the 4.3 Addendum for more information. As always, there are also a few minor bug fixes in this release. Visit the Foundation Components page for the latest version and the release notes for each component. |