Voice of the PPL

PPL 2.1.1 is almost done. We are issuing beta 7 tonight. Our tutorial manual should be done Monday, this is last piece of the puzzle. So don’t despair, it is coming…

While we are at it, let’s talk about version 2.2 shall we. Yes, I know, 2.1.1 is not even out yet why talk about 2.2? Well, 2.2 is going to add some really handy features to simplify even more coding and designing your apps in PPL 2. First, we are including intelligent properties, yes “intelligent”. They are intelligent because they can be displayed to the user only in specific situations, they can ordered depending on any factor. So the properties will now have there own set of events and internal coding. The ordering of properties is a nice feature, let’s take for example a PSprite. Everytime you place a sprite on a map, you need to scroll down the massive list of properties to the “Surface” property to assign an surface to it. Now with property ordering, the most important properties will be displayed first in the list. There are a few more cool features that will be included in this release, but most importantly, we will focus on documentation and adding even more polish to PPL 2.

Back to 2.1.1, here is what’s coming:

- Changed hint for File -> Open menu item.
- Fixed Mobile WM2003 executable creation to use correct rtl file.
- New listbox that lists runtime library files instead of radioboxes. Allow for more runtimes.
- Added Windows Mobile 6 runtime files.
- Executables are now created in a separate folder based on the runtime selected.
- Fixed PCL xml load issue if inherited class was not loaded already.
- Fixed issue with event assignment.
- Fixed Find Definition in code editor to go to correct line.
- Fixed compiler to accept case expression with + signs.
- Fixed compiler case expression between ().
- New Copy and Paste methods in PValue.
- New Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo methods in PEdit.
- New CanUndo, ClearUndos, CharFromPos, FirstVisibleLine, MaxText, Line, LineLength, LineCount, SelText, SelStart, SelLength, PasswordChar, LineFromChar, LineIndex, ScrollLines, PosFromChar, CaretInView, ReadOnly properties and methods in PEdit.
- Fixed rename objects on specific property value changes.
- Lots of new help topics.
- Fixed Field property lookup for PTable objects.
- Fixed PPIDE.Menu method.
- Moved dialog components to Dialogs category.
- Fixed Files.ppl bug.
- Fixed PQuery and PDatabase to only be allowed inside PForm or Root level.
- When double-click object to create new visual method, make it visible.
- New RaiseError() function.
- Fixed report printing in PReport.
- Fixed PDatabase.Query method to work correctly with PQuery.
- New ItemText and ItemValue property in PListBox and PComboBox.
- New ItemText and ItemValue property in PGroupBox.
- Brand new plugins installer and publisher dialog.
- Fixed Help Editor when adding Property, Event, Method topics inside a Class.
- Fixed Project Manager when double-clicking on a component, it inserts it instead of appending it.
- Fixed Alt+Click in expand button in project manager.
- Fixed Smart Add in project manager to allow appending to parent object as well.
- SpriteChildren() function does not return sprites flagged for deletion anymore.
- Fixed interpreter not to try to adjust the double precision values with epsilon.
- Fixed visual form editor not to create visual code objects while editing the form.
- #declare statements look in app’s folder first when loading the dll.
- Fixed PVariable handling in visual programming.
- Fixed PProperty, PMethod and PEvent dragging to sub classed objects.
- Visual Code -> IF (Ctrl+I) and While (Ctrl+W) menu items, can alternate between Logic mode.
- Force directory creation when creating an executable.
- Reworked the Run/Debug menu items and toolbar buttons enabling/disabling.
- Fixed bug when closing a running tab.
- Fixed Pause if interpreter is in main loop.
- Fixed creating new project when untitled project is running.
- Fixed wrong source code line number issue with debugger.
- Fixed issue moving visual code objects around.
- Fixed PListBox and PComboBox OnChange event not triggering.
- Fixed bsDialog PForm border style.
- New ListBox demo project.
- New GroupBox demo project.
- New Dialogs demo project.
- New IfElse demo project.
- New Else and Else If visual coding objects.
- Fixed the way PVariable is being handled in visual code.
- Dragging a object to the property panel allow selection of public functions.
- Adjusted range property editor to be more normally.
- Fixed default visual coding property in PProjet not to be set to the default visual coding value if it is read-only.
- New Hello World demo projects.
- Fixed save project templates to root of Project Templates.
- Fixed Procedural Project, Project Template.
- PProperty DefaultValue is initialized correctly at object’s creation now.
- Fixed loading/saving of Help Editor edit controls height.
- Added Copy/Paste topic’s data in Help Editor.
- Help rendering engine, if no description found, uses return value.
- Added Beta version numbering to version info.
- Added PIDE events to class defintion files to add a little more intelligence to PIDE.
- New PVariable PIDE event for OnCreate.
- Updated the hex editor viewer in the caption editor.
- Fixed Swirl AccelerationX, AccelerationY properties by removing them.
- New PList and PValueList demo project.
- Fixed Table of Contents in the Help viewer not to create duplicate folders when not at root level.
- Fixed error with LastIndex in Swirl.
- Lots of new small optimizations in the interpreter.
- Changed Linker preferences.
- Fixed moving objects to AsFolder components not allowed by default.
- Fixed PDirectory scan of files.
- Added Extension and Recursive properties to PDirectory.
- New Directory and Files demo project.
- Fixed EvalString() function.
- Fixed property filename’s in the PIDE to find the right one.
- Fixed ShowModal() if dialog form is bigger than current active form.
- Fixed directory creation when starting compile if communication is too slow.
- Fixed setup files not to remove .PVI files when upgrading.
- Ability to pause (to see watches, etc…) and resume GameAPI (Swirl) applications in debug mode.
- Fixed PPhysicSprite class.
- Fixed Surface Editor to change Width and Height if FrameCount is modified on PSurface object.
- Fixed adding objects to visual form editor by double-clicking the components panel item.
- Fixed an issue with visual form editor layout regeneration.
- Fixed run on device issues and improved stability.
- Many fixes to CleverUpdate and PIDE 2 for internal protection scheme.
- Fixed PQuery to add Fields if non defined at design-time.
- Fixed Orion engine to work correctly with PQuery.
- New IsUpPressed, IsDownPressed, IsLeftPressed, IsRightPressed, IsAPressed, IsBPressed properties for PGameEngine.
- Fixed Swirl PGameEngine OnKeyDown and OnKeyUp events.
- Fixed OnPaint event in PGameEngine.
- New methods to draw in PGameEngine (FillRect, Circle, Line, TextOut, …)
- Fixed convert to string and convert to expression in property editor when used with visual code.
- New popup menu item ‘Color’ in property editor.