We are happy to announce that PPL 2.1.0 is now in Beta. We can expect a release soon if there are not any problems with it. We will keep you up-to-date.

Things are progressing at a steady pace here. The Windows Mobile SDK is on its way to your desktop and device. We have managed to get most of the controls working fine. We have to double-check menu bars and menus and the grid control is not displaying, we also need to fix the fullscreen window mode. We have reworked the TCP connection system which will be more robust on Windows and Windows Mobile. Connecting to the Windows Mobile device is also very easy, no need for Internet connection, as long as you connect to Windows Mobile Device Center (ActiveSync) you will be able to run/debug on your device.

Here is the new Mobile menu that allow you to target your device from now on. No need to change any settings in your project, just use this menu.

Here is a Windows 7 form:

And here is the same form on Windows Mobile 5:

So as you can see, you will be able to use the Windows Mobile SDK in all of its glory very soon. We promised something that is working, we will deliver it to you!

Oh, I almost forgot, the new version will come with the following (more to come until release of course):

- Fixed & operator to work with arrays properly again.
- Fixed namespace in forward func/proc definitions.
- Fixed visual coding extra comma in $properties$.
- Only calls CleverUpdate once at startup.
- Data menu in Popupmenu in Project Manager not visible anymore if Orion is not installed.
- Fixed form constant re-creation when activating PIDE main window.
- New Collect() function to collect unused garbage in memory, often useful in loops.
- Fixed keyfile creation.
- Fixed refresh of properties when Preferences are being edited.
- Fixed Shell prompt.ppl load.
- Fixed creating a project from template when only a selection type project template when no project is opened.
- Fixed visual code syntax owner display bug.
- Fixed Ctrl+Space in visual code.
- Fixed PMenuItem.ImageIndex property editor was missing.
- Fixed PResource.SaveTempFile.
- Fixed code generation if property is object.
- Fixed PMenuItem imagelist display.
- Fixed PToolButton.ImageIndex.
- Fixed PToolBar click.
- New Installation guide is provided.
- Updated many help files.
- Fixed little memory problem with help editor on closing.
- Rewrote debugger engine so that PIDE is the server and target application is the client.
- Debugger retrieves public IP address from www.whatismyip.com automatically.
- New Mobile menu to allow run/compile/etc… for a Mobile device.
- Restructured the PProject class, no more Target platform selection.
- Fixed Case() expressions when using (expr) syntax.
- Fixed Using statement when loading from .ppc file.
- Fixed custom draw controls to work on Windows Mobile. (PPanel, PShape, PQuickButton).
- Fixed system colors on Windows Mobile.

So I promised a new version of CleverUpdate and PPL 2 yesterday, I know. Sorry but I will delay it for another couple days but it will be for a good cause…

The Windows Mobile SDK is being fully tested and things are being made easier to setup. We have rewritten the debugger TCP/IP engine so that now the PIDE2 is the server and the client is the target application. This will make it a lot easier to setup Windows Mobile devices to connect to a server than act as a server.

Hi,

After the rough start that PPL 2 had, we are now back on track and things are looking pretty good now. There are still issues of course but we are tracking them one by one and fixing them. Here is what you can expect from us in the next few weeks:

• Release new CleverUpdate and PPL 2 today (Friday July 24th)
• Work on the Windows Mobile SDK (fix PCL libraries for WinMo) and release new version (Early next week)
• New component package StringTools (XML, Encryption, Compression, Regular Expr)
• New component package Picture&Sound (JPG, PNG, GIF, MP3, WAV, OGG without game engine)
• New component package CommunicationTools (TCP/IP, FTP, SMTP, BLUETOOTH, SERIAL)
• New component package PhoneAPI (Dialer, etc…)

In today’s release we have a new Installation Guide in PDF format. In today’s release we have also fixed the locking of Swirl, Orion and WinMo special features that were not active, this was due to a keyfile not being created/read properly.

We are working on a Tutorial Guide that will be pretty complete as well (should be finished in about 2 weeks).

See how easy it is to use code templates in PPL 2. Create and edit code template definition files as plain text and distribute them.

Here is a little video I put together real quick today to show you the Shell that is integrated into the PPL 2 IDE.

By popular demand here is a list of everything included in the separate PPL 2 packages:

PPL 2 Base Edition:

1. Create executable from the IDE.
2. Realtime code profiling and memory leaks detection.
3. Visual Programming, drag & drop.
4. Visual project manager allow simple object creation.
5. Visual Form Builder.
6. Auto-update installed components and packages.
7. Code-completion (Intellisense).
8. Tag search. Type english like phrase to find anything you want.
9. Smart moves (intelligent drag and drop of objects).
10. Integrated programmable Shell.
11. Intelligent help system and tooltips.
12. Open IDE API to create your own plugins.
13. Auto code templates.
14. Build components visually.
15. Advanced Help File Editor.
16. Syntax formatter.
17. Batch processor to create multiple objects at a time.
18. Find Wizard, search for anything, anywhere.
19. Visual Matrix data type editor.
20. Image list editor.

Orion Database Package:

1. Visual Query Editor.
2. Visual Report Builder.
3. Table Editor.
4. Database visual creation.
5. Table visual creation.
6. PDatabase, PTable, PGrid, PDBControl, PDBEdit, PDBCheckBox, PDBNavigator, PReport, PBand, PRText, PRDBText.
7. Database Project Templates.

Swirl Game Package:

1. Visual Map editor.
2. Surface Editor.
3. PGame, PMap, PSprite, PPhysicSprite, PWorldSprite, PLayer, PSoundEngine, PMusic, PSound
4. Game Project Templates.

Windows Mobile SDK:

1. Can create executables for Windows Mobile platforms.
2. Can compile and debug using Windows Mobile platforms.

Finally after a long delay, PPL 2 Beta 4 is now available. Our beta testers will certainly flood me with reports, so I better prepare myself…

After receiving multiple requests of people interested in buying all components of PPL 2 we have created a new Complete Bundle. The savings are substantial.

https://store3.esellerate.net/store/checkout/CustomLayout.aspx?s=STR5900755369&pc=&page=OnePageCatalog.htm

As many of you, avid readers, know, PPL 2.0’s release was pushed to a later date. That date however is getting closer and this time we mean it.

PPL 2.0 is, by the day, getting new features and other areas are being polished and enhanced. The reason why we are adding new features late in the development is because in order to make PPL 2.0 a super easy programming environment (the way we’ve envisioned it at the beginning of the project), we are inventing new ways to program.

One of such new ways is called “Smart Moves”. This new technic allow you to drag objects over other objects and based on their class types, specific actions are taken. You define the smart moves in a file that looks like this.

<smartmove>
<source>PTable</source>
<target>PQuery</target>
<commands>
set 'Name' "'Name'_Query"
set 'Database' Root
set 'Query' "SELECT * FROM 'TableName'"
select Target
pide {pide_menu "Data:Populate Objects from Query"}
</commands>
</smartmove>

The smar moves definition file is an XML format file that contains commands to perform if an object is dragged over another. In this case, if a PTable object is dragged on a PQuery object, the query object will be assigned with all the necessary properties to execute the query on the source table. Even PField objects will be created with the Data -> Populate Objects From Query menu item. You can then drag the PField objects to, let’s say a PBand object in a report to create a PRText.

I think you get the idea, how powerful this new feature is?

The Orion database components are being worked on right now. We have the ability to easily create databases, tables and fields. If you already have a SQLite database file, just drag it to your project and all the neccessary objects will be created instantly. Importing text files into SQLite databases will be a breaze as well.

We also have a visual query builder included with the Orion library. We are working on a visual report builder which will allow you to preview reports on the Windows Mobile devices. This is something you don’t see in many WM development tools.

We are also adding a table data editor for you to insert and edit your tables data right from within the PPL 2.0 IDE.

Trust us the wait will have been well worth it!