About REALbasic® 4
7 January, 2002

REALbasic 4 is an exciting new version, it’s definitely the best version of REALbasic ever (that’s our goal for every release). We are continuing to deliver on our  promise to ship a major update every winter and summer. 

What’s New in REALbasic 4:
Hundreds of enhancements and improvements: We asked our customers what they wanted and worked hard to deliver! These include:

All-new ListBox: Greatly expanded power and flexibility with the addition of cell borders and gridlines, complete control over cell background painting, text drawing, and more, plus new events for tracking user interaction. New Header functionality with a Sort widget and new sort functions and more.

All-new EditField: Now supports paragraph alignment for the whole EditField or on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, plus new events for tracking user interaction, and enhanced for Mac OS X.

External Project Items: provides a way to keep a single copy of commonly used code that you use in multiple projects. Update that copy, and its changes will be updated in each project the next time you open it.

Find and Replace: finding stuff in your projects is dramatically easier, with much more control over what and where to search. Finds names, declarations, and more.

Drag and Drop: dragging items from the Project Window  to controls or the Code Editor automatically adds useful code (such as running the  AppleScript, playing the sound, showing the Window and so on). Dragging a control from the Toolbar to the Project Items window creates a subclass of that control.

RbScript: now compiled on PowerPC (both Mac OS X and previous versions of the Mac OS) and with dozens of new functions and methods..

Multimedia, Graphics, and Games: new depth and resolution properties for pictures, pan and volume for sounds, fog for Rb3D and more

Custom Controls: Canvas has 3 new properties: UseFocusRing, AcceptFocus, and AcceptTabs and 3 new events: GotFocus, LostFocus, and KeyDown greatly expanding what’s possible with the Canvas.

Interactive shell: now access shell functions which run continuously. Previously, the shell only worked with functions which ran, performed their action, returned the result, and ended (such as ‘ls’).

Read the release notes for more details.

Important note: REALbasic 4 uses new registration. REALbasic will run in demo mode (until you enter your new or upgrade serial number), which allows compiling. Applications compiled while REALbasic is in demo mode run for only five minutes at a time and expire after thirty days. Database access is limited to fifty rows of data.

Installing REALbasic:
Simply drag the folder to your computer’s hard drive.

Note:
The Carbon version runs in both Mac OS X and previous releases of the Mac OS that support the CarbonLib. CarbonLib 1.2.5 is recommended. However, the Carbon version is primarily focused at users of Mac OS X 10.0 and newer. If you are not using Mac OS X, consider using one of the other versions of REALbasic.

Other Notes
REALbasic projects saved in REALbasic 4 format will open in version 3.x, but not in previous versions of REALbasic. You can, however, save projects in the older format.

If you have problems compiling, increase the amount of memory assigned to REALbasic. This does not apply to Mac OS X (yay!).

Some plug-ins that worked in previous versions of REALbasic may not work in REALbasic 4. Please contact the plug-in vendor for an update.

Get the latest news about REALbasic 4 @ <http://www.realbasic.com/realbasic>

REALbasic is the powerful, easy-to-use tool for creating your own software for Macintosh, Mac OS X, and Windows.

The primary features of REALbasic are:
•  Object-oriented implementation of the BASIC language with automatic memory management;
•  High level support for platform-native GUI elements;
•  Fully integrated visual development/debugging environment;
•  Development is supported on Mac OS from 8.1 through Mac OS X 10.x
•  Build stand alone, royalty-free applications for  Mac OS 8.1 (and newer), Mac OS X and Windows 95/98/Me & NT/2000/XP*
•  Built-in single-user, SQL database engine*
•  Database connectivity to Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, 4D Server, PostgreSQL, OpenBase, Dtf SQL  and any ODBC-compliant database engine*
•  Supports HyperCard's XCMDs and XFCNs
•  Supports AppleScript and AppleEvents
•  Supports QuickTime
•  Sprite engine for picture animation
•  Microsoft Office Automation
•  3D animation
•  Hierarchical multi-column list boxes
•  True Macintosh drag and drop support
•  Multi-threading
•  Native REALbasic Plug-ins
•  and More!

Standard and Professional Editions
REALbasic version 3.5 comes in two editions: Standard and Professional. The Professional edition has all the features of the Standard edition but also includes a Windows compiler, a single-user database engine and database connectivity to Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, 4D Server, PostgreSQL, OpenBase, Dtf SQL or any ODBC-compliant database engine. You can purchase the Standard edition and then upgrade to the Professional edition at any time. The Standard edition supports those features in “demo” mode so you can try them before buying.

Microsoft Office Automation Plug-ins
Microsoft Office Automation allows you to use REALbasic to create and modify Microsoft Office documents on the Macintosh, Mac OS X, and Windows. To use the Office Automation features, move the Office Automation plug-ins from the Office Automation Plug-ins folder into the “plugins” folder. Installing the Office Automation plug-ins dramatically increases REALbasic’s memory requirements. Read the Known Issues document for more on using this feature.
<http://www.realbasic.com/download/release.html>

Database Plug-ins
REALbasic’s database plug-ins are no longer internal to the REALbasic application and are now external. To use the database features of REALbasic Professional Edition, move the database plug-ins from the Database Plug-ins folder into the “plugins” folder. Having the plug-ins be external will allow us to update them separately.
<http://www.realbasic.com/download/release.html>

Documentation
While the REALbasic CD includes electronic documentation in PDF format, you can also order printed documentation from our website. The PDF version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader which can be obtained from Adobe’s website. 

System Requirements
Macintosh Computer running System 8.1 or later, PowerPC Processor, 4.5 megabytes of available memory (with Virtual Memory on), and a hard disk with 10.5 megabytes of free space.

Give REALbasic to your friends
Without a serial number, REALbasic becomes a 30 day trial version. This means you can give copies of REALbasic to whomever you want (and we encourage you to do so) provided you don’t give them your serial number.

Lots of REALbasic Examples
There are numerous examples (complete with source code) on our CD, on our ftp site <ftp://ftp.realsoftware.com>, and listed on the Made with REALbasic pages <http://www.realbasic.com/learn/resources/examples.html>. The REALbasic CD contains over 150 megabytes of example applications complete with source code. You can also purchase the CD for $9.95 plus shipping by phone or by fax. You do not need to purchase a serial number to purchase the CD or documentation. You only need to purchase a serial number to use REALbasic beyond the 30 day trial period.

REALbasic Updates
We update REALbasic frequently to provide improved performance and new features. You can check for updates to REALbasic at our web site at <http://www.realbasic.com/realbasic/news>.

Get support for REALbasic
Visit our support page at <http://www.realbasic.com/support/> or contact support via email <mailto:support@realsoftware.com>.

Made with REALbasic Program
REAL Software provides a list of applications Made with REALbasic, resources that enhance REALbasic (including plug-ins, examples, tutorials, custom classes and more) on the Made with REALbasic pages: <http://www.realbasic.com/realbasic/mwrb.html>

REAL Software will help you promote the software you create! Join the Made with REALbasic program!
<http://www.realbasic.com/realbasic/mwrb/Partners/MwRbProgram.html>

REALbasic alphas and betas
REAL Software provides open alphas and betas. As we begin developing the next version of REALbasic, we allow any one to access it. Learn more at:  <http://www.realsoftware.com/realbasic/prerelease/index.html>.

You can also contact us at:
REAL Software, Inc.
PMB 220
3300 Bee Cave Road
Suite 650
Austin, Texas 78746
512-263-1233 (voice)
512-263-1441 (fax)
info@realsoftware.com (email)
www.realsoftware.com

REALbasic is ©1997-2002 REAL Software, Inc.
REALbasic is a registered trademark of REAL Software, Inc.

* The Standard Edition creates demo versions of Windows applications and can concurrently access up to 50 records in the REALbasic database. The Professional edition creates unlimited Windows applications and supports the other databases, with unlimited access to the REALbasic database.