Anywhere Software – Alwaysbusy's Corner

ABMaterial, Android, B4J, B4X, BANano, Basic4Android, News, One Two, Programming

BANano 4.50 released and Anywhere Software drops a bomb!

“A very exiting week it is” would Yoda say.

The latest version of BANano introduces the BANanoServer.b4xlib library, which is an easy to use wrapper around jServer, the same B4J lib ABMaterial uses. One can now use BANano to make stand-alone Web sites, but also interfaces for e.g. IoT and Raspberry Pi (when using the BANanoServer lib: as this is a normal B4J app, it can use all B4J libs on the server side) and build complex Web Apps.

NOTE: BANano still works without the BANAnoServer Library as it did before in case you want to use another backend like PHP, but only having to program in one language has huge advantages and is what RAD is al about.

When you will look at the code of BANanoServer, ABM users will recognize the powerful Caching system, Root, Websocket support and HTTP/2 filters. In BANano, all that code is removed from your own projects view (but still accessible as it is an open source .b4xlib).

Some ‘easy-to-use’ methods to communicate between the browser and the server are added (to call methods from each other and to exchange files).

More info and download BANano for free here: BANano Download

But the biggest news this week must have been the BOMB Erel from Anywhere Software dropped: B4A, the tool to make native Android apps, is from now on free to use for everyone!

From his announcement a couple of weeks ago:

I’m very proud in the continuing progress of B4X tools. I’m also very proud to be part of this amazing developers community.

In the last couple of years, I have a growing feeling that B4X tools do not realize their potential. While there are all kinds of development tools, B4X offers a unique set of features: simple, powerful, mature, great community, RAD, native, cross platform and more.
B4X tools are an excellent choice for a wide range of real-world use cases.

So, the question is how to make B4X more popular? Obviously, it is not a simple nor a short-term task.
A clear growth barrier is the fact that unlike most development tools today, B4A and B4i are not free. This wasn’t the case 10 years ago.

The big announcement today is that B4A will become free in a few weeks. The framework – set of internal libraries, will be open sourced.

We will accept contributions for B4A like currently done with B4J.
We’ve also secured funds from a US investor who shares my vision of making B4X a popular development tool. These resources will allow us to further expand.

Two huge points were raised here: for one, the tool that started it all (B4A) to make native Android apps, is now 100% free (download it here)! It is clear that nowadays paying for a development platform is so 2009. Some development vendors may exist for 20+ years, but haven’t grown accordingly and seem to be stuck in overprotecting their (outdated?) technology. Clearly, Erel is not one of them and is thinking on how to expand his tools into the next decade.

But the second part may be even more exciting: a private US investor has shown interest in the potential of B4X and shares Erel view of the future. This opens a whole new world to the development tool and allows to think a lot bigger. He can expand his team not only with new developers, but even more important, surround himself with professionals to market his brand and let the world know of the big impact his technology can have on any software developer.

Just read up on the forum (100K+ members) and one quickly realizes the brought spectrum of apps that can be written with B4X. It is used by big corporations like NASA, IBM and Bosch to name a few, but also by small companies and citizen developers. I for one use it daily in my day job at OneTwo and we feel so secure with the tools we use it as the foundation of all our software. Very rarely one comes across a tool where the developers are so close to its users and actually listens to their concerns and wishes. I remember having found a bug (yeah, you really have to go deep to find one) and after reporting it to the Anywhere Software team, 10 minutes(!) later, an update was released. This has never been seen and blocked me zero time in my own development.

I am a big fan of the B4X suite. It allowed me to write ABMaterial and BANano, two libraries to make modern Websites and Webapps. Something I can’t see me do in any other tool, at least not with such ease and speed. And it is fun, really fun to work with too. 🙂

So I think Yoda would concur: ‘The future, bright it is!’

Alwaysbusy

B4i, Interesting, iOS, Programming

B4i: 1 … 2 … 3 … Ready … Go!

This weekend I’ve found some time to setup my testing environment for B4i, the latest brainchild of Anywhere Software. I must say, being a novice Mac user, setting everything up went very smooth.

The only parts I got into some trouble was my own fault, as I went though the setup tutorials, videos and Beginners Guide just a little bit to fast. Eager to get started, I skimmed through them and forgot some important steps.

First I paid my obligatory taxes to Apple: $99/year. (Programming for Android only sets you back with a one time fee of $25). Only a couple of minutes later, my account was activated.

One part that may have gone a bit to fast for a first time Apple developer was the creation of an App ID. As Erel had his system already setup when he made the video and could just pick an App ID, he did not show us how to create it in the first place. It is mentioned further in the post you can create a single wildcard App ID if you put a .* at the end, but this was not very clear from the tutorial. So, this is how I did it:

Another RTFM moment was when I wanted to install the B4i-Bridge app on the device. I started watching the video and forgot to read the bold sentence above it:

Before you install B4i-Bridge you must install the B4I certificate. This step is not shown in the video. Open Safari (device browser) and navigate to: www.b4x.com/ca.pem

Clearly stated, but hey, I was in a hurry…

I first tried the Hosted Builder option to compile the app. Very smooth and a excellent alternative for Windows developers who do not own a Mac. And for $26 a year, a bargain.

But, as I want to experiment with creating libraries myself in Objective-C, I wanted to install the local MacBuildServer. Again, following the tutorial, everything went very well. Downloading XCode took most of the time.

One note: Make sure your Mac is in the same IP range as the rest of your development environment. At first, the Mac had IP 192.168.40.116 while the rest was in the 192.168.1.x range. So it didn’t work.

The rest was pure cosmetic. I added an shortcut on the Mac to start the MacBuildServer, and one on the PC side to shut it down.

Creating the shortcut on the Mac side went like this:

Open up a terminal
go to the folder where you unzipped the macserver-aa (in my case, it’s on the desktop, so it looked like this:

$ cd desktop
$ cd macbuilder-aa
create a text file

$ shout start.command
add the following lines (adjust the cd to the path where your MacBuildServer is)

#!/bin/sh
cd /Users/Alwaysbusy/Desktop/macserver-aa
java -jar B4iBuildServer.jar
save and in the terminal type:

$ chmod -x start.command
Right click on start.command, pic ‘Get Info’ in the menu and rename it to something like ‘B4i Build Server Start.command’.
Click ‘Hide extension’
And change the icon to a nice B4i one. I’ve ripped the B4i icon from the exe (sorry Erel) and saved it as a .png. In case you need it, here it is:

Open the png on the Mac in preview and copy it (Edit – Copy). In the ‘Info Panel’ of the command file, click on the icon until it gets a blue rectangle. Then you can do ‘Edit – Past’.
In my case, it looked like this:

Coming from Windows and being used to creating .bat files, this is all rather complicated on a Mac I must say.

On the PC side I created also the icon to shut the MacBuildServer down. Enter http://:51041/kill in your favorite browser. Create a bookmark and drag it to your desktop. Rename it to something like ‘B4i Build Server Kill’. You can also change the icon:

Right click on the shortcut and pick ‘Properties’
Press ‘change icon’
Browse to where you have installed B4i
Pick B4i.exe and select the icon

So (besides my shortcut creation problems on a Mac), setting up B4i is a breeze! I’m ready to add some serious iOS programming experience to my portfolio.

Get B4i now for only $59 from the Anywhere Software Store!

Here are some quick links to the tutorial parts I used:
Creating a certificate and provisioning profile
Installing B4i-Bridge and debugging first app
Local Mac Builder Installation

See ya!

Alwaysbusy

B4i, Basic4Android, iOS, News, Programming, Technology

B4i: Official release at special introductory price!

Great news from Anywhere Software! B4i (a development tool for native iOS applications) is released today.

I had good hopes we would have an early Christmas this year from Erel, but it looks like he has outdone himself (again!).

From its beta release only a couple of weeks ago, B4i looked very stable and already feature rich. Knowing how the B4A (Basic4Android) community quickly has grown very solid, with many contributors creating all kind of great libraries, I have no doubt B4i will be any different. Congratulations Erel with another state-of-the-art development tool!

But let’s give the master himself the stand now (from the official site):

Erel: B4i follows the same concepts of B4A and B4J and provides a simple yet powerful rapid application development tool for iOS applications.

Requirements

– Apple developer account (costs $99 per year).
– An iOS device running iOS 7+.

The compilation process requires a Mac computer. You can either use a local Mac computer or use our Hosted Mac Builder service (currently costs $25 per year).

Documentation

– Tutorials: http://www.basic4ppc.com/android/forum/forums/ios-tutorials.63/
You should start with the following three tutorials:
Creating a certificate and provisioning profile
Installing B4i-Bridge and debugging first app
Developers who use a local Mac: Local Mac Builder Installation

– Formal documentation: http://www.basic4ppc.com/b4i/documentation.html

Purchase

B4i can be purchased from the Anywhere Software Store for just $59!
B4i includes two years of free upgrades.

Hosted Mac Builder

The builder service allows you to develop iOS applications without a Mac computer.
All of the development steps can be done with the builder service except of the final step which is uploading the application to Apple App Store. This step requires a Mac or a service such as MacInCloud.
Note that the builder is currently limited to projects of up to 15mb.

Looking forward to play with this!

B4i, News, Programming

B4i: First B4i app in Apple App Store

Breaking News! Erel has put up the first B4i app on the Apple App Store. I have a feeling we won’t have to wait much longer until we can build iOS apps in this wonderful tool.

While Xojo keeps saying ‘it’s ready when it’s ready’ (it’s getting old Xojo…), B4i is going to take the world by storm! Tools by Anywhere Software have proven to be very stable and production ready by its first releases, so you better start thinking what your first app written in B4i will be like. I know I am…

You can download the app from the store here.

Realy looking forward for this one! I may even buy my first iPhone just to be able to play with it #ChuckleByMyFriends

Alwaysbusy

Android, Basic4Android, News, Programming, Technology

B4i (iOS): Yup, you read that right!

(Not official logo)

Amazing news from Anywhere software: Erel is working on B4i! This development suite for cross development (Android/Mac/Windows/Linux) will be joined by iOS.

After the great success of Basic4Android (simply the best development tool for Android, by far), Erel suprised us all with Basic4Java last year. A free! tool to create cross platform software for Mac, Windows and Linux.

And now, he has an ever bigger suprise: Basic4iOS!
Just like it’s brother B4A, B4i will compile to native code (Objective C in this case). Combined with the powerful IDE (Xojo, check this one out, it’s bug free and blazing fast) with its unique debugging capabilities and features, this is a certain winner, again!

As a Windows developer, you won’t even need a Mac to compile:

…The current plan is to host a cloud of Macs for the compilation which means that developers will not need to have access to a Mac computer. There will also be an option to host the remote Mac compiler locally instead of the cloud compilers…

And the clever debugging tricks well known from B4A will also be at your fingertips:

…The rapid debugger will allow modifying the code without rebuilding the package making the “testing cycle” much quicker…

It’s simply amazing how Anywhere Software can build such powerful (and most of all stable and reliable) development tools in such a short time span. And at a price that dwarfs the competition!

Well done Erel! We are looking forward for this little beauty by the end of this year. It’s gonna be great, I’m sure of that!

Alwaysbusy

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