B4J - Building an ecosystem

[Erel]

Please do not move far away from B4A

Don't worry. The focus remains on B4A.

B4J will be a free tool, mainly based on existing components. The two main benefits for such a tool is to allow B4A developers to quite easily create an additional desktop app from there current app and to build "helper" or back-end apps to support the mobile app.

 

[mcgnai]

Beautiful Erel...
I would be happy to be part of the Beta testing if you need more.
Bye
Mcgnai

 

[mpathma]

Sounds good, understand that B4X (for iOS) is harder. Looking forward to your B4J.

Anyone interested (or capable) to develop B4X please note that lot of people like me very much interested in this, I for once willing to pay higher ( US$300 ~ US$400 I am willing, just trying to motivate developers) for this.

Anyone have any lead on this i.e developing iPhone apps on Windows platform with using VB or B, please share.

 

[dilettante]

So with no services it probably means anything sophisticated will have to directly deal with Java's threading model. Or have I missed something? Is there any plan to support a high level "worker" model for background activity within a GUI application or will async libraries contain their own worker threads?

I'd hate to see a return to a primitive approach like VB6 programmers often had to resort to, busy-wait lops and a DoEvents sort of hack. But I understand there are limits to what a 1.0 release can encompass.

Heck of an idea as laid out so far though. Thanks!

 

[Erel]

Services are not really related to threads. The Services code run in the main thread, exactly like the Activities code.

The difference between a service an an activity (in Android) is that services are not paused when they are in the background.

The libraries in Basic4android and in B4J are responsible for handling long tasks with background threads.

 

[Theera]

Hi Erel,
I've a question to ask you about the old libraries files is supported with B4J ,yes or no?

 

[Erel]

Libraries that do not reference any specific Android API will work with B4J.

 

[RiskFour]

Awsome news, Erel..!
But, please, don´t leave B4A behind..!

 

[dilettante]

Will the compiler only target Windows (JAR file wrapped in a Windows EXE?) or create JAR files that might also run elsewhere?

 

[imbault]

Can we run a web application generated with B4J?

 

[Erel]

B4J will create standard Java applications. It is possible to wrap such applications as Java applets that run in the browser (with some restrictions). Java applets however are quite discouraged these days because of security issues with the Java browser plug-in. Unless you are targeting a "controlled environment" then Java applets is most probably not a good solution.

B4J will also support building a Http server. Similar to the current HttpServer library.

 

[dilettante]

B4J will create standard Java applications. It is possible to wrap such applications as Java applets that run in the browser (with some restrictions). Java applets however are quite discouraged these days because of security issues with the Java browser plug-in. Unless you are targeting a "controlled environment" then Java applets is most probably not a good solution.

So they'd run on a Mac, or Linux.

B4J will also support building a Http server. Similar to the current HttpServer library.

So this is one way these programs could be a B4A back-end.

 

[JTmartins]

I'm on the boat

 

[Theera]

B4A Now isn't Basic4Android ,but it's Basic4All

 

[netkomm]

does "WOW" count as comment?

 

[JakeBullet70]

Love it!!!

 

[Jim Brown]

This sounds like an interesting companion. With regards to the UI side of things are you planning on having a designer for UI layouts, as per B4a?
Also, will this be a standalone package, with its own IDE?

Whatever the case, interesting times ahead.

 

[Erel]

With regards to the UI side of things are you planning on having a designer for UI layouts?

Not directly. Oracle already provides a good standalone visual designer: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javafx/tools/index.html
Its output is an XML file that you will be able to load at runtime. The IDE will also know how to read required information from these files.

Also, will this be a standalone package, with its own IDE?

Yes. The IDE will be almost identical to B4A IDE. The language will be identical.

 

[Jim Brown]

Thanks for the information, and good luck with the project Erel.

 

[GuruMed]

Very interested in that!

Awaiting for more news...