Questions about 2.0

[Igor de Oliveira Couto]

Dear Rev Masters,

I am at a stage in my development process which is quite frustrating. 
There are far too many decisions that have to be made, which are 
dependent on the possible feature set of Rev 2.0 - which remain as yet 
unannounced... For instance:

1) Will there be any enhancements in the way that Revolution deals with 
LAYERING of objects and groups? Will we be able to 'send backward' and 
'bring forward' inside a group?

While this might seem like a small question, it has HUGE consequences 
in my application design. It means designing the entire application to 
function one way or another, and interface with the user using a single 
window, or a window and a series of palettes.

2) What are going to be the capabilities of the new 'spreadsheet' 
control? More precisely:

a) Will we be able to access the data on a specified range 
automatically (ie, "get from row 8, col 2 to row 40, col 3"?)

b) Will we be able to put any data other than strings inside cells? - 
ie, images, graphics?

c) Will the appearance of the spreadsheet be customisable, and if so, 
to what extent? - will I be able to assign custom column/row labels, 
will I be able to colour the background of specific cells, will I be 
able to hide/show divider lines ?

Depending on the answers to these questions, I will have to either 
redefine the specs of my applications, redesign its functionality 
and/or redesign the user interface.

3) Will there be any changes to the list of built-in functions?

My applications needs to use a variety of statistical and mathematical 
functions, some of which Rev 1.1.1 already has - and is quite speedy 
at! There are, however, a few that I will need that Revolution 
currently does not have. For instance, even though Revolutions has a 
function for calculating the MEDIAN, it does not have a function for 
calculating the QUARTILES - which are needed for drawing Box Plots. 
Should I start implementing all required functions, or will there be 
new functions in Rev 2.0?

4) To what extent will the text-entry capabilities be enhanced?

We know that Revolution 2.0 will be capable of handling Unicode text 
natively, but does that mean that it will be able to write 
right-to-left and up-down as well? Will there be any text entry 
functionality that will make it easier for me to implement MATHEMATICAL 
EQUATION EDITING? - right now, I'm starting on the development of a 
very time-consuming sub-app that I will need to have for mathematical 
formula editing...

5) Will there be a new mechanism for automatically resizing interface 
objects?

Frankly, the Geometry Manager simply does not work. It's unusable if 
the application contains multiple cards, and each card contains 
multiple groups inside groups. Others in this list have mentioned that 
they've hard-coded the required resizing onto every object, in order to 
guarantee that it functions properly. I have a GREAT suspicion that 
this would have to have been fixed by version 2.0, but there is no 
mention whatsoever of this anywhere. If this hasn't been dealt with, 
then I have to start hard-coding this RIGHT AWAY, before my application 
gets any more complex!

6) Will there be any changes in the graphing/drawing capabilities of 
Revolution?

I am writing an application with graphing capabilities, and I want my 
users to be able to have options such as: to be able to use GRADIENTS 
in their bars and backgrounds, feathered drop shadows, and bar-pictures 
(a custom bar/column picture that repeats a single row of pixels until 
the picture is 'to scale'). Will any of these features be available in 
Revolution 2.0, or should I start spending some time right away 
defining these functions?

I have been patiently waiting for Rev 2.0, and using that time as 
constructively as possible. I have been trying to advance the design 
and implementation of my apps as much as possible, taking into 
consideration the impending release of 2.0. I would have loved to be 
able to purchase a Professional Edition, and to have been included in 
the alpha/beta testing program, however, finances are prohibitive - I 
am a student - and some of these projects I am developing on a 
voluntary basis for free distribution by non-profit organisations. I am 
currently on holidays, and therefore had planned to program full-time 
until the- end of February. The delay on the release of even a beta of 
2.0 has been quite disappointing, and has put a SERIOUS delay on all 
projects...

I have very limited time to take my projects to completion, and the 
idea of sitting around twiddling my thumbs for 2 weeks, while I could 
be doing something useful and constructive, is truly torturous. Please, 
feed us some more detailed info on the 2.0 release, so we can continue 
our work with Rev 1.1.1 in the most constructive manner possible!

And, please, keep up the good work! Revolution is a great development 
environment!

Kindest Regards,

--
Igor de Oliveira Couto
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igor at pixelmedia.com.au
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