Release: LiveCode 8.0.0 DP 2

[Ali Lloyd]

Dear list members,

We are pleased to announce the release of LiveCode 8.0 DP 2.

Warning: this is not a stable release. Please ensure you back up your
stacks before testing them.

Known issues with 8.0.0 DP 2:
- The new property inspector lacks some properties present in the old
property inspector
- The supplied widgets are examples and lack features and general robustness
- The extension builder plugin “Test” feature fails if the widget being
tested is already installed - uninstalling the widget and restarting the
IDE should help
- All installed widgets are built into any standalones produced - this will
be addressed in DP 3

This release contains the following changes:

LiveCode Builder
LiveCode Builder is a variant of the current LiveCode scripting language
(LiveCode Script) which has been designed for 'systems' building. It is
statically compiled with optional static typing and direct foreign code
interconnect (allowing easy access to APIs written in other languages). The
compiled bytecode can then be packaged together with any required resources
(icons, documentation, images, etc) into a .lce extension package.

IDE
The property inspector has been rewritten to allow properties of widgets to
be inspected and edited. It has been implemented with flexibility and
extensibility in mind, since it must be able to control the values of
widget properties in any way required by the widget developer.

The dictionary has been replaced, now using the CEF browser object in order
to be able to display dynamically generated content, namely the API and/or
user guide of installed widgets and libraries.

Also we are starting to replace controls in the IDE with widgets. All the
palettes now use widgets for their headers and footers, and the variable
viewer in the debugger has been replaced by a tree view widget.

We are aware that as the IDE undergoes this transition there may be
features you rely on which are missing or which don't function as expected.
Please report any such issues so that we can fix them as soon as possible.

Image metadata
A new read only image property has been added to access the metadata in the
image file.

Feature: Popup Widgets
Added the ability to use widgets within popup dialog windows.

50 Bug fixes:
Engine
[15056] Read from file for (x | x chars | x bytes) returns empty
[14996] LCB-Canvas: polyline path
[14961] Gradient - Quality set to "good" makes LC crash

IDE
[15130] IDE: Extension builder should remember selected application for
opening lcb files
[15048] Extension manager displays incorrect icon for libraries
[15014] PI chokes on objects with margins property set to different numbers
[15008] Copy lci file to appropriate place when installing library
[15007] Extension Plugin: Library interface files not included in package
[14998] Extensions Plugin doesn't display resources
[14968] IDE: Message box doesn't report errors correctly
[14934] Tools palette does not generate fully on first run.
[14917] New substack of com.livecode.pi.titler
[14911] After Adding Widget, Toolbox Is The Wrong Height
[14907] Break into stack "revPaletteBehavior"
[14754] Extension Manager: All extensions show in the widgets tab whether
they are one or not when first downloaded
[14742] PI Editor: Text align
[14740] PI Editor: Custom Properties
[13475] in the openstack handler dispatching a mouseUp to a btn does not
work correctly
[13447] Project Browser control layer display
[13417] IDE systemVersion comparison no longer works with Yosemite
[13398] Sample - Book Library.livecode edit and delete features broken
[13362] Script editor opens revmenubar script when no other stack is open
[13343] Cannot install Android standalone on some devices
[13215] Can't type in output field of message box
[13191] FIX: flip graphic horizontally and vertically for complex graphics
[13159] Palettes not observing decorations under certain circumstances
[12880] File->Exit should be File->Quit
[11755] flip graphic gives erroneous results with complex graphics

LiveCode Builder Tools
[14893] Emit warnings for identifiers that may cause problems.
[14939] Compiler truncates integer literals if too big.
[14950] Integer literal pattern is too general.
[14956] Do not warn for metadata before use.
[15029] Ensure that exit repeat works correctly in nested repeat up to /
down to / for each loops.

LiveCode Builder Language
[14906] Change 'as <Type>' to 'returns nothing' or 'returns <Type>' in
handler return type definitions.
[14933] Make identifiers case-insensitive.

LiveCode Builder Host Library
[14541] Widgets should be able to popup system menus
[14805] LCB-Canvas: close path on mPath example is incorrect
[14898] Add access to widget's effective font.
[14964] Crash when calling a handler with 'any' type parameter form LCS.
[14997] image with file accepts url prefix
[15005] Logging a list fails if its element types are not strings or
booleans
[15012] Fix OnClick and provide a way to get the number of successive
clicks.
[15035] Svg path loses data in roundtrip
[15060] Printing a card containing a widget causes a crash.
[15128] OnMouseMove doesn't fire if there is more than one widget on a card.
[15138] Map elements inside lists to arrays correctly.

LiveCode Builder Standard Library
[14678] Throw error on domain error in log10() and ln()
[14679] Throw error on domain error in pow()
[14681] Throw error on domain error in asin() and acos()
[14846] Fixed and reinstated "offset before" and "offset after"
[14889] Throw error when "converted from base _" fails

LiveCode 8 is in an early stage of development so we’d love to hear any
feedback you have on it. There are a number of features that we’d like to
implement but aren’t ready yet  and the existing features are subject to
change during development - we can’t guarantee that extensions written in
DP1 will continue to work in later versions.

Please report any bugs encountered on our Bugzilla at
http://quality.livecode.com/

We have a forum available for discussing LiveCode Builder at
http://forums.livecode.com/viewforum.php?f=93