Release 9.0.0 RC-1

[panagiotis merakos]

Dear list members,

We are pleased to announce the release of LiveCode 9.0.0 RC-1.


Getting the Release
===================
You can get the release at https://downloads.livecode.com/livecode/ or via
the automatic updater.


Release Contents
================
LiveCode 9.0.0 RC-1 comes with more than 95 bugfixes. Moreover, more than
20 bugfixes that were fixed in LiveCode 8.1.x, are now merged into LiveCode
9.0.0 RC-1.

In addition, LiveCode 9.0.0 RC-1 includes several new features:

- Native HTML5 button widget
- LCB: new "my pixel scale" expression
- Improved SVG support
- Updated detailed guide on "Extending LiveCode"


Known issues
================
- The Browser widget's native layer is not shown in some Linux distros with
Cinnamon window manager.
- You might not be able to run HTML5 standalones locally using the most
recent version of Safari or Chrome (Firefox is OK). This is due to those
browsers now prohibiting cross-origin-requests. To test out standalones
locally using these browser, we suggest using a local HTTP server as
described in the HTML5 deployment guide. However, this will not be a
problem if you use the new HTML5 deployment library, which does this for
you: You just have to choose one of the installed browsers (click on the
"Development -> Test Target" menu item), and then click on the "Test"
button.
- When loading a new widget in the Extensions Builder and clicking "Test",
the widget does not appear. Clicking "Test" again fixes the problem.
- Regarding the Tilecache refactor (the final part of the Datagrid 2
project), it was decided that it was too invasive to include at this stage
in 9.0, so we are working hard to put it out in a 9.1 DP as soon as
possible.

The full release notes are available from:

http://downloads.livecode.com/livecode/9_0_0/LiveCodeNotes-9_0_0_rc_1.pdf


Feedback
========
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


==========================================================================================================

Have you migrated your project to LiveCode 9? If not, then now is the time,
with all these amazing features added to LC 9 so far:


1. New libraries added:

- Amazon Web Services (AWS) Library
- Android Audio Recorder Library
- Android Background Audio Library
- Command-line Option Parser (getopt) Library
- Dropbox Library
- HTTPD Library
- Message Authentication Library
- MIME Library
- OAuth2 Library
- Object Repository Library
- QR Code Generator Library
- Time zone Library
- Toast Notification Library
- Unified Diff Library
- Remote Debugger Library (available in the Business Edition)
- Script Profiler Library (available in the Business Edition)
- Secure Key Storage Library (available in the Business Edition)

2. New Widgets added:

- Spinner Widget
- Android Native Button Widget
- Android Native Field Widget
- iOS Native Button Widget
- Mac Native Button Widget
- Mac Native Field Widget
- HTML5 Native Button Widget
- Signature Widget (available in the Indy and Business Edition)
- Map Widget (available in the Indy and Business Edition)

3. Added support for foreign function interface (FFI) in LCB, which can be
used to access native APIs on all supported platforms. With FFI, you can
bind to foreign handlers, so in other words you can wrap functions in C,
Objective C and Java and call them directly from LiveCode. Moreover, it
gives you the ability to include dynamic libraries in extensions and bind
to their functions.

4. New IDE features added, in various IDE components, for example:

- Enhanced contextual menus, allowing you to access and edit behaviors
- Extended drag-and-drop support to stackfiles
- Enhanced resizable Property Inspector, allowing to access more properties
- SVG support
- Enhanced DataGrid object with native scrollers, edit mode swipe actions
and drag reordering
- Enhanced Script Editor with autocomplete, live errors, bracket completion
and more
- Optimised Search in Script Editor
- Enhanced Project Browser with many keyboard shortcuts, ability to flag
scripts that have errors, as well as showing up to 10 nested behaviors.
- New HTML5 deployment library, allowing you to test your HTML5 standalone
directly from the IDE, using the "Test" button of the LiveCode menubar.


5. New engine features added, including:
- Added missing create syntax forms
- Expanded range of 'random()' to 53-bits
- Added new set ops and into form
- Added a recordFormats function
- Added messageDigest() function with SHA2 and SHA3 support
- Enabled NFC tag reading on Android
- Added maximum text length property for a native iOS field
- Implemented "do ... as javascript" in html5 engine
- Removed size limitation for creating graphics
- Added support for showing widgets in HTML5 standalones.
- Added support for HTML5 windowing: This allows tooltips, dialogs, and
pop-up menus to work within the HTML5 engine. This also allows multiple
stacks to be opened on the HTML5 page.
- Added support for basic libURL commands in HTML5
- Windows cameraControl new properties: exposure, focus and white balance
mode


6. Updated some of the prebuilt / thirdparty libraries we use:
- New version of Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF)
- New version of OpenSSL
- New version of Skia Library

=====================================================================================================

Have fun!
The LiveCode Team
--