Stuart McLachlan
stuart at lexacorp.com.pg
Wed Dec 4 14:44:17 CST 2013
Just received this from Basic4Android. Haven't downloaded it yet but will be doing so soon: <quote> Hi, I'm happy to release a new development tool, named B4J. B4J is a development tool, similar to Basic4android that allows you to develop Windows, Mac and Linux apps. You can download B4J here: http://www.basic4ppc.com/b4j/ B4J is free for both personal usage and commercial usage. </quote> >From the website: FAQ Q: Is B4J completely free, including for commercial purposes? A: Yes. Q: What are the requirements for UI apps developers with B4J? A: B4J UI apps depend on Java FX. Java FX is part of Java JRE 7 (build 6+). B4J UI apps will run on Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Q: Which file should be distributed? A: When you compile your project in Release mode, the complete app is packaged in a single jar file under the Objects folder. You should distribute this jar file. Q: Can I reuse Basic4android code with B4J? A: Most of the non-UI code can be reused. See this tutorial for more information And from the first tutorial: B4J development tool is similar to Basic4android. The language and IDE are mostly identical. The APIs (methods, keywords and libraries) are identical in some cases and different in other cases. I converted existing frameworks such as DBUtils, HttpUtils2, DateUtils, RDC, ImageDownloader and others from B4A to B4J. It was simpler than I expected it to be. In some cases no changes were required at all. Modules There are two types of modules in B4J. Code modules and classes. Classes are identical to B4A classes. Code modules are similar to B4A modules however they are more powerful as they can handle events. A code module can be considered as a class with exactly one instance (such instances are sometimes called singletons or static classes). Activities and Services are not required in B4J. You should instead use code modules. Note that when you add an existing B4A activity or service to B4J project it will be converted to a code module. CallSub is mostly not required in B4J as you can directly call methods of other classes or code modules. Generally speaking it is simpler to develop with B4J as you do not need to deal with the activities (and services) life cycle. This also means that there is no such concept as "activity object". UI The main difference is in the UI. B4J is based on JavaFX UI and Basic4android is based on the native Android UI..