One of the new features of AppStudio 3.0 is that the IDE will appear in the home language of most users. On startup, it looks at the system default language, then loads the appropriate language table. Here’s how it looks in German, Korean and Chinese:
Version 3: Print statement
Version 3 has many new features. We’ll use the blog to highlight some of them.
First off, here’s an simple one: Print. It can be used for debugging, as an easy way to display the values of variables or other information. It can also be used to give information to the user in a dialog that he can dismiss.
Continue reading “Version 3: Print statement”
AppStudio nows runs on Mac OS – Natively!
One of the big features of AppStudio 3 is that it runs natively on Mac OS. It’s the complete product: every feature, field and screen in our Windows edition is present in Mac OS. It runs great.
Projects developed using AppStudio for Windows are completely compatible with the Mac OS version – nothing needs to be done to move to Mac. An AppStudio 3 license gives you both the Mac OS and Windows editions, so there is no need to buy an additional copy.
AppStudio is a complete, easy to use development environment which creates apps for iPhone and Android devices. Using BASIC or JavaScript as a programming language, users can quickly develop apps using the built in Visual Designer. Apps can be deployed to the web or to app stores using PhoneGap.
This isn’t the company’s first product for Apple devices. In 1993, it got its start with the release of the NS Basic for Newton, as well as NewtCard, a Hypercard like product.
AppStudio is used in teaching, government and enterprise, small business and by independent developers. Close to 20,000 developers in over 80 countries use NS Basic’s mobile development tools.
Requires Mac OS 10.7 (Snow Leopard) or later. (Mac OS 10.6 on 64 bit processors also works)
Retiring some old products
It’s time to retire some old products. NS Basic/Palm was for devices last produced in 2007. Windows Mobile ended in 2010, rendering NS Basic/CE obsolete. NS Basic/Desktop has had similarly low demand in the past few years.
It has also gotten harder for us to provide support. The tools we used to create these products have been discontinued by their developers and will not run on modern equipment. Our own recollection of the details of the products has also been fading, making it difficult to deliver great support.
It has been a good run for these products. NS Basic/Palm lasted 12 years, NS Basic/CE 15. That’s extraordinary for software. Good bye – it’s been great!
AppStudio 3.0 is here!
We’re thrilled to announce that AppStudio 3.0 is ready!
Special thanks go to the beta testers and translators: over 50 of you worked hard as we went through an almost endless number of beta and release candidates.
Major Features
- Native Mac support
- Localized IDE in 17 languages
- Lots of new controls
- Mixed frameworks in a single app
- Documentation redone
- Lots more here: http://wiki.nsbasic.com/Version_3
Download
Mac: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4451197/AppStudio.dmg
Win: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4451197/AppStudio.exe
Upgrade Policy
Anyone who purchased AppStudio after December 1, 2012 will receive the upgrade for free. Otherwise, it costs $49.95.
Existing users of AppStudio may run Version 3 in demo mode for up to 30 days.
Notes
– Update to jQeury Mobile can cause layout problems: http://wiki.nsbasic.com/JQueryMobile1.3
– The first time you run your project, it may take longer to compile. It’s a onetime thing.
Let us know if you have questions!
Great quote about the crazy world we work in…
“I agree, I can’t keep up, I just finished learning backbone.js and now I’ve found out on HN that it’s old news, and I should use ember.js, cross that, it has opinions, I should use Meteor, no, AngularJS, no, Tower.js (on node.js), and for html templates I need handlebars, no mustache, wait, DoT.js is better, hang on, why do I need an HTML parser inside the browser? isn’t that what the browser for? so no HTML templates? ok, DOM snippets, fine, Web Components you say? W3C are in the game too? you mean write REGULAR JavaScript like the Google guys? yuck, oh, I just should write it with CofeeScript and it will look ok, not Coffee? Coco? LiveScript? DART? GWT? ok, let me just go back to Ruby on Rails, oh it doesn’t scale? Grails? Groovy? Roo? too “Springy?” ok, what about node.js? doesn’t scale either?? but I can write client side, server side and mongodb side code in the same language? (but does it have to be JavaScript?) ok, what about PHP, you say it’s not really thread safe? they lie?? ok, let me go back to server coding, it’s still Java right? no? Lisp? oh it’s called Clojure? well, it has a Bridge / protocol buffers / thrift implementation so we can be language agnostic, so we can support our Haskell developers. Or just go with Scala/Lift/Play it’s the BEST framework (Foresquare use it, so it has to be good). of course we won’t do SOAP and will use only JSON RESTful services cause it’s only for banks and Walmart, and god forbid to use a SQL database it will never scale
I’ve had it, I’m going to outsource this project… they will probably use a wordpress template and copy paste jQuery to get me the same exact result without the headache and in halfquarter the price“– Eran Medan
Perhaps AppStudio can help?
Add cool stuff to AppStudio!
AppStudio comes with a lot of stuff built into it. But people are always inventing more: when we designed AppStudio, we made it extensible. Here is a general guide for adding cool features into AppStudio:
- JavaScript API: Look for a JavaScript API or library. If there is one, it will be fairly easy to use from AppStudio.
http://blog.nsbasic.com/?p=703 - PhoneGap is used when the needed functionality is only in native code. Check first if there is an official PhoneGap plugin that does what you need. It’s good news if there is – you can use the relatively easy PhoneGap Build service from AppStudio’s Run menu.
http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.3.0/index.html - Third party PhoneGap Plugin: These will work from AppStudio, but you will need to compile your app using the PhoneGap SDK. That means downloading and configuring the SDK for iOS and Android. Here are a couple of tech notes to get you started:
iOS: http://wiki.nsbasic.com/Using_PhoneGap_to_create_an_iOS_App
Android: http://wiki.nsbasic.com/Using_PhoneGap_to_create_an_Android_APK - Write your own PhoneGap Plugin: If the above solutions don’t help, you’ll need to write your own plug in. You will need to use Java and the Android SDK for Android, Objective C and XCode for iOS.
http://docs.phonegap.com/en/2.3.0/guide_plugin-development_index.md.html#Plugin%20Development%20Guide
Let us know if you find something cool that works with AppStudio!
PS. If you need help developing a PhoneGap plugin, let us know. We can create plugins on a contract basis.
Can AppStudio apps be installed on Android without the net?
We had an interesting support question today. Is it possible to install an app created with AppStudio on an Android device without an internet connection?
We got to work to see if there was a way. We found two methods:
Continue reading “Can AppStudio apps be installed on Android without the net?”
Could Minecraft be done in App Studio?
This is an actual App Studio app running in the window below:
The original code used here was written by Notch. It has been tweaked a bit for better performance. The speed at which it runs depends on the hardware, of course: it’s good on the desktop and on devices like the iPhone 5.
http://www.nsbasic.com/i/MinecraftSim
How was this done?
Continue reading “Could Minecraft be done in App Studio?”
Announcing our new Wiki!
We’re pleased to announce our new Wiki based documentation:
In it, we have consolidated all of our current documentation: the Handbook, the Language Reference, the Technotes, Tutorials and more. A search for a term will bring up references in any of these documents.
This is now the official documentation for App Studio. It is up to date, with new material being added constantly.
We have made it an open Wiki, meaning that anyone can edit it. You’ll need to get a user account (free and easy to do). Once you have one, you are welcome to make additions, corrections and useful links. We will be monitoring the changes and will keep the Wiki open so long as it is not abused.
Have fun and let us know what you think!