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WebSocket Support

Starting with Version 1.0.6, NS Basic/App Studio supports web sockets. WebSockets define a full-duplex single socket connection over which messages can be sent between client and server. The WebSocket standard simplifies much of the complexity around bi-directional web communication and connection management.

It’s also easy to use from NS Basic. The new release has a sample client app that runs on the device, as well as a desktop server sample. It’s all explained in the new Tech Note, WebSockets.
WebSockets

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NS Basic/App Studio 1.0.6 released!

NS Basic/App Studio 1.0.6 is ready to download. You can download it from the same URL as before.

This update has both fixes and some new stuff.

  1. Code Window: Font changed to Courier New.
  2. Controls: MultiInput – setValue on smallField fixed.
  3. Deploy: 4 character prefix not added when deploying to own server
  4. Deploy: Spaces in filenames changed to “_”.
  5. IDE: Bounds are now saved properly on exiting.
  6. IDE: Changing id of a control now updates event dropdown.
  7. IDE: Date meta tag added to headers.
  8. IDE: Generator meta tag added to headers.
  9. IDE: Message displayed if no write permission to current folder.
  10. IDE: Saving a project to a different folder now works.
  11. IDE: Settings file now written out immediately.
  12. nsbapp.com: location of project_template changed.
  13. Samples: HTMLview has display map option.
  14. Samples: New WebSocketsEchoServer.VBExpress2010.zip
  15. Translator: a=”a://b” translates properly
  16. Translator: ElseIf now treated as “Else If”
  17. Translator: Expression on Select statement fixed.
  18. Translator: Global no longer does anything.
  19. Translator: Replace – 4th and 5th parameters fixed.
  20. Translator: Replace(“10,5″,”,”,”.”) fixed.
  21. Translator: TypeName(CInt(1)) fixed.
  22. Tutorials: 09 Websockets added.

This should be our last update this year. We wish all of you a very Happy New Year – next year looks like it will be an exciting one!

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Virtualbox WIN/XP and Ubuntu Wine

Lanny Rosiky from the Czech Republic reports that NS Basic/App Studio runs on Virtualbox WIN/XP and on Ubuntu Wine with the Linux version of Chrome.

Are you using App Studio on an interesting configuration? Let us know!

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NS Basic/App Studio 1.0.5 released

NS Basic/App Studio 1.0.5 is ready to download. You can download it from the same URL as before.

This update has both fixes and some new stuff. Here they are:

  1. Docs: New Tutorial 07: Communicating with a server
  2. Docs: Handbook and Language Reference updated.
  3. Samples: ComboBox sample now shows how to clear.
  4. Translator: a=”IF NOT a;” fixed.
  5. Translator: cstr(0) and cstr(1) fixed.
  6. Translator: Date and Time fixed for all time zones
  7. Translator: Functions in form of object_onsomething fixed.
  8. Translator: Instr(“12345″,”3”) fixed.
  9. Translator: Some syntax errors handled more gracefully.

Sorry for the quick update from 1.0.4. The guy working on the Translator had a great day yesterday, knocking off quite a few items. We felt it would be good to get them into people’s hands right away.

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NS Basic/App Studio 1.0.4 released

NS Basic/App Studio 1.0.4 is ready to download. You can download it from the same URL as before.

This update has both fixes and some new stuff. Here they are:

  1. Code Window: And and Or now properly highlighted.
  2. Code Window: InStr fixed.
  3. Docs: Handbook and Language Reference updated.
  4. IDE: Form has new function: submit(). See Docs below.
  5. IDE: Form has new property: URL. See Docs below.
  6. Samples: CacheEvents shows cache events.
  7. Samples: SendData shows how to send and receive data from a server
  8. Samples: SQL sample now works

The big news in this release is the new SendData sample. It shows how you can collect data on a form, send it to a server, and receive a reply from that server. It’s surprisingly simple. You can start digging into the sample right away: we will be publishing documentation explaining how it works as soon as we can.

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Cache Events

One of the cool features of NS Basic/App Studio is that apps can be installed to the Home screen and run even if the device is offline. It does this by caching the files the app uses.

There have been some questions about how offline apps get cached: how do you tell if you app is being updated with a fresh copy?

It turns out there are some nice events you can watch. You could use these to put up a progress dialog, or a warning to wait until the update is complete. The events only appear if you are downloading a deployed version – they do not fire if you are running locally.

Here’s the important code – a good place to put it is in the global code section.

window.applicationCache.addEventListener("checking", logEvent, false)
window.applicationCache.addEventListener("downloading", logEvent, false)
window.applicationCache.addEventListener("noupdate", logEvent, false)
window.applicationCache.addEventListener("progress", logEvent, false)
window.applicationCache.addEventListener("updateready", logEvent, false)

Function logEvent(e)
  print e.type
End Function

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NS Basic/App Studio 1.0.3 released

You can download it from the same URL as before.

  1. Code Window: Case normalization improved.
  2. Code Window: Some functions beginning with i were not highlighted.
  3. Deploy: Manifest file simplified.
  4. Deploy: Problems with samples running offline fixed.
  5. IDE: Images in properties no longer require quote signs.
  6. IDE: New project defaults to last directory used.
  7. Samples: All samples updated with new manifest.
  8. Translator: Errors are handled gracefully.
  9. Translator: form1_onsubmit fixed.
  10. Translator: Function return values fixed.
  11. Translator: Set a=b fixed.

The manifest is simpler now: all it needs in it is your own files, if
you have any. The rest are taken care of for you.

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Targeting BlackBerry WebWorks

From Lennie De Villiers:

WebWorks is an open source project by RIM, supporting all new devices like the new Blackberry Torch 9800 (OS 6.0) and Blackberry Playbook tablet PC (from next year). There are two ways to target WebWorks: use WebWorks directly or via PhoneGap. The PhoneGap version adds additional JavaScript APIs. Instructions below are for WebWorks only. If there is demand, I’ll add instructions for PhoneGap as well.

WebWorks is the same as “WebKit” so you can see a lot of videos + tutorials etc on the Blackberry Developer Zone website. The WebWorks home page:
http://us.blackberry.com/developers/browserdev/opensource.jsp

These instructions are for Windows.

  1. Download and install latest JDK 1.6
  2. Download WebWorks SDK from https://github.com/blackberry/WebWorks. You can download the Setup.exe file (size: 301.5MB)
  3. Install the Web Works SDK and note the location.
  4. Create a config.xml file (sample file below). This config.xml file indicates the name of the application, permission settings etc.
  5. Place your NSBasic files into the same folder that contains the config.xml file
  6. Rename “index.htm” to “index.html”
  7. Delete the off line file.
  8. ZIP the directory into a ZIP file. This ZIP file mustn’t contain any special characters (no underscores etc)
  9. Run “bbwp” from the command line giving it your ZIP file as input. For example: bbwp test.zip
  10. Under WebWork’s bin folder you will see “OTAInstall” and “StandardInstall”… The “StandardInstall” folder contains the COD file that you can test on the emulator.
  11. The WebWorks SDK comes with a 6.0 and 5.0 emulator.