09-05-03

REALbasic News by Seth Willits

App Bundler 1.0b1
Bit Juggler Software has released this latest version of App Bundler includes significant changes over its previous version, including a massive reorganization of the code and use of the CFPlugin which makes it much much easier for other developers to contribute to the project. App Bundler is an application (source code is available) which allows developers to create OS X packages or "bundles" out of their REALbasic-built Carbon applications. App Bundler requires OS X and is freely available.

Carbon Events Plugin 2.7
The Carbon Events plugin from Everyday Software has long been used as the source for adding features specific to OS X (and some OS 9-compatible Carbon features) to REALbasic applications. This latest release adds full access to the Font Panel under OS X 10.2 or later. Other features of the Carbon Events plugin include Scroll wheel support, standard sheets (Ask Save Changes, Discard Changes), access to the usable screen area (with respect for the Dock), Dock tile menu support, and more.

Display Overlord Plugin
A new plugin for REALbasic 5.x, Display Overlord is a complete solution to controlling display settings such as resolution, refresh rate, brightness, and depth. The plugin supports Mac OS 9 Classic, Carbon, and Mac OS X, and best of all, it is free and open source.

Fullscreen Movie Player 2.0
From Monkeybread Software, Fullscreen Movie Player is a free... fullscreen movie player. Using QuickTime, the application, which is accompanied by its source code, demonstrates using the Monkeybread Software Plugin collection and REALbasic code. New features in version 2.0 include several new menu commands and the ability to play random movies in a specified folder continuously.

iTunes and Screensavers 1.0
Using classes specific to the Monkeybread Software Plugin Collection, the iTunes and Screensavers project demonstrates how to pause background music in iTunes while a screensaver is running. The project is freely available on the Monkeybread software website.

MBS Plugin Collection v3.3
With over 6,000 features and 300 classes, this is undoubtedly the largest plugin for REALbasic. Just when REALbasic developers thought it could be no larger, Monkeybread Software added more than 1,200 items since version 3.2! A small taste of what is available in 3.3: WebKit support, CoreGraphics Display classes, tablet support in OS X, improved JPEG import and export classes, and classes for low level and high level DNS queries. The plugin is Available for about $88 or $44 in the US for commercial and private use on the MBS website.

pgSQL4RB
Touted as the "most affordable database solution", pgSQL4RB is a plugin which is to be used as a substitute for the existing PostgreSQL database plugin available from REAL Software. PostgreSQL is a widely-used open source database engine available under the BSD license. The plugin, which costs from nothing to EUR 270 depending on deployment, is designed to be easy to use, a great time-saver, and fast! Supporting features such as control-binding and MD5 authentication makes the plugin standout out and leave the plugin from REAL Software "way behind," according to Steward Johnson, a pgSQL4RB user.

StyleGrid 6.1
Einhugur Software has long been in the REALbasic plugin business, allowing programmers to purchase a subscription to receive free updates to everything they release for an entire year. StyleGrid is a plugin which implements a specialized spreadsheet control which can be and is used in the place of the REALbasic Listbox control in many cases. With more customization and appearance features than you can shake a stick at StyleGrid is very mature. Version 6.1 adds many features that, Bjorn Eiriksson states, "many people have been requesting for many years."

09-03-03

Aloha! (And Custom Push Buttons) by Seth Willits

Hi everyone! I can't express how excited I am about having this position on the ResExcellence site. Writing about and helping others learn REALbasic has always been something I like to do, so I hope this turns out to be a blast!

Now, normally there would be only a news update today, but I'm going to change things around a little and start off with the first half of this week's tutorial. Yes, you read that correctly; the first half. Contrary to what Erick has done in the past, I will be writing a lot of tutorials of varying length instead of "feature explainers." In doing this, I hope that you and new readers alike will find the information helpful and practical. Read more...

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