So we released RB2006r1 today, and now I want to open the floors and hear what everyone's favorite new features are.
I'll start! Structures. I'm going to use these things to the max for doing protocols and declares. w00t! Along with that are the new integer data types. In fact, I have a treat coming up soon for everyone that demonstrates using the new data types to implement something geekily awesome. :-D
On the minor end of things, I like a lot of the little changes which make things possible, such as the ability to set the calling convention for a callback. There are some stories I could tell about that issue!
So NEwho, I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks of the release.
I like structs and enums, but I think my favorite new feature is the Stack() method in RuntimeExceptions. Cross-platform IDE scripting is cool too, of course.
Unsigned integers, structs and proper graphics handles will all be a boon. Enums would be much more useful if they would autocomplete.
Haven't really played with the scripting yet but it sounds wonderful!
I think that I will be using the Structs and Enums the most, but I do plan to play with the new Drag Events to see if I can improve the UI for one of my apps.
I do wish that Structures were not limited to Modules. I have been working on a custom style Listbox and I would prefer to define a single "RowVariables" structure and use a single array in the Class properties instead of a bunch of arrays for the different row properties. Yes, I could put these in a module, but I have always resisted this because it makes the class less portable when you have to remember to drag along a bunch of other supporting code. I think that structures defined in a Class should be local only to the class to avoid any name conflicts.
I find it hard to see RB2006 apart from RB2005. There all the beauties started and got completed in RB2006. So my list startsso:
1) IDE
2) RealSQLDatabase
3) Int64
4) structures ( although i preferred to get strings returned without chr(0) characters in it, for that kind of strings i would like to see a seperate accessor, something like a binstring,Bynarystring,blobfield or choos another kind name as you like)
Overall i have the impression that the whole IDE in RB2006 has become MUCH more stable, with 2005 with every 4.th or 5.th debugrun the IDE crashes on my pc, and with the latest fc's and the released 2006 version i hardly had any. This must be my favorite i guess, but i wouldn't call it a new feature.
Anyway i think the RS-people deserve a BIG applause for this!
I'm really happy with the new shared methods and properties. This allows me to better organize my code instead of using modules to do things like a singleton. Enumerations are also cool, although I would like to define them for classes, which is currently not possible.
The other thing I really like are the dynamic constants. They make it so much easier to create multi-lingual applications.
And then there are many small improvements like better code completion (even with extends), super-return etc.
In other words: I'm happy.
Keep up the good work!
IDE enhancements! Finally, I don't have to Tab, Delete, Tab to avoid getting "#else" as the return type of a new function. And it just seems slightly smoother. Still plenty to do, but plenty of progress as well!
It's not exactly a "feature", but I like that I can open up my largest, most complicated project and it compiles and runs flawlessly (well, I had to upgrade a plugin but that was trivial).
I haven't even integrated some of the cool features from the older releases yet! I'm still implementing SortWith !!!
I've got half-a-dozen projects I would like to rewrite from the ground up, knowing what I do now with the features of RB2006r1.
I tried to get it going before I went to work, but it was running so slow,I might have to postpone my upgrade plan purchase just to get a machine fast enough to run and compile on. :(
Structs are totally cool but I'm REALLY happy to see true Enums, yeah!
I'm surprised to see how many people think RuntimeException.Stack is the best new feature of the product -- you're supposed to avoid having exceptions guys! ;-)
It's interesting to hear about what people like about the new product. I enjoy getting the new perspectives.
Well, the addition of RuntimeException.Stack may allow me to strip several hundred lines of code in my projects devoted to building such stacks. But my favorite feature is shared methods. Since they can be used for callback functions with declares, I can simplify a lot of code, and rewrite a few chapters of my book.
In most of the places I thought enums were going to be really useful, I've found shared properties are even better.