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New in the MBS Xojo Plugins Version 20.2

In this article I want to introduce you the new functionalities from the MBS Xojo Plugins in version 20.2.

DynaPDF
The component DynaPDF has some new features for you.
With the new DynapdfGraphicsPathMBS class you can define paths. A path can be composed of different parts. So we can use the "MoveToPoint" method to navigate to our starting point and draw it from there. For example, we can draw curves and lines one after the other with methods. The path can then be drawn with the method "g.DrawPath". G stands for a graphics environment.

To enhance your tables in DynaPDF you can now specify a user defined cell picture with the method "DynaPDFTableMBS.SetCellPicture". The row and column as well as the positioning. The output size and the picture can also be specified in the parameters of the function. This is a convenience functions which takes a picture. You can of course continue to use older functions to point to picture file or picture in string/Memoryblock.

EXIF
If you have EXIF data as a string or as a memory block can use the ExifTagsMBS class to read various attributes of your data, such as date, time or artist. All attributes are read only. This means that you can’t change EXIF data with this class, but you can take a template EXIF from one picture, change values and store it with another one.

Excel
The XL classes give us the possibility to read and write Excel files, get a new class and some methods. The new XLRichStringMBS class describes a string with styled text. This text can be entered into a cell with WriteRichString function in XLSheetMBS class or appended to the content of a cell with AddStyledText function in XLBookMBS class. For both you can use StyledText class in Xojo to pass styled text from text area control. The ReadRichString function in XLSheetMBS class can read a string with styled text and you can convert it to Xojo's StyledText object. With the IsRichString function in XLSheetMBS class, you can check if a cell contains a styled text. The new version contains functions to add or delete whole columns and rows. The ranges are specified via rows and columns in the parameters.

ECKey
The class ECKey has some new methods for you. With the new Generate method in ECKeyMBS class you generate a new EC Key and save it in the current object. On success the method return true. Then you can set the privat key with the new SetPrivateKey method or the public key by the SetPublicKey method. Of course you can also use the matching GET methods to get the key.

Named Mutex
With the latest version of the plugins you also have the possibility to create a named mutex. A mutex ensures that different threads do not interfere with each other while reading and writing data, so that the data consistency is maintained. With an object of the NamedMutexMBS class you have create a named mutex that you can lock and unlock with methods from this class.

The specialty is that two applications can synchronize by using named mutex as the name must be unique for the computer. Great to synchronize access to shared memory managed with FileMappingMBS class.

Under windows you could create mutex with the help of the WindowsMutexMBS class for a long time. Now with the newest version you have functions for lock and unlock them.

Connection to the SAP database
Probably the biggest innovation that comes with the latest plugins is the ability to connect to a SAP database. A lot of bigger corporations use SAP applications and may be interested to use it in Xojo. You can call remote functions to get or insert data.

As Xojo developer you can now provide nice GUI applications for SAP application. Design the user interface with Xojo and push the data to SAP. If you want to download the NetWeaver RFC SDK 7.5 you need a SAP login and later for deployment you need to check to make sure you have the right SAP user licenses. For the use with the classes from the plugin you first load the library from the SDK. Then you can query the function descriptions, call remote functions, use classes for tables and structures or perform transactions.


New functions for Mac users
The MBS Xojo Plugins in version 10.2 offers some more new features for Mac users

HTTP/2
We add NSURLSessionMBS and related classes to support HTTP/2 in Xojo on MacOS. These new classes provide you an API for downloading and uploading data to endpoints specified by URLs. For more informations you can read our blog article: Adding NSURLSession classes for Xojo.

Photos
An other big thing that is added is the possibility to use the Photos framework from Apple in Xojo applications. In this way you will be able to access the Photos database by using Xojo. We add 36
new classes to work with this database.



If we want to get access to the photo library in our application, we must first ask for permission. The PHPhotoLibraryMBS class is responsible for the access permission and changes. You can work with asserts, collections and projects. So you can read, create or modify pictures, connections and projects in your applications. You can show live photos with a new control that names PHLivePhotoControlMBS. To display the images, e.g. for the internet quicker, you can also get a thumbnail at first and load the image in full resolution when the page is completely load. In general for the use of this functionalities you need MacOS 10.13, but some features require MacOS 10.15.

Scene Kit
We added a couple of new features for SceneKit. You can simulate physical behavior, e.g. two objects can bounce off each other or the fall of an object is influenced by an other object. You can observe how the change of single parameters like mass changes a simulation.



Also new is the HitTest class. With the HitTest we can check e.g. whether a node was clicked in the scene and which node if so. Of course this leads to an extreme increase in usage possibilities, especially for game development and many other areas.

Because this example has been requested often, we now have an example in which an user-defined geometry has been created.

Because movements of your own figures are often defined by a matrix, we have added some new functions for affine transformations.

AVPlayer
With the new version you also have the possibility to work with the picture in picture technique of AVPlayerMBS class. That means you can display your content in a small window and do other work besides. With the new functions you can refuse to use this technique. You can register via the control with the event playerViewDidStartPictureInPicture in AVPlayerViewControlMBS control when the picture starts in picture mode. When it stops, you get the playerViewDidStopPictureInPicture event called.

PDF
With the new plugins version you get a new possibility to set the constructor of a lot of the PDF classes. Now you can use the matching handle for the constructor of PDFActionMBS, PDFAnnotationMBS, PDFBorderMBS, PDFDestinationMBS, PDFDocumentMBS, PDFOutlineMBS, PDFPageMBS and PDFSelectionMBS class. In the parameters of the constructor, the reference number of the handler is then passed as an integer.
This gives you even more freedom to create your objects

We hope you will also find some interesting new features. We wish you a lot of fun with MBS Xojo Plugins version 20.2. If you need a license or have any questions, please contact us. by Stefanie Juchmes
19 05 20 - 12:56