Monthly Archives: April 2011

PureBasic 4.60 Beta1 released!

Its been quiet around here for a while, but now there is big news: The first public beta of the upcoming 4.60 release is out!

This release is mostly about the 3D side of things, but there are new features for application programmers as well. The OGRE engine was updated to version 1.7.0 and we switched the physics engine from ODE to Bullet. Furthermore, there are a ton of new 3D libraries and commands. You can see the full list below. The 3D commands are not documented yet, but we will put up some examples to demonstrate them.

A special thanks to G-Rom and TMyke from the french forum for their help on the new 3D commands!

On the application side of things, the most notable addition is the CanvasGadget() command. It is a simple drawing surface that provides detailed mouse and keyboard events to easily implement custom data views or controls (all cross-platform of course). You can see this new gadget in action in the IDE already: The new file panel and the new color picker tool both make use of it. Other than that, there are some smaller new commands like additions to the LinkedList library for example. All new non-3D commands are already documented in the manual.

The IDE got some additions as well, like the ability to build projects directly from the command-line, or the option to be warned when a file is changed on disk while open in the IDE. Unfortunately, the automation framework that I talked about here on the forum did not make it into this release. It wasn’t finished in time, and its not a big enough priority to justify delaying this release any longer.

Finally, we are in the process of changing the PureBasic documentation to be more precise and readable when it comes to function parameters and return values. This is still a work in progress which should be finished for the final release. Comments on the new structure are welcome.

These are the changes:

Libraries:
– added CanvasGadget(), CanvasOutput()
– added SetGadgetItemData() for PanelGadget
– added MoveElement(), MergeLists(), SplitList() commands
– added RandomizeList(), RandomizeArray()
– added PushListPosition(), PopListPosition(), PushMapPosition(), PopMapPosition()
– added ImageID parameter to OpenSubMenu()
– added #PB_ListIcon_ThreeState and #PB_ListIcon_Inbetween
– added #PB_Tree_ThreeState and #PB_Tree_Inbetween
– added crossplatform ComboBox events
– added ‘Joint’ library
– added ‘SpecialEffect’ library
– added ‘StaticGeometry’ library
– added CameraPitch(), CameraRoll(), CameraYaw(), SwitchCamera()
– added ApplyEntityForce(), ApplyEntityImpulse(), EntityPitch(), EntityRoll(), EntityYaw(), GetEntityAttribute(),
GetEntityMaterial(), SetEntityAttribute(), SetEntityMaterial()
– added LightDiffuseColor(), SpotLightRange(), LightLookAt(), LightPower(), DisableLightShadows()
– added MaterialDepthWrite(), MaterialSelfIlluminationColor(), MaterialShininess(), GetScriptMaterial()
– added BuildMeshShadowVolume(), CreateLine3D(), CreateCube(), CreateSphere(), CreateCylinder(), CreatePlane(), AddSubMesh()
MeshVertexCount(), UpdateMeshBoundingBox(), MeshRadius(), AddMeshVertex(), MeshVertexNormal(), MeshVertexColor()
MeshVertexTextureCoordinate(), AddMeshFace(), FinishMesh(), NormalizeMesh(), SaveMesh(), SetMeshMaterial(), SubMeshCount()
TransformMesh()
– added NodePitch(), NodeRoll(), NodeYaw()

– changed FindString() ‘StartPosition’ parameter to be optional
– changed WebGadget to use WebKitGtk on Linux
– changed ContainerGadget with #PB_Container_Borderless to no longer add a 2px invisible border on Linux
– changed EntityPhysicBody(), CreateLight(), RenderWorld(), ShowGUI, WorldShadows()

– removed: Get/SetEntityMass(), Get/SetEntityFriction()
– removed: SetMeshData() (temporary, needs to be updated)

IDE:
– added IDE options for commandline project building
– added monitoring of files for changes on disk while they are open in the IDE
– added FilePanel custom implementation with Drag & Drop, Dropdown menu, scrolling also on OSX
– added Diff tool for directories/files
– added Html help viewer for Linux/OSX
– added Help viewer in toolspanel
– new Color Picker tool
– enabled font selection in IDE for OSX
– ProjectPanel now remembers node expanded states

Debugger:
– added maximize button to all debugger windows
– added all IsXxx() and XxxID() functions to the expression parser (for data breakpoints)

Manual:
– The manual is being updated to a new format which more clearly describes
individual function parameters and return values. This is not yet complete,
but will be finished for the final release.

Visit the announcement on the PureBasic forums here.