Linux Loader Trouble

The last week we once again run into an issue with the Linux shared library loader. In a Xojo app you may end up having several libraries several times in different versions. For example the system provides the zlib library in some version, e.g. 1.2.3 on an older Linux installation. The MBS Compression Plugin uses zlib in version 1.2.8 while DynaPDF uses a custom patched 1.2.7 for the PDF compression. Also the Xojo runtime may come with its own version.

Now it seems like there can be a problem. All those versions of the library may or may not export publicly their functions and you may have several deflateInit functions around. Now when resolving the functions references in a shared library (e.g. plugin), the loader will pick one by name to solve it. And for us this was catastrophic a few times. Because you end up getting a different version of the library than expected. DynaPDF brings 1.2.7, but may end up getting tied up to 1.2.3 or 1.2.8. For PNG, JPEG, zlib and other libraries, there are checks in place to make sure the header files and the library matches in version. If versions won’t match data structures may have different sizes or parameters to functions have different meanings.

In DynaPDF the resulting error from a different zlib version is:

'EndPage: Error compressing stream!' (code:14, type:536870912)


This is solved for MBS Plugin 17.3pr4 by setting all non-exported symbols to local symbols. This should make all functions to resolve within the library take precedence over functions from other libraries.

For DynaPDF we added GetPNGVersion, GetJPEGVersion, GetTIFFVersion and GetZlibVersion functions. They allow you to query the jpeg, png, tiff and zlib versions used in the DynaPDF library.

PS: For FileMaker Cloud we do the same fix next prerelease.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 17.3pr4

New in this prerelease of the 17.3 plugins:
  • Fixed crash with 64-bit for Execute methods in AuthorizationMBS class.
  • Changed linux linking to avoid loader to connect function to wrong library if several versions of the library exists.
  • Added MinY, MinX, MidY, MidX, MaxY and MaxX for NSRectMBS class.
  • Updated DynaPDF library to version 4.0.11.30.
  • Added OverlayMBS.menuForEvent event.
  • Turned properties for PDFKit annotation classes into real properties so you see them in debugger.
  • Fixed bug with DynaPDF and optimize command when using ICC based JPEG pictures.
  • Fixed problem with PDFAnnotationMarkupMBS not setting QuadrilateralPoints.
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

JavaScript callback in HTMLViewer on Mac

Did you know you can register you own JavaScript callbacks for a HTMLViewer on Mac?

 

The WebScriptCallbackMBS class helps to handle such methods calls in JavaScript and redirects them to an event. In the Open event of the window, we add the WebFrameLoadDelegate to the HTMLViewer:

 

wui=new MyFrameEvents

web.InstallWebFrameLoadDelegateMBS wui

 

We need to subclass WebFrameLoadDelegateMBS in order to catch the windowScriptObjectAvailable event and add our MyBrowser object to the JavaScript name space:

 

Class MyFrameEvents Inherits WebFrameLoadDelegateMBS

EventHandler Function windowScriptObjectAvailable(windowScriptObject as WebScriptObjectMBS) As boolean

// Install an Object called "MyBrowser" on the javascript document object

// Any function call inside will tricker callback event

windowScriptObject.setWebScriptCallback "MyBrowser", app.callback

End EventHandler

End Class

 

Next we need to subclass WebScriptCallbackMBS class and fill the Callback event and do whatever our method should do:

 

Class MyScriptCallback Inherits WebScriptCallbackMBS

EventHandler Function Callback(Name as string) As variant

System.DebugLog "Function: "+name

Select case name

case "MsgBox"

MsgBox me.ArgumentValue(0)

case "PrintDialog"

call MainWindow.web.PrintDialogMBS

case "SetText"

MainWindow.Output.text=ArgumentValue(0)

end Select

End EventHandler

End Class 

 

As you our event can be called giving the name of the method called and the parameters can be queried via ArgumentValue function. The JavaScript call looks like this:

 

MyBrowser.SetText('Hello');

 

Sadly we can't provide the same for Windows so far. But Mac this is great already.


Xojo meetings in Arizona

As you know I come to attend the FileMaker DevCon 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

As I stay a few extra days in Phoenix, we will have two Xojo developer meetings:

22nd July 2017 in a restaurant near Phoenix.
28th July 2017 in a restaurant near Tucson.

I know I have over 20 Xojo developers using my plugins in Phoenix alone.
If you like to join, please contact me soon.

I reserve a table in a nice restaurant and I will be there. You can join and we can shop talk all night. Ask me plugin questions, bring your laptop and show projects.
And of course we discuss latest changes in Xojo, upcoming conferences and what's new in plugins.

OmegaBundle final extension

The OmegaBundle.net will finally end 4th July 2017.
After two extensions it must come to an end and if you missed all the announcements, we finally need to say: sorry.



Get your copy now on OmegaBundle.net.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 17.3pr3

New in this prerelease of the 17.3 plugins: Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

XojoTalk podcast 2^5

The XojoTalk podcast just got it's pow(2,5)th episode. So go and listen to it!
  1. Shoving Phones In Their Pockets with Geoff Perlman
  2. That's A Lot Of Tens with Bob Keeney
  3. Developer of Long Standing with Eric Gibbon
  4. Grizzled Veterans with Travis Hill
  5. Where's My Column? with Marc Zeedar
  6. I have no idea what you're talking about with Kem Tekinay
  7. Snowgun with Kevin Cully
  8. Really Wicked with Hal Gumbert
  9. It's my dog with Norman Palardy
  10. Strap a Mac Pro to my wrist with Tim Dietrich
  11. The forum is my personal training ground with Tim Hare 
  12. Shipping is a feature with Paul Levine 
  13. Hockey Programmer with Mike Cotrone 
  14. Software Maniacs with Ken Whitaker 
  15. Type my password like an animal with Justin Elliott
  16. Magical Toolkit with Craig Boyd
  17. I Keep My Secrets to Myself with Bruno Frechette and Jonanthan Guillemette 
  18. Not The Pi You Eat with Geoff Perlman 
  19. Ghost Touches with Geoff Perlman 
  20. Spoiler Alert with Bob Keeney and Marc Zeedar 
  21. Enterprise Consulting with Arthur Couture and Tom Rupprecht 
  22. I Like Things That Just Work with Tim Parnell
  23. Take a Walk with Michel Bujardet 
  24. Figure out stuff on my own with Kimball Larsen 
  25. Toughest thing is the substitutions with Jim Meyer 
  26. Happened by Accident with Tom Catchesides
  27. Database Goddess with Carol Keeney 
  28. Email is Not a Project Management Tool with Susan Fennema 
  29. I Went to High School with the Apple File System Guy with Tim Dietrich 
  30. We Like Our Customers with Geoff Perlman 
  31. Virtual Office Rules with Dana Brown and Alyssa Foley
  32. Copy, Paste, Search and Replace with Terry Eutsler
Subscribe at iTunes or to RSS Feed

Virtual Xojo User Group - June 2017 Meeting Is Today

Just a reminder that the June VXUG meeting is today (June 15th) at 2:00 PM Eastern Time.

Today's presenters include:
  • Dana Brown, Xojo's Director of Marketing, who will give us an update on XDC 2018.
  • Tim Dietrich, who will demonstrate Aloe, a Xojo class and development methodology that can be used to create public Web sites using Xojo.
  • Wayne Golding of Axis Direct Ltd, who will give a presentation on using Xojo to develop Windows Service Apps.
We still have space available. If you haven't already signed up, and would like to attend, click here.

Playing with CoreML in Xojo

Thanks to the 64-bit debugger in Xojo 2017, we can now easily try 64-bit applications and that's a must as Apple's latest frameworks don't support 32-bit anymore.
So yesterday and today I worked on a test project including a Xojo plugin for CoreML framework. Here is my test project running:



While macOS 10.13 is not ready for a few months, we can already download the beta versions of macOS and Xcode and play with it. You can use a model quite easy as you see in the Core ML presentation from WWDC 2017. With just a few lines of code we load a model, setup source image and run it though the neural network to classify the picture. You can get sample models from Apple's Machine Learning website.

The plugin will be available later this year with the macOS release.

OmegaBundle 2017 ends on weekend

The OmegaBundle for Xojo including MBS Plugins is ending on the weekend:



If you plan to buy the bundle, please do it soon.

Plugin wishes for macOS 10.13 and iOS 11?

You may all be watching videos from WWDC and learn what's coming soon for macOS and iOS.

Now the are a lot of new APIs, but I'd like to know from you what you'd like to see in our plugins for Xojo and FileMaker.

Usually we provide lower level wrapper for Xojo to Apple's APIs for macOS with hiding all the threading issues from you and translating values from native Xojo types to the matching Foundation types. As there is currently no iOS plugin SDK for Xojo, we can't make all features available via declares.

For FileMaker we usually provide a much more higher level API to do selected things and provide plugin functions for both macOS and iOS.

If you have ideas and wishes, please email me. I'll keep a list and if we have a lot of wishes for a given API, I may give it some priority.

Looking for speakers for XDC 2018

Xojo Inc. is looking for speakers for XDC 2018, the biggest Xojo conference in 2018 from April 25 to 27 in Denver, Colorado, USA:

We are looking for talented and passionate speakers to present at XDC 2018 in Denver, CO! In addition to the fame, becoming an XDC speaker gets you a 50% discount on conference registration!

If you are interested in presenting, please submit a proposal with your session topic(s) and brief description(s) (3-5 sentences), along with your full name and contact info (preferred email and phone number), to the XDC Conference Coordinator at dana@xojo.com. If you are interested in presenting, but not sure of a topic, please reach out to us and we can help you develop your session. The deadline to submit proposals is Friday, June 30, 2017.

Here are some tips on submitting a good session topic.

Still 20 days left to submit a proposal. Myself I can of course talk about what's new in MBS Plugins, or take about making plugins or maybe make a session about comparing what machine code the compiler creates with various options and Xojo versions.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 17.3pr2

New in this prerelease of the 17.3 plugins:
  • Improved key length handling for CipherMBS class. Init functions now report true on success and false on failure. Short keys are filled with zeros (as before), we report false in case of errors, but still may take reduced key (as before).
  • Updated SQLite to 3.19.3.
  • Fixed bug with DynaPDFMBS.ShowDifference and rotated pages.
  • Added QueryMT method for NetSNMPMBS class.
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

Developer Meeting in Nuremberg

On my next visit to Nuremberg, I'd love to make another developer meeting:

Wer hat Interesse an einem FileMaker & Xojo Entwicklertreffen im Juni in Nürnberg?

Einfach gemütlich zusammen sitzen und über Xojo und FileMaker Neuigkeiten, Konferenzen und die täglichen Probleme bei der Softwareentwicklung unterhalten.
Gerne zeige ich auch neue Pluginfunktionen oder helfe bei Problemen mit Projekten. Einfach Computer mitbringen und was zeigen.

Wir treffen uns am 16. Juni 2018 in einem Biergarten in Nürnberg.
Bei Interesse bitte bei mir melden.

Save the date: MBS Xojo Developer Conference

The next MBS Xojo conference in Germany will be 6th/7th September 2018 in Munich.

We will have a great conference in the Maritim Hotel near the main station can offer us 50+ rooms as well as one or two conference rooms. If we have a lot of speakers and attendees, we could go two track!

We have blocked 100 rooms and offer an 122 Euro rate for the nights from 5th to 8th September including pool, breakfast and Wifi.
Nearby other hotels in the area offer rooms for less, down to 60 Euro/night.

Walking distance to center of city is just a few hundred meters. So you can walk to Hofbräuhaus, city hall and the famous historic buildings like palace Nymphenburg. And if you like to take a drive in the countryside, you are quickly down to the alps. e.g. take the train up on Wendelstein for a great view.

The schedule:

5th September 2018: Training Day in English for beginners and advanced
6th September 2018: First Conference Day
7th September 2018: Second Conference Day
8th September 2018: Training Day in German for beginners and advanced

We look forward the conference and plan to have get togethers on all evenings for having dinner together.

For the rest of the year, we look for attendees and speakers to sign up. If you have a good idea for a session in English, please send us your proposal.

Austin Xojo Meetup in July - With Geoff Perlman & Others

We saw this announcement on the forum:

If you are near Austin or plan on coming to Austin - join the Austin-based Xojo team for lunch in July to talk Xojo and get to know other users in and around Texas! If you are interested in joining us - please reply to this survey so we can find the best date!


Great to see Xojo inc doing local meetings themselves. I have currently some planned for Nuremberg, Germany, Phoenix, USA and Netherlands.

Xojo Meeting in Netherlands

As I am traveling again towards Netherlands and again like to meet with Xojo developers.

Let's talk about Xojo, conferences, plugins and other programming topics.

Voting for meeting in Utrecht area: Survey
Voting for meeting in Haarlem area: Survey

Interested people can of course make an extra appointment with me for private consulting.

If you like, vote on both, so we know who can come and where we have more people.

MBS Xojo Plugins, version 17.3pr1

New in this prerelease of the 17.3 plugins:
  • Creating barcode no longer changes locale settings.
  • Added kCFBundleDisplayNameKey to CFBundleMBS class.
  • Improved key length handling for CipherMBS class.
  • Added boolean result to CipherInit, EncryptInit and DecryptInit.
  • Marked CalCalendarMBS class to be console safe.
  • Added developerExtrasEnabled, javaEnabled, javaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically, javaScriptEnabled, loadsImagesAutomatically, minimumFontSize and plugInsEnabled properties for WKWebViewControlMBS control.
  • Added RemoveTouchBarFromWindow and RemoveTouchBarFromApp for NSTouchBarMBS class.
  • Fixed StringHandleMBS bug on Linux.
  • Updated SQLite to 3.19.2.
  • Added NetSNMPMBS class.
  • Reduced memory consumption for email sending, so you can now queue 1000+ emails.
  • Added DynaPDF methods for Metafile conversion (EMF/WMF)
  • Zooming in script workspace can now be triggered with Command and Plus/Minus keys.
  • Fixed problem where variable name check would complain about variable name being part of script name.
  • Remove debug messages from CIDetectorMBS class.
  • Updated to DynaPDF 4.0.11.29.
  • Fixed BitwiseXORStringBytesMBS to work better and faster in 64-bit.
Download: monkeybreadsoftware.de/xojo/download/plugin/Prerelease/.
Or ask us to be added to our shared Dropbox folder.

Windows Task Monitor written in Xojo

Today I had an interesting request for a task monitor written in Xojo to see how much CPU some processes need and to report when they are stuck (no CPU usage over longer time pointing to deadlock) or run at 100% for a long time. And of course to see if they go away due to crashes.



We use the WindowsWMIMBS class to query the Win32_PerfRawData_PerfProc_Process class. There we can query the current counter for processor usage and by getting total and last value calculate a percentage.

The example will be included in next prerelease.
The biggest plugin in space...

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