PNG Utilities Deprecated

I just noticed that one of my favorite plugins, PNG Utilities, has been deprecated by the developer (Chaotic Box). I often used PNG Utilities in my projects to load icon files because it worked well and was free. Although it still works fine with REALbasic 2008 Release 3.1, it will no longer be updated should problems arise in newer versions of REALbasic.

Both the Einhugur and MonkeyBread plugins have equivalent functionality, so I will probably start transitioning to them when I can.

All hope is not lost, however. PNG Utilities has always been an open-source project and the download includes the C++ source for CodeWarrior (Windows), XCode (OS X) and GCC (Linux). Should a problem arise, perhaps the community will be able to step up and provide an updated version.

Or perhaps someone reading this is looking for a plugin project to take on?

Standardize Format

One of my favorite features of Visual Studio was that it auto-corrected the case of keywords (when using VB) after you hit return on a line. So for example, if I typed:

if personName = "Paul" then

Visual Studio would immediately convert it to:

If personName = "Paul" Then

A small thing, I know. But I have OCD when it comes to my code. And I find mixed case to be much easier to read.

I’m a pretty good typist so I just type my REALbasic code the way I want it, but I’ve always wished it could do what Visual Studio did.

Well on the Betas e-mail list, Bob K. asked about a feature (not new to the beta) that I hadn’t noticed: Standardize Format. You access it from the contextual menu (right-click) when you have code selected.

This magical command auto-corrects all the keywords in the selected code.

I love it! Now I can bang out code and quickly fix it to meet my standards. And more importantly, I can easily fix other people’s code so that it is “right”.

Current Notes 43

Software

MonkeyBread Plugins 8.4 – Lots of new stuff including Cocoa controls

On-Target Reports 5.0.10 – More small fixes

Information

REALbasic to support Cocoa in 2009 – A PR from REAL Software

Community

Interview with Geoff Perlman – Definitely worth reading

ARBP Survey #2 – With a focus on consultants

REALbasic Newsletter Survey

Current Notes 42

Software

IconLib 4.1 – Part of the Einhugur control library

e-CryptIt Engine 9.3.7 – Part of the Einhugur control library

On-Target Reports 5.0.10 – A few minor updates to both the Mac OS X and Windows versions

WordGuise 4.4 – This is actually from last month, but I think I missed it

OpenGLSurface 1.0.1 – A free plugin that lets you add OpenGL 1.x functionality to your apps

Simple Help Editor 3.0 – A cross-platform help authoring application

ClickInstall – Easily create an OS X installer for your apps

Information

Crystal Clear – An open source icon set

Moving Files to the Trash – Some code to properly move your files to the Trash, for OS X 10.5

Community

REALbasic on DevX – Bob gives REALbasic some good exposure with an article on the popular DevX programmers site.

Interview with Andrew Barry – A short interview with the creator of REALbasic

Constructors aren’t Allocators – More useful advice from Aaron.

MonkeyBread Software Plugin Help System – Steve provides some useful updates to this necessary tool

ArtenSuite – Follow Steve as he blogs about building a large-scale REALbasic app

Is REALbasic for Real? – Some not-so-happy thoughts from someone using REALbasic on Linux

What’s Your Pain in REALbasic? – Bob talks about some of the things he’d like to see improved