Code Health Warning: This article contains Really Important Information for your code. Especially if you are not yet using LiveCode 8.
LiveCode 7 – The Stepping Stone
As those of you who have followed us for awhile will know, in order to achieve the vision we have for LiveCode and to provide the bedrock for a more capable, flexible future, we undertook a large refactoring project. That effort was completed successfully as the principal purpose of LiveCode 7.
Refactoring the entire engine doesn’t in itself offer a lot to the end user, however in this case it did make it possible to add transparent Unicode support, GTK support and 64-bit Linux amongst other things- projects which would have been huge upheavals by themselves.
LiveCode 7 was always intended as a stepping stone to the next generation of LiveCode releases. As great as it has been as a stepping stone, the time has come to focus on the end result of all this effort: LiveCode 8.
The Future of LiveCode 6 and 7
We are already reducing the focus on older versions of LiveCode. Soon support will drop to only critical bugfixes and platform support. Once we release 8.0 GM, we will be dropping support for 6 and 7 completely. You need to think about moving your code up today.
Of course we will not forget about bugs which affect older versions of LiveCode, but fixing them in 8.0 will be the priority.
Help Us to Make 8 Great
LiveCode 8 is not only the future of the LiveCode platform, it will very soon be the present. It has been in testing since April this year and is now reaching the refinement stage before the initial release of 8.0.
There are a small number of things left to be done before a stable release of 8.0, including the Native Browser control, HTML5 improvements and more IDE refinement.
On top of that, we want to make sure that any remaining issues that were introduced as a result of the refactoring project in the 7 series are completely ironed out before the launch. We know there are still a few issues left that center around performance and a handful of other minor issues. With 8 now at an advanced stage, and so many exciting new features almost ready to go, this is the time to make sure that you can move forward. If you want to ensure your applications perform as they did prior to 7 you need to work with us. Now is the time! Join our Global Jam where we will work with you to improve your 8 experience through a combination of optimizations, feature changes and best practice tweaks to your code.
Besides the new widgets architecture in 8, none of the changes between version 7 and version 8 are changes to the core engine, so the 8.0 engine is as stable as 7 is right now. With all the exciting new features available in LiveCode 8.0, there really is no reason not to try it out. Don’t be scared, come on in, the water’s lovely…
Global Jam
We want to make this release as great as possible. We can’t do it alone. This is your LiveCode too, so come along and get stuck in. With your help and support, we’ll be able to make sure that the 8 launch is truly amazing. That’s why we’re announcing a Global Jam, the perfect opportunity for you to move to 8 and give live feedback on the process to our engineering team.
You are invited to join our Global Jam based around LiveCode 8 on the 5th/6th October. Block some time out in your calendar and join us online.
The purpose of the Global Jam is to enable you to:
- Ensure your apps function as you expect
- Iron out any issues you encounter
- Try out the widgets we’ve built
- Learn more about building widgets yourself
- Give us feedback on the usability of new parts of the IDE
- Have a blast with other LiveCoders and our entire engineering team
There are many more reasons to move to 8 than there were for 7, as 8 has tons of new and exciting functionality!
Our entire team of LiveCode developers will be on hand to advise, explain and fix bugs you might encounter. The sooner we identify the issues that matter to you, the greater the chances of those issues being addressed before the launch of LiveCode 8. We’ll be treating the feedback from this Global Jam as a key priority to ensure you get a great 8 experience.
Now is the time to start planning your move to LiveCode 8. Join us for the Global Jam to ensure you get the most out of it. Help us to make 8 great!
Download LiveCode 8
Download LiveCode 8 Community  Download LiveCode 8 Indy/Commercial
Register for the Global Jam
We will be sending out an invite with instructions on how join our Global Jam Event. Enter your email below to register your interest!
36 comments
Join the conversationWilhelm Sanke - September 16, 2015
What is the idea of commenting here?
Heather Laine - September 16, 2015
the general idea is to allow you to tell us what you think of the contents of the blog post. Start a discussion or clarify any points you don’t understand. Agree, disagree, get excited… Its a place to talk with the community 🙂
Brahmanathaswami - September 16, 2015
Since you are talking to a global audience in multiple time zones (I’m in Hawaii HST) It always helps to clarify the timing. Oct 5th/6th is insufficient for us to make a commitment. I, unfortunately because of my time zone, have to miss a lot of important tech presentations that may occur e.g. in the morning EST… So either I pray they are recorded and I can go back and watch them later
OR
IF it is significant enough THEN
I make a special effort to do something crazy like get up at 3AM if it is important.
ELSE
lose out and end up in the dark as usual.
END IF
This LiveCode 8 Jam falls in the latter category “significant enough”… I will probably do anything I have to get participate… so…. what time?
Richard Gaskin - September 17, 2015
The Global Jams are global in scope, ongoing throughout the 48-hour period. We’re exploring options for a live presentation or two to kick things off like we did last time, and if we do those they’ll likely be at the times we’d used before, 10 AM GMT. That’s probably not ideal for you, but with a global event we know any time won’t work for some, so we just have to go with something that covers most of EU and US and hope for the best.
And in all fairness, none of us get to work in an environment as nice as yours, so the tradeoffs of being in Kauai aren’t entirely unfavorable. 🙂
Wilhelm Sanke - September 16, 2015
No comment.
Bruce Prior - September 16, 2015
I have looked into LC in the past but other things got in the way. Perhaps LC 8 will fire me up again.
William - September 16, 2015
I think you are right. From the research I have done, I believe that feature by feature, LC8 now puts LiveCode as the most efficient, and robust programming language in the world. To speak “LiveCode” is to speak the language of money.
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
We hope so Bruce! And getting in there early is a great way of helping to shape it to the kind of tool you want to use.
Jim Little - September 16, 2015
Could you link to an introduction to using LC8? I’ve just downloaded it and see only 2 icons on the tools palette. I discovered how to open the Extensions Manager but how do I apply widgets or libraries to a stack. You can tell than I’m an absolute beginner with LC8 and am a bit lost, even though I use LC7 regularly.
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
Hi Jim,
This is an unfortunate little bug that occurs on first run – if you restart you should see all the objects and widgets in the tools palette. (the bug is fixed for DP 5 which should be out soon)
David - September 16, 2015
Has the LC 8 issue concerning compiling to an IOS app been resolved?
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
Yes I believe so!
William - September 16, 2015
Will the team be going over how to use widget architecture? They certainly have built something really amazing but I am wondering if they are going to give us a good amount of supplemental material so that we can successfully use it.
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
Hi William,
Yes we will hopefully be able to help people who are writing / want to write widgets during the global jam. In the meantime, here is a list of things you might want to take a look at:
– The “Extending LiveCode” guide in the guides tab of the dictionary has a toy example, info on how to use the extension builder tool, and a language specification.
– Georgia’s blog post: https://livecode.com/write-a-widget-in-8-steps/
– Trevor’s blog posts:
http://www.bluemangolearning.com/livecode/2015/03/creating-a-slider-widget/
http://www.bluemangolearning.com/livecode/2015/04/creating-a-busy-indicator-in-livecode-builder/
– Ian’s blog post: https://livecode.com/the-evolution-of-dragons/
– Our github repo also has the source code for all the widgets included in LC 8, admittedly with varying amounts of comments: https://github.com/livecode/livecode/tree/develop/extensions
Bob cvitkovic - September 16, 2015
I think it’s time for me to make the switch. However I remember something about LC 8 not ready for android or iOS porting. Is that so? Can I open my current code base I created in the latest version of 7 and be able to port it to android and iOS?
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
Hi Bob,
Yes there was an issue with building app bundles for iOS devices – this should be fixed in DP 4. You can certainly open your 7 stacks and deploy to android and iOS in 8!
John Wood - September 17, 2015
I’ll be there and thank you
David - September 17, 2015
In terms of performance, How much slower is LC8 vs LC7 in regards to screen updates and graphic generation (10%, 20%, 40% slower)?
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
0% – it should be exactly the same in this regard.
David - September 17, 2015
Will there be a new dictionary for LC8 with more detailed descriptions and more examples?
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
Do you mean specifically for building widgets, or in general? If the former, then that is already there – the LiveCode Builder dropdown of the API tab in the dictionary. If the former, there is already a new dictionary with some additional features, and we will soon be launching a community initiative to improve all of the descriptions and examples (watch this space!)
David - September 17, 2015
I am talking about both. The current dictionary has VERY little descriptions and limited examples (making it especially tough for beginners). The easier it is for the beginners to write professional looking apps, the more licences LC will have. I have been using LC for just over 2 years and I love it. But there were many a times that I had to beat my head, of a small issue because I could not find an example or documentation I needed. Thank goodness for the LC forum.
Daniel - September 21, 2015
Will LC 8 DP5 support the new Xcode7/iOS9?
Same question about next version of LC 7.1.
Thanks.
David - September 17, 2015
Could there be a couple video tutorials for getting started with LC8 and taking advantages of the new features of LC8?
And lot of “How to videos” (like using mobile pickers, native web browsers, mobile scrollers)?
Ali Lloyd - September 17, 2015
Yes, I think video tutorials are a good idea – the only issue with making them right now is that certain aspects of the LiveCode Builder language, widget properties and the LC 8 IDE will be changing (particularly after feedback from the global jam) and thus the videos risk becoming rapidly out of date. When we are ready to release 8.0 GM, this will become more of a viable option.
That’s not to say we couldn’t knock up a few quick videos soon though, if that would be very helpful to people.
David - September 17, 2015
Currently documentation and example for previous LC has been spread out over numerous web pages and links (difficult to find exactly the help ones needs for a particular issue, the LC forum is however very helpful). With LC8 it would be extremely beneficial to have all support (documentation, videos, examples, tutorials, sample stacks and associated links) from one web page. Even if most were free and some needed a subscription, least a programmer would know how much support is actually available on the planet, for LC8.
Richard Gaskin - September 17, 2015
There is a significant effort underway to centralize all documentation.
Sean Cole - September 21, 2015
Yay! v5.5 was the last set of user guides we had. Hopefully with the unification that v8 brings we can finally get an up-to-date guide and comprehensive, ‘fully operational’ dictionary
Richard Gaskin - September 17, 2015
The Download link above for Indy/Commercial is 404 on Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit)
MaxV - September 18, 2015
Please correct al least the dictionary on Win and Linux, at the present (8 DP4) are not usable.
Ali Lloyd - September 18, 2015
In what way are they unusable? There was an issue with resizing (http://quality.runrev.com/show_bug.cgi?id=15824) which might be causing problems in DP 4, which is fixed for DP 5.
Jim Little - September 19, 2015
Having problems with using a datagrid in LC8. I attempt to set properties and they revert to default. Also, no way to add columns, set column properties except by script.
Paul Gresham - September 20, 2015
I dropped LC Android a few months ago because it is not extendable and I needed native text to speech.
I would like to see an example of LiveCode 8.0’s supposed ability to call something from native OS APIs, to make up for LC’s poor mobile externals functionality.
Show us a working example at this global jam and I might be encouraged to pay for LC again.
Paul
Steve D. Wagenseller - September 23, 2015
Hello from Myanmar. Looking forward to this.
jairo avendaño malvaez - September 24, 2015
the new comunity version suports mobil camera?
Mike Farr - October 4, 2015
Awesome. Look forward to Monday.
1) Will HTML be available for testing in the Global Jam?
2) As one who has given up on LC several times for serious projects but keeps coming back, I’d like to put in a late but very strong request for true arrays. I have used the array feature in earlier versions but if you can’t do a simple assignment, i.e.
put [1,2,3,4,5] into foo
put foo[4] into msg
etc.
then many programmers simply walk away at that point.
3] assignment: since we already have
local foo=5
could we please, please allow such assignment syntax (or more likely something like x := 5 to distinguish assignment from equality) as an option to “put 5 into foo”. Given the nature of the complexity of things that we are building these days in LC, not having “x = 5” doesn’t really overcome any barriers for beginning programmers.
Thanks guys and keep up the good work.
Mike