We just released the 2nd beta of Clarion 9.1. You can check the fixes/changes/features since the release of 9.0 here
Monthly Archives: January 2014
9.1 and Reg-Free COM
As previously posted 9.1 introduces support for registration-free COM activation. That simply means that you can deploy your App that uses any COM controls without having to install and “register” the COM control. You simply include the binaries for the COM controls and deploy it with two manifest files; one manifest for your App that specifies the “dependency”, like this example:
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
version=”16.2.4.0″
processorArchitecture=”X86″
name=”Codejock.ChartPro”
type=”win32″
language=”*”/>
</dependentAssembly>
After talking about this on Wednesday on ClarionLive we went and added this support to the templates. It is as simple as this example:
Now the only thing left is for you to create the manifest for your COM control. There are various tools out there like “Make My Manifest” (link) and “Unattended Make My Manifest” (link), as well as several others, which handle the manifest creation for registration-free COM.
Clarion 9.1
The next Clarion release (9.1) has over a dozen new features, and many bug fixes and changes to improve the RTL and IDE, but two new features stand out above the others. That is the support of Touch input and the support for Registration-free activation of COM objects from side-by-side assemblies.
The Touch support is automatic and transparent, no code changes needed — just a rebuild of your app and you have it. But you also have the option to use an interface to take full control of all the touch events and handle them as you see fit. We have a few good examples that will show you exactly how to do that.
The Reg-free COM support is also automatic, and likewise requires no change to your code. If the OCX ProgID isn’t found in the OS registry then the RTL looks for a local manifest. The declaration of the interfaces in the OCX can be placed in either the program’s manifest or in a separate manifest. In the latter case, the program manifest must contain the <dependency>
block with assembly name equal to name of the OCX’s manifest without the “.manifest” extension (this the preferable way).
Tomorrow we’ll be expanding the group of Clarion 9.1 alpha testers, and our goal is to get 9.1 to all 3rd party vendors by the end of the week. If all goes well within another ~week it’ll move to a general release.