Results 1 to 36 of 36

Thread: B4A is now free!

  1. #1

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Wink B4A is now free!

    B4A is a mature RAD development tool for native Android apps.
    The programming language is named B4X and it is based on the Basic syntax, though it has many modern features.

    We recently made B4A completely free. It goes together with B4J - tool for desktop and server solutions, B4i - tool for iOS apps and B4R - tool for Arduino / ESP8266 programs. B4J and B4R are also free.
    There are many VB developers that switched to B4X in the last couple of years.

    You are all welcomed to try it!

    https://www.b4x.com/

  2. #2
    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Norfolk UK (inbred)
    Posts
    2,223

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Will do.

  3. #3
    PowerPoster
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    24,482

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Wow, great news. The entire B4x community will benefit.

  4. #4
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    596

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Good.
    I'll give a look.

  5. #5
    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Norfolk UK (inbred)
    Posts
    2,223

    Re: B4A is now free!

    B4J is slow to operate and requires a fairly powerful CPU to run.

  6. #6
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    596

    Re: B4A is now free!

    I just created a small app, made it working on my Android phone, but no way to install the apk to test the true deployment.
    Appart that, seems very interesting, and already have project in mind (once I have made a POC of deployment)

  7. #7

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    B4J is slow to operate and requires a fairly powerful CPU to run.
    Any computer with 4gb+ RAM can run the IDE.

    I just created a small app, made it working on my Android phone, but no way to install the apk to test the true deployment.
    Not sure that I understand. If you ran the app on your device then an APK file was created. If you want to distribute the APK you need to switch from DEBUG mode to RELEASE.

  8. #8
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    596

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Hi Erel, great you post also here.
    I am still investigating, and learning.
    I have in mind, trying to find a way to make communication between a VB6 app, and an Android App through the web. Maybe using http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...her-Web-Server to send/recieve data, and synchronize.

    For the deployment of the apk, I still need to test again, as I am still learning

  9. #9

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    You can use OkHttpUtils2 to communicate with http servers.

    https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/th...79345/#content

    Lower level communication is explained here: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/th...72149/#content

  10. #10
    PowerPoster
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    West Virginia
    Posts
    14,205

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber View Post
    B4J is slow to operate and requires a fairly powerful CPU to run.
    I only played around with B4J a short while but I saw no issues running it on my system and I was using the slowest PC in my office for the test. I am thinking you must have a pretty slow system or lacking ram.

    I purchased B4A a couple of years back and wrote some apps in it. Works great with the exception of the emulators being very slow on an AMD CPU. No problem for me as I just hooked my tablet or phone up to it and did not use the emulator. Works very well with an actual device either USB connected or wireless.

  11. #11

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Works great with the exception of the emulators being very slow on an AMD CPU
    Note that the emulator is part of Android SDK and it is indeed unusable with AMD CPU.

    I recommend to use a real device and only turn to the emulator for specific tests.

  12. #12
    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Norfolk UK (inbred)
    Posts
    2,223

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Just the same system I use for VB6 development, one that is lightning fast with the VB6 IDE and very quick when compiling some fairly hefty programs,

    A core2duo laptop, 2.7ghz, 4gb RAM and an SSD plus a 1tb HD, so not quick but certainly man enough for VB6 development.

    The point is that B4A is slow in comparison to the IDE that it purports to be a potential replacement for.

    Of course I could buy a faster machine for it but my comment still stands.

  13. #13

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    A core2duo laptop, 2.7ghz, 4gb RAM and an SSD plus a 1tb HD, so not quick but certainly man enough for VB6 development.

    The point is that B4A is slow in comparison to the IDE that it purports to be a potential replacement for.
    Increasing the RAM to 8gb will make a big difference.

    B4X mission is not to replace VB6. B4X is a cross platform RAD tool.
    As both VB6 and B4X are good RAD tools, many VB6 developers switch to B4X.

  14. #14
    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Norfolk UK (inbred)
    Posts
    2,223

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by Erel View Post
    Increasing the RAM to 8gb will make a big difference.
    Unfortunately that isn't an option on my VB6 development laptop.

    Quote Originally Posted by Erel View Post
    B4X mission is not to replace VB6.
    Then honestly? It isn't interesting to me (and many other VB6ers?) unless it does exactly that. The cross platform thing being an essential draw to moving but if it doesn't attempt to replace VB6 then I might as well go anywhere else. There are many other alternatives (NSBasic, RealBasic/XOJO, FreeBasic &c). The transition needs to avoid the bumps in doing so.

    The points for me are familiarity, functionality, effectiveness and improvement. Speed of operation makes it efficient and VB6 has that for me already. The slowdown of B4X is the same instant turn off that I can receive from VS.

    As I said I can always upgrade my hardware to use your software but ... well, do you see?

  15. #15

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Then honestly? It isn't interesting to me (and many other VB6ers?)
    That's completely acceptable.

    After 10 years, with more than 100k developers in the B4X community, I can say to other developers who might be interested that there are many VB6 developers who migrated to B4X, and you are all welcome to try it. It is even free now.

  16. #16
    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Norfolk UK (inbred)
    Posts
    2,223

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by Erel View Post
    That's completely acceptable.
    Well that's good then. Always good to push your hand to the face of those that offer feedback and say that in effect they aren't wanted.

    When you offer a solution to a community that might want what you offer it is better to listen to the feedback if you don't want to alienate them.

    Next time, I might suggest, when responding to VB6ers feedback, perhaps state "we are listening and we'll see what we can do to ensure it fits some of the requirements of a VB6 user, it is not our stated aim to emulate the VB6 environment completely but we can listen to the feedback and perhaps respond in time if the feedback is consistent."

    I am guessing you aren't a salesman.

  17. #17

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Don't get me wrong. I completely understand your point and respect it. B4X is not built as a VB6 replacement. You said that this makes it not interesting for you and I accept it.
    Still it can be interesting to other developers who maybe want to target Android or iOS for example.
    Last edited by Erel; Mar 5th, 2020 at 09:18 AM.

  18. #18
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    596

    Re: B4A is now free!

    On my side, I can see a great advantage in B4X, that will be a advantage for my softwares, but need time to develop everything. And Time is a big lack for the moment

  19. #19
    PowerPoster
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    West Virginia
    Posts
    14,205

    Re: B4A is now free!

    I needed to develop some apps for android and looked at several tools to do the job before trying B4A. I was impressed at just how easy it was to get up and running with it. Naturally I still use VB6 for stuff VB6 makes sense for, I also use VB.Net and other tools depending on the task at hand but B4A is the easiest one I have used for Android apps.

    The system I tried B4J on does have 8gb ram and it worked fine on it. The one I used for B4A is a newer system with 16gb ram.

  20. #20
    New Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Posts
    1

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber View Post
    The cross platform thing being an essential draw to moving but if it doesn't attempt to replace VB6 then I might as well go anywhere else. There are many other alternatives (NSBasic, RealBasic/XOJO, FreeBasic &c). The transition needs to avoid the bumps in doing so.

    The points for me are familiarity, functionality, effectiveness and improvement. Speed of operation makes it efficient and VB6 has that for me already. The slowdown of B4X is the same instant turn off that I can receive from VS.

    As I said I can always upgrade my hardware to use your software but ... well, do you see?
    i used VB6 for many years, it was my very first programming language

    but now it's Mobile phones time

    i used NSBasic,XOJO,FreeBasic and B4X

    NSBasic creates Web-based apps using Phonegab not real native apps

    XOJO is great but it doesn't create Android apps and expensive

    Freebasic only for Windows,Linux and embedded systems

    B4X creates real native apps for Windows,Mac,Linux,Android,iOS and embedded systems


    B4X may not be the fastest IDE but honestly it create the fastest apps

  21. #21
    Ex-Super Mod RobDog888's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    LA, Calif. Raiders #1 AKA:Gangsta Yoda™
    Posts
    60,710

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Too bad its just VB based syntax. I'll stick with Xamarin. I read that the average app size is 100K, thats quite large. < 100K is what is recommended by the app stores no?
    VB/Office Guru™ (AKA: Gangsta Yoda®)
    I dont answer coding questions via PM. Please post a thread in the appropriate forum.

    Microsoft MVP 2006-2011
    Office Development FAQ (C#, VB.NET, VB 6, VBA)
    Senior Jedi Software Engineer MCP (VB 6 & .NET), BSEE, CET
    If a post has helped you then Please Rate it!
    Reps & Rating PostsVS.NET on Vista Multiple .NET Framework Versions Office Primary Interop AssembliesVB/Office Guru™ Word SpellChecker™.NETVB/Office Guru™ Word SpellChecker™ VB6VB.NET Attributes Ex.Outlook Global Address ListAPI Viewer utility.NET API Viewer Utility
    System: Intel i7 6850K, Geforce GTX1060, Samsung M.2 1 TB & SATA 500 GB, 32 GBs DDR4 3300 Quad Channel RAM, 2 Viewsonic 24" LCDs, Windows 10, Office 2016, VS 2019, VB6 SP6

  22. #22

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    I read that the average app size is 100K, thats quite large. < 100K is what is recommended by the app stores no?
    No. You are confusing 100MB = 100 megabytes with 100KB = 100 kilobytes. 100KB is very small.

    The real size of a B4A app depends on many factors and is likely to be a bit larger however it will still be much smaller than a similar app developed with Xamarin.

  23. #23
    Fanatic Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Posts
    596

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Erel, have you seen my PM?

  24. #24

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Now I saw and replied.
    Last edited by Erel; Mar 11th, 2020 at 03:42 AM. Reason: Duplicate post

  25. #25
    Ex-Super Mod RobDog888's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    LA, Calif. Raiders #1 AKA:Gangsta Yoda™
    Posts
    60,710

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by Erel View Post
    No. You are confusing 100MB = 100 megabytes with 100KB = 100 kilobytes. 100KB is very small.

    The real size of a B4A app depends on many factors and is likely to be a bit larger however it will still be much smaller than a similar app developed with Xamarin.
    I do know the byte sizes lol. Come on really?

    VB/Office Guru™ (AKA: Gangsta Yoda®)
    I dont answer coding questions via PM. Please post a thread in the appropriate forum.

    Microsoft MVP 2006-2011
    Office Development FAQ (C#, VB.NET, VB 6, VBA)
    Senior Jedi Software Engineer MCP (VB 6 & .NET), BSEE, CET
    If a post has helped you then Please Rate it!
    Reps & Rating PostsVS.NET on Vista Multiple .NET Framework Versions Office Primary Interop AssembliesVB/Office Guru™ Word SpellChecker™.NETVB/Office Guru™ Word SpellChecker™ VB6VB.NET Attributes Ex.Outlook Global Address ListAPI Viewer utility.NET API Viewer Utility
    System: Intel i7 6850K, Geforce GTX1060, Samsung M.2 1 TB & SATA 500 GB, 32 GBs DDR4 3300 Quad Channel RAM, 2 Viewsonic 24" LCDs, Windows 10, Office 2016, VS 2019, VB6 SP6

  26. #26
    Addicted Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    235

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber View Post
    Well that's good then. Always good to push your hand to the face of those that offer feedback and say that in effect they aren't wanted.

    When you offer a solution to a community that might want what you offer it is better to listen to the feedback if you don't want to alienate them.

    Next time, I might suggest, when responding to VB6ers feedback, perhaps state "we are listening and we'll see what we can do to ensure it fits some of the requirements of a VB6 user, it is not our stated aim to emulate the VB6 environment completely but we can listen to the feedback and perhaps respond in time if the feedback is consistent."

    I am guessing you aren't a salesman.
    I think you got completely the wrong end of the stick there. You said you weren't interested and Erel said that's OK,
    i.e., he wasn't taking offence at your rejection of his offering.
    FWIW, I think that Erel is a really helpful guy and an awesome developer. Along with Erel there are a lot of very helpful
    contributors on the forum there who have been nothing but kind and supportive to newcomers like me.
    I use both b4a and b4j on my 4GB RAM machine and I don't see it being noticeably slower than VB6, my vb6 project is way
    way bigger, admittedly, than anything I've written in the other two.
    What I do find slow on my under-powered machine is any version of vb.net. I kind of expect that because of my machine not being up it.
    If I could move my large vb6 project over to b4j easily then I would in a heartbeat. I'm worried about what the future holds for vb6 products
    and the B4X community is the one place I've been outside vb6 where I feel that a not very good programmer like me would get the support they need to
    get things done.

  27. #27
    Addicted Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    235

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by RobDog888 View Post
    I do know the byte sizes lol. Come on really?

    I have a couple of simple b4a products on the google play store to support my main vb6 product.
    I can't off the top of my head remember what size the apks are but I just checked one of them that's installed
    on my phone and it takes up less than 1 MB of internal storage.

  28. #28

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    FWIW, I think that Erel is a really helpful guy and an awesome developer.
    Thank you

    I will take this opportunity to share that we are working hard on helping teachers and also parents who want to use B4X to teach programming.

    There are two new resources:

    1. B4XTurtle - a library inspired by classic Logo that makes programming more visual and especially more fun:



    https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/th...arents.116979/

    2. Implementations of classic algorithms - this is intended for teaching students in high schools and universities




    https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/threads/%F0%9F%91%A9%E2%80%8D%F0%9F%8F%AB-%F0%9F%91%A8%E2%80%8D%F0%9F%8F%AB-examples-for-teachers-algorithms.115894/


    I started programming with Basic on a Commodore 64 when I was 6 years old. I hope that B4X will make programming, fun and easy for the next generation.

  29. #29

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    B4A v10.5 has been released: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/th...wnload.126164/
    A lot of progress was made in the last couple of months. Mainly with making it easier to build cross platform solutions as well as making it (much) easier to deal with Android apps complex life cycle.

    You are all welcome to try it. It is free and the framework is open source.

    Disclaimer: it is not built to be a VB6 replacement. We consider B4X to be a modern version of basic.

  30. #30
    Member Cristianlt23's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Location
    Brasil - Cidade de Uberaba
    Posts
    32

    Re: B4A is now free!

    For B4X and especially for Erel I can only say CONGRATULATIONS !!!

    I use VB.NET and am a lover of BASIC, I am considering focusing completely on B4X, the productivity gain is very large, the use of a single syntax also pleases me a lot.

    I consider B4X a very serious company and more committed to the developer, a condition that developing VB6 and VB.NET never had with Microsoft.

    I'm feeling a lot of security in the whole B4X team and especially in Erel, who is super professional and attentive, I don't believe that the DEV B4X will have the same fate as the VB.NET developer with Microsoft.

    I can only say gratitude.

  31. #31

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Thank you for this great feedback

  32. #32
    Software Carpenter dee-u's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Pinas
    Posts
    11,123

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Cool, I'll try it!
    Regards,


    As a gesture of gratitude please consider rating helpful posts. c",)

    Some stuffs: Mouse Hotkey | Compress file using SQL Server! | WPF - Rounded Combobox | WPF - Notify Icon and Balloon | NetVerser - a WPF chatting system

  33. #33

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Material for a complete, 60 hours, programming course, using B4X is available for free: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/th...chools.127575/

    More information here: https://www.b4x.com/teach.html

  34. #34
    Member Cristianlt23's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Location
    Brasil - Cidade de Uberaba
    Posts
    32

    Re: B4A is now free!

    Quote Originally Posted by Erel View Post
    Material for a complete, 60 hours, programming course, using B4X is available for free: https://www.b4x.com/android/forum/th...chools.127575/

    More information here: https://www.b4x.com/teach.html
    Fantastic, thank you so much for your dedication!

  35. #35
    PowerPoster
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    24,482

    Re: B4A is now free!

    I think B4J competes favorably with things like Python (plus a lot of bits and bobs you'll have to wire up to it in order to make usable programs with a GUI).

    The main thing it lacks is the broad range of libraries supporting Python, but new libraries for B4x come along pretty regularly. The only thing slowing this is that B4x doesn't get the level of support from universities and corporations that Python enjoys. Python has a lot of hidden cash behind it.

    But some of this is compensated for by the broad range of platforms B4x targets. ESP32 support might take it a step further, but I'm not sure how large the B4R community is.


    Of course we're here in Mobile Development so I won't drag the thread off topic any further.

  36. #36

    Thread Starter
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    41

    Re: B4A is now free!

    ESP32 support might take it a step further, but I'm not sure how large the B4R community is.
    Note that ESP32 is supported now by B4R.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  



Click Here to Expand Forum to Full Width