AppStudio 9.1.0 released!

We’re pleased to announce that 9.1.0 has been released.

We’ve made an important change to the Design Screen. We had been using IE11 to drive it: we are now using the latest version of Edge. This required rewriting a lot of code in our Design Screen module - but has the benefit that it now uses the latest developments in HTML and JavaScript.

This benefits frameworks like Bootstrap 5, which are no longer compatible with IE 11.

Here’s the complete list of changes:

  1. AppStudio: Icon in top left corner now appears properly.
  2. AppStudio: Save As now copies all the files in the project directory.
  3. BS4, BS5: added disabled property to several controls
  4. BS4, BS5: added name property to several controls.
  5. BS4, BS5: Label: added blank appearance property for no styling
  6. BS5: Dropdown: added index property.
  7. BS5: Input-group: button has been added as an itemType: Buttons can be part of a group.
  8. Design Screen: Now uses Edge instead of IE to render. Should fix some BS5 issues.
  9. Docs: Add AI to your app using ChatGPT
  10. Docs: Using SQLite updated for SQLite WASM
  11. Docs: Wiki for ForEach updated.
  12. Docs: Offline wiki updated.
  13. Libraries: wxPython updated to 4.2.2
  14. Native: don’t initialize SQLite WASM if Cordova plugin is being used.
  15. Samples: ElectronWeather now shows how to do a custom icon in Electron.
  16. Samples: New ChatGPT sample
  17. Update Screen: Links to proper place in Wiki.

You can download the new release from within AppStudio or from our site .

If you have any questions about the new release, ask on our forum or support@appstudio.dev.

still need to running in exported folder or is it solved run in debug?

Not sure which issue you are referring to - can you give it a try?

Not sure if it’s just me, but after upgrading there is now no ‘GUI’ screen for design.
I can see the code but the visual screen isn’t working.
Do i need to uninstall / delete the original to transition from the IE version to Edge or something?
(i just installed over the existing)
Thanks,
Neil

Interesting… I installed the update on my old machine and it worked fine.
Not sure why my main windows PC is not showing the Design screens?

First, try Reset IDE Panels in the View menu.

If that does not work, try a complete uninstall.
Solutions to Common Problems - NSB App Studio?

Tried all that but no luck…

i notice this as a ‘known issue’

The background on the Design Screen is blank.

If you are running on a Mac using Parallels, make sure that ‘My Documents’ in Windows is not mapped to its Mac equivalent.

Now, i’m running in windows, but this looks similar to the above issue.
(Could be unrelated!!)

If you can suggest anything else? I’m running Windows Server 2022 Standard, by the way.

Thanks,
Neil

It’s unrelated to the Mac Parallels issue.

What version of Edge is on your system?

Also, in the About screen, can you check the log?

Will have to follow this up in the morning, thanks.

Good morning!
I am using Edge:

Version 129.0.2792.52 (Official build) (64-bit)

And here is the NSB/Appstudio Log (when opening the HelloWorld.project)

2024-09-25 09:37:56,936 - appstudio.editor.design - ERROR - wx.html2.WebViewBackendEdge: False
2024-09-25 09:37:56,947 - root - ERROR - An exception has occurred!
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “MainFrame.py”, line 1062, in OnStart
File “IDEController.py”, line 69, in wrapper
File “IDEController.py”, line 2389, in OpenProject
File “IDEController.py”, line 428, in AddProject
File “IDEController.py”, line 2785, in select
File “WorkPanel.py”, line 499, in do_select
File “TabbedEditor.py”, line 176, in FormEditor
File “TabbedEditor.py”, line 77, in init
File “TabbedEditor.py”, line 61, in _init_ctrls
File “appstudio\editor\design.py”, line 415, in init
File “appstudio\editor\design.py”, line 403, in _init_ctrls
wx._core.wxAssertionError: C++ assertion ““hWnd”” failed at C:\Users\runneradmin\AppData\Local\Temp\pip-req-build-xt0qxd7c\ext\wxWidgets\include\wx/msw/private.h(1069) in wxUpdateExStyleForLayoutDirection(): Can’t set layout direction for invalid window

Right, well you led the horse to water…and I drank!

Like any self respecting developer I googled the error message
( ERROR - wx.html2.WebViewBackendEdge: False), googled it and came across a solution which involved installing this :

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/?form=MA13LH#download

Once installed, i fired up Appstudio and everything is now working.
So…simply put Edge needs WebViewBackend to be installed. Not sure if it comes packaged with the Windows 11 version but not the Windows Server editions, but all now good again!
Thanks,
Neil

Excellent sleuthing! We will add this module to the next build

Hi,

One thing I have noted is that the Microsoft Edge Webview2 processes aren’t clearing when forms are being closed on the IDE. e.g. if I’m working on an app with 15 forms and I’m moving between them (sometimes leaving them open, sometimes closing them after me,) those processes are created for each form, but don’t close when I close the form on the IDE. This results in memory usage and also (it seems) high(ish) cpu usage and ultimately the IDE grinds to a halt for a minute or 2 or 3 just to catch up.

I think this used to be an issue a long time ago, but you guys managed to resolve the performance issues. Obviously with this using a new platform (Edge Webview) there may be tweaks you need to implement to get back to the smooth platform of before!

Thanks,
Neil

I just tried this here.

Each time I open a new tab with a Design Screen, another WebView2 process shows up in the Task Manager. However, when I close the tab, it goes away again.

How can I reproduce this?

Will take a look!

It might be down to my complex apps.
20+ Forms with lots of controls…

WIll report back if / when i can reproduce!