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Issue 1.2

REVIEW

MonkeyBread Software Plugin

Issue: 1.2 (October/November 2002)
Author: Greg Fiumara
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 4,167
Starting Page Number: 9
Article Number: 1105
Related Link(s): None

Excerpt of article text...

When using REALbasic, one comes to expect compatibility. Programmers can use REALbasic on Mac OS 8.1 through Mac OS X v10.2 without too much hassle. They can compile programs with ease for PPC Macs up to Carbon compatible Macs, and even for Windows XP. Yet, there comes a time in each programmer's career that a tool they use cannot perform as well as they need it to. That's where the MonkeyBread Software plugin comes in, and it doesn't disappoint. Not only does it add well over 900 functions to REALbasic, but it has countless examples and several different options when it comes to online help.

When you sit down and look at this plugin and ponder its functions, you begin to realize that you could use all of them to make a successful application. For instance, the MBS plugin has a SpecialFolders function that points to various special directories around a user's hard drive (REALbasic features some, but lacks many). Using these functions, you could build a cross-platform installer program. Along with that, many of the extra open-source programs that MBS includes with this plugin can be used for installers. One called RuntimeLib removes or adds the runtime library from REALbasic programs. This can be useful when creating an installer for multiple programs, allowing you to save anywhere from 1 MB and up per file! There is another program called AppinApp, which can add or remove a file from another file. This is extremely useful for installers and uninstallers. Finally, there is an open-source credit card validation program included. Adding this feature, you could build an installer program for a shareware device, and at the end of the installation have the user enter her credit card number, validate it, and then send it to you or your payment company where the shareware fee could be deducted.

So now that you have used the MBS plugin to make an installer...what are you going to install with it? How about Dreamweaver's ultimate rival? Another function-packed area of the MBS plugin is the HTML Viewer. The example provided with the plugin shows an interface similar to that of Dreamweaver MX. It features live rendering (WYSIWYG), support for graphics, styles, and much more. With a little creativity, one could easily turn the example into a full-featured shareware, or even commercial, HTML editor. There is also an open-source HTML browser included.

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