Hello Samuel, (now yes! :)
Various things to be considered here! First of all, we must to consider that I am the boss, the developer, and the guy who clean the office when finish. Said that, the first AB generation accumulated around four years of developments, but the new AB2 generation only some months, so, we can expect enhancements in the new generation of the IDE in the future.
Currently the new AB support all the official Cordova plugins, and, it's not clear how to do the things in the best way in order to support other plugins too, but, for sure, we want to work on that. But, said that... do you want to get a barcode scanner working? It's curious, because the first real app that I develop with AB included (requires) a barcode scanner (a QR code scanner), and, just look here... by adding the Cordova plugin ID in the app option (phonegap-plugin-barcodescanner), we can get a barcode scanned just by copy the plugin's sample code "as is", in any event:
And we can continue with other plugins... in the same way... so, we no need to wait for an "easy way" (maybe we must say here a more easy way, because the above is not difficult, I think...). Of course, said that, we want to find the right way to add other Cordova plugins, but maybe not exactly in the same way than before, so we have some doubts.
For example, certainly the HTTP client control can be good, and, even for advanced users, because can maintain the code separated, etc. However, take a look at the below code, which made an HTTP POST call and wait for the possible response, error, etc.:
So we ask us the question... it's really needed the HTTP client control? It's really needed a Barcode control? And we are not sure about... probably yes, that is, I am not talking to avoid work or something like that, but seriously thinking in what can be the best for the IDE and for our customers too.
I personally develop apps with AB from years ago and therefore see what is missing, what is good, what can be enhanced, etc. In one of my biggest app I use around 14 or 16 Cordova plugins: I can't simply wait for the IDE to be included, in the way that I expect, etc., etc. I simply use the right Javascript code and use the plugins, which is what my customer wanted: not how I do it, but what I do it...
So certainly the first AB attemping to be sold for beginners, and maybe the new AB is intended to be used for beginners too, but, also by more or less advanced users, and, this don't means that I forget the beginners... but I want that the beginners learn Javascript, since learn is always required, I see better (for us and for the beginner) to learn a powerful language, which can be used all around the world, and not some specific "actions", that can helps, of course, but that limit what we can do.
About the DecSoft App Builder vs other possible IDEs... I am not sure what to say, because, certainly I am really focused in the project... I can compare of course with the previous generation of App Builder, and, in fact, I start to write an entire article about what is new, because, as you already know, the new DecSoft App Builder has been written from the scratch, which give us lot of chances to enhance it and do the things in better ways. So yes... maybe finally someday I can prepare an article like that... but not right now, since I must clean the office right now! ;-)
What I hope, of course, is that the users (and with a better point of view previous AB users), can see the differences... AB apps compile fast, but AB2 compiles even more fast... the IDE reactions... we can see the events of a control in 1 second in AB, but we can see it in less than 1 second in AB2... In AB we play with various modal dialogs, for example, the functions managers, that force us to work in the functions... and close the dialog to continue working in other app place... in AB2 we have docks everywhere... all the managers (functions, files, resources, languages, but also the app options, the program options) are not modals... so we can simply go from one to another in a more comfortable way, etc., etc., etc.
So, if the question is, is AB2 better than AB1? The answer is yes, of course, because, in addition to other things, we apply our experience on AB when develop AB2, not only developing the IDE... but also from the point of view of an app developer who uses these IDEs too. If the question is, on the contrary, is AB better than other IDEs that we can find out there? I don't have a right answer... probably out there are very good programs that can help to develop apps, so, we trust in our work and think that our IDE is good, and we use it activelly to develop apps, but, the final user, you, the customer, have the final word, and it's good like that.
One thing to finish: DecSoft App Builder, like all the other DecSoft products, are not limited in time nor characteristics, so the users can try the product all the time he need, and with the very latest release and features. After that, he can decide if the product is useful for him and want to purchase one or more licenses, not only to revenew our current expended work, but also to support the future development of the product.
Please, Samuel, go ahead if you have any comments, etc.
P.S. Thanks for your kindly words, Peter, you are right: see this post of mine also as a possible answer / comment also to you.
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