The latest version of REALbasic has been released. REALbasic 3.5 is the development environment from REAL Software, which adds support for 3D graphics, Microsoft Office automation, an internal scripting language, and more.
REALbasic is designed to allow programmers of all skill levels to develop their software with a single set of user interface elements and code to compile native applications for Macintosh, Mac OS X, and Windows without requiring any platform-specific adjustments. REAL Software released REALbasic 3.0 in February with support for Mac OS X. Several updates have followed since then.
“REALbasic 3.5 delivers on our commitment to provide two major releases per year, and we’ve worked hard to ensure that this new release takes advantage of Mac OS X,” said Geoff Perlman, President and CEO of REAL Software, in a statement.
Microsoft Office Automation opens a new arena for REALbasic developers to create custom solutions by providing access to every aspect of Office 2000/2001 and Office 10 for Mac OS X for creating and modifying Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents and components, he added. Office 10 for Mac OS X is due this fall.
“REALbasic 3.5’s Office Automation creates new opportunities for Macintosh developers,” said Michael Connolly, group program manager of the Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit. “Visual Basic developers have enjoyed this ability for some time, and now REALbasic users can as well.”
RbScript is also an integral part of REALbasic 3.5. Think of it as a REALbasic Virtual Machine inside every REALbasic application, Product Manager Lorin Rivers said. Rb3D, the new 3D engine for REALbasic, lets users program 3D graphics for games, visualization tools, graphs, and more. REALbasic’s Regular Expression engine provides industry-standard text manipulation (compatible with PERL syntax). And the new DataControl makes using REALbasic’s database features even easier, with navigation and data display functions built-in, Rivers said.
REALbasic is available for US$149.95 for the Standard Edition and $349.95 for the Professional Edition packages, direct from REAL Software. Downloadable upgrades from version 3 will range from $29.95 to $89.95. Academic and volume discounts are also available as download-only options. In addition to US English, REALbasic is available in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Japanese.
REALbasic 4.0 is in the works and should arrive early next year. Traditionally, REAL Software’s upgrade pricing has been half the of the full price. Version 4.0 will most likely be a paid upgrade, but not a full price upgrade.