[ANN] Dabo 0.2 Released

[Ed Leafe]

We are pleased to announce Dabo 0.2, the second major release of our 
data application framework. The Dabo framework is a true 3-tier design, 
with data access and UI code separated from your business logic. And 
since it's Python, and uses wxPython for its UI, it is completely 
cross-platform, having been tested on Linux, Windows and OS X.

Download from http://dabodev.com/download

The new prerequisites are:
	Python 2.3
	wxPython 2.5.2.7 or later

We are encouraged by the response we've gotten so far from our earlier 
releases - there certainly seems to be a lot of interest in creating 
cross-platform data-intensive apps! We are continuing to move forward, 
and encourage anyone who is interested to join our mailing lists:

dabo-users: for those interested in learning how to work with Dabo to 
create applications
	http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/dabo-users
dabo-dev: for those interested in the ongoing development of Dabo
	http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/dabo-dev


Here is a brief summary of what's new in Dabo 0.2:

Dabo 0.2:
Dabo now works with FireBird as well as MySQL databases. We've begun to 
add support for SQLite and PostgreSQL, but they won't be ready until 
0.3.

Database connection info is now saved with the passwords encrypted.

Abstracted out the wxPython event model, greatly simplifying the 
binding and raising of events, as well as the definition of new events 
via subclassing.

Improved unicode support.

Code for Dabo applications has gotten more Dabo-like, and less wx-like, 
as Dabo has abstracted the UI much better. For example, it is not as 
necessary to add an 'import wx' statement in your code anymore.

Added logger objects to send program output to, instead of directly to 
stdout.

Began abstraction of Tkinter at purely an experimental level.

Added some new controls, such as a better date control and a combo box.


DaboDemo 0.2:
We've created a new wizard for generating basic Dabo applications. 
Check it out at http://dabodev.com/wiki/AppWizard .

The generated apps now save their configuration in standard XML files. 
There is a new visual editor for modifying these files and previewing 
your changes. See http://dabodev.com/wiki/FieldSpecEditor for more 
information.

While Dabo is primarily aimed at creating database apps, it works great 
for apps that don't work with data, too. To illustrate this, there is 
now a game called 'Bubblet' included in the demo that is written in 
Dabo but doesn't connect to data.

Added a Python code editor and dubbed it 'dEditor', located in the 
'daboIDE' directory. This editor, based on Scintilla, features 
everything you'd expect: syntax coloring, auto-indent, zooming, line 
numbering, call tips, and auto-complete. It represents the beginning of 
an effort to bring a simple multi-platform IDE to Dabo, which will be a 
central place to work on Dabo-based projects. A project manager, a good 
set of editors (code, field specs, database definitions, report 
layouts, UI layouts, etc.), an interpreter, a debugger, and quick links 
to documentation will all be provided. It's a major undertaking; this 
is the first step in that direction.


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  Ed Leafe
  http://leafe.com/
  http://dabodev.com/