Lazarus 1.6 - 2nd Release Candidate

[Martin_fr]

The Lazarus team is glad to announce the second release candidate of Lazarus 1.6.

This release was built with FPC 3.0.0.
The previous release Lazarus 1.4.4 was built with FPC 2.6.4.

Here is the list of fixes for Lazarus 1.6:
http://wiki.freepascal.org/Lazarus_1.6_fixes_branch

Here is the list of changes for Lazarus and Free Pascal:
http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Lazarus_1.6.0_release_notes
http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/User_Changes_3.0.0

The release is available for download on SourceForge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lazarus/files/

Choose your CPU, OS, distro and then the "Lazarus 1.6RC2" directory.

Checksums for the SourceForge files:
http://www.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?page=checksums#1_6_0RC2

Minimum requirements:

Windows:       
  98, 2k, XP, Vista, 7, 32 or 64bit.
  Win98 and WinNT IDE needs FPC 2.6.4 and building with flag -dWIN9XPLATFORM.
               
FreeBSD/Linux:
  gtk 2.8 or qt4.5, 32 or 64bit.

Mac OS X:
  10.5 to 10.11, LCL only 32bit, non LCL apps can be 64bit.

The svn tag is
http://svn.freepascal.org/svn/lazarus/tags/lazarus_1_6_RC2

== Why should everybody (including you) test the release candidate? ==

In the past weeks the Lazarus team has stabilized the 1.6 fixes branch.
The resulting 1.6RC2 is now stable enough to be used by any one for
test purposes.

However many of the fixes and new features that where committed since the release of 1.4 required changes to the code of existing features too. While we have tested those ourself, there may still be problems that only occur with very specific configurations or one project in a million.

Yes, it may be that you are the only person with a project, that will not work in the new IDE. So if you do not test, we can not fix it.

Please do not wait for the final release, in order to test. It may be too late. Once the release is out we will have to be more selective about which fixes can be merged for further 1.6.x releases. So it may be, that we can not merge the fix you require. And then you will miss out on all the new features.

== How to test ==

Download and install the 1.6RC2.
- On Windows you can install as a 2ndary install, that will not affect your current install:
  http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Multiple_Lazarus#Installation_of_multiple_Lazarus
- On other platforms, if you install to a new location you need to use --primary-config-path

In either case you should make backups. (including your primary config)

Open your project in the current Lazarus (1.4.x), and use "Publish Project" from the project menu. This creates a clean copy of your project.

You can then open that copy in the RC2. Please test:
- If you can edit forms in the designer
   - rename components / change properties in Object inspector / Add new events
   - Add components to form / Move components on form
   - Frames, if you use them
- If you can navigate the source code (e.g. jump to implementation)
- Auto completion in source code
- Compile, debug and run
- Anything else you use in your daily work

[JuhaManninen]

A note about the Sparta docked form designer. The package is included
in 1.6 release but unfortunately it is not stable there. Many of its
bugs are widgetset dependent.
It has been improved in trunk already by Maciej and Ondrej but it
required changes also in LCL and in source editor. Such changes have a
risk of introducing regressions and could not be merged to 1.6.
AnchorDocking package also got many improvements but is still not perfect.
These features will be improved in trunk and released later (maybe
Lazarus 2.0). There may be other Sparta packages baking, too, and a
new menu designer works already well in trunk.

What if somebody wants to use the docked form designer but is hit by its bugs?
Then he must use trunk, a selected "sweet spot" revision like always
with new features.
Copying the Sparta package from trunk is not enough.
Also bug reports about this feature should be done after testing trunk instead of 1.6 release.

Anyway the new 1.6 release is surely justified and packs lots of goodies:
- FPC 3.0 with all its improvements.
- Improved UTF-8 system.
- Configurable IDE Coolbar
- Desktops feature
- Plenty of smaller improvements around. Read the release notes.

[FTurtle]

There is no '1.6RC2' in 'Product Version' list at bugtracker.

[motaz]

I get this when I tried to open sourceforge page:

ERROR
The request could not be satisfied.
The Amazon CloudFront distribution is configured to block access from your country.

Generated by cloudfront (CloudFront)
Request ID: 1kgdo0O7td23ZodieyG8Cobs0nCNH4v0Mj8rPQ4mRnCq4gENCNRhVg==

What is CloudFront anyway

I have downloaded RC1 previously.

[motaz]

It seems that the entire site (sourceforge.net) is closed from Sudan

[Martin_fr]

I don't know the error message. Maybe google.

Sourceforge is known to block some countries. We offer alternative download servers for that.
The links to them are however missing in the announcement.

ftp://freepascal.dfmk.hu/pub/lazarus/releases/
http://michael-ep3.physik.uni-halle.de/Lazarus/releases/
http://mirrors.iwi.me/lazarus/

There may sometimes be a lag in synchronization.

You can check your downloads against http://www.lazarus-ide.org/index.php?page=checksums#1_6_0RC2

[motaz]

Martin, Thanks for alternative link, it works

[engkin]

[snipped...]
Please test:
- If you can edit forms in the designer
   - rename components / change properties in Object inspector / Add new events
[snipped...]

Using MS Windows:
Drop a button on a form
Hit F11 to move the focus to the Object Inspector window
Use your keyboard to move to Default property (or any Boolean property)
Use your keyboard to move to any Boolean property.

It seems that the focus in Object Inspector moves past Boolean properties on [arrow] key up event. Using the mouse, I can select any property with no problem.

Am I the only person having this issue?

Edit:
Thanks to FTurtle, corrected the sentence to reduce confusion.

[JuhaManninen]

Use your keyboard to move to Default property (or any Boolean property)

What do you mean by Default property?

It seems that the focus in Object Inspector moves past Boolean properties on [arrow] key up event. Using the mouse, I can select any property with no problem.
Am I the only person having this issue?

No you are not! Very strange behavior. It does not even depend on widgetset.
I can reproduce it with Boolean properties when using the TCheckBoxThemed editor, which the default editor now. It does not happen with the normal TCheckBox editor, nor with the old TCombobox editor.
Why did I not notice it earlier? ...
When there are 2 consecutive Booleans, focus stops at the second one. Only the first one is skipped.

A workaround is to either select the TCombobox editor or compile the IDE with define UseOINormalCheckBox.

Blaazen, are you reading this? Any idea why TCheckBoxThemed affects the key presses?
Anyway I will look at this during the weekend.

[FTurtle]

Unlike many other controls checkboxes handle arrows own for select next/previous control. The problem somewhere here.

[engkin]

Use your keyboard to move to Default property (or any Boolean property)

What do you mean by Default property?

Check the attached image.

It seems that the focus in Object Inspector moves past Boolean properties on [arrow] key up event. Using the mouse, I can select any property with no problem.
Am I the only person having this issue?

No you are not!

Thank you!

[FTurtle]

Use your keyboard to move to Default property (or any Boolean property)

So, this phrase should look like:
"Use your keyboard to move to any Boolean property"

[Bart]

Using MS Windows:
Drop a button on a form
Hit F11 to move the focus to the Object Inspector window
Use your keyboard to move to Default property (or any Boolean property)

Yep, same in trunk (only tested Windows).

Reported as issue #29406.

Bart

[engkin]

Use your keyboard to move to Default property (or any Boolean property)

So, this phrase should look like:
"Use your keyboard to move to any Boolean property"

Yes, indeed. Just edited that post to make it clearer. Thanks.

Using MS Windows:
Drop a button on a form
Hit F11 to move the focus to the Object Inspector window
Use your keyboard to move to Default property (or any Boolean property)

Yep, same in trunk (only tested Windows).

Reported as issue #29406.

Thank you!

[JuhaManninen]

Unlike many other controls checkboxes handle arrows own for select next/previous control. The problem somewhere here.

The normal CheckBox seems to work OK. You can verify by building the IDE with -dUseOINormalCheckBox.
TCheckBoxThemed is a custom drawn control made by Blaazen. Its benefit as a property editor is that the same code can draw the actual active editor and the inactive "fake" checkboxes, thus making them identical.
When using a normal checkbox, "fake" checkboxes are drawn using theme service and the result is slightly different.