Version 1.6.0: Component-Injection and Shared Ownership

Changes compared to version 1.5.0:

• Upgrading an existing (pre v1.6-)ACT component to use v1.6.0 does not require a major version increment of that component:

  • The binaries created with ACT-v1.6.0 are binary compatible to binaries that have been created with ACT-v1.5.0. Since v1.6.0 requires to provide an acquiremethod (see below), the minor version of the ACT-v1.6.0-binary must be increased compared to the ACT-v1.5.0-component.

• ACT now supports shared ownership of class instances between implementation and bindings:
  Components now MUST define an acquiremethod, which acquires shared ownership of an instance.

  See the Injection-example for details.

• ACT now allows components to be injected at runtime into other components.
  This is specified via the importcomponent-element and injectionmethod-attribute in the outer component and the symbollookupmethod-attribute in the inner (injected) component. These features are OPTIONAL.
  See the Injection-example for details.

• ACT now offers the optionalclass-parameter type:
  The optionalclass-type for parameters behaves just like class, however, this instance may be empty, or null. A use case for optionalclass is e.g. a "findElementByName"-method of a list, which might or might not return a class instance.

  See the example of optionalclass for details.

• Minor improvements and bugfixes:

  • Go-bindings have been substantially improved
  • Fix C#-return values
  • Fix go-out-strings
  • ACT now avoids warnings (size_t and C4250)
  • The memory footprint of C++-error-handling has been reduced to 8 byte per class instance (vs. 32 byte before)
  • C++: strings are now passed through the interface explicitly as null-terminated strings.
  • C++-types are used more consistently
  • ACT now checks special method signatures early in the generation-process
  • Autogenerated C++-Bindings+Implementations now also work if BaseName != NameSpace

Hint: the tutorial has been updated to work with v1.6.0.

Version 1.6.0-RC1: Component-Injection and Shared Ownership

This is release candidate 1 for ACT v1.6.0. It has been deprecated.

Version 1.5.0: Overhauling C-based languages

Changes compared to version 1.4.0:

• Upgrading an existing (pre v1.5-)ACT component to use v1.5.0 does not require a major version increment of that component:
  • The binaries created with ACT-v1.5.0 are binary compatible to binaries that have been created with ACT-v1.4.0. Since v1.5.0 requires to provide an errormethod (see below), the minor version of the ACT-v1.5.0-binary must be increased compared to the ACT-v1.4.0-component.
  • Most bindings (esp. the C++) created with ACT-v1.5.0 differ substantially from the ones generated with ACT-v1.4.0. Consumers will have to adapt their code.
• Added Error Propagation:
  The error messages of internal exceptions in both C++ and Pascal-implementation are now translated into native error messages of exceptions in most binding languages. Implementers MUST implement an errormethod now (see global section).
• The C++-binding is now header-only, too, and its usage is nearly identical to the C++-dynamic header.
• All classes are now derived from a common base class. This base class MUST be explicitly specified via the baseclassname-attribute in the global-section.
  Note: This resolves the previously unmotivated/undefined class="BaseClass" in the releasemethods signature.
• C++- and Python-Bindings and the C++-Implementation now make more use of namespaces. The main change is that the names of class-, enum-, struct-, and functionpointer-definitions do not contain the NameSpace anymore. E.g. a <class name="TheClass"> ... is now called NameSpace::CTheClass instead of NameSpace::CNameSpaceTheClass (the old behavior can be resurrected by setting the classidentifier-attribute of the CPP-implementation to equal the namespace of the component.
• The C++-bindings and -Implementation now describe the thin-layer of the API using C++ terms for the simple types (e.g. enum classes).
• A scalar type pointer has been introduced (you do not have to use "uint64" for addresses anymore). It maps to a void* in C++ world. (with all the ramifications that come with that, e.g. 64/32bit dependence)
• ACT components now contain prerelease- and build-information according to https://semver.org/#spec-item-9 .
• The type="handle" has been replaced by type="class" (type="handle" still works).
• The NodeJS-bindings have been heavily improved.
• C#-bindings have been added (experimental).
• Bugfixes:
  • Fix const and noexcept specifiers in C++ exceptions
  • Fix python struct in parameter
  • Replace WIN32 with _WIN32
  • Parsing the IDL file is now more verbose and informative if errors arise
  • Fix circular dependency in Pascal implementation
  • Fix boolean return and out-values in Pascal bindings

Hint: the tutorial has been updated to work with v1.5.0.

-- DEPRECATED -- Version 1.5.0-RC2: Overhaul of C-based languages

This is release candidate 2 for ACT v1.5.0. It has been deprecated.

-- DEPRECATED -- Version 1.5.0-RC1: Overhaul of C-based languages

This is release candidate 1 for ACT v1.5.0. It has been deprecated.

Version 1.4.0: Nested Namespaces in C++

Changes compared to version 1.3.2:

• boolean values are now specified (and implemented) as 8 bit values in the C89-layer of the hourglass
• C++ implementation now uses a nested namespace SomeNameSpace::Impl to avoid potential namespace clashes with the C++ binding
• Bugfixes:
  • added missing inline specifier in dynamic C++ bindings
  • fixed structs in Pascal implementation and bindings
  • fixed raising of exceptions in Pascal implementation
  • fixed generation of Python example code

Version 1.3.2: Improvements to bindings

Changes compared to version 1.3.1:

• Improve NodeJS- and Golang-bindings (arrays, minor other improvements)
• Fixes to Python- and Pascal-bindings
• C++-dynamic bindings now separate definition from declaration (within header)

Version 1.3.1: Bugfixes

Changes compared to version 1.3.0:

• Fixed missing function-types in Pascal implementation and binding
• ACT now checks the parents of classes
• ACT now writes out a license file according to the license in the IDL-XML

Version 1.3.0

Changes compared to version 1.2.4:

• C++ bindings and implementation now use fixed size integers
• Arrays now use uint64 to encode their length
• Exceptions in C++ binding and implementation are now derived from std::exception instead of std::runtime_error
• ACT can now generate diffs between IDL-xmls via the -d switch
• the generated shared libraries on Unix export fewer symbols now
• A linux build script was added, build scripts now live in the folder Build
• Minor bugfixes in all bindings
• C++ implementation now supports the indentation attribute
• repository has been prepared for open source migration

Version 1.2.4: Pascal Implementation

Changes compared to version 1.2.0:

• Pascal Implementation stubs can now be generated (nearly feature complete)
• All autogenerated files now contain the version of ACT in their heading comment.
• Add dynamic loading of libraries in C/Cpp Dynamic under UNIX
• Other minor bugfixes and improvements to other bindings and CPP-implementation.
• Internal refactoring of indentation-handling