Hello Everyone,

We are excited to announce the release of Komodo 4.0 Beta 1.  This beta
release is the culmination of several months' work on new features, bug
fixes, and infrastructure changes.  Our current plans are to have a
final release in early 2007, with one or two more Beta releases as we
further refine the user experience, fine tune the Code Intelligence
features, improve performance and yes, squash more bugs.  We will also
have some further announcements around Komodo 4.0 in the near future.

You can download Komodo 4.0 Beta 1 at:
     http://downloads.activestate.com/Komodo/

Note that this build is of beta quality and hence not recommended for
full daily use.


New in Komodo 4.0 Beta 1

There are so many new and exciting features, we hardly know how to list
them all!  In no important order at all, here's a preview of the new
features and improvements in Komodo 4.0.

- Vi Emulation: Modal keybindings which emulate the navigation, text
   insertion and command behavior of Vi. Custom commands can be
   implemented by adding Komodo macros to a Vi Commands Toolbox folder.

- HTTP Inspector: An interface for examining HTTP requests and responses
   as they happen. It runs a local proxy which intercepts HTTP traffic
   and records each transaction, which can then be viewed. The Inspector
   can break on a request or response, which can then be edited and
   submitted or re-submitted in its modified form.

- SFTP and SCP: Komodo now supports access to remote files via SFTP and
   SCP.  Saved password information for all remote servers is stored
   securely in Mozilla's native password manager, or you can use a key
   agent to manage your secure authentications.

- JavaScript Debugging: Komodo now offers JavaScript debugging using the
   Firefox web browser and the JavaScript DBGP extension. With the
   extension enabled, loading JavaScript or triggering JavaScript
   controls in the browser window opens a debugging session in Komodo,
   which loads the relevant JavaScript code.

- JavaScript Interactive Shell: An interactive shell for manipulating
   JavaScript code is now available within JavaScript debugging sessions.
   This shell is similar in functionality to the other interactive shells
   in Komodo.

- Redesigned Code Intelligence backend: reimplementation of PHP, Python,
   Perl, Ruby, JavaScript, XML and CSS Code Intelligence support.  The
   Code Intelligence system is the backend for many of Komodo's features,
   such as autocomplete, calltips and the code browser.

- PHP "Zero Configuration": It has no User Interface, and you will never
   see it do anything, but it will make debugging PHP with Komodo easier
   than ever before!

- Live Folders: Komodo projects now offer Live Folders which display
   current filesystem contents.  Live folders also provide some basic
   file management, including the ability to show the current file or
   folder in your regular file manager.  The previous folder behavior is
   still available; these folders are now referred to as "Virtual
   Folders" in the documentation.

- Live Import: Projects can now automatically act as a Live Folder,
   importing, displaying and updating the contents of the base directory
   specified when it is created. Project-specific Directory Import
   preferences define which files and directories to include. New
   projects use Live Import by default.

- Project Settings: Many new settings are available for project specific
   tasks, such as include paths for various languages and debugging
   settings.

- XML/HTML Autocomplete and CallTips: Komodo now supports AutoComplete
   and CallTips support for XML and HTML based on DTD or RelaxNG Schema.
   SGML and XML Catalogs are supported.

- DOM Viewer: A new tab in the Project Pane (left) shows the DOM
   structure of XML and HTML documents in a tree view. Double-clicking on
   a node in the DOM Viewer moves the cursor to the corresponding node in
   the document.

- Help Browser: Komodo now uses Mozilla's help browser for displaying
   Komodo help.

- User-Defined Languages: Komodo 4 introduces a system for adding custom
   language support called UDL (User-Defined Languages) which allows
   Komodo to properly syntax-color multi-language files and templated
   files common in many web programming frameworks.  We use UDL to
   provide better support for RHTML, Template-Toolkit, HTML-Mason,
   Smarty, Django and Luddite (the language used to develop new UDL).

- Project Templates: Projects templates can be created and used when
   creating a new project. They are a great way to add new functionality
   for project-specific needs, such as rsync, Rails and more.

- SCC History: A new option has been added to the Source Control menu
   which displays the revision history of a file. You can compare (diff)
   two selected revisions from the list, or select one and compare it to
   the local copy.

- XPI Extension Support:  Komodo supports the installation of extensions
   using the same technologies that Firefox uses.  A short FAQ that
   describes the creation of a simple "Hello World" extension is
   available at support.activestate.com.


Known Issues

- The Object Browser has been temporarily removed in this release. A
   very similar, but more compelling, tool will make a reappearance in a
   later release.

- Some capabilities in autocomplete are not available in this release.
   They will be reintroduced and/or expanded in future beta releases.


Licensing

- Komodo 4.0 Beta 1 has a built-in license that will expire in six
   weeks. We'll have a new build for you to play with before then.

- This build can be installed alongside Komodo 3.x installations,
   however previous Komodo 4.0 Alpha installations should be removed.


Enjoy and Happy Halloween!,
Trent Mick

-- 
Trent Mick
trentm@activestate.com