Hello Everyone,

Komodo 4.0 Beta 2 is now available. This release includes over 100 bug
fixes to Beta 1 and many new features. 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 squash more bugs.

You can download Komodo 4.0 Beta 2 at:
     http://www.activestate.com/products/komodo/beta.plex

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


Changes in Komodo 4.0 Beta 2:

- Added completion support for JavaScript libraries. Current beta
   includes support for the Yahoo YUI library. Support for MochiKit, Dojo
   and others will follow.
- Middle-click on tabs closes them
- GUIBuilder has been removed from Komodo. GUIBuilder will be released as
   open source before Komodo 4 goes final. Stay tuned for more
   information.
- Ruby completion improvements
- PHP completion improvements (notably recursive include/require support)
- Python completion improvements (notably Tkinter support improved)
- JavaScript completion improvements
- Improved support for HTML in DOMViewer and completion
- Added default DTD/namespace support for HTML/XML completion.  DTD
   default can be set globally, default namespace can be set in current
   file settings dialog.
- Preloading of codeintel data to provide faster response in completion
- xdebug binaries for PHP 5.2 now included
- Updated Mozilla code base to the same base that Firefox 2 was built on.
- mod_perl debugging documentation
- YAML syntax highlighting


Bug Fixes in Komodo 4.0 Beta 2:

- Syntax highlighting configuration fixes
- Vi Emulation: fixed repeat support
- Some crashes fixed when using unicode characters in buffers
- PHP syntax highlighting fixes
- javascript debugger extension installs properly into firefox 2
- issues around opening sftp files
- changing some prefs in current file settings fixed
- various fixes in preferences
- various fixes in the DOMViewer
- file reload when file is dirty fixed
- fixes in drag and drop support in toolbox
- various cosmetic fixes
- Python interactive shell fixes
- various code browser/completion fixes for multi-language buffers
- fixed parsing docbook dtd files
- fixed leaks in plugin and PyXPCOM layers
- project template fixes
- to see all bugs resolved in the beta 2 development period:
   http://tinyurl.com/y3bhlj


Known Issues:

- The Object Browser has been temporarily removed in this release. A
   very similar 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.


Major New Features in Komodo 4.0:

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.

- 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.

- Schema-based XML/HTML autocomplete and calltips: Komodo now supports
   autocomplete and calltips support for XML and HTML based on DTD or
   RelaxNG schemas. SGML and XML Catalogs are supported.

- DOM Viewer: A new pane 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.

- 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.


Licensing

- Komodo 4.0 Beta 2 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/Beta installations should be removed.


Enjoy,
Trent Mick

-- 
Trent Mick
trentm@activestate.com