Austin, Texas-based company Real Software has released the next version of its eponymously named Real Studio product. This object-oriented software tool for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and web development now contains 42 new features and 184 improvements.
The company says its new product is engineered to be inherently more cross platform with its new HTML5 features like WebSockets, geolocation, and WebMoviePlayer, as well as JSON support. These enhancements arguably give Real Studio 2011 Release 2 developers better tools to communicate with online services like Google, Flickr, and Twitter.
"We are continuing to improve our web framework with HTML5 GeoLocation and video features, giving Real Studio developers more capabilities for richer and increasingly dynamic solutions," said Geoff Perlman, founder and CEO of Real Software. "These, combined with WebSockets and JSON support, give Real Studio users the tools they need for faster, more powerful software development."
As previously stated, new in this iteration of Real Studio is WebSockets. As defined by http://websocket.org/, "The WebSocket specification — developed as part of the HTML5 initiative — introduced the WebSocket JavaScript interface, which defines a full-duplex single socket connection over which messages can be sent between client and server. The WebSocket standard simplifies much of the complexity around bi-directional web communication and connection management."
Real Software says that use of WebSockets allows for a direct connection between the browser and the app in a way that is more efficient than HTTP/AJAX. Apps should scale better and be more responsive (especially on iOS and Android). Because WebSockets are only supported by Safari and Chrome, Real Studio created apps will still work with other browsers using HTTP/AJAX as they do today. Currently, WebSockets are only supported for standalone web apps, not CGI web apps.
Also new in this release is WebMapViewer control: a function that allows developers to create interactive mapping applications using Google Maps. There is also geolocation via the WebDeviceLocation class, which accesses the HTML5 geolocation capabilities in compatible browsers.
Also included here is JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) support, an essential tool in making external, online services work. The protocol is a way to represent objects as a string so they can be transmitted across the Internet. Beta support for Cocoa is also nearly complete.
