VANCOUVER, British Columbia – November 27, 2006 – We’re excited to announce the release of Komodo 4.0 Beta 2. This release includes over 100 bug fixes, plus many new features. The final release is planned for early 2007.

Download Komodo IDE 4.0 Beta 2 now.

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

New 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.
  • GUI Builder has been removed from Komodo, and will be released as open source before Komodo 4.0 is released. 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.
  • Repeat support in vi emulation.
  • Some crashes fixed when using unicode characters in buffers.
  • PHP syntax highlighting.
  • JavaScript debugger extension installs properly into Firefox 2.
  • Issues around opening SFTP files.
  • Changing some prefs in current file settings.
  • Various fixes in preferences.
  • Various fixes in the DOMViewer.
  • File reload when file is dirty fixed.
  • Drag and drop support in toolbox.
  • Various cosmetic fixes.
  • Python interactive shell.
  • Various code browser/completion fixes for multi-language buffers.
  • Parsing DocBook DTD files.
  • Leaks in plugin and PyXPCOM layers.
  • Project template.

New in Komodo 4.0 Beta

There are so many new and exciting features, we hardly know how to list them all! In no particular order, here’s a preview:

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 adirectories 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 here.

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 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 installations should be removed.
Download Komodo 4.0 Beta 2 now.