Authored by Ed Price
Microsoft Small Basic 1.2 Release Notes
Microsoft Small Basic 1.2 includes Kinect for Small Basic, which introduces three new Kinect objects! It also includes the Lego Mindstorms EV3 extension (EV3 Basic), expands the Dictionary object to translate in 7 languages, fixes the Dictionary object bug, and fixes another 7 crash and error bugs. It also features updated UI text for 15 languages! If you use Windows XP, please see Download Microsoft Small Basic for information about how to download Small Basic 1.0.
System Requirements :
2. EV3 Basic: Lego Mindstorms EV3 Extension - As a separate download, we're proud to partner with EV3 Basic to offer this extension built specifically for Small Basic 1.2. It includes 10 new objects and extends Small Basic to help teach actual text-based programming to Lego Mindstorms EV3 users! See Lego Mindstorms EV3 extension for Small Basic - EV3 Basic!!! Download EV3 Basic on GitHub . Here are the full EV3 Basic release notes and documentation .
We expanded our support to these languages:
EnglishToGerman, GermanToEnglish
EnglishToItalian, ItalianToEnglish
EnglishToJapanese, JapaneseToEnglish
EnglishToKorean, KoreanToEnglish
EnglishToSimplifiedChinese, SimplifiedChineseToEnglish
EnglishToTraditionalChinese, TraditionalChineseToEnglish
EnglishToSpanish, SpanishToEnglish
Here is an English to French example:
Here is a Chinese to English example:
- Dictionary Object (1.0-12) - The Dictionary site changed their API, which broke the Dictionary Object for Small Basic 1.0 and 1.1. This has been fixed for Small Basic 1.2. You can confirm the bug has been fixed with this new sample ( DJT869-0 ):
- Language Improvements - We made thorough reviews and updated the UI text for these languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), and Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. We also had some logged errors that were fixed in this pass:
- Hebrew Errors (1.0-D03) - Hebrew translation errors in the IDE are fixed.
- French Errors (1.0-D05, D06, D07) - French translation errors in the IDE are fixed.
- Japanese Errors (1.0-D01, D12-D28) - Japanese translation errors in the IDE are fixed.
- GraphicsWindow.GetPixel Crash (1.0-14) - In Small Basic 1.0/1.1, the GraphicsWindow.GetPixel method crashed if the coordinates were outside the window (such as x < 0). This crash is eliminated in 1.2.
- Turtle.Show() Issue (1.0-02) - In Small Basic 1.0/1.1, the Turtle.Show() method didn't show the Turtle after you used GraphicsWindow.Clear() or Turtle.Hide(). This has been fixed for 1.2. In this new sample, we include the CS (clear screen) command in a Turtle Graphics program ( XVK119-5 ):
- TextWindow.Show Crash (1.0-15) - In Small Basic 1.0/1.1, hiding and showing a TextWindow crashed Windows 8.1 and deleted content from Windows 7. This crash is eliminated in 1.2.
- Setup Needs .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (1.1-01) - In Small Basic 1.1, Small Basic Setup (SmallBasic.en_us.msi) requires you to have.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed. This is inconsistent because Small Basic v1.1 moves to the requirement of .NET Framework 4.5 instead. This has been fixed for 1.2.
- Shapes.AddText() Error (1.0-05) - In Small Basic 1.0/1.1, if you use the Shapes.AddText() method at the top of your program, Small Basic shows an exception thrown by the target. The exception is no longer thrown in 1.2.
- Math Object Crashes (1.0-03) - In Small Basic 1.0/1.1, various Math object errors caused unhandled exceptions. The crashes were fixed for 1.2.
- Divide by Zero Produces Zero (1.0-22) - In 1.0/1.1, if you divide by zero (0), you get the result of zero (0), even though in math this isn't possible (and should result in an error). In 1.2, you receive an error when you attempt to divide by zero.
- IDE Documentation Updates - We made several improvements to keep the documentation in the UI as accurate as possible:
- Math.Floor and Math.Ceiling (1.0-D04) - Clarified how these return the largest integer.
- Controls.Add*() Methods (1.0-D08) - Updated to mention how they require the position coordinates not the width/height.
- Network Object (1.0-D09) - Clarified that it is a helper class, not a private helper.
- Sound.PlayMusic (1.0-D10) - Updated MML to write out as Music Macro Language.
- Windows XP - Due to the upgrade to .NET Framework 4.5, Small Basic 1.1/1.2 does not work on Windows XP and older operating systems. We will continue to offer Small Basic 1.0 for users of Windows XP and older operating systems.
- Extensions - All extensions built for Small Basic 1.0 and 1.1 will need to be recompiled on Small Basic 1.2 and re-released.
- .NET Framework 4.5 - We upgraded to .NET Framework 4.5 from 3.5. Although this causes some breaking changes (see below), it's necessary in order to build out new objects that take advantage of new devices, operating systems, and capabilities.
- Modernized UX: Controls - The design of the program controls (button, scroll bar, arrows on the control bar) in the GraphicsWindow is now flat/modernized. This includes blue and dark gray borders around the text boxes. And the window title font is also updated.
- Language Downloads - You can now directly download your language from the Download Center. See the Download Center Page .
- Flickr Object (1.0-17) - Flickr changed their API, which broke the Flickr Object. This has been fixed for Small Basic 1.1 and higher.
- Find + Arrow Keys Crash (1.0-21) - In 1.0, the Small Basic environment hangs up (shows "Not Responding") when pushing arrow keys while text finding when you have multiple edit windows open. This issue is fixed in 1.1 and can no longer be reproduced.
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