RAD Studio XE8 has been released by Embarcadero Technologies with support for iOS 64-bit, Universal App, Beacons and AppAnalytics. In an exclusive interview with Learnxpress, John “JT” Thomas, Senior Director, Application Development Products, Embarcadero Technologies shared more information about the features included with the latest release.
Learnxpress: Can you share with us how iOS 64-bit and Universal App Support benefit developers?
Apple requires 64-bit apps for new App Store submissions. This support allows RAD Studio developers to deliver App Store apps using Apple Universal bundles.
Learnxpress: What is the real benefit of Multi-Device Preview in RAD Studio XE8?
Rather than having to deploy to a simulator or device, developers can see exactly what a form will look like on all targeted deployment form factors all at once which is a huge time saver.
Learnxpress: Can you share with us the use of Beacons in real world scenario?
There are many examples in virtually every industry where the location or path of an object needs to be tracked. Most notably, in Retail but also beacons have been heavily utilized in Manufacturing and Industrial Automation. In retail, for example, a department store can track a customers path through their location and decide to offer a coupon to a customer based on his past behaviors.
Learnxpress: Is it necessary for a developer to pay to take advantage of AppAnalytics?
Developers get the client side component with their license and access to App Start events for free. However, in order to get reports on additional analytics there is an additional access fee based on the number of events that are stored on a monthly basis.
Learnxpress: What is the advantage of GetIt Package Manager?
The main advantage is being able to find and install 3rd party components and libraries rather than having to find and install them separately.
Learnxpress: Can you explain the features included with Enterprise Mobility Services (EMS)?
Yes, you can think of EMS as an on-premise BaaS (Backed as a Service) that is hosted within the Enterprise firewall, with features such as user authentication and management (access control), Custom REST API publishing and analytics, backend database integration with drivers for all of the major SQL databases, like Oracle, DB2, Informix, Sybase, SQL Server, and many more, and new in XE8 Push Notifications.
Learnxpress: What purpose does Castalia plug-in serve?
There are over 20 new developer productivity features added to this release centered around code editing, navigation, and analysis/statistics. This is an important set of features that can make every developer’s life easier.
Learnxpress: Is it easy for a developer to work with RAD Studio XE8 if he has a project created with RAD Studio XE6 or 7?
Yes, in fact a new feature that migrates IDE configuration settings into XE8 has been added.
Learnxpress: Is it possible to build an Android app without coding using RAD Studio XE8?
Yes, and a fairly complex app as well. Although, most apps will want some custom application logic which will require some coding.
Learnxpress: Do you provide any training for developers/companies who wish to build apps using Rad Studio?
We have many reseller partners who offer specific training and we also publish a lot of content from documentation, to code snippets, example projects, and videos for developers to learn. Additionally, we have an online community.embarcadero.com for developers to provide peer support.
Learnxpress: How different is RAD Studio XE8 when compared with Visual Studio?
The main difference is RAD Studio can target Windows and Mac, and Android and iOS from the same development environment all with a common framework API so they can build a single source project to target all of these platforms with compiled, high performance applications.
Learnxpress: Can you share the future roadmap of RAD Studio product line?
Sure, the 2105 roadmap has recently already been published on our community page.
