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Tag: Monkeybread Software

Guest Post: Using the Graphics Class to Create PDF Documents

Monkeybread Software started with the DynaPDF plugin for Xojo about twelve years ago. As DynaPDF is a C++ library, the wrapping plugin mimics the original C API and offers it for Xojo. Over the years a lot more convenient methods have been added to make the plugin more Xojo-like. For example, newer methods can process pictures directly, take colors as Xojo color values and allow drawing of styled text directly.

Since the early days there has been the feature request to use the graphics class in Xojo to draw to a PDF document. We recently came back to this old feature request and decided to try a new way to implement it and our new code seems to work just fine. With some help from Xojo engineers, we even got the alignment right.

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Guest Post: Adding Language Translation to Your Xojo Apps

Recently, I was asked by a client if it would be possible to build language translation functionality into a Xojo-based middleware solution that I had developed for them. The Xojo app obtains product information (including product names, descriptions, and other marketing-related information) from suppliers via a SOAP call, and returns the data in a JSON-encoded response. They wanted to be able to translate the product information, which is provided in English, to other languages (such as French, German, etc). The client wanted something similar to Google Translate. However, they wanted the translation function to be built directly into the app and to be performed “on demand.”

I did some research and found that Amazon provides a service that does exactly what the client was asking for. The service, called Amazon Translate, is available as one of many services that are available through Amazon Web Services.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the process of getting signed up for Amazon Translate, and then share some code that you can use to add language translation to your own Xojo projects. We’ll use the MBS Xojo CURL Plugin, which makes calling the Amazon Translate API easy. But first, let’s learn a little about Amazon Translate.

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See You At The Next MBS Xojo Conference

Guest Post by Christian Schmitz of Monkeybread Software, a Xojo developer from Germany. 18 years ago various consulting projects brought Christian to plugin development for Xojo. Digging through various libraries, OS features and compiler techniques, he built a huge plugin toolbox for use in his own projects and to license to others. Christian has (co)hosted ten conferences over the years and you can join the next one in Berlin.

Do you like to meet other Xojo users and go to conferences? Well, you are in luck! In 2017 there is a conference being organized by Monkeybread Software. Xojo developers from all over the world will meet the first week in May 2017 in metropolitan Berlin, Germany. In the center of western Berlin at the Ellington hotel, next to the nearby Kurfürstendamm, the Zoo and KaDeWe. We selected this central location in Europe for easy traveling for developers from east and west.

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