For those developers with converting and upgrading database applications to v13 in their future, there may be an unexpected task ahead. Apple Computer has made a significant change in their application frameworks and one of those frameworks, Quickdraw/MLTE, has been dropped.

One of the tasks of Quickdraw/MLTE is the rendering of text. The text framework has changed between 4D v12 and 4D v13 on Mac OS X. In v12 4D uses Apple's "QuickDraw/MLTE," in v13 4D uses the new Apple framework "CoreText." As text layout metrics are not compatible between old QuickDraw framework and new CoreText framework, it is not possible to maintain compatibility for text design metrics between v12 and v13.

So where is this change most likely to have to be addressed by 4D developers converting old databases?

If a database has forms the text object that squeezes a lot text into a text area on a form, when that database is converted to v13 the text may no longer fit in the in the space provided. The only fix for this is to either resize the text object or find a new font and size combination that does fit.