Today saw the launch of LiveCode 4.6.2, the latest upgrade of the LiveCode engine for writing cross platform apps.

We have two great announcements to make to support this launch.

Externals support – call native APIs and write your own added functionality.

Here’s the announcement the LiveCode community have been waiting for: LiveCode 4.6.2 has full support for externals in iOS.

We’re committed to helping you build outstanding iOS apps that take full advantage of all the amazing native features. Today’s release of LiveCode 4.6.2 lets you add to the LiveCode engine by writing your own code for added functionality in iOS applications.

What all this means is that LiveCode 4.6.2 provides and iOS externals interface which allows you to extend the existing iOS feature set using a lower level language like C, C++ or Objective C. If LiveCode’s built in feature set does 90% of what your app needs, you can now wrap any API to add that last 10%.

We’ve provided a full page of documentation to help you get to grips with this and Michael McCreary, LiveCode technical lead, will walk you through the process in his helpful video.

By supporting externals LiveCode can now access hundreds of native iOS APIs. Our SDK includes examples of some of the most popular:

• Simple socket support
• Airprint
• Sound recording
• Text to speech
• Canvas an image.
• Access to mail

New Plug-in brings native look and feel – free for one month

That’s not all.  We’ve partnered with MobGui to bring you an even more native iOS feel than ever before. Get MobGui free with every LiveCode purchase, upgrade or add on for the next month and save $50.

MobGUI, a new plug in for LiveCode, is aimed at rapid iOS app development. This hot new plug-in has a growing set of custom controls that you simply drag and drop onto your projects to give them that native iOS look and feel. Controls include: browser, movie player, scroller and text and option fields.   

This powerful little plug couldn’t be easier to use. I was amazed at how quickly I could make my work in progress look like native iOS apps. Let me tell you, prototyping an app will never be the same again.

The great news is that we’re giving away a copy of MobGui free with every LiveCode for iOS purchase, upgrade or add on for the next month and save $50.

That’s right… Free! Simple to use drag and drag iOS controls, yours, for nothing.

Revolutionize your iOS apps in minutes with LiveCode and MobGui.

The new plug in, combined with our externals interface, means that your LiveCode apps will be even better for iOS than ever before. We’re especially excited about our new externals interface and are really keen to hear what sort of external features you’re going to write first. Let us know on our twitter or facebook page.