Introducing AppStudio for ArcGIS 4.0 Beta
We are excited to announce the release of AppStudio for ArcGIS 4.0 Beta. Downloads are available through the Early Adopter Community. We encourage you to participate in the beta program to try out new features, enhancements and report bugs. Your feedback will greatly help us improve AppStudio and deliver a stable, high-performance product to everyone.
New licensing model
We want more ArcGIS users to experience the full power of AppStudio, and have access to more templates, layouts, samples, and tools. To give access to more of what AppStudio has to offer, we have decided to make some changes to the license levels with the AppStudio 4.0 release. The changes include:
- License level name change
- AppStudio for ArcGIS
- AppStudio for ArcGIS Developer Edition
- AppStudio by default now includes the ability to make changes to any app or sample or template and upload to the Player (Previously this required a full standard license).
- Retiring web-based app building tools on appstudio.arcgis.com
- Cloud Make service will only be included with AppStudio Developer Edition
We are excited about these new changes to AppStudio and the opportunity to share more of the great tools in AppStudio with a larger audience. We understand that these changes will impact the workflow of some of our existing AppStudio users. Please read this blog post for full details on the new licensing changes:
BLOG: Licensing changes coming in AppStudio for ArcGIS 4.0
New 3D Scene Viewer template
We released the 3D Scene Viewer as a sample app in the last release – thank you for all of the great feedback and suggestions. With this release, the 3D Scene Viewer has received many new features, enhancements, UI updates, and more customization options. We are excited to publish it as a configurable template app. Please try out this new template app and let us know what do you want to see in the future release in the comment below or email appstudiofeedback@esri.com.
Notice that Support for Mobile Scene Packages coming soon
3D Scene Viewer template
AppStudio for ArcGIS extension for Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code, an alternative code editor to Qt Creator, has been supported since the last release. We have continued our work on Visual Studio Code integration and have simplified the process of opening the AppStudio project in Visual Studio Code. A new Editor session has been added in AppStudio Preferences, allowing you to choose Qt Creator or Visual Studio Code as your default code editor. Once your default is set, clicking on the Edit button in the side panel will open your AppStudio in the desired code editor. Please refer to this documentation for using the AppStudio for ArcGIS extension for Visual Studio Code.
Support for opening permission dialog prompt
We are excited to introduce the new Permission singleton and PermissionDialog QML component in the AppFramework Platforms plugin. The Permission singleton can query the permission status. The PermissionDialog component provides the ability to open a dialog prompt to ask for the camera, microphone, storage (Android), location, or background location permission on mobile devices. It can also open the device settings if the user declines the permission prompt.
Note: API references of these new features and enhancements are available in the Qt Creator Help documentation included with the AppStudio Desktop 4.0 (Beta) install. 
Permission Dialog Sample
Notice that a Permission Dialog sample app is available in AppStudio Desktop. You can download the sample app here: AppStudio Desktop 4.0 beta > New App > search for Permission Dialog.
Support for previewing and sharing files
We have been actively listening to feedback and suggestions from the community and are happy to announce support for one of the most requested features - previewing and sharing files. We have enhanced the AppFramework clipboard.share(fileURL) method to open an appropriate user interface for a specific file (PDF, image, audio, video, and more), allowing you to preview and share the file.
Share text, URL, or file sample
Support for changing languages when the app is running
Previously, the language of a localized AppStudio app would be based on the device language. With this release, you can now change app language inside of the app without changing the device language. This is huge as now you can also test your apps without changing phone OS locale and also have the ability to provide the option in UI to switch between languages.
Internationalization sample
Others:
- Upgraded Qt to version 5.12.3
- We have ended support for creating Android x86 apps.
- AppStudio 4.0 will be the last version to support Android 4.4.
Getting Started
The beta program is open to anyone – join the Early Adopter Community today to gain access to the latest versions of AppStudio 4.0 Beta.
- AppStudio Desktop- You can download the beta version of AppStudio Desktop 4.0 here.
- AppStudio Player (iOS)- AppStudio Player 4.0 (Beta) is available via Apple's TestFlight. Please click on this link to download.
- AppStudio Player (Android) - AppStudio Player 4.0 (Beta) is available via the Android Beta Program. Please go to this link to download.
You are now all set to start testing the AppStudio 4.0 Beta!
Feedback
Your feedback is much appreciated and will help us to improve the final release of AppStudio for ArcGIS 4.0. For bugs or other issues you may find, please submit a bug report or join the beta forum to provide feedback. You can also send us an email at appstudiofeedback@esri.com.
The AppStudio for ArcGIS 4.0 final release is scheduled for late August. We want to thank everyone who contributes to this release in advance, and we wish you happy testing!
Become an AppStudio for ArcGIS developer! Watch this video on how to sign up for a free trial.
Follow us on Twitter @AppStudioArcGIS to keep up-to-date on the latest information and let us know about your apps built using AppStudio to be featured in the AppStudio Showcase.
The AppStudio team periodically hosts workshops and webinars; please click on this link to leave your email if you are interested in information regarding AppStudio events.