Below is a summary of the programmability improvements and changes in the upcoming Pro and MapBasic release.

If you are interested in trying out the new version of Pro or the new MapBasic capabilities ahead of the release, we now have an alpha/beta version available on our "MapInfo Lab". Join the lab to get access to it.

By far the biggest of these is the addition of full native MapBasic support for creating, modifying, and getting ribbon tabs, groups, and controls.

Here is an example of creating a new ribbon tab with 3 buttons and a splitbutton


Create Ribbon Tab "ControlsTab" Caption "MapTab"
         Active Index 2
         Properties(PROPERTY_ISTRACKED : "True", PROPERTY_TOOLTIP : "This is a Tab ToolTip", PROPERTY_KEYTIP : "Z")
         Group "MyToolsGroup" Caption "Tools"
         'Add a collection of three Tool button controls and a Split button with three Ribbon tool buttons for different selection tools
         Controls(     
                  Control "btnPan" Caption "Pan"
                           Type CTRL_TYPE_TOOLBUTTON
                           Size Small
                           Properties(PROPERTY_COMMANDID : M_TOOLS_RECENTER, PROPERTY_LARGEICON : MI_IMG_MAP_PAN_32, PROPERTY_SMALLICON : MI_IMG_MAP_PAN_16)
                  Control "btnZoom" Caption "Zoom"
                           Type CTRL_TYPE_TOOLBUTTON
                           Size Small
                           Properties(PROPERTY_COMMANDID : M_TOOLS_EXPAND, PROPERTY_LARGEICON : MI_IMG_MAP_ZOOMIN_32, PROPERTY_SMALLICON : MI_IMG_MAP_ZOOMIN_16)
                  Control "btnInfo" Caption "Info"
                           Type CTRL_TYPE_TOOLBUTTON
                           Size Small
                           Properties(PROPERTY_COMMANDID : M_TOOLS_PNT_QUERY, PROPERTY_LARGEICON : MI_IMG_MAP_INFOTOOL_32, PROPERTY_SMALLICON : MI_IMG_MAP_INFOTOOL_16)
                  Control "btnSplitSelect" Caption "Select"
                           Type CTRL_TYPE_SPLIT_BUTTON
                           Size Large Select 2  'set the Radius tool as selected
                           Properties(PROPERTY_LARGEICON : MI_IMG_MAP_SELECT_32, PROPERTY_SMALLICON : MI_IMG_MAP_SELECT_16)
                                    Controls(
                                             Control "btnSelect" Caption "Select"
                                                      Type CTRL_TYPE_TOOLBUTTON
                                                      Size Large
                                                      Properties(PROPERTY_COMMANDID : M_TOOLS_SELECTOR, PROPERTY_LARGEICON : MI_IMG_MAP_SELECT_32, PROPERTY_SMALLICON : MI_IMG_MAP_SELECT_16)
                                             Control "btnRadiusSelect" Caption "Radius"
                                                      Type CTRL_TYPE_TOOLBUTTON
                                                      Size Large
                                                      Properties(PROPERTY_COMMANDID : M_TOOLS_SEARCH_RADIUS, PROPERTY_LARGEICON : MI_IMG_MAP_AREASELECT_32, PROPERTY_SMALLICON : MI_IMG_MAP_AREASELECT_16)
                                             Control "btnMarqueeSelect" Caption "Marquee"
                                                      Type CTRL_TYPE_TOOLBUTTON
                                                      Size Large
                                                      Properties(PROPERTY_COMMANDID : M_TOOLS_SEARCH_RECT, PROPERTY_LARGEICON : MI_IMG_MAP_MARQUEESELECT_32, PROPERTY_SMALLICON : MI_IMG_MAP_MARQUEESELECT_16)
                                    )
                  )

Here is an example of using the RibbonInfo() function and the set ribbon statement:

if RibbonInfo("btnRadio1", PROPERTY_ISCHECKED) then
  Set Ribbon Control "btnRadio1" Check
  Set Ribbon Control "btnRadio2" UnCheck
  Print "You Selected Right"
else
  Set Ribbon Control "btnRadio1" UnCheck
  Set Ribbon Control "btnRadio2" Check
  Print "You Selected Left"
end if

MapBasic, Python and .NET  Pro 2021 Beta Summary

Time Related Support

• StringToDate() improved support for format and locale
• StringToDateTime() improved support for format and locale
• StringToTime() improved support for format and locale
• FormatDate() improved support for format and locale
• New FormatDateTime() function
• FormatNumber$() now can specify desired precision
• FormatTime$() allow for using the current time format
• IsNull() function
• DateAdd() function
• DateTimeAdd() function
• TimeAdd() function
• DateSnap() function
• TimeSnap() function
• Set map time statement
• Set map layer time statement
• 20+ new LayerInfo() properties related to time and filtering
• 25+ new MapperInfo() properties related to time and filtering
• New TableInfo() property for filtering

Support for registering new OGR table type tables

New Sql Select Syntax to refresh or change a query table

New Set map layer filter clause to support Layer Filters

Task Related Support

• MapBasic support for calling table background tasks
• New TaskInfo() function
• New Set task statement

New SessionInfo() attributes to return all mapbasic tokens or just reserved tokens

Added support for creating, modifying, and getting ribbon tabs, groups, and controls via MapBasic statements and functions

• Create ribbon statement
• Set ribbon statement
• Over 15 different control types supported including galleries
• Set ribbon control statement
• RibbonInfo() and RibbonItemInfo() functions for returning values from a tab, group, or control
• CommandInfo() support for getting name or fullname of ribbon control
• New statement: Execute Ribbon Control "control_name" Handler 

Regular Expression Support

• New RegExReplace$() function
• New RegExMatch$() function
• New RegExSearch$() function

 Pro Python and .NET 2021 Beta Summary

Object model properties and methods for time and filter support on maps and layers

Updated Python modules to remove vulnerabilities

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Bob Fortin
Software Architect and Distinguished Engineer
MapInfo Pro Development Team
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