Revolution Studio 2.5 review

Revolution Studio 2.5 is the latest version of the well-respected cross-platform software creation tool.

Revolution is Dreamcard's big brother. It uses the same clear, comprehensive scripting language, the same tools, the same interface, and it can do all the same things, but it keeps going where Dreamcard leaves off. Revolution Studio is meant for those who want to deliver their creations as finished, standalone applications rather than have them run with a separate player utility.

It's more than capable of helping you create commercial-grade software with very little practice, even if you don't consider yourself a programmer. If you're ready to tackle it, Revolution's Transcript scripting language supports SQL queries, encoding and decoding of data, shell commands, Windows registry editing, and a wide range of similarly god-like powers.

Creating your interface is easy with the range of interface elements provided by Revolution: draw out text fields, buttons, tab panels, and whatever else you need, arrange them as if you were in a page layout program, and then add your scripting logic to make it all come to life.

The ability to make standalone applications from stacks (the term for Revolution documents) and deliver them on Macs, PCs, and even Unix- and Linux-based workstations has been one of Revolution's claims to fame since its launch, but that's not the only advantage it has over Dreamcard. For e-commerce uses, Revolution applications can use Secure Sockets Layer data security, although the mid-priced Revolution Studio only does this with a separate add-on.

Using your copy of Revolution on more than one computer platform for serious checking and debugging of your work is also possible. However, again, the more expensive Revolution Enterprise version does this straight from the box, but Revolution Studio requires an add-on. The same goes for Oracle database access, although, as with SSL development requirements, this strays well into the realms of serious development, where the £704 price of Revolution Enterprise becomes quite acceptable.

If you have a great idea for some software and you're willing to experiment, Revolution is an excellent way to realise it. The scripting language is clear enough that results often read like regular sentences, and delivering applications for any platform is a couple of clicks away. The development environment tools are comprehensive, although some aspects still feel in need of a polish. Most importantly, the on-screen documentation is impressively cross-referenced and extremely well presented.

Whether you want to make cross-platform software for yourself, your clients, or to release onto an unsuspecting world, Revolution Studio 2.5 can help you do it.

Needs: System 7.1 or later + Mac OS X 10.0.3 or later + 48MB free RAM