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Today 4th Dimension released a technology demonstration of the ability to create keynote files from your 4D databases. 4D Keynote Builder 1.0 is a sample of the kind of self-running database applications that you can build with the new 4D 2003 product. This is great news for those of you wondering if some of the XML technology Steve Jobs spoke of at the MacWorld Expo would ever come to pass.
Download 4D Keynote Builder 1.0
(look in the right sidebar of their web page)
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4D Keynote Builder 1.0 was built as a Real Estate database that allows you enter your Properties, and Buyers. Each Buyer has a set of criteria that pertains to what he or she is looking for in a house, and each property has the usual data, including a spot for a picture:
We were struck with the OS X look of the builder app. It doesn't look like it was created with a database program, but resembles any other Made for X application, including having its own tool bar across each window.
Once you have the Buyer criteria set, you can build a Keynote presentation from all the data just by clicking the Create New presentation button in each Buyer's data screen. You are greeted with a summary of your data, and then you can save the presentation.
Keynote Builder then creates a real Keynote file, based on all this data. The file is given the name of the buyer instead of something generic like "4D Keynote Presentation," which makes it easier to tell your presentations apart if you do a bunch in one sitting.
The Theme used in this release isn't flashy, and for now there is no way to choose anything other than the default 800x600 presentation built into the program, but the technology is impressive. You get a title screen, a data summary screen, a real Keynote chart built with your data, and then one slide for each property that fit your criteria for the buyer.
We took a look INSIDE the Keynote Builder application package and found a real Keynote Theme file with missing photos in it. We assume the missing photos are place holders for the real ones as the file gets built, but at least it is good to know that modifying the layout and look of the Theme used is probably not a hard job. We spoke with 4D's PR contact at Pearce communications and found that developers could even allow the end user to pick a Theme from a list, or create a way to tap into a self made theme that exists OUTSIDE the program and not embedded in a hard to reach place. This is great news for end users who know how to create Keynote Themes, but may hire a consultant to build the database. You could feasibly build different Themes for each target market in your field.
One thing you should note: until Apple updates Keynote to PULL data from a source, you'll have to make a new Keynote file using the Builder app each time you add new information to your database. Judging by Steve Jobs' comments about XML and Keynote at the MacWorld Expo in January, I would expect future versions of Keynote to be able to be made to pull the data from that same database once the first Presentation file has been made. The buyers criteria would be saved in XML and Keynote would check the database for updates each time you launch it. Unfortunately, we don't have information on whether or not this will ever happen, or when.
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