22.04.2021

I released a new version of Bio7. Bio7 3.3 includes a plethora of new features, improvements and bugfixes.

For those who don’t know Bio7. The application Bio7 is an integrated development environment for ecological modeling, scientific image analysis and statistical analysis.

It also contains a feature complete development environment for R with an advanced R editor, R developer tools and interfaces to perform scientific image analysis with R and the embedded ImageJ application.

New features:

General

• Bio7 3.3 is based on Eclipse 4.19
• AdoptJDK updated to Java version 16
• JavaScript bundled with AdoptJDK (Nashorn)
• Updated JavaFX libraries (version 16) bundled with AdoptJDK
• Bundled with R 4.0.5 (Windows only!)
• Updated Java libraries (Groovy, JavaScript, etc.)
• Added some Eclipse default themes (e.g. “System” theme for Linux)
• Improved the themes, wording and some visuals
• Improved the Bio7 file wizard in the toolbar
• Added a sort and collapse actions to some editors outline view

R

• New “Attached Packages” view which displays datasets and function of packages. Datasets can directly be loaded

• The “Load” and “Save” action in the R-Shell View can now load and save files in different selected formats (the command will be loaded into the textfield of the shell). A selection of extensions is not necessary anymore. The R history can be saved and loaded, too. This action is also available in the R editor to create file templates
• Improved the speed of the R editor markers (new Eclipse API)
• R editor markers don’t flicker anymore
• Improved the general R editor speed
• Added an Outline view action to sort and collapse the tree view of variables and functions
• Improved the code completion. Now by default opens after a prefix length of 2 but can now also be opened at any time (new Eclipse API)
• Updated Rserve to version 1.8.7
• Created an easy to use Rserve install method action (R-Shell view->Context menu->Rserve->Install Rserve)

Java

• Added dynamic compilation support for Java 15 (support for “Raw String Literals” to avoid the “quoting hell” of embedded commands in strings)
• Added a new Java interface API method to execute R code from Java in a job with plotting and intermediate plotting support

Groovy

• Updated Groovy interpreter
• Groovy editor now supports “Raw String Literals”

JavaScript

• Bundled a Nashorn JavaScript engine with AdoptJDK 16
• Added an interpret toolbar action when the Eclipse GenericEditor is installed and a JavaScript file is opened with the editor

ImageJ

• Updated the ImageJ plugin to version 1.53j18
• Huge improvements since the last Bio7 release (this plugin can be continuously updated within Bio7), see release notes: https://github.com/Bio7/EclipseImageJ1Plugin
• Improved the close method for all plugins
• Detached views can now be closed by name in a macro, etc.
• Selected Composite Image channels are now displayed colored in the status line of Bio7
• Added the latest ImageJ macro templates

R & ImageJ

• Improved the image classification plugin (bundled with the application) and visuals
• Classified images can now be post-processed with an ImageJ macro for object recognition or particle counting, etc.

Download and Installation:

Windows:

Just download the *.zip distribution file from https://bio7.org and unzip it in your preferred location. Bio7 comes bundled with Java AdoptJDK, R, Rserve and works out of the box.

Linux:

Download and extract the installation file from https://bio7.org.
Bio7 comes bundled with Java (AdoptJDK).
For Linux you have to install R and Rserve.
To install Rserve start R (after installation) in the Bio7 console and execute in the context menu of the R-Shell view:
Rserve->Install Rserve

MacOSX:

Download and extract the installation file from https://bio7.org.
Bio7 comes bundled with Java (AdoptJDK).
To install Rserve start (R after installation) in the Bio7 console and execute in the context menu of the R-Shell view:
Rserve->Install Rserve

Note for the Rserve installation:

The install action installs  a special Rserve version compiled for cooperative mode from Github. In cooperative mode only one connection at a time is allowed (which we want for this Desktop apl.) and all subsequent connections share the same namespace (default on Windows)!

MacOSX startup notes:

If you start Bio7 a warning or error can occur because of the changes how Apple treats signatures! To allow Bio7 to start see this instructions for Yosemite, Sierra, Mojave and Big Sur:

First try to open the app with the context menu to allow the execution. If that won’t work try the following:

Yosemite: Open an app from an unidentified developer

Sierra: Open an app from an unidentified developer

Moave and Sierra: How to fix “Application” is damaged and can’t be opened error in macOS Mojave and High Sierra.

Bio7 Documentation

For more information about Bio7 please consult the soon updated Bio7 User Guide.

A plethora of Bio7 videotutorials for an introduction can be found on YouTube.