Hello scGuy!

The answer is "No", at this point, what i understood about Jabaco is that the file Jabaco.jar is a basic set of classes and functions tha could not be replaced.
What you have to do with the framework is add his at your's Jabaco's installation directory and associate him with your Project in the item "References" at the menu Project of Jabaco.
I think that it is the only way to use the utilities of the framework.
If i was wrong, please, someone correct me.


Thanks

Quoted from "scGuy"

I assume these downloads are here so you can update your jabaco installation to include all the latest bug fixes, enhancements, etc. Is it true that all you do is download the framework file you want, rename it to jabaco.jar, and overwrite your old one? Does the change immediately take effect in the IDE and if you compile projects? Thanks!

At first, the newest Jabaco.jar you can download at
http://www.file-upload.net/download-3130203/Jabaco.jar.html
and the source code you can find at
http://code.google.com/p/jabacoframework/

Now to your question:
Jabaco itself consists of three parts: The compiler, the IDE and the framework.
The compiler and the IDE are closed source and running currently only on Windows. And only Manuel updates it. It is also unclear how long it will be cost-free and so on. That part is only owned by Manuel!
The framework on the other side is OpenSource (BSD-license). The framework consists files, which are needed by the created own files. It have all the libraries. If you say "I miss the function xyz in Jabaco", then it is probably not implemented in the framework. But everybody can fix and enhance it.
I said "probably" , because some things are done by the compiler.

The Jabaco framework itself is partly written in Java and partly in Jabaco. But in Jabaco.jar the Java-files and Jabaco-files are compiled to Java binary code for the Java Virtual Machine and so they are platform independent and can be used on every platform where a Java runtime exists,.

Everytime you write a Jabaco-program, the framework classes are integrated in your Jar-file, because the generated files from Jabaco depending on the Jabaco-classes.

Quoted from "scGuy"

Is it true that all you do is download the framework file you want, rename it to jabaco.jar, and overwrite your old one?

Yes, that is true. Then you have more and updated functions in the language.
But what do you men with "the framework file you want" ? Take that one I have postet. That works.
Or on
http://www.jabaco.org/framework.html
take one with more then 500KByte. The newer one are not completely successful compiled.
If you want really the newest framework download the version I have compiled and here posted.

Quoted

Does the change immediately take effect in the IDE and if you compile projects? Thanks!

I think so. But I am currently not sure. So it is better to restart Jabaco after you have Jabaco.jar replaced.
And it would be better, to save you old Jabaco.jar, before you replacing it. When the new one isn't ok, then you can make your changes back.

Quoted from "scGuy"

Does the change immediately take effect in the IDE and if you compile projects? Thanks!

Oh, I forget again something to say:
If you want to compile projects it takes immediately effect.
In the editor of the IDE with the code-completion it takes probably effect. Better restarting Jabaco.
And in the GUI-designer of the IDE it takes in Jabaco 1.5.2 never efect. For example, if you use my Jabaco.jar you can make use of rounded shapes. But you can only see them, if your program runs. In the GUI-designer there is no change.
But that is the point, Manuel wants to change with the next Jabaco-version. Then the GUI-designer makes itself use of the framework.

The first part you write is right.

But then

Quoted from "scGuy"

It is mentioned above however that things like the code-hints functions of the IDE may not get updated when you replace the jabaco.jar file?

I wrote for this part:

Quoted

In the editor of the IDE with the code-completion it takes probably effect. Better restarting Jabaco.

I should better write "it takes propably DIRECT effect.
So after a restart the code-hints of the actual Jabaco.jar works.
If you press [F1] (the ClassBrowser) and adds a new Jar file and selecting classes of it, then the included functions are also accepted in the IDE.

After a restart (or after the ClassBrowser) Jabaco creates everytime its code-hints new.

Quoted

I'm concerned about the fact that it appears people are modifying and using Jabaco.jar versions that a re not generally available,

The Jabaco Framework is OpenSource. So it isn't so, that there existing a lot of Jabaco.jar forks. The baseline is the sourcecode in the svn. Everybody can create itself from the official sources the actual Jabaco.jar. I have often mentioned here, how to do it.
(And if you contact Manuel, you can youself additional modify the sources in svn)

But not everybody have the skill or want to compile the sources at own.
That is the reason why Manuel posted at http://www.jabaco.org/framework.html newer versions and I published in this thread the really newest version.

Quoted

so our experiences could all be different--makes it hard to share code!

Again: The newest version existing as sourcecode in the svn on GoogleCode.

Quoted

I am currently using the latest file that was posted in the Framework Downloads section, that is greater than 500k.

Makes not sense for me.

Quoted

If there is a more recent, accepted version (accepted by Manuel, etc),

The newest version exists as Sourcecode. Compile it yourself if you want.

Quoted

could that particular .jar be added to the framework download area? I'd like to do my testing on the latest "official" Jabaco.jar...

What I postes is the compiled official svn version.

If you want to post code, for people with only little computer skill, then take the Jabaco.jar, which comes with Jabaco 1.5.2. Because this people have already problems to replace a file by an other one.

All other people normally prefer the newest version. And that is, what I posted.
It makes no sense, to take an older one and saying "Oh, I miss the function xyz in Jabaco." or "There is a bug in function abc", when this function xyz is already implemented and the bug already fixed in the last svn revision.

And with the next upcoming Jabaco-version, the Jabaco.jar is again the compiled svn code.

Quoted from "scGuy"

Sounds like the best thing to do would be to get an svn client and do my own builds, to always have the latest and greatest. In the mean time, thank you for your link above. As for the framework downloads section, I guess I'm not sure who's in charge of posting .jar's there, that's all I meant by "official" versions.

For some time, the Jabaco.jar could be compiled with Apache Ant. In that times Manuel only starts ant and the Jabaco.jar was automatical genereated and uploaded to http://www.jabaco.org/framework.html
But currently sadly the Ant way works only for the Java sourcecode. To compile the Jabaco files is currently not possible with it. Thats the reaosn why newer files there have only a size of ca. 230 KByte instead of over 500 Byte. Because the compiled Jabaco files are not included.

Quoted

But as you say, if I compile my own .jar from source, no need to worry!

Thats right.