Code On Time: Designer

Blog

Designer

Monday, April 9, 2012Print Subscribe

The picture below shows the Employees editForm1 view. By default, the fields are arranged in a vertical list. The category description is at the top of the form, the field labels are in the first column, and the data fields are in the second column. When you resize the page width, the column width will change.

Let’s use the Float property on the category to change the presentation of the data fields.

Start Code On Time generator, click on the project name, and press Design. In the bottom right corner of the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Double-click on Employees / Views / editForm1 / c1 – Employees node.

Change the Floating property to “Yes”.

Press OK to save the category. On the tool bar, press Generate. Navigate to the Employees page, and select a record. The category is now much more compact. Each field has the label above it, floating around the category. When you resize the page, the fields will be rearranged to fit.

You can use a combination of floating and non-floating categories to optimize the user interface, such as the Order Details page shown below.

Floating data field categories can serve as a quick way to make a compact user interface without much effort. If you want more control over the placement of data fields, then use custom form templates or category-level templates.

Labels: Designer, User Interface, Web Application Generator

Saturday, January 7, 2012Print Subscribe

Code On Time Tools for Excel

We are pleased to announce the new development tool that will complement Rapid Application Development capabilities available in Code On Time web application generator. The new tool will allow business users and developers to maintain all design aspects of Code On Time web applications with Microsoft Excel 2010.

Code On Time Tools for Excel complement the designer built in the code generator. A custom ribbon tab will be available in Microsoft Excel if the COT Tools for Excel is installed on the computer. Ribbon controls will allow selecting projects and populating Excel worksheets with data controllers, pages, fields, views, and other objects that constitute a Code On Time web application. Users will be able to manipulate this information and have the changes incorporated in the project design. The ribbon will also offer control to initiate the code generation and preview the results.

The new tools build on the strength of Designer Spreadsheet (/Documents/UGP3-Using_Excel_to_Build_ASP.NET_AJAX_Apps.pdf. The spreadsheet has been phased out in the latest release of Code On Time. The original implementation has been limited due to technological approach that we have chosen.

Code On Time Tools for Excel will behave as an equal partner to Project Designer available in the code generator. Project changes done in Excel will be recorded in the change log and cache snapshot of the project.

The tools will be released in February / March of 2012.

Labels: Application Factory, COT Tools for Excel, Designer, Web 2.0, Web Application Generator

Thursday, December 1, 2011Print Subscribe

Explore, Preview, and Inspect

Code On Time web application generator provides an intelligent insight in the design of a generated application starting with version 6.0.0.16.

Select your project, activate Project Designer and start exploring the logical structure of application.

A holistic view of the entire application is available in the Project Explorer displayed on the right-hand side of the Designer window.

Code On Time developer is able to see and change the hierarchy of application pages, containers, data views, linked data controllers, and user controls.

You can generate and preview the web application without leaving the Designer. Simply choose Generate button on the tool bar to initiate the code generation.

The built-in Preview window will show up. Use Designer button in the preview to quickly return to design environment and Preview button to switch from the Designer to an open Preview.

The Preview window offers basic navigation buttons and web address of the current page.

The brand new feature also allow instant inspection of page elements. Click Inspect button to initiate inspection mode.

Click on any element on the page and the relevant item will open in Project Designer allowing for easy modification.

With this new Point & Inspect experience, it becomes easier than ever to learn and customize Code On Time web applications. This feature drastically shortens the learning curve and speeds up the development cycle.

How do we learn about the world around us? A child points with a finger, and a happy parent explains: “That’s a dog honey”. We don’t treat you as a child, but offer an intelligent guide whenever you need help. Help is literally a click away.

Labels: Designer, Web App Generator