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Monday, July 14, 2014PrintSubscribe
Map View, Master-Detail Pages, Custom Result Sets, Client-Side APIs

Code On Time release 8.0.6.0 introduces countless enhancements to Touch UI - the unified user interface of mobile and desktop applications created with our app generator. Developers can now select a default user interface model for the apps in all product editions. The two options are Touch UI and Desktop. Applications created with Unlimited edition support both user interface models simultaneously.

Notable enhancements include:

  • Support for exact and negative search in Quick Find. For example, “USA” –“ak” will yield a list of customers from the United Stated with the exception of those located in Alaska.
  • Map view is now available in Touch UI.
  • Complex Master-detail pages are now supported in Touch UI.
  • Custom result sets based on arbitrary SQL queries, stored procedures, and web services with automatic support for filtering and sorting can now be utilized in applications. The tutorials are coming up.
  • Client-side  API has been extended with the method $app.execute. This method allows easy selection of data on the client and execution of arbitrary commands.  The tutorials will become available shortly. This method is the core of the custom GUI development in http://cloudontime.com. It performs a function similar to REST API, but works in all product editions. REST API does not require client libraries of apps created with Code On Time. The new method $app.execute works only within application and cannot be used independently.
  • Client-side API has been extended with the method Web.DataView.search. This method allows activating search in a data view on the page with filter and sort expressions defined by a developer.

Touch UI apps created with Code On Time work on all devices with an optional ability to degrade user interface in Inernet Explorer 6-9.

Touch UI automatically creates complex layouts with tabs and any number of levels of master-detail relationships.

Touch UI supports complex tabbed layout in apps created with Code On Time

Map view works on all types of devices:

Map view is a core automatic feature of Touch UI applications created with Code On Time.

The following features and enhancements are included in this release:

  • Developers can choose user interface for Azure Factory, Web App Factory, and Web Site Factory projects in the Settings /Namespace, Framework and UI section.
  • All settings of Touch UI applications can be configured in the Settings / Features / Touch UI section of application configuration.
  • Map view style is now available in Touch UI applications.
  • End users can choose Form Label Alignment in an app.
  • End users can choose Position of List Labels  in an app as.
  • Touch UI applications offer 38 built-in themes.
  • Developers can now specify default themes for pages.
  • End users can control Display Density of application pages.
  • End users can choose page transitions in apps with Touch UI.
  • Fixed the bug causing SQL business rules not being executed on each row when multi-select is enabled.
  • Data controller "Execute" method has been refactored for improved processing of multiple selected rows submitted from the client.
  • Fixed the incorrect multi-value adaptive filtering of lookup fields in Desktop UI.
  • Touch UI now uses minified CSS stylesheets.
  • JQuery Mobile 1.4.3 framework is the core of the Touch UI applications.
  • Methods $app.execute and Web.DataView.search are now supported.
    The first allows server-side requests to SELECT/UPDATE/INSERT/DELETE data on the server. The second method allows passing "sortExpresson" and "filter" to a data view to sync data. Method $app.execute also supports "Report" action.
  • Quick Find filter now uses a system name "_quickfind_" parameter to enable filtering operations on the first field in the view.
  • User controls generated "First Time Only" now include a standard template for Touch UI.
  • EASE configuration will not assign "mailto" if the field already has a HyperlinkFormatString.
  • Added fix in Controller.Filter for fields that are shorter than the search query.
  • Added Quick Find support for "exact matches" and -negative results.
  • Fixed charts not rendering in reports due to view access not being validated.
  • Data views can be tagged as display-style-grid, display-style-list, display-style-listonecolumn, and display-style-map to force a specific presentation style on all devices.
  • Renamed “Device” property of pages to "User Interface". The valid values are "Touch UI" and “Desktop”.
Thursday, June 27, 2013PrintSubscribe
Import Processor Error Handling

Code On Time web apps come with a native CSV Import processor that will parse comma separated files and create new records. However, this native processor does not display any errors that may have occurred due to malformed CSV. Let’s override methods in the processor in order to handle and report these errors.

Start the app generator. Click on the project name, and press Develop to open the project in Visual Studio. In the Solution Explorer, right-click on ~/App_Code folder and press Add | Class.

Adding a class to App_Code folder.

Assign a name to the item and press OK to save. Replace the code base with the following:

C#:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using MyCompany.Data;
using System.Net.Mail;

namespace MyCompany.Data
{
    public partial class CsvImportProcessor
    {
        protected override bool HandleError(ActionResult r, ActionArgs args)
        {

            string dir = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
            using (StreamWriter file = new StreamWriter(dir + "\\ImportErrorLog.txt", true))
            {
                foreach (string s in r.Errors)
                    file.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:s}: {1}",DateTime.Now, s));
            }
            return true;
        }

        protected override void ReportErrors(string controller, string recipients, string logFileName)
        {
            string[] recipientsList = recipients.Split(',');
            SmtpClient client = new SmtpClient();
            foreach (string s in recipientsList)
            {
                string address = s.Trim();
                if (!(String.IsNullOrEmpty(address)))
                {
                    MailMessage message = new MailMessage();
                    try
                    {
                        message.To.Add(new MailAddress(address));
                        message.Subject = String.Format("Import of {0} has been completed", controller);
                        message.Body = File.ReadAllText(logFileName);
                        client.Send(message);
                    }
                    catch (Exception)
                    {
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Visual Basic:

Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Imports System.IO
Imports MyCompany.Data
Imports System.Net.Mail

Namespace MyCompany.Data
    Partial Public Class CsvImportProcessor
        Protected Overrides Function HandleError(r As ActionResult, args As ActionArgs) As Boolean
            Dim dir As String = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory
            Using file As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter(dir + "\\ImportErrorLog.txt", True)
                For Each s As String In r.Errors
                    file.WriteLine(String.Format("{0:s}: {1}", DateTime.Now, s))
                Next
                Return True
            End Using
        End Function

        Protected Overrides Sub ReportErrors(controller As String, recipients As String, logFileName As String)
            Dim recipientsList() As String = recipients.Split(Global.Microsoft.VisualBasic.ChrW(44))
            Dim client As SmtpClient = New SmtpClient()
            For Each s As String In recipientsList
                Dim address As String = s.Trim()
                If Not (String.IsNullOrEmpty(address)) Then
                    Dim message As MailMessage = New MailMessage()
                    Try
                        message.To.Add(New MailAddress(address))
                        message.Subject = String.Format("Import of {0} has been completed", controller)
                        message.Body = File.ReadAllText(logFileName)
                        client.Send(message)
                    Catch __exception As Exception
                    End Try
                End If
            Next
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

The first method above will create a file “ImportErrorLog.txt” in the application folder and write every error that occurred. It returns true in order to cancel the default handling. The second method overrides the default error reporting and sends an email to the specified recipient. This requires web app SMTP configuration. If a malformed CSV file was imported, the ImportErrorLog.txt file will look like the picture below.

Log text file logging all errors when importing.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012PrintSubscribe
Introducing Email Business Rules

Email is a lifeblood of operations in any organization. If the emails are not flowing smoothly, then things are not getting done, customers are unhappy, nobody knows what is going on. Line-of-business web applications are the backbone of operations. Integrated email notifications are an absolute necessity.

Code On Time web applications have a built-in support for Email Business Rules. The application framework processes this type of business rules by sending email notifications in response to user actions or events in the lifecycle of data controllers.

Imagine that you are running a mail order company called Northwind and would like to be notified when a new customer is registered in the database.

Start Project Designer and right-click Customers / Business Rules node on Controllers tab of Project Explorer.

Adding a new business rule to a data controller in a web app created with Code On Time application generator

Enter the following properties and click OK button to save the new email business rule.

Property Value
Command Name Insert
Type Email
Phase After
Script
Host: smtp.gmail.com
Port: 587
UserName: YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS@gmail.com
Password: PASSWORD
EnableSSL: true

From: "Sales Admin" <YOUR_EMAIL_ADDRESS@gmail.com>
To: RECEIPIENT@northwind.com
Subject: We have a new customer "{CompanyName}"!

<html>
<body>
<i>Customer Information</i>
<br />
<br />
<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Company:</td>
    <td><b>{CompanyName}</b></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Contact:</td>
    <td>{ContactName}, {ContactTitle}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">Address:</td>
    <td>
        {Address}<br />
        {City}, {Region} {PostalCode}
    </td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Country:</td><td>{Country}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Phone:</td><td>{Phone}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
  <td>Fax:</td><td>{Fax}</td>
  </tr>
  </table>
<br />
<br />
Northwind,
Administrator
</body>
</html>

Make sure to replace the highlighted email addresses and Host with your own email addresses and host information. The host parameter in the script points to Gmail smtp server. If you have an existing account at Hotmail or Microsoft Live, then replace the Host with smtp.live.com address.

This is how the business rule will look in the hierarchy of Customers data controller.

An email business rule in the hierarchy of Customers data controller

The bottom portion the business rule script is the email body. It uses HTML tags and references to the field names of the data controller. The field references are placed in curly brackets.

Navigate to Customers page and start entering a new customer.

Adding a new customer in the Northwind sample created with Code On Time web application generator

Click OK button when finished. If everything is correct, then the new customer record will be selected in the view mode on Customers page. If there were any mistakes during email delivery, then you will see an error message at the top of the page.

Check the inbox of the notification email recipient. This is how the message may look in Gmail.

An email notification send by Email Business Rule when a new customer record is created in the database

Email Business Rules are defined in data controllers. Developers can use data controller virtualization to inspect the user identity and dynamically attach notifications to the data controllers. The definitions of notifications can be stored elsewhere in the database.