Blog: Posts from July, 2010

code generation Speed Improvements and ASP.NET 4.0

We are pleased to announce the next release of the Code OnTime Generator featuring significant gains in processing speed and support for ASP.NET 4.

The internal engine has been re-engineered to support simultaneous code generation of core framework, pages, and business rules resulting in three to four times increase in speed of code generation. Premium and Unlimited subscribers will be able to take full advantage of modern multi-core processors. Numerous code generation optimizations will also benefit Standard subscribers resulting in up to two times faster code generation.

ASP.NET 4 has arrived and we now support the new technology in Web Site Factory code generator project. Microsoft has invested time in making improvements to the core AJAX engine and you will notice performance gains in responsiveness of the UI of generated applications. New Report Viewer component also produces better looking Excel reports when Report | Spreadsheet option on the action bar of data views is selected.

New Features

The update of code generation library offers several new features.

You can now declare virtual views that are automatically presented on the page when a server-side code expression evaluates as true. A view can be configured as virtual if VirtualViewId and OverrideWhen properties are not blank. Property VirtualViewId must reference a non-virtual view (for example, grid1). Property OverrideWhen must represent a code expression that evaluates to a boolean value.

Here is an example of OverrideWhen definition:

Context.User.IsInRole(“Clerk”).

If the current user belongs to role Clerk then the virtual view will substitute grid1, whenever grid1 is expected to be presented.

Permalinks can now be created for selected master records on any page of your application. Permalink is a bookmark that can be created if user clicks on the hyperlink labeled “Permalink” on the left-hand side of the membership bar. Selection of a bookmarked permalink will navigate user to the corresponding page and automatically select the master record.

Interactive history of previously selected data objects can now be activated if a user clicks on “History” link on the membership bar. A stacked collection of  summary cards of previously selected master records is presented. Activation of a summary card will result in the navigation to the  corresponding page and automatic selection of the appropriate master record. The history summary cards look exactly as summaries that are presented on the side bar when you select a master record on a page.

Relationship Explorer may be enabled to allow direct navigation to the master records referred by the lookup fields. Lookup fields will be rendered as hyperlinks if the feature is enabled. Click on the hyperlink will navigate a user to the page of the master record and select the corresponding master record.

We have scheduled the final release of the new update to go out on July 19^th, 2010.

Q. Where can I get hold of the filter string that was built when the user applied a set of filters in the grid1 view?  If I can grab that then I can pass it to a SQL query to supply a list of multiple Customers for whom I want to pick up all the orders.

A.

The following screenshot shows the application with the selected master Suppliers record and filtered detail Products records.  This is the same application that was discussed at /blog/2010/06/refreshing-master-when-detail-changed.html. 

The user has just edited a detail Products record and pressed the Save button.

The following screenshot shows a breakpoint that was set in the project. The breakpoint is activated when user saves the record.

If you inspect Arguments property of the business rules class in Watch window of Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer then you can clearly see that a wealth of information about the context of the requested action is available to you, including the current filter that was applied by the application user.

Property Arguments.ExternalFilter provides access to the selected master Suppliers record.

Property Arguments.Filter provides access to the user-defined filter.

Property Arguments.SelectedValues providers access to the primary keys of selected detail Products records presented in the page.

You also have access to the SortExpression and physical values that were submitted from the client browser when Update action has been requested.