Blog: Posts from October, 2013

Code On Time release 8.0.0.0 introduces support for Universal Mobile/Desktop Client. The unique architecture of generated apps allows re-interpreting of the application user interface presentation. The original “Desktop” client library now has a “Mobile” counterpart. Apps created with Unlimited edition will automatically detect a mobile device and render an alternative touch-friendly GUI for the app.

The mobile client library is based on popular jQuery Mobile framework. The current implementation of the library allows read-only access to data. We are finalizing the editing capabilities and expect to have them rolled out by the middle of November 2013. Sorting, filtering, and advanced search will be included in the mobile client in the next couple of weeks.

The new project Mobile Factory allows creating apps with “mobile-only” user interface. This project is available without restrictions in Premium and Unlimited editions. Free and Standard editions allow creating Mobile Factory projects with up to ten tables.

Membership and authentication options have been extended to include Active Directory. Application users can sign-in with the standard fly-over login window or custom login. User identity is authenticated by Active Directory server. User roles are derived from Active Directory groups assigned to the user. This feature is available in Unlimited edition only.

New cloud-based Synchronization Service allows automated synchronization of Project Designer logs to simplify team development. Single users will also benefit from a cloud history of designer logs. Online portal allows management of design revision. The new service is designed to complement existing source control systems, such as Team Foundation Server. The synchronization service is offered at no charge. Organizations interested in hosting their own designer synchronization service may request pricing here.

Unlimited edition now includes SaaS (Software as a Service) support with full user authentication. Code On Time apps can be integrated into external web sites while running side-by-side. Examples will be available in the near future.  We expect to use this model to support the newest version of Microsoft SharePoint and other similar products in the future releases.

This release includes the following features, enhancements, and bug fixes.

• Web App Factory, Azure Factory, and Web Site Factory support “_mobile” URL parameter. The “true” value will enable mobile GUI on desktop computers. Value “false” can be used to disable mobile GUI on mobile devices when needed. Empty value will delete the cookie.
   
• Mobile Client displays “Call” context option for the fields tagged as mobile-action-call. Data fields with “Phone” in the name are tagged automatically.
   
• Mobile Client supports tags mobile-item-heading, mobile-item-desc, mobile-item-label, mobile-item-count, mobile-item-aside, mobile-item-thumb and mobile-item-para to enable easy formatting of grid views presented on mobile devices. By default, the Mobile Client will automatically choose the fields to display based on their Show In Summary flag. Presence of any tag on a data field will override the default behavior.
   
• New “Device” property of pages supports “Auto”, “Desktop”, and “Mobile” options. The default value is “Auto”. “Desktop” pages are not accessible in the menu or address bar from mobile clients and vice versa. This allows implementing pages that work only on mobile or only on desktop devices.
   
• The current implementation of Mobile Client is based on jQuery Mobile 1.4 beta.
   
• Class ApplicationServices implement EnableMobileClient static Boolean property that allows disabling Mobile Client UI. Create a partial class ApplicationServices in a dedicated class file, override method RegisterServices and assign “false” to he EnableMobileClient to disabled mobile client.
   
• Standard TableOfContents and Welcome user controls include markup of mobile content.
   
• New JavaScript and CSS versioning system is available in Web App Factory, Web Site Factory, and Azure Factory. File “DataAquarium.Version.xml” is included in the root of the projects. The file stores the application version number. The number starts at zero. It is incremented every time the application is published from the app generator. JavaScript and CSS references are enhanced with a suffix to force seamless re-loading on the client machines after deployment. For example, the suffix of a 7th revision of an app may look as follows in the actual combined script reference:
   
  ”../appservices/combined-8.0.0.7.en-us.js?_mobile”
   
  The  first part “8.0.0” reflects the version of the app generator. The last number “7” if the application revision.
   
• Data controller service will not create data controller requests if a client is not authenticated by the app.
   
• App services are exempt from "Authenticated user" requirement imposed by Controller.CreateConfiguration method.
   
• Desktop Client correctly selects a record in a grid view if the record was created or changed in a modal form.
   
• Active Directory authentication and groups are supports in Web App Factory, Web Site Factory, and Azure Factory apps created with Unlimited edition.
   
• Combined script is integrated in Web App Factory, Web Site Factory, and Azure Factory in apps created with Unlimited edition. A single compressed script is returned to the client browser. This improves the download speed of pages. The combined script name accounts for user interface culture, “mobile” flag, and version.
    
• App generators now supports Azure SDK 2.1
   
• REST serialization processor correctly serializes Guid values.
   
• User Controls are correctly opened in Visual Studio when selected in Project Designer.
   
• Membership bar will detect and clear anchors from the URL when reloading a page.
   
• Missing “type” attribute on “command” node of a data controller will not cause a runtime error.
   
• Project Designer will clear contents of "empty" nodes when an empty text is assigned to an element. This eliminates the need to create unnecessary revisions in source control systems.
   
• Solutions files are not re-generated anymore to allow modifying the solutions contents.
   
• All projects types will now correctly reload if the source code has been opened in Visual Studio at the time of code generation.
   
• BLOB Adapter implementation has been enhanced to work better with MySQL databases.
   
• EASE auditing will correctly work with read-only fields.
   
• Multiple business rule firing has been corrected. Caused by business rule blacklisting by ID instead of name.
   
• Method MembershipProvider ResetPassword in custom membership providers has been fixed to support hashed passwordAnswer.
   
• jQuery 10.2 and jQuery UI 1.10.3, are integrated in the client library.
  
• New Watermark property is now available for data fields.
   
• Fixed Oracle 4.5 projects not correctly hooking up ODP assembly. 
    
• Desktop Client makes use of jQuery when dealing with various dimension calculations. We are abandoning Ajax Control Toolkit in the future releases.

For the past few months we’ve been busy preparing a collection of exciting features that are included in the Code On Time release 8.0.0.0. Most customers will receive an automatic notification to download the software by the end of this week.

Mobile Client Library

With this release we are turning Code On Time application generator in a mobile app powerhouse. The term “mobile app” is used quite loosely in this day and age. A few HTML pages wrapped in a native shell is what passes as a modern mobile application.

Web applications created with Code On Time are simultaneously supporting desktop and mobile clients. The application framework in the foundation of the generated apps automatically detects the client capabilities and links a corresponding client library to the pages rendered in a web browser on the native device. Exactly the same page will render a different GUI on desktop and mobile devices. If you are building a desktop app, then you have developed a mobile version already!

We are using jQuery Mobile  to offer touch-enabled user interface in the new mobile client library. The current release is based on jQuery Mobile 1.4.0 Beta.

Applications are rendered uniformly in all popular mobile devices. Desktop users can easily enable the mobile GUI by specifying a switch in the URL of any page.

The key features of the mobile client library:

• The latest styling found in devices from Apple
• Touch-enabled user interface elements
• Progressive loading of data. There are no “next” or “previous” buttons.
• Tap-and-hold techniques allows selecting multiple items in lists.
• Unified sliding panel with the navigation links.
• Unified sliding panel with context actions.

The initial release of mobile client library supports read-only interaction with data.

jQuery Mobile has significantly changed starting with version 1.3.0, which has required a complete re-write of the original implementation of the library. We are not complaining – there are significant performance improvements. New user interface components are integrated throughout the Mobile Client Library.

Users will be to see the mobile client library in action as soon as an app is rebuild with the new release of the app generator. We expect to offer ability to modify data in mobile clients by the middle of November 2013.

Ability to render alternative user interface on desktop and mobile devices is available in Unlimited edition of the app generator.

Mobile Factory

The new project type will be available in the new release. Premium edition users will be able to create mobile-only apps that will render “mobile” user interface on all devices including desktop.

Active Directory Authentication and Membership

Integration with Microsoft Active Directory is now available in Unlimited edition. It is now possible to authenticate users by Active Directory domain. Active Directory groups are recognized as user roles.  Read configuration instructions at http://codeontime.com/learn/security/active-directory.

Synchronization Service

It’s been our goal to allow maximum efficiency in team development. We’ve been working diligently on a solution, which is now fully integrated in application generator release 8.0.0.0. Step-by-step tutorials explaining configuration of a project for multiple developers will be published shortly.