Blog: Posts from September, 2016

Labels
AJAX(112) App Studio(7) Apple(1) Application Builder(245) Application Factory(207) ASP.NET(95) ASP.NET 3.5(45) ASP.NET Code Generator(72) ASP.NET Membership(28) Azure(18) Barcode(2) Barcodes(3) BLOB(18) Business Rules(1) Business Rules/Logic(140) BYOD(13) Caching(2) Calendar(5) Charts(29) Cloud(14) Cloud On Time(2) Cloud On Time for Windows 7(2) Code Generator(54) Collaboration(11) command line(1) Conflict Detection(1) Content Management System(12) COT Tools for Excel(26) CRUD(1) Custom Actions(1) Data Aquarium Framework(122) Data Sheet(9) Data Sources(22) Database Lookups(50) Deployment(22) Designer(177) Device(1) DotNetNuke(12) EASE(20) Email(6) Features(101) Firebird(1) Form Builder(14) Globalization and Localization(6) How To(1) Hypermedia(2) Inline Editing(1) Installation(5) JavaScript(20) Kiosk(1) Low Code(3) Mac(1) Many-To-Many(4) Maps(6) Master/Detail(36) Microservices(4) Mobile(63) Mode Builder(3) Model Builder(3) MySQL(10) Native Apps(5) News(18) OAuth(9) OAuth Scopes(1) OAuth2(13) Offline(20) Offline Apps(4) Offline Sync(5) Oracle(11) PKCE(2) Postgre SQL(1) PostgreSQL(2) PWA(2) QR codes(2) Rapid Application Development(5) Reading Pane(2) Release Notes(183) Reports(48) REST(29) RESTful(29) RESTful Workshop(15) RFID tags(1) SaaS(7) Security(81) SharePoint(12) SPA(6) SQL Anywhere(3) SQL Server(26) SSO(1) Stored Procedure(4) Teamwork(15) Tips and Tricks(87) Tools for Excel(2) Touch UI(93) Transactions(5) Tutorials(183) Universal Windows Platform(3) User Interface(338) Video Tutorial(37) Web 2.0(100) Web App Generator(101) Web Application Generator(607) Web Form Builder(40) Web.Config(9) Workflow(28)
Archive
Blog
Posts from September, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016PrintSubscribe
Geocoding

Geocoding is the process of capturing an address and converting it to exact latitude and longitude coordinates. Starting with release 8.5.11.0, apps generated with Code On Time now support automatic geocoding of address fields with the proper tags, as well as a Geocode() method available in C# or Visual Basic business rules.

Example of result from Geocode method.

Please make sure to follow Google Maps APIs Terms Of Service. Of note is section 10.5.d, which restricts long-term storage of Content.

Both methods below require addition of a Maps API Identifier. The following examples will use a modified version of the Employees table from the Northwind sample project. Use the following script to add the required columns before creating the project.

ALTER TABLE Employees
ADD Latitude decimal(9, 6) NULL,
    Longitude decimal(9, 6) NULL

If using an existing project, make sure to refresh the application after executing the script. Then, open the model for Employees and check the checkbox next to the three new fields to include them in the Employees controller.

Geocoding with Tags

The easiest way to geocode a set of address fields is to tag the source and destination data fields in the view. If the correct fields are tagged, the values will be geocoded when the user saves a new record or updates an existing record. When updating an existing record, the geocode request will only be sent if at least one of the source fields has been modified, in order to avoid extraneous API requests.

Let’s add the relevant tags to start geocoding employees.

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, double-click on “Employees / container1 / view1 (Employees, grid1) / createForm1 / c1 – New Employees / Address” data field node.

Selecting the Address data field of createForm1 view of Employees controller.

Make the following change:

Property Value
Tags geocode-address

Press OK to save the data field. Use the above procedure to make the changes below:

Data Field Tag
City geocode-city
Region geocode-region
PostalCode geocode-zip
Country geocode-country
Latitude geocode-latitude
Longitude geocode-longitude

On the toolbar, press Browse. When the application opens in the default browser, create a new employee.

Entering a new employee.

Upon pressing Save, the geocode request will be sent. If a result is returned, the new employee record will have updated Latitude and Longitude fields.

The Latitude and Longitude fields have been updated.

Geocoding in C#/Visual Basic Business Rules

The tag method explained in the previous section is convenient for automatic update of Latitude and Longitude fields. However, if the latitude and longitude need to be used in a calculation, the Geocode() business rule method can be used. Let’s add a business rule that utilizes this method to geocode the employee’s address and show an alert with the resulting latitude and longitude.

In the Project Explorer, switch to the Controllers tab. Right-click on “Employees / Actions / ag4 (ActionBar) – Edit/Delete” and press New Action.

Adding a new action to Employees controller.

Specify the following properties and press OK to save the new action.

Property Value
Command Name Custom
Command Argument ShowLatLong
Header Text Show Lat/Long
When Key Selected Yes

Next, right-click on “Employees / Business Rules” node, and press New Business Rule.

Adding a new business rule to Employees controller.

Configure the rule as following:

Property Value
Type C# / Visual Basic
Command Name Custom
Command Argument ShowLatLong
Phase Execute

Press OK to save the new business rule. Then, press Browse on the toolbar to generate the application, as well as create the relevant business rule file.

When complete, press “Edit Rule” on the action bar to open the file in Visual Studio.

Editing the rule in Visual Studio.

Replace the contents of the file with the following:

C#:

using MyCompany.Data;
using MyCompany.Models;

namespace MyCompany.Rules
{
    public partial class EmployeesBusinessRules : MyCompany.Data.BusinessRules
    {
        
        /// <summary>
        /// This method will execute in any view for an action
        /// with a command name that matches "Custom" and argument that matches "ShowLatLong".
        /// </summary>
        [Rule("r100")]
        public void r100Implementation(EmployeesModel instance)
        {

            decimal latitude;
            decimal longitude;

            // join address parts with "," separator
            string address = string.Join(",", instance.Address, instance.City, 
                instance.Region, instance.PostalCode, instance.Country);

            if (Geocode(address, out latitude, out longitude))
            {
                Result.ShowAlert("Latitude: " + latitude + ", Longitude: " + longitude);
            }
            else
            {
                Result.ShowAlert("Geocode failed to resolve address.");
            }
        }
    }
}

Visual Basic:

Imports MyCompany.Data
Imports MyCompany.Models

Namespace MyCompany.Rules
    
    Partial Public Class EmployeesBusinessRules
        Inherits MyCompany.Data.BusinessRules
        
        ''' <summary>
        ''' This method will execute in any view for an action
        ''' with a command name that matches "Custom" and argument that matches "ShowLatLong".
        ''' </summary>
        <Rule("r100")>  _
        Public Sub r100Implementation(ByVal instance As EmployeesModel)
            Dim latitude As Decimal
            Dim longitude As Decimal

            ' join address parts with "," separator
            Dim address = String.Join(",", instance.Address, instance.City,
                            instance.Region, instance.PostalCode, instance.Country)

            If (Geocode(address, latitude, longitude)) Then
                Result.ShowAlert("Latitude: " & latitude & ", Longitude: " & longitude)
            Else
                Result.ShowAlert("Geocode failed to resolve address.")
            End If
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Switch back to the application running in your default browser, and navigate to the Employees page. Ctrl+click on a row to highlight the row. On the toolbar, press  “Show Lat/Long”.

Activating the "Show Lat/Long" custom action.

A message box will be displayed with the employee’s latitude and longitude.

The popup shows the returned latitude and longitude.

Thursday, September 22, 2016PrintSubscribe
Adding a Google Maps API Key

An API key must be added to the project to use any features that depend on the Google Maps API, such as Maps presentation style, Geocode feature, or CalculateDistance() business rule method. The Google Maps API Key can be acquired here. Make sure to log into your Google account, and press the “GET A KEY” button to get started.

The button to acquire a Google Maps API key.

Once a key has been acquired, start the app generator. Click on the project name, and press Settings. Then, select Features page of the Project Wizard.

Navigating to the Features page of the Project Wizard.

Switch to the Touch UI section. If you have an API key, under “key=” plus the key in the “Google Maps API Identifier” box. If you have a client ID, enter “client=” plus the client ID in the box.

Entering the Maps API Identifier.

Press Next, and proceed to generate the application. The key will be embedded in “web.config” file of the generated application.

The API key can be accessed from any custom code or code business rules via the “ApplicationServices.MapsApiIdentifier” property. It can also be accessed from JavaScript business rules via the “__settings.mapApiIdentifier” property.

It is highly recommended to restrict access to your key to specific websites, IP address, or apps from the Google Developer Console.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016PrintSubscribe
Show Action Buttons

Every form in web applications created with Code On Time display a row of buttons. The typical actions available in the “Form” scope include Edit, Delete, Close/Cancel, Save, and Save and New. In addition, actions that trigger custom calculations are often put in the “Form” scope. The default presentation mode for form actions is called “Auto”.

Auto

The “Auto” mode will present form buttons in the best location depending on the size of the screen. On medium size screens, the buttons will be aligned to the right side of a fixed bar at the bottom of the screen. This ensures that the buttons are in the same position every time a user opens the form, resulting in a smaller learning curve to the application.

On small screens, form action buttons are rendered in a fixed button bar at the bottom of the screen, aligned to the right.

Larger screens will result in the form buttons shifting to the center of the button bar, closer to the field values.

Large screens will render form actions aligned to the center of a fixed bar at the bottom of the screen.

If the screen is too small to display all form buttons, they will be automatically collapsed into a three-dot menu.

When action buttons do not fit in the available space, these actions will be folded under a three-dot menu.

If the screen is both narrow and short, the form buttons will be rendered at the bottom of the form. This will ensure that devices with small screens can maximize the amount of space used for display of field values.

Very small screens will render buttons at the bottom of the form.

None

It may be desirable to hide the form actions bar from the screen. Let’s remove the form buttons from the Orders screen of the sample Northwind project.

Start the Project Designer. In the Project Explorer, double-click on “Orders / container1 / view1 (Orders, grid1)” node.

Modifying view1 that shows Orders grid1 in Orders page.

Make the following change:

Property Value
Show Action Buttons None

Press OK to save, and press Browse on the toolbar to regenerate the app.

When the app comes up in the default browser, click on a record on Orders page to view the form. Notice that the form action buttons are no longer visible. The actions are still accessible in the top right corner of the screen.

The Orders form with form action buttons hidden.

The user can also access all actions by clicking on the three-dot menu in the top right corner to access the action panel.

The form action buttons are still available in the action sidebar.

Top

When Show Action Buttons is set to “Top”, the action buttons will be rendered above the form.

Action buttons are rendered at the top of the form.

Bottom

When Show Action Buttons is set to “Bottom”, the buttons will be rendered below the form.

Action buttons are rendered at the bottom of the form.

Top And Bottom

When Show Action Buttons is set to “Top and Bottom”, the buttons will be rendered both above and below the form. This can be helpful when the form is very long.

Action buttons are rendered at the top and bottom of the form.