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Ein spannender Artikel über JVx und JavaFX ist im aktuellen JavaAktuell zu finden.
Der Artikel wurde von Roland Hörmann verfasst und behandelt das Thema Effiziente Software Entwicklung mit Java und insbesondere mit JavaFX bzw. dem OpenSource Java Framework JVx. Wer das Magazin nicht zur Hand hat, kann den Artikel auch von hier laden und sofort lesen. |
Media | rjahn | 23/03/2016 | 
Comments (0)
Our Eclipse plugin for JVx and VisionX is available as version 1.2.4.
It's a small bugfix release.
Changes
Some customers had problems with http(s) proxies and our trial activation. We made extended tests with (win/linux) proxies and didn't find any problems. We reduced the communication timeout because it was too long. Please send us your feedback.
It might be a problem if you use a server class (src.server) in your client classes (src.client). This depends on the deployment mode (Web, Desktop, ...), but it's better to separate client and server code. The new check can be dis/enabled but it checks by default if your client has direct server references.
It's now possible to use column name autocompletion, even if the storage isn't an instance of "AbstractCachedStorage".
Simply update EPlug via Eclipse or jump to the info page.
News, Release notes | rjahn | 04/03/2016 | Comments (0)
The shiny new technology from Oracle is JET (Javascript Extension Toolkit). It's a really interesting thing because it bundles relevant technologies like jQuery, jQuery UI, Knockout, Require, Hammer, ...
You don't need know-how for every used technology, only JET is enough. This is a nice and new approach in the JS world. A possible problem with such an approach could be the update of single libraries, but this isn't your problem because Oracle has to maintain the right versions and bugfixes in JET. So it's not our problem 
I'm not a big fan of Javascript libraries/technologies but from time to time I like to play around with such things and proof the interaction with JVx. Some time ago my new friend was AngularJS.
This time, I tried to work with Oracle JET.
The use-case was trivial: I'd like to visualize a list of contacts as simple table. The contacts are available as REST service. The REST service needs basic authentication.
Foreword: JET has much documentation and some useful examples, but it's inconsistent because the documentation shows different solutions for the same problem and you don't know which is best or recommended. And the examples are sometimes too complex. The start with existing examples is simple but if you start coding, it's not so simple. But this is a documentation problem and has nothing to do with the product itself. I prefer source code to find out how things work and this procedure worked without problems for JET.
Foreword 2: I couldn't find a description for Basic authentication. Not in the forum, not in the documentation and not in different blog posts. But I found many questions regarding Basic authentication. I found a solution for the problem but if someone has a better solution, please add a comment. My solution is more or less not API compliant - but works with JET version 1.1.2 and hopefully with newer versions as well.
Conditions
I've used our VisionX tool and the Contacts demo application for this example because VisionX has an embedded tomcat and REST access is pre-configured. It's not tricky to use any other simple JVx application but it requires more work because you need an application server and a deployed application.
The Trial version of VisionX is a good start. Before I show you the source code, I'll show you the result:
Contacts table
You're right, this isn't rocket science. But it's not hard to add more columns and some css.
What about the source code?
We have one html page, index.html:
<html>
<head>
<title>JET with VisionX/JVx</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="icon" href="css/images/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/libs/oj/v1.1.2/alta/oj-alta-min.css" type="text/css"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/demo-alta-patterns-min.css"/>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/override.css" type="text/css"/>
<script data-main="js/main" src="js/libs/require/require.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<br/>
<div id="mainContent" class="oj-md-12 oj-col page-padding">
<div class="demo-page-content-area page-padding">
<h1>Contacts via VisionX</h1>
<br/>
<table id="table"
data-bind="ojComponent: {component: 'ojTable',
data: dataSource,
columns: [{headerText: '#',
field: 'ID', sortable: 'enabled'},
{headerText: 'First name',
field: 'FIRSTNAME', sortable: 'enabled'},
{headerText: 'Last name',
field: 'LASTNAME'}]}">
</table>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
We need two javascript files, main.js:
require(['ojs/ojcore',
'knockout',
'jquery',
'app',
'ojs/ojknockout',
'ojs/ojknockout-model',
'ojs/ojdialog',
'ojs/ojinputtext',
'ojs/ojinputnumber',
'ojs/ojbutton',
'ojs/ojtable',
'ojs/ojdatacollection-common'],
function(oj, ko, $, app)
{
var vm = new app.contactsVM();
$(document).ready(function()
{
ko.applyBindings(vm, document.getElementById('mainContent'));
//Show the content div after the REST call is completed.
$('#mainContent').show();
});
});
and app.js
var Contact = oj.Model.extend(
{
urlRoot: self.serviceURL,
parse: parseContact,
idAttribute: 'ID'
});
var myContact = new Contact();
var ContactsCollection = oj.Collection.extend(
{
url: self.serviceURL,
model: myContact,
oauth: new self.myBasicAuth(),
comparator: "ID"
});
self.ContactsCollection(new ContactsCollection());
//simple Request test
//self.ContactsCollection().fetch({headers: {"Authorization": 'Basic ' + btoa("admin:admin")}});
self.dataSource(new oj.CollectionTableDataSource(self.ContactsCollection()));
}
return {'contactsVM': viewModel};
}
);
Above files are not enough to run the example because you need a full JET application. You can download a JET application from the official site (-> Getting started with Oracle JET -> Downloading Oracle JET). The QuickStart template works well. Unzip the application into the directory: <VisionX_folder>/rad/apps/visionx/WebContent/ojet (ojet must be created manually). Simply copy the example files in the ojet, ojet/js folder.
Open the browser and navigate to: http://localhost/ojet/
My source code is small and simple but I don't know if it could be optimized. The official CRUD example application has more features and doesn't connect to a real REST service.
It wasn't funny to use/read the example because it's much for such a simple use-case. I found a similar but inofficial example. This was nice but didn't solve the Basic authentication problem!
Long story, short:
I found no option for Basic authentication and no documentation, but found that OAuth is supported. Not the same as Basic authentication but something I could search in the source code. The Model file was the right place to search (-> oauth).
And my simple solution for Basic authentication was:
Username and password are hardcoded, but it's easy to replace the code with a better solution.
The "authenticator" will be set as oauth property:
The problem with this API is that it's not guaranteed that the getHeader method will be used in future releases. And it's also not perfect to use oauth for Basic authentication, but whatever.
Our example runs with VisionX' embedded tomcat. If you want to test with your own application server, you should enable CORS for VisionX to use the REST services from an external server:
To enable CORS, change the web.xml in <VisionX_folder>/conf/ and add
to RestletServlet definition.
Development, Fun | rjahn | 29/02/2016 | Comments (1)
OBridge is a nice Java FOSS project. The description according to the website:
OBridge generates standard Java source code for calling PL/SQL stored procedures and functions.
It's focus is on Oracle but this wasn't a limitation for us to test it with JVx.
Most of you know that JVx has generic support for procedure/function calls which is DB independent. The implementation is not really type-safe but it's simple.
If type-safety is preferred, you could use OBridge for your application.
I write about this library, because it's super small and simple. We love small and simple things
Assume, we have following PL/Sql procedure:
and function:
With JVx, the procedure and function call will look like following JUnit test:
OutParam ouTextParam = new OutParam(InOutParam.SQLTYPE_VARCHAR);
dba.executeProcedure("execProcedure", BigDecimal.valueOf(25),
"Hello JVx' procedure", ouTextParam);
Assert.assertEquals("Out: In: Hello JVx' procedure", ouTextParam.getValue());
/**
* Function call.
*/
ouTextParam = new OutParam(InOutParam.SQLTYPE_VARCHAR);
Object oResult = dba.executeFunction("execFunction", Types.VARCHAR,
BigDecimal.valueOf(25),
"Hello JVx' function", ouTextParam);
Assert.assertEquals("IN-Param Nr: 25", oResult);
Assert.assertEquals("Out: In: Hello JVx' function", ouTextParam.getValue());
}
and the same with OBridge:
Execprocedure proc = ProceduresAndFunctions.execprocedure(BigDecimal.valueOf(35),
"Hello OBridge procedure", dba.getConnection());
Assert.assertEquals("Out: In: Hello OBridge procedure", proc.getPouttext());
/**
* Function call.
*/
Execfunction func = ProceduresAndFunctions.execfunction(BigDecimal.valueOf(35),
"Hello OBridge function", dba.getConnection());
Assert.assertEquals("IN-Param Nr: 35", func.getFunctionReturn());
Assert.assertEquals("Out: In: Hello OBridge function", func.getPouttext());
}
The OBridge code saves two LoC for the call, but it needs some additional classes and packages in your application. If you change your procedure or function definition in the database, you have to recreate the Java files.
This is not needed with pure JVx, but it's your choice.
The code generation is not tricky, simply follow the official documentation. Our steps:
<configuration>
<jdbcUrl>jdbc:oracle:thin:test/test@localhost:1521:xe</jdbcUrl>
<sourceRoot>./src/</sourceRoot>
<rootPackageName>com.sibvisions.apps.obridge.db</rootPackageName>
<packages>
<entityObjects>objects</entityObjects>
<converterObjects>converters</converterObjects>
<procedureContextObjects>context</procedureContextObjects>
<packageObjects>packages</packageObjects>
</packages>
</configuration>
If you love our generic built-in solution, you don't need OBridge but if you prefer type-safety it's definitely an option.
Development, Fun | rjahn | 26/02/2016 | Comments (0)
We tried to improve the UX of our tool VisionX in the last weeks. The current concept is wizard based and all wizards are kept very simple. This concept works well but requires curiosity. It would be better go guide the user through the application and show the features.
Some software tools use strict guides and explain the application with step-by-step instructions. This is nice but also boring because you can't play around. We tried to add a sort of a guide but without restrictions.
The first preview of this new concept is available as YouTube video. We're not sure if this solution will be available in the next release but our testers love it. It fills the gap between wizards and the question: What should I do next?
Here's the screencast:
New Feature: app guides
News | rjahn | 24/02/2016 | Comments (0)
The next version of our flagship VisionX will be available tomorrow - Feb 5th, 2016. The version number is nice because 2 could be the month and 2+3 = 5
We invest more time/resources/work than ever before in this version. It has many new features and great improvements. All included open source libraries were updated and offer additional features because not all available library features/APIs are covered by VisionX.
The open source project JVx Vaadin UI was updated to Vaadin 7.5.7 and the UI implementation got many performance tunings. It's now significant faster than before - up to 5 times faster. The performance boost depends on your UIs because it makes no difference if you only have two input fields in your screen. But if you have large screens with Tabs and many input fields, it will rock. The API got support for FontAwesome and Vaadin font icons.
The live preview now supports an external CSS file. It's super easy to change the style of your application while creating it with VisionX.
This feature automatically reloads changed screens in the browser after you've changed it with VisionX. Simply use add URL Parameter liveReload=true. This features save click time and is great if you have multiple screens conntected to your workstation.
Our corporation application layout is now responsive and fully customizable.
 full mode |
 small mode |
|
 mini mode |
 mini mode (menu) |
|
Use the API to show/hide the menubar or the sidebar. Add custom or remove default buttons.
It's possible to use your custom code formatting rules. The rules are based on Eclipse Code Formatter and all Eclipse (Luna) options will work with Eclipse.
The Morph Panel is a one-for-all solution. It was introduced in VisionX 2.2. We improved the popup mode, e.g. if you double click the table, the popup will be opened if you don't use the navigation. We added more APIs for power users.
VisionX doesn't change the database objects automatically. It's your decision:
 Modify fields |
 Delete screen |
VisionX runs with Java8 update 60.
The action editor now automatically scrolls to the input field if it's not visible. It's not a big thing but creates great UX.
VisionX automatically removes unused imports from the source files. This is an optional feature and can be disabled.
The Javadoc for fields will be written in a single line (if possible). This feature is optional an can be disabled.
VisionX changed the class loading mechanism of customizers and controls. It'll be possible to use your custom controls without any tricks. It's possible to customize VisionX for your needs.
This feature is awesome because it makes it be possible to create a mobile app from your application in under 5 minutes.
JavaFX mobile LIVE CSS hacking
User based, Subscription based, Floating, individual.
Please contact our Sales Team for more details.
All customers will find the new version in their download area!
Release notes | rjahn | 04/02/2016 | Comments (0)
Some time ago, we changed the hardware of our VM server. We replaced the RAID controller with an Adaptec 6805 because the old controller had some problems. The server run with ESXi 5.1.
The problem with our Adaptec controller was that ESXi didn't support it out-of-the-box. It was supported in general but the driver was not included. We thought that the new ESXi 6 could contain the driver, but it didn't. So we had to create our own ESXi image with the Adaptec driver.
We thought it shouldn't be a problem because there was much documentation about custom images:
https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/04/using-the-vsphere-esxi-image-builder-cli.html
http://www.virten.net/2015/03/esxi-6-0-image-for-intel-nuc/
(DE) https://www.thomas- krenn.com/de/wiki/Individuelles_ESXi_5....
Some problems:
A problem was that the documentation references an "offline software depot". You can download the offline depot for the paid version but it's not available for the free version - not as simple download. No offline deplot means no custom image - right? Not right, because it's also possible to use an online depot.
The problem was that the documentation didn't contain a full description. We found some hints in different blogs but no complete description.
Here are the steps how we created our custom ESXi 6 image with Adaptec 6805 driver:
Downloads
https://my.vmware.com/en/group/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi6
https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/get-download?downloadGroup=PCLI600R1
http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/detail.php?deviceCategory=io&productid=19667
Useful PowerCLI Documentation:
https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp#...ve-EsxSoftwarePackage.html
Image creation
# Use online depot
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
# Add offline bundle for adaptec driver
Add-EsxSoftwareDepot aacraid-6.0.6.2.1.41024-offline_bundle-2915492.zip
# Check added depots
$DefaultSoftwareDepots
# Lists all ESXi-6.* profiles
Get-EsxImageProfile -Name "ESXi-6.*"
# Sets the base profile
New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard" -name "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -Vendor "rjahn@SIB" -AcceptanceLevel "CommunitySupported"
# Lists all included drivers
Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Name "*aacraid*"
# Adds adaptec driver from offline bundle
Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -SoftwarePackage scsi-aacraid
# Creates boot image
Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -ExportToISO -filepath C:\temp\VMServer6\build\ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec.iso
# Creates Bundle
Export-ESXImageProfile -ImageProfile "ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec" -ExportToBundle -filepath C:\temp\VMServer6\build\ESXi-6.0.0-20160104001-standard-Adaptec.zip
Version numbers may be different, but the procedure should work for you as well. The online depot:
https://hostupdate.vmware.com/software/VUM/PRODUCTION/main/vmw-depot-index.xml
was the most important thing. All other steps can be found in the standard documentation.
Tools | rjahn | 22/01/2016 | Comments (11)
Yesterday, we've released JVx 2.4, VaadinUI 1.4, HeadlessUI 1.1 and JVx vert.x 3.0.
Headless UI and JVx vert.x are maintenance updates because of JVx changes. JVx 2.4 is a bugfix release with some new cool features and VaadinUI is a performance tuning and bugfix release.
JVx and VaadinUI are available on Maven central. The other releases are hosted on SourceForge.
DataBook (MemDataBook, RemoteDataBook) are now Thread safe. It wasn't guaranteed before 2.4.
JVx' OracleDBAccess supports Boolean DataTypes via JDBC calls and Arrays as well. We wrapped the functionality in our existing API and it makes no difference for you. Arrays are wrapped as List of IBeans.
The WorkScreen class got a new event: eventParameterChanged. It enables notification about parameter changes.
We introduced AbstractFactory and changed all factory implementations. With AbstractFactory, it's possible to set custom factory properties. We use this new feature for vaadin UI. With new Vaadin UI it's possible to use the old Table or the new Grid implementation. Simply set a property for that.
The invokeInThread method now returns the Thread instance.
Set the factory property: vaadin.component.legacy_table to true (via web.xml as init parameter or as URL parameter).
Before 1.4, all LinkedCellEditors were loaded immediate. This was a performance impact. With 1.4 this was changed and data will be loaded, when needed.
The performance is now about 5 times faster than before. We improved the performance because we reduced our CssExtension and reduced the database calls. You can feel the new performance
It's based on Vert.x 3 and works with JVx 2.4.
(JVx vert.x is hosted on GitHub)
You can find all changes in the project Changelogs.
Happy coding!
Release notes | rjahn | 24/12/2015 | Comments (0)
Oracle doesn't use/define the SQL Type Boolean. You can't define a column in a table as Boolean. It's possible to use boolean in PL/Sql e.g. for procedures or functions but you can't call the function from SQL.
Example functions
It's possible to call:
but it's not possible to call:
or
(1 = true, 0 = false; boolean is mapped to integer in Oracle)
If you want to call a procedure or function which defines boolean parameters, it's not possible without tricks with Oracle JDBC driver. This is annoying.
We solved the problem in JVx 2.4 and it's now possible to call functions or procedures without tricks. Here's a "more complex" example. We define a function with an input parameter and a procedure with an input/output parameter in a package:
CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY TestBoolean IS
FUNCTION test(pOutput BOOLEAN) RETURN BOOLEAN IS
BEGIN
IF (pOutput) THEN
RETURN FALSE;
ELSE
RETURN TRUE;
END IF;
END;
PROCEDURE testBoolOut(pOutput IN OUT BOOLEAN) IS
BEGIN
IF (pOutput) THEN
pOutput := FALSE;
ELSE
pOutput := TRUE;
END IF;
END;
END;
/
Now we use JVx' DBAccess to call the function and procedure.
//Function call
Assert.assertEquals(Boolean.TRUE, dba.executeFunction("TESTBOOLEAN.TEST", Types.BOOLEAN, Boolean.FALSE));
//Procedure call
InOutParam param = new InOutParam(Types.BOOLEAN, Boolean.FALSE);
dba.executeProcedure("TESTBOOLEAN.TESTBOOLOUT", param);
Assert.assertEquals(Boolean.TRUE, param.getValue());
The whole type mapping was done in OracleDBAccess and it's invisible for you. Simply use the API to call procedures or functions.
Development | rjahn | 18/12/2015 | Comments (0)
Some days ago, I wrote about our eTV project. The blog post had some pictures but no more details. I want to tell you some details about this project because it's simply awesome.
The project was a research project of our framework team and was started just for fun. The use-case was simple: Our room had 4 walls and 3 were full with pictures and world maps. Only one wall was empty. Why not using a flat TV for showing different content like livestreams, comic strips, images.
The idea was great and some days later, the last wall was full. A nice 43" flat TV was mounted.
We thought that a RaspberryPi could bring the content to the TV because it's a small device and fits behind the TV. Java works without problems on the Pi and JVx as well.
After all hardware pieces were ready, it was time to think about the software because a sort of control center was needed to implement some features. The plan was to write a simple server which has a set of commands like: open website, show image, play livestream, execute command, upload file, download file.
The server was implemented as simple socket server, with JVx. It executes pre-configured commands and has some important control features: take screenshot, next - previous window, get window list, close window. The server has no GUI and is more or less a window/process manager.
The server has no GUI, but we need a GUI to control the server. We wrote a simple JVx application as remote control. The remote control application was deployed on a Jetty application server (on the RasPi, with vaadin UI) and as mobile JavaFX application. Jetty runs fine on the RasPi and our vaadin UI as well.
The TV with RaspberryPi, streaming a Video from YouTube:
eTV YouTube Stream
After we were ready with the server, we tried to create a simple JVx demo application to demonstrate JVx on embedded devices. It was funny to use eTV for live streams or to show images, but what about real-world use-cases?
The idea was about a JavaFX application, running on the RasPi. The application could be a monitoring app for a warehouse with a nice looking frontend and a backoffice view for administration. It's usual to have a nice looking frontend and a not so nice looking backoffice part.
We've implemented an application for a big assembly hall. The application is a styled JVx application but still 100% JVx. We've used VisionX to create the UI:
 VisionX design mode |
 TV mode |
|
The application in VisionX is not 100% the same as on the TV because of the screen resolution, but it's the same source code and VisionX works with this application. The application on the TV hides the application frame and only shows the screen content, but this is a supported feature.
The UI technology is not JavaFX! We tried to use JavaFX but it wasn't possible because the RasPi had performance problems with the amount of nodes. It wasn't possible to reduce the amount of used nodes with standard JavaFX controls. Overclocking the Pi didn't solve the problem.
We simply switched to Swing and didn't have any performance problems. So, the UI technology is good old Swing. It works great in combination with the RasPi and we think the result is also nice!
The application is a monitoring application for different events, like performance, effort, pressure, temperature, aerodynamics, alerts. We did connect a temp sensor and two buzzers to get a better real-world experience and because it was easy to support with a RasPi. Initial setup:
Initial setup
The backoffice/backend was deployed as web application (Jetty on RaspberryPi, JVx vaadin UI) because it should be possible to use it on tablets or smartphones without native apps:
Backend view
The same UI on mobile phones:
 Mobile view |
 Mobile view (no menu) |
The application is a 100% JVx application with Swing UI and vaadin UI. Everything runs directly on the RaspberryPi.
We've used the whole eTV system as showcase application at DOAG conference in November:
eTV @ DOAG 2015
The results of our "research project" are awesome and eTV is a ready-to-use product. We didn't code one line of code to support different UI technologies and didn't have problems with resolutions of tablets, smartphones or the TV (#responsive).
Thanks to JVx it was super easy to create an amazing application.
Development | rjahn | | Comments (0)
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