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Category: News

JVx 1.2 almost finished

The current version of JVx is 1.1 and it was released in January. It's still one of the best releases, but it's time for an update :)

We had about 90 tickets and a lot of smaller changes on the roadmap for 1.2. ALL functional tickets were implemented. There are still 5 open tickets but they are nice to have and doesn't change APIs or core code. Our internal tests with VisionX and other applications work without problems. The official release day will be Friday, 4th October.

You can look forward to the next great JVx. It's the base of our upcoming Vaadin UI and our new "native" mobile applications.

The full list of changes is available here.

Some highlights:

  • Simple environment (web, mobile, headless, ...) detection because launcher knows the environment
  • Work-screens now have notifyActivate. This will be used if an already opened screen will be activated(shown) again
  • Improved Javascript bridge
  • UI controls are now per factory. This allows different UI technologies (mobile, vaadin, headless) in one war file
  • Tab activated/deactivated events
  • Server-side SessionContext allows access to Master and Sub Session
  • Support for virtual application folders
  • Databooks are now very smart (improved datasource isolation level, save and restore with different data pages, ...)

JVx Application Stack

We'll demonstrate the power of JVx in 3 minutes. One Application Framework, for all platforms.

You have never seen this before:


JVx Application Stack



Some details:

  • Simple deployment, because everything is contained in 1 war file
  • Developed with VisionX
  • Application runs as Java Desktop or Browser Application, as Web Application (HTML, CSS), on iOS or Android
  • Tested with iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet - as Web Application and native application

Do you know any other framework with comparable features. I think JVx is the only full stack application framework world-wide with single sourcing support for all platforms and devices - and it's open source.

JVx application with Vaadin launcher on iPad mini

For those, who don't know why the world needs single sourcing and only one framework for backend/frontend/mobile, we have a new use-case!

It's a new application that has different user groups. The first group sits in the backoffice and configures/crunches data. This user group needs a powerful backend application that supports fast (mass) data manipulation. The second user group are end users. This group needs a fancy web based application because an application must be cool and browser based (nowadays).

If you'll develop such an application with different UI frameworks and different technologies (Java, HTML, Javascript), different ORM tools, and for different browsers, clients, OS', you'll need time and a lot know how and maybe many developers.

Wouldn't it be great to use one framework that is powerful enough? The framework shouldn't be restrictive because we (software developers) want to be flexible and include our preferred libraries. No worries, JVx is flexible, small and is not restrictive.

If you develop your application with JVx, you have no problem with different platforms and devices. A JVx application runs as desktop application, in your browser as html application, on your mobile devices as html application and on your mobile devices as native application.

But enough advertising, lets look at the application. First, the backend application:

Video Backend

Video Backend

And the frontend, as video (video speed it's a little bit slow because it was recorded via Wi-Fi):


JVx frontend application

(The video shows our new maximize option, because mobile devices have limited space)

Above applications are not two separate applications. It's only one application with different users and roles. It looks different as desktop application than as web application. The only framework you need to know is JVx. It's not needed to be a html/javascript developer.

The framework is still simple and don't code multiple applications for different devices/platforms. Save time and be happy!

Discontinued QT UI

Our QT UI is 3 years old and was created as proof of concept for our generic UI. It's still 0.7 beta an we never had ideas for a real 1.0. Now we know that JVx' technology independent UIs work because we have different solutions with GXT and vaadin, mobile and our headless UI implementation.

We don't belive in QT Jambi as GUI toolkit and think the future of Java GUI toolkits is reserved for JavaFX or a completely new toolkit. Because of this fact, we discontinue our QT UI implementation and we'll clean our repository.

JVx - Maven snapshots

We now provide our JVx nightly via Maven Snapshots. Our nightly build job automatically uploads new JVx snapshots. If you want to use the last JVx snapshot in your project, simply add:

<repositories>
  <repository>
    <id>sonatype-nexus-snapshots</id>
    <name>Sonatype Snapshots</name>
    <url>https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/</url>
  </repository>
</repositories>

to your pom.xml and set JVx' version to: 1.2_beta-SNAPSHOT.

If you use our new JVx archetype 1.1.9, simple change the version in the master project:

<properties>
  <jvx.version>1.2_beta-SNAPSHOT</jvx.version>
</properties>

All SNAPSHOT versions contain debugging information. The release versions don't.

VisionX 1.2 Preview - Trial - available

The preview version of VisionX 1.2 is available as Trial version for your desktop. It offers all available features and shouldn't have any problems. The problems on MacOS are solved and it works without problems on Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8.

Simply download the preview version and try it on your own device!

If you already own VisionX, check your download area!

VisionX 1.2 Preview

VisionX 1.2 is planned for Q4/2013, but we'll show you some really cool features of the upcoming version. The current dev version is stable and we have a list of amazing productivity features.

  • An awesome feature is Undo/Redo for UI operations.

    This is a must for great UI design tools.

  • Xls Reporting is another key feature

    Simply create real XLS reports in seconds.

  • Xml Reporting is relevant for M2M communication and is included in VisionX
  • New Form validation support

    Create Forms and validate results with few mouse clicks.

  • Offline data gathering

    Create a XLS or XML report, add records to the created report and import the changed report into your application. This feature is amazing!

  • Liferay Portlet deployment

    Don't waste your time for portlet creation. Use VisionX and create a complete liferay portlet web application archive in seconds. Everything is pre-configured and ready-to-use. Let yourself be surprised.

  • You want More?

    Something like Mobile support and our new Vaadin UI... maybe in the next preview :)

Some impressions

Form validation

Form validation

 
XLS reporting

XLS reporting

Import report

Import report


ALL Features are available in our Cloud preview. Check it out today!

What's JVx in 2013?

JVx was started in 2008 as simple library for application development. The focus was on technology independce. It shouldn't matter which technology will be used in the future. In 2008, Swing was first choice for Java applications. In 2014, it will be JavaFX. JVx was designed to solve technology problems. It's not only a library, it's a full-stack-framework - an all in one solution for application development. But it's still a simple libray. There are no dependencies between the different application layers. Only use the persistence or an UI control or some utility classes. JVx is the right choice.
The big advantage of JVx is that it's API is simple and doesn't hide underlying technologies. Be technology independent or not - it's your decision!
The architecture is clean and easy to understand. The codebase is small and the source code meets the highest quality requirements. JVx is not only open source software, it's professional open source software.

What happened in the last few years with JVx?

We had some plans for JVx. The first was a core library for super-fast application development. This library is known as JVx. The other plans were about mobile applications, and different UI implementations like QT, GXT and a headless UI technique for automated tests. Of course, during recent years we played around with many libraries and frameworks like Pivot, GWT, vert.x, POI, ewsAPI, JasperReports, Birt, RAP, Jspresso, xdev, etc.

The result of our hard work is a framework that allows application development for desktop applications, web applications and mobile applications. BUT, the big difference to ALL other "hybrid" frameworks is that we write the application once and the same application runs without changes on ALL platforms.
JVx is a single-sourcing framework as well! Oh, and JVx is the only Java framework that allows a seamless integration in Oracle Forms.

We don't know a framework on this planet which is like JVx. It's small, it's simple, it's powerful, it's Open Source, it's professional, it's amazing.

Sounds unbelievable?

Maybe, but convince us that the opposite is true.

We know that JVx is not the solution for all problems because it was designed for database application development and not for other things. It's not a good idea to create a web-shop or a role-playing game with JVx. There are better tools for that. But if you develop backend applications that needs (or not) a modern web frontend and access with mobile devices, than JVx is your friend!

During the last few years, we had as much fun as possible. We put all our know how and time in JVx and we know that our vision will be reality! We show you two images that explains a little bit better what JVx covers

JVx' 2013

JVx' and independent projects

Above image shows projects built on-top of JVx. Following image shows what JVx - as library - supports. The list is not too detailed, but you should get an idea.

JVx' features

JVx' features

Our next steps?

The framework itself is great, but we need more documentation. We can't write as much howtos, intros as you need but we do our best. With JVx, we solve many problems but you don't know which ones without documentation. This is the biggest howto for 2013.

Another challenge is our JavaFX UI. We are working on it!

The next important milestone is the 1.0 Release of our vaadin UI. It's already code complete but we are still reviewing... be patient if you won't build on your own.

Mein KMU bei Überall App Competition

Demnächst findet der erste App Kongress in Wien statt. Mit zur Veranstaltung zählt auch eine App Competition. Dabei werden aus einer Menge an App Ideen bzw. Konzepten die Top 10 ermittelt. Die Top 3 haben dann die Chance auf einen 3 Minuten Pitch und Crowd-Funding.

Unser R&D Team hat ebenfalls eine App Idee am Start, mit der erstmals unser JVx mobile zu sehen ist. Die Idee hat natürlich mit Business zu tun:

Eine App für kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (Handwerker, Dienstleister, Einzelunternehmer, .). Für diese gibt es kaum hilfreiche Apps und Kapital für die Umsetzung eigener Ideen ist meist nicht vorhanden bzw. wird an anderen Stellen benötigt.

Die App ermöglicht die Umsetzung eigener Ideen wie zB. Lagerstandsabfrage, Zeiterfassung für Monteure, mobile Angebotslegung, Preisabfragen, uvm. Damit die Daten auch im Büro eines KMU zur Verfügung stehen und verwendet werden können (zB. für Rechnungeslegung) kommuniziert die App mit einem Backend das entweder in der Cloud oder auf eigener Hardware läuft – je nach KMU. Das KMU erhält somit eine Kombination von Excel und Word das online zur Verfügung steht und angepasst ist an die eigenen Abläufe. Die App ist aber keine simple Dateiverwaltung wie z.B. Dropbox sondern verwaltet Unternehmensdaten in einer zentralen Datenbank. So einfach wie Excel.

Die App passt sich dynamisch an die zu verwaltenden Daten an und bietet eine Standardlösung für KMU.

Und natürlich gibt es auch ein Bild dafür:

Mein KMU

Mein KMU

Damit eine Idee unter die Top 10 kommt muss sie zuerst durch eine Community Bewertung. Die besten 33 Ideen werden dann noch von einer Jury unter die Lupe genommen. Wir würden uns natürlich freuen wenn Ihr uns unterstützt. Aber bitte Geduld bei der Bewertung, denn der Battle Modus ist etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig und es kann auch schon einige Versuche dauern bis "Mein KMU" antritt :)

Liferay Portlets with JVx

Most of you know JVx as a full-stack application framework. You use it for creating backend applications or for your ERP applications. It offers different UI implementations for Desktops, Mobile Devices and Web Browsers. It has so many productivity features and now there is one more:

Run your JVx application as Liferay Portlet

Yes, you read right - a whole application!

How it looks like?

JVx as Vaadin Portlet

JVx as Vaadin Portlet

It's not a fake, it's the well known Contacts screen from our Showcase application. We didn't change the source code to run the screen as Portlet! As you can see, we didn't use menus or toolbars, only one screen. A Portlet should be simple because Liferay offers menus and site navigation.

How it works?

Use your existing application, bundle it together with JVx.vaadin and configure the Portlet Launcher in your deployment descriptor. You need some additional configuration files for liferay, but there's no difference between your current Portlets and a Portlet for a JVx application.

Everything you need is Open Source and released under Apache License 2.0, but we don't have detailed documentation at the moment. Support us with your contribution!

Boost your productivity

If you develop a lot of different Portlets for your customers and won't waste time for XML file creation, simply use VisionX. It has a WYSIWYG UI editor and creates your database model on-the-fly. It is your pain killer!

It offers Liferay Portlet creation with 4 mouse clicks. Don't create everything manually and save time - Use VisionX!

VisionX Screen Design

VisionX Screen Design

We've used VisionX to demonstrate the creation of above contacts screen. We spent 5 minutes to create a complete application, with database model, user management and Liferay Portlet deployment. We were amazingly fast!