VisionX 2.0 will have another great new feature. It's fast user switching.
An application created with VisionX is always a multi-user application. It has roles and roles can be assigned to users. You can take care of users and roles in work screens, e.g. set filter conditions or hide components depending of the user or role.
To test your screens with different users, you had to logout and login manually. This was cumbersone and not productive. With VisionX 2.0 it'll be possible to switch the user with two mouse clicks:
Switch user
It's the next step to enhance productivity.
Today we've some great news for you!
Our upcoming Release of VisionX will support jar signing.
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 App keys |
Jar signing?
This is a long story, but in short: Since latest JDK 1.7 releases, Oracle introduced a new "security feature". The new feature is available via Java ControlPanel, Security tab. There are different security options like Medium, High, Very high. If you're using default setting (high) it's not possible to start Applets in your Web browser or JNLP applications via Webstart. If you change the default setting to medium, it'll be possible to start applets and JNLP applications but a big warning dialog will appear. This dialog contains a lot of security information and bold red letters. Red is always a bad color for users, because it stands for danger.
This new security feature made it impossible to use VisionX' (Java in Broser) live application preview, because no one changed the default security.
We tried to find some workarounds but didn't find a real solution. The best choice was jar signing support directly via VisionX, but end-user capable.
The bad news: It was hard work 
The good news: It's working!
VisionX will contain a self-signed Java certificate per default. No worries, you can add your custom/official certificates!
The default certificate is only for application tests and should never be used for productive applications.
Sign information
It won't be possible to use Applets or JNLP Webstart applications with current and upcoming JREs without signing. So the only chance for VisionX was a self-singed certificate.
Our next release of VisionX will contain support for custom AddOns.
What is an AddOn?
It's like a plugin, module, extension, ...
An AddOn can extend VisionX with custom libraries, custom configuration files, custom templates.
It configures YOUR VisionX.
One example is a custom application template. Create your own application and extend new applications from your own template. Use custom Login screens, custom background images and custom security managers. Everything will be possible with AddOns.
A new screen will be available for AddOn management:
AddOns
The feature already is available in our automatic builds!
We made some smaller changes to VisionX that supports developers in their daily work. The first improvement is that database connection messages will be developer friendly (original message) instead of user-friendly (simple language). It'll be easier to debug VisionX applications because we've added debug information to included Open Source projects like JVx, JVx.vaadin, ...
VisionX enterprise comes with source code of our Open Source projects like JVx and JVx.vaadin. The source code matches the binary versions, used in VisionX, and a developer has exactly the same code to debug problems. It was possible to get the source code from our sourceforge project site, but you didn't know the exact revision.
We've also added VisionX API jar and javadoc archives to enterprise VisionX. That makes it easier to develop modules or AddOns (will be a new feature in upcoming releases).
With VisionX 2.0 it'll be possible to access the embedded database directly with an integrated database editor. We use an existing tool with the name pgAdmin (see developer site). It's a very popular tool, especially for PostgreSql users.
Here's a screenshot of the integration
 pgAdmin III |
The tool will be available in every application and the menu item will be available in Edit menu.
The tool pgAdmin is open source and was not developed by SIB Visions! It was integrated for better database support and for all database lovers.
VisionX 1.2 will be VisionX 2.0 because it's more than just a minor update. It's too powerful for 1.x and has awesome new features. We have so many new features and didn't release smaller version updates... but we started with weekly builds for our customers in decemter 2013.
Most of our customers have access to early release versions with all available features. This is not usual for product development companies, but we develop high quality software and take the risk 
We've releasd a bigger update of VisionX with the version number 1.2.136 in december for all our customers. So please check your download areas.
Some new features for the next weekly build will be:
We have more amazing features, that covers reporting and new JVx features. If you have access to VisionX' nightly builds, simply check the changelog of VisionX and ProjX for details.
We know that VisionX 1.2 will be #awesome because it has endless power under the hood. It'll combine productivity features with state-of-the-art technologies. The release is still planned for 2013. But we won't let you wait
The brand new preview version of VisionX 1.2 is available as trial and as cloud service. The preview version is not feature complete but contains a lot of new features and of course, many improvements.
A short intro
- New html5 client based on VaadinUI
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It's awesome to design an application and see all changes live in your web application. One mouse click is enough to be amazed. |
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- Mobile client support is on board
VisionX has support for native iOS and Android apps. This is a killer feature, because you design your application and your native app is ready without additional steps. We're still working on our native apps because they aren't available in app stores. This needs some additional time. But our open source clients work without problems!
- Super fast Oracle support
The last VisionX versions had performance problems with (very) large databases. You had to wait about 10 minutes or more, to select a table. This was so frustrating. The performance is now better than ok. It works without delays!
- New actions
We have new actions for tabset and component handling, for environment access (web, desktop, mobile) and much more.
- New events
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| We have new events for work-screens and tabsets. |
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- Extended reporting syntax
Our old solution was loop oriented. Loops were used for iterating all records. You had no chance to get the value of a specific record. This is now possible. We now support following: [LOOP@storage#3][YEAR]/[MONTH][LOOP@storage#3]. This placeholder prints the value of YEAR and MONTH from the third record. The short syntax, for one single column is [storage#3!YEAR].
- Self-joined trees
It's now possible to create trees with self-joined tables.
- Environment control
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| It's now possible to hide specific screens on specific environments, e.g. You won't see the user-management screen with html5 mode, but it'll be available in your desktop application. Don't create new roles or new users for that, simply change environment flags via menu management. |
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- New LIVE preview wizard
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The wizard allows html5, mobile or desktop preview and shows additional information for manually previewing applications.
VisionX shows scannable QR Code for mobile preview mode.
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- New online help based on Vaadin
Our new online help system supports full-text search and has a modern style.
Above list is not complete because we have about 250 changes in this version (most are new features).
Simply try the preview and send us your feedback. Every comment is welcome!
Our customers should check their download area!
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!
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
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
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!
We released VisionX 1.1.1 as little Thank you to our customers. Thanks for the great Feedback and for all the compliments!
The new release contains many improvements and solves some ugly problems.
The details
- Application reload in Browsers
It is not necessary to clear the Java or Browser cache. The application now reloads automatically.
- Data export
The simple export of records now creates valid CSV files. Simply open it with Excel or other Office suites.
- Install the database without freeze
VisionX had a problem with opened database connections, because the installation waits until all resources are freed. In the current release, VisionX closes all opened connections during installation. The database installation now runs smoothly.
- Translation update
We updated the English translation.
- Tomcat Settings
If you reused a Tomcat setting, the port is set to 80. Now the stored port is used.
- User Management
Now it is possible to customize the User Management screen.
- Form screen validation
If you close a form screen but not all required fields are filled, you get only one information dialog.
- Default table sort
If you sort a table with different columns and different sort orders, it is saved now.
- Edit data table
We found a potential freeze during screen update and changed the display of the data type.
- Action editor
A value change command does not create a new insert command anymore.
Have fun with this fantastic release.
News | rjahn | 04/04/2014 | 
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