VisionX 5 is available It's an awesome version with so many new features and new possibilities. We had some hard months but now it's done and it's available for everyone. We made the decision to wait a little bit longer with VisionX 5 because of changes in used frameworks.

The new Version is more web centric than any version before, but it's not a web tool. VisionX 5 still supports Desktop application creation.

So what's new?

• Default Stylesheet

  All new applications will contain an empty application.css. This file could be used to add custom HTLM5 application styles.

• New CSS Editor (Web settings)

  The new CSS editor makes it possible to change the style of the application directly within VisionX. The Editor supports Search/Replace/Goto line. It's also supported to reload the application in the browser. Simply test your style changes immediately.

  

  CSS Editor

  It supports syntax highlighting and auto completion. Read more...

• New default Theme for HTML5

  Newly created applications will use the new default theme "valo" as standard theme. It's possible to change the theme in web settings wizard.

• Additional Themes

  VisionX 5 is shipped with following themes: Standard, Valo, Valo (small), Mobile

• Navigation

  The page navigation is now enabled by default. It support Back/Forward Browser navigation for the application.

• New Tabset navigation

  It's also possible to enable tabset navigation. This feature enables Back/Forward navigation for tab sheets. This feature is disabled by default. It can be found in the web settings.

• Favicon

  It wasn't easy to change the favicon for your application because it is stored in different locations. VisionX 5 solves this problem because it's possible to change the favicon directly in VisionX.

  

  Favicon support

  It's also possible to use the favicon as icon for desktop applications. VisionX will extract the image directly from the favicon.

• New GUI element: Menu Button

  The Menu Button is a simple button which shows a popup menu if you click the button. The component itself also supports a default action, but this is a new feature of JVx' UIPopupMenuButton. The component is available in the elements area.

  

  Menu Button

• New Web Elements

  The web elements is a new element area. The elements are preconfigured components like an Insert Button. This Button simply inserts a new record in a table. This web elements will work for desktop applications as well, but are often used in web applications.

  

  Web Elements

• New web element: Table Menu Button

  The Table Menu Button is a Menu Button with preconfigured menu items like Delete, Export. It's also possible to add custom menu items via menu customizer.

  

  Table Menu Button Items

• Menubar Image

  It's now possible to configure the web menus independent of the desktop menu. Every screen has a menu icon and a toolbar icon. The menu icon will be used for the menubar and the toolbar icon for the toolbar in Desktop applications.

  The HTML5 application has different layout modes. The standard, the corporation and the legacy mode. The standard mode shows the menu in a sidebar on the left or right of the browser frame. This sidebar was used as toolbar in versions before VisionX 5. If you did configure a toolbar image, the screen was shown as image in the toolbar of your Desktop application and in the sidebar of your HTML5 application. It wasn't possible to configure an image, only, for the HTML5 sidebar. This feature is now available in the menu settings wizard.

  

  Web Menubar

  The toolbar image will be used for the toolbar in the corporation mode, as usual.

• New Edit Panel Customizer

  The Edit Panel now supports a Navigation mode: Single click, Double click and No navigation.

  

  Customizer

  It's also possible to morp an Edit Panel into a Tabset, a simple Panel or a Group Panel.

• All/No columns

  It's now possible to show/hide all columns of a table via customizer. It wasn't nice to click through e.g. 50 columns. Now it's easy to show only 2 columns of e.g. 50 columns.

  

  Show/Hide all

• Default image mapping for HTML5

  It was possible to map desktop images for e.g. HTML5. It's better to use simple/flat images in web applications compared to desktop applications. The web style should be or is different to standard desktops.

  With VisionX 5, we did the default mapping for you and a standard web application will show different standard images.

  

  Image mapping

  Same application, no changes necessary. Only some image mappings!

• FontAwesome support

  JVx has FontAwesome support for a while, but this feature wasn't integrated in VisionX. The new image chooser supports FontAwesome.

  

  FontAwesome

• Custom image libraries

  It's now supported to extend VisionX with custom image libraries. We have different commercial AddOns in our Solution store.

  

  Image library AddOns

The libraries will extend the image chooser.



Extended Image chooser

It's also possible to integrate your own offline image libraries.

• New tutorials

  We have new tutorials and new Tutorial Applications in our Store.

• New Edit Panel features

  The integrated edit panel has new features like Tab Navigation by Buttons. The edit dialog now has OK and Cancel. It supports single our double click navigation.

• Server actions and DB functions

  Our action editor now supports (Oracle) database function calls and server-side function calls.

  

  Server Actions

• Better Action Code Editor

  The source code editor now supports syntax highlighting and code folding.

  

  Action Code Editor

• New Button options

  It's now possible to change the button border behaviour.

  

  Button options

• New Search Options

  The search field now supports Contains and Starts with.

  

  Search options

• Better HTML5 default styling

  We improved the Split Panels and fixed some problems with focus.

  

  HTML5 Styling

  The split handle is now small.

• Vaadin 8

  Our HTML5 GUI is now based on Vaadin 8.1 instead of Vaadin 7. With Vaadin 8, the UI is faster and supports all modern AddOns from the Vaadin Directory.

  We offer a Vaadin AddOn for VisionX to integrate AddOns from the directory.

• New HTML5 layouting mechanism

  We rewrote the layout mechanism of our HTML5 UI because our Form Layout didn't support all available features. Now it's possible to overlap elements or to work with Anchors directly. The new layout mechanism can be disabled if necessary. In this case, the old mechanism will be used.

• Documentation

  The online documentation is now available.

  

  Documentation

• Library updates

  JVx changes, VaadinUI changes

VisionX 5 still contains Applet and Webstart support, but with VisionX 6 we will remove Applet support because the technology is EOL.

The new Version of VisionX will require a new license. Simply ask your sales contact to get a new one. The download area already contains links to VisionX 5 binaries.

Please report any problems as usual and have fun with VisionX 5.

We showed you the upcoming CSS edit feature of VisionX. This feature was used in our new tutorial Style Invoice application.

The standard Invoice application was more or less a standard VisionX application with some standard colors and icons. Not super fancy.

The Styled Invoice application demonstrates how easy it can be to apply your own Style to an application, created with VisionX.

The new tutorial is available in our documentation system.

The standard application:

Standard Invoice application

The styled application:

Styled Invoice application

The upcoming release of VisionX will support CSS styling. We'll show you a first impression with a short video:

The editor supports autocompletion and syntax highlighting:

VisionX CSS Editor

We did integrat the RSyntaxTextArea for this. If you want to know how this works, check the documentation.

We have a new AddOn for all VisionX users. It's the Embedding AddOn.

The new AddOn makes it possible to embedd one work-screen into another work-screen. Simply re-use screens in other screens.

Get an impression

The AddOn is commercial and not included in VisionX. Contact our sales team to get more information!

We're happy to announce VisionX 2.4 Update Release 2. It's another milestone for us.

The new version is a bugfix release with some important features for all our customers. The top bug was a missing license check for our HTML5 implementation. With older versions it was possible to use our HTML5 application without valid license. This wasn't a hidden feature, it was a real bug. The new version has a clean license check and some of you will need a new license. This is no problem, simply contact us.

What's new?

• Full-Screen mode

  Press F12 to maximize VisionX without frame border.

• HTML5 Live preview options

  It supports "application per session", custom UI factory, custom Application setups, main, config and externalCss URL parameter.

• VisionX is now http session ready

  It will be possible to use VisionX on server-side as backend for remote application development.

• Fixed Copy/Paste for DnD fields

  It's now possible to Copy/Paste into field with DnD support.

• Automatic UI tests

  VisionX now supports automatic UI tests with an optional AddOn. The mechanism isn't limited to our AddOn. It's also possible to create custom Modules/AddOns.

• Tibero Database support

  VisionX has built-in support for Tibero Database (tested with version 6).

• Auto-restart feature

  VisionX got a Preloader. This allows custom libraries without manually changing the classpath. The old classpath mechanism is still available, but we use the Preloader by default.

• Action Editor with custom editor support

  It's now possible to add custom editors in the action editor via action.xml and/or a custom module.

• GridLayout support

  It's now possible to use panels with GridLayout, if set in Source Code.

• Custom vaadin widgetsets and themes

  It's now possible to create custom vaadin widgetsets, e.g. add an AddOn from the Vaadin Directory. It's super easy to create a custom theme and setting your custom css attributes.

• Performance improvement

  We reduced the fetch calls during screen creation. This will improve performance with big tables and complex views.

• New modules, AddOns and demo applications (optional)

  The VaadinAddon can be used to create a custom widgetset or theme. The AppTeste is an automatic UI test tool. There is a new demo application for testing Validators. The new reporting demo application will show all features of our reporting engine.

• Configurable EPlug ports

  It's now possible to configure the EPlug communication ports via system properties.

• Better Application signing

  Our signing mechanism now supports TSA Urls, Proxies, signing algorithms and much more.

• Service module merging

  Newly created applications will automatically merge service modules. This is an important bugfix for e.g. the profiles module.

The new version is available in your download area or as Trial version.

It is time to have a short look at Validators, what they are, how they work and how they can be used.

Okay, what are they?

A Validator is a component which is available to our customers who have purchased VisionX, it allows to quickly and easily add field validation to a form or any screen with records.

Validators in VisionX

Validators are readily available in VisionX as components which can be added to the screen.

It can be added to the screen by simply dragging it like any other component, but must be configured afterwards to know which field required validation.

There are three important properties to the Validator:

• Binding: The field to which the Validator should be bound to. This works analog to selecting to a field for an Editor.
• Automatic validate: If the validation process should be automatically performed on value changes.
  If this is checked, the Validator will listen for value changes on the specified field and will automatically run the validation action on every change. If not checked, the validation process must be run manually by calling Validator.validate() as needed.
• Hide until first validate: If the Validator should stay hidden until at least one validation was performed.
  If this is checked, the Validator will not be visible until at least its validation has been called once, afterwards it will always be visible.

Validating values

To actually validate something, we have to attach an action to the Validator which will perform the validation. This can be readily done through the VisionX action designer, which provides everything needed to create such an action and we will not go into detail on how to do this.

We will, however, have a short look at the code of a simple action.

It is a very simple action, the current value of the DataBook is checked and if it is empty, an Exception is. This is the most simple validation action one can create.

Validators in action

Once we have everything setup, we can put the Validators to good use. When the validation is performed, may it be automatically or manually, the validation actions will be invoked and if all of them return without throwing an Exception, the Validator will display a green check mark. However, if the actions should throw an Exception, the Validator will display a red "X".

Manual validation

Manually invoking the validation process as needed is quite simple by calling Validator.isValid(), which will return either true or false.

Above you see a sample action which manually performs the validation process and either saves the data or sets an error label to visible.

The ValidationResult

One can quickly end up with many Validators in a single screen, which might make it difficult for the user to directly see why a field is not correctly validated. So it suggest itself that there should be a short summary close to the save button to make sure that the user is readily provided with the information why the action could not be performed. For this scenario there is the ValidationResult, which is another component which can be added to the screen from the toolbox.

It will automatically find all Validators in the screen and will perform their validation as needed. Afterwards it will gather all error messages and display them in a list.

The ValidationResult can be used similar to the Validator in an action.

Additionally, there is the clearMessage() method which allows to clear the list of errors.

Conclusion

The Validator and ValidationResult provide quick and easy means to add data validation to forms and screens with records and can be added and configured completely through the VisionX designer. Additionally, it provides a rich API which allows it to be easily used when writing the code manually or extending it with additional functionality.

We have a new AddOn for all VisionX users. It's the Vaadin AddOn.

The new AddOn makes it possible to integrate Vaadin AddOns from the official Vaadin AddOn Directory. It makes the integration super simple because we solved the technical problems. The AddOn does all the hard work for you and after two button clicks, everything is done.

With our new AddOn, we introduced more new VisionX features. In the next update release, it will be possible to create AddOns which have access to VisionX itself. Use the internal DataBooks or the Designer, the WizardManager and all other APIs. It'll be possible to create your own VisionX based on VisionX!

Also new is the automatic restart feature. It's possible to restart VisionX after installing an AddOn or Module with a simple button click. This feature is the base for automatic VisionX updates. Currently, we don't update VisionX automatically, but we think it will be nice for one of the next versions.

Get an impression

The AddOn is commercial and not included in VisionX. Contact our sales team to get more information!

A new AddOn for VisionX is coming

A first impression

Application tester

The tool is a recorder for VisionX/JVx applications. It has an option to export created tests as JUnit tests which makes it easy for Software developers to integrate the GUI tests in their CI systems. It's a super easy tool with so much value for you!

The App Tester will be available in our solution store and will be an AddOn for VisionX.

If you are interested in details, leave a comment.

With the preparations for the VisionX 2.4 Update 1 we've also created several simple but telling demo applications. Let's have a look at these.

Demo-AMLD

We start our short tour with the first demo, the "Aircraft Manufacturing Line Dashboard" which is emulating a dashboard as it can be found in various factories and manufacturing companies.

Its main frontend is a Swing based GUI which displays (randomly generated) data, additionally there is a Vaadin powered frontend which displays the raw data. The main highlights of this demo are:

• Capability to customize technology-specific components.
• Utilizing custom components in the VisionX designer.
• Usage of cell formatters.
• Making WorkScreens only available in certain environments.
• Data is generated with either the Random object or OpenSimplexNoise.

Demo-BIELS

This is a demo of a typical dashboard and master data forms of an ERP application, in this case a small company focused on import and export of chemical/biochemical materials and similar.

All WorkScreens are fully functional in Swing and Vaadin environments. The main highlights of this demo are:

• Demonstration of feature parity and interchangeability between Swing and Vaadin.
• Creation of custom controls for displaying data.
• Fully and easily editable with the VisionX designer.

Demo-CNASP

Next up is a demonstration of the ability to create end-user facing web portals with JVx and VisionX.

The whole application is designed to function on large and small displays alike, like those of smartphones. The main highlights are:

• Demonstration of extensive customization via CSS.
• Differing layouts depending on the environment (Desktop, Tablet, Smartphone).

Demo-DMARS

Accessing data and documents on the go is always kind of a hassle, but we can make it easier and more comfortable by providing easy to use GUIs for such occasions.

This simple document management system shows off a simple and easy to use GUI for accessing and manipulating documents in the storage. The highlights are:

• GUI designed to be used on small, touch-enabled displays.
• Extending the Table to allow checkbox based multi-row selection.
• Inserting and retrieving files from a database.
• The new Upload component available in ProjX.

Demo-Reports

Last but, not least, is the "big guide" of how to use reporting in VisionX.

This application will take you step by step through the capabilities and features of the VisionX reporting solution. Every WorkScreen demonstrates another feature complete with a description, example, access to the template and final report and of course the related documentation.

• A step-by-step introduction to the VisionX reporting solution.
• 12 examples with easy to read and documented source code.
• All parts easily accessible: Source code, Template, Data and Report.

Availability

All these applications are available in the VisionsX Solution Store, on demand. The source code is licensed under the permissive Apache License.

VisionX 2.4 update release I is out. The exact version number is 2.4.544.310.
It's a powerful update release becasue it contains latest versions of relevant opensource libraries and frameworks.

What's new?

• Thumbnails

  If application contains a thumbnail, VisionX won't add a random thumbnail anymore.

• HTML5 Theme

  It's now possible to change the HTML5 theme via web settings: Standard, Valo, Mobile

  

  Web settings

• Live preview

  Live preview does now work if you apply external changes or if you change the source code in Eclipse (with installed EPlug).

• GridLayout is now supported

  The GridLayout of JVx is now officially supported in VisionX' Designer.

• Vaadin 7.7.9

  VisionX updates contains Vaadin 7.7.9.

• Solution store update

  The solution store now shows available solutions based on your VisionX version.

• New demo solutions

  We have awesome new demo applications for licensed users.

  

  Demo applications

• New Reporting demo

  The reporting demo is a complete documentation about VisionX reporting features and the reporting API.

  

  Reporting

  

  Report overview

• Smaller bugfixes

All customers will find the new version in their download area!
The trial version was updated as well!