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!

Our next update release of VisionX will support Dropping files. It's a very useful feature and was easy to implement. Sure, it's a Swing specific feature, but our VisionX is more or less JVx Swing UI based.

Get a first impression

We drop an exported application archive into VisionX and the import wizard is starting. It's also possible to Drop a file directly into the import wizard.

VisionX is a JVx application and it's super easy to implement such feature for your own JVx application. Here's a code snippet how it'll work:

In principle, we set the TransferHandler for a JComponent. Above code detects the right JComponent because there's a difference if you use an IEditor.

The TransferHandler could be implemented like our SimpleFileDropHandler

Have fun

This is a follow up for Smooth Forms 6i to Java Migration.

The following video demonstrates the integration of a Java screen into a Forms application. Since WebForms, it's possible to embedd Java swing components directly. We did create a compatibility layer to support special mouse features and to fix repaint problems. Our integration layer allows you to integrate a complete Java application, based on JVx.

The application is the standard Summit demo application for Forms. The Java application is very similar to the original application because we want to show how easy a 1:1 migration could be. The application was created with our low code platform VisionX. It offers a modern UI and is based on JVx, the OpenSource Java application framework. The final scene shows the embedded Java screen in Forms. It's super easy and doesn't need additional code. It just works with our compatibility layer.

Following video demonstrates our Java integration for Forms 6i. In Forms 6i you can't embedd a Java application without complex ActiveX controls. So we chose an alternative for a smooth integration. It's more like an IPC between Forms and Java but with some additional features like automatic window switching.

Our solution is super flexible and it's possible to send custom events from Forms to Java and from Java to Forms. Here's an impression:

Both applications use the same database. The Forms application is like any other Forms application and the Java Application was created with VisionX based on the Open Source Java Application Framework JVx.

VisionX 2.4 was released yesterday! It's the biggest update since 1.5. We've spent more time for developing and testing than ever before. The new version has power under the hood. It contains everything which is needed to customize VisionX for your needs. It's possible to create your own VisionX. We have a great set of AddOns which will improve the quality of your applications and some very useful new Features.

What's new?

• HTML5 Live Reload

  It's now possible to update the application in the browser automatically after design changes. The live preview wizard got a new option for this feature:

  

  Live reload option

• One-click HTML5 live preview

  The application menu got a new icon. A single click is enough to show the application in the web browser.

  

  One-click live preview

• VisionX Menu

  The VisionX menu in the application has two new items:

  

  VisionX application menu

  The modules screen is a complete new feature and the Live preview is now available without leaving the application.

• Module management

  It's now possible to manage application modules. Simply install a module from the solution store or create your own re-usable application modules. The installation is super easy with our new modules screen:

  

  Super easy module installation

• Data Links

  The Designer got a new group with the name Data Links:

  

  Data Links

  All elements in the Data Links group depend on data and will update the shown value automatically on data changes.

  • The Label Control will show the current value of a specific column, as Label instead of an Editor.
  • The Selection Button will show a popup with possible values for a specific column.
  • The Filter Control requires the Profiles AddOn and allows an application user to apply and save custom filter settings, e.g. filter custom columns
• Application frame automatically saves the last position and your application will be shown at the same position after a restart.

  The Profiles AddOn makes it possible to save also the frames within the application. Your users will love it because they can save their own desktop and continue the work after an application start.

• Remove HTML5

  It's possible to create smaller application bundles if you remove the HTML5 feature from the bundle, via Deployment Wizard:

  

  Remove HTML5

• Customize screen generators

  It's super easy to use your own screen generators:

  

  Custom screen generators

• Multiple storages with same database table

  It's now possible to add multiple storages for the same database table. This was a limitation in earlier versions of VisionX.

All customers will find the new version in their download area!

This is a short announcement of VisionX 2.4. We're near to the finishing line and will release VisionX 2.4 in December. It's an awesome release with a big number of changes and great new features.

VisionX 2.4 is not a real Feature Release but as always, we have great things on board. The focus was on "modularity". This has nothing to do with JDK 9 or Jigsaw! With VisionX 2.4 it'll be super easy to customize VisionX for your needs or to "create your own VisionX". We offer some great new Modules and AddOns.

Some impressions

Create applications without HTML5		Super easy module installation
New components as Data Links		Module: User Filter
Standard Screen generator wizard		Customized screen generator wizard

VisionX will be shipped with Vaadin 7.7 and latest versions of JVx and sub projects.
We offer some great Modules and AddOns like Maintenance management and User Profiles.

With User Profiles, it'll be possible to save the application state per User. This means that the position of screens can be saved as well as divider positions of split panels or it'll be possible to configure visible columns of grids.

This was a very short overview of VisionX 2.4, but I guess you'll like it!

HANA Express is available for some days. HANA is the In-Memory Database solution of SAP.

What is HANA Express?

SAP HANA, express edition is a streamlined version of SAP HANA that can run on laptops and other resource-constrained hosts, such as a cloud-hosted virtual machine, for free up to 32G of memory use.

reference: https://go.sap.com/developer/topics/sap-hana-express.html

We wrote an article about our HANA experiments in December 2014. We had a test account for the online HANA. Our tests were successful but we weren't convinced from the system because it was slow and had many JDBC driver problems. Our bug reports were never answered.

But we never give up and the Express edition was interesting for us. We thought it might be worth some hours for our R&D team. The result is awesome!

We think that VisionX is the best tool for application development with HANA databases. Your web application is ready in 1 minute without coding!

Some details?

The installation of the Express edition wasn't tricky. The documentation is straight forward. The database is up and running in some minutes.

We had some problems with JDBC driver because it wasn't available as separate download and we didn't find any documentation. But it was part of the HANA plugin for Eclipse. Not that easy, but it was part of a jar file: com.sap.ndb.studio.jdbc_2.3.8.jar.

The next tricky thing was the JDBC connect string: jdbc:sap://hxehost:30013/?currentschema=System. The username was SYSTEM.

With all this information, it was super easy to create an application with VisionX for HANA express. We guess it makes no difference if you use HANA or HANA express.

How it works? Check the video. It's from 2014 but still impressive.

The current JDBC driver works much better than in 2014 and the performance of the database is great - compared to 2014.

If you're interested in more details, write a comment