Servoy 8.0.0

We are pleased to announce the availability of Servoy 8.0.0 (releaseNumber 3020)

This version is available through the download at the Servoy website.

For this release you can use the update site, but only if you come from RC1. A clean install is preferred.

You could upgrade an exiting installation by first doing a clean install.
then in your existing installation rename the developer dir to developer_tmp
and copy over the developer dir from the RC1 to the existing installation. If you then start this it will pickup the existing properties file and databases and you can point to the same workspace.
(after that it will ask to upgrade the server part)

Fixes and improvements in this release:

column aliasses (dataprovider names) of a table was not always imported correctly SVY-8675
NGCLient: allignment issues in tableview for the last column (hidden by the scrollbar)
NGCLient: tableview/portal was not always updated correctly with the actual results when reshown and data was changed
NGClient: Controller.readonly fixes SVY-8657 (but there are still known issues and different behavior when it comes to readonly over tabpanels)
NGClient/WebClient: fixes for sending a second time a file to the browser (for download) for the Edge Browser
NGClient: cleanup call back for services so that they can clean up stuff on solution close: Services

What will not work or won’t be supported yet in the final of 8.0 are the following things:

NGClient:
drag n drop support
onrender
client design mode
servoy printing (controller.printPreview()/print())
swing beans as an image (like we did in the sample crm)

In the new designer:
drag n drop forms from the Solution Explorer tree onto the form in a designer (or anything from the solex tree)
template support.

Currently the new designer is the default editor, please test it as good as you can and give us feedback because we are still working hard to make that editor better and easier to use.
you can always switch back to the old editor, but then you will loose the WYSIWYG from custom ngclient components and the ability to make it responsive.

Servoy 8 brings a new client type called NGClient, which is based on HTML5 and webcomponent specifications.
For more details see: New in 8.0 and especially this page: NGClient+Compatibility

For people that have already created there own components must look at: Specification and then the Data synchronization section.
Because by default nothing is pushed anymore to the server, you have to specify which properties (including dataproviders) should be pushed (are allowed to be pushed) to the server and in what way.

This is all also explained a bit more in detail on the Performance page.

Also check the pages: NGClient deployment and WAR Deployment because NGClient is a WAR only deployment and needs to have specific support for application servers.

Previous release notes: this page

Congratulations on this milestone!

Downloading now to have a gander. Looking forward to the NGClient.

Congratulations on achieving this milestone.

Are there any videos planned that will show how to create a few simple responsive solutions?

Dean

404 page not found

I see in the formeditor, if I try to open a form. Does it not work with OpenJDK 1.8.0_60? It crashes, if I try to start the Smart Client.

formeditor: thats very likely because you are running a different tomcat/servoy server besides it.

OpenJDK on what OS? Linux? Maybe this is a font issue or something like that (i do remember stuff from that area)

jcompagner:
formeditor: thats very likely because you are running a different tomcat/servoy server besides it.

OpenJDK on what OS? Linux? Maybe this is a font issue or something like that (i do remember stuff from that area)

Oh, it was my local Syncthing server, which also uses port 8080. That leads me to the idea, that it would be great if you could provide the possibility to change the Tomcat server port during installation like it is possible for Postresql port. In the past, I had often the case, where I want run multiple Servoy Developer.

I use Antergos (Arch Linux).

~> uname -a
Linux zotac-iq01 4.1.6-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Aug 17 08:52:28 CEST 2015 x86_64 GNU/Linux
~> java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_60"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_60-b24)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.60-b23, mixed mode)

Westy:
Congratulations on achieving this milestone.

Are there any videos planned that will show how to create a few simple responsive solutions?

Dean

Yes. We have a webinar planned with a responsive app and are also working on more tutorials. Prio 1 was to get 8.0.0 out of the door.

deezzub:

404 page not found

I see in the formeditor, if I try to open a form. Does it not work with OpenJDK 1.8.0_60? It crashes, if I try to start the Smart Client.

as for the smart client crash, does it work if you are using another laf, not the default one ?
try to add this to servoy.properties :
selectedlnf=javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel

Is the responsive editor and related bootstrap components supposed to be working in this version?

deezzub:

404 page not found

I see in the formeditor, if I try to open a form. Does it not work with OpenJDK 1.8.0_60? It crashes, if I try to start the Smart Client.

Sebastian,

Do you have a crash report when it crashes?
Do you have a hs_err_pid*.log file?

Rob

Gabi Boros:

deezzub:

404 page not found

I see in the formeditor, if I try to open a form. Does it not work with OpenJDK 1.8.0_60? It crashes, if I try to start the Smart Client.

as for the smart client crash, does it work if you are using another laf, not the default one ?
try to add this to servoy.properties :
selectedlnf=javax.swing.plaf.metal.MetalLookAndFeel

Yes, it seems to work then.

rgansevles:

deezzub:

404 page not found

I see in the formeditor, if I try to open a form. Does it not work with OpenJDK 1.8.0_60? It crashes, if I try to start the Smart Client.

Sebastian,

Do you have a crash report when it crashes?
Do you have a hs_err_pid*.log file?

Rob

Yes. [attachment=0]hs_err_pid15895.txt[/attachment]

hs_err_pid15895.txt (187 KB)

This is definitely a problem related to the gtk look and feel icw your linux distribution.

Rob

david:
Is the responsive editor and related bootstrap components supposed to be working in this version?

Hi David, yes is possible to build responsive form with the latest version of Servoy. As Johan already mentioned we are still working to make it better and easier to use; your feedback would be important for us.
I recommend to use the Eclipse’s Outline View in combination with the Form Editor. Since the 12Grid containers of bootstrap are nothing else then empty Divs, is not always immediate to understand the structure of the page with the WYSIWYG. The Outline View tells you exactly which is the structure of the form. You can also add nested elements (right-click) and re-arrange elements position (drag & drop) directly from the outline view which is really handy.

There is a Responsive Design pre-conference training at Servoy World, if you are interested to it don’t esitate to register http://servoy.com/content.jsp?t=1546

Paolo

paronne:

david:
Is the responsive editor and related bootstrap components supposed to be working in this version?

Hi David, yes is possible to build responsive form with the latest version of Servoy. As Johan already mentioned we are still working to make it better and easier to use; your feedback would be important for us.
I recommend to use the Eclipse’s Outline View in combination with the Form Editor. Since the 12Grid containers of bootstrap are nothing else then empty Divs, is not always immediate to understand the structure of the page with the WYSIWYG. The Outline View tells you exactly which is the structure of the form. You can also add nested elements (right-click) and re-arrange elements position (drag & drop) directly from the outline view which is really handy.

There is a Responsive Design pre-conference training at Servoy World, if you are interested to it don’t esitate to register http://servoy.com/content.jsp?t=1546

Paolo

Have you tested the responsive editor on mac? I say this because I have extensively tested everything you mention — all the way down to detailed examinations of all of your public source code over more than a year of iterations — and I can’t build a responsive form with the responsive editor.

So either I need to get a Windows VM rolling or you guys need to fire up the last remaining bondi-blue iMac I’m sure Johan hid from everyone in his closet :)

Testing: what works…

  1. Grids: container > row > column
  2. A few bootstrap components: inputs, label for, generic div

Testing: buggy…

  1. editor, outline and component panes are all in quite a rough UX state
  2. label component only works as a “label for”, not stand alone

Testing: not working at all

  1. responsive grid: can’t get a list based on a foundset working
  2. tab panels
  3. form wizard: component is there but it can’t be placed (and it’s important to place all inputs inside of a form container with bootstrap)
  4. lot’s of missing core bootstrap components

Summary
Proof of concept state…not something usable. Again, maybe this is just a Mac thing?

Hi,

(just to introduce myself, I have joined Servoy as CTO last June).

It’s apparent that building responsive designs (especially on Mac) is not the most pleasant Ux we have to offer, and that the out-of-the-box components have some issues.
Just to give you some background of this, I have decided to release Servoy 8.0 for two reasons; number one being a number of our customers were really in need of the performance of the NG client to go live (and they obviously don’t want this with a RCx) and the second being that making a very nice working responsive NG- and mobile-compatible editor required more work than the developer community initially hoped for, and especially it requires more rounds of user feedback and interaction testing.

For the latter reason I have decided to ask a limited number of people for feedback to improve the responsive design experience in Servoy 8.x

So in case you want to work with us making the Ux of building responsive designs in a 4GL-worthy manner to be immaculate, feel free to contact me, I would love to cooperate with some more people on this.

Otherwise, of course, be welcome to share a drink at Servoy World!

regards, Ronald (& a Mac user)

david:

  1. editor, outline and component panes are all in quite a rough UX state

outline should pretty much be like it already is (thats a pure eclipse view still)
we just added stuff to be able to create and delete stuff right from the outline view.

What issues do you exactly have for the outline? Can you create a case for this?

david:
2. label component only works as a “label for”, not stand alone

https://support.servoy.com/browse/SVY-8710

david:
Testing: not working at all

  1. responsive grid: can’t get a list based on a foundset working
  2. tab panels
  3. form wizard: component is there but it can’t be placed (and it’s important to place all inputs inside of a form container with bootstrap)
  4. lot’s of missing core bootstrap components

i think point 1 should be doable already just fine, not sure what you exactly encounter

what do you mean with a form wizard? (the create new form?) Or do you mean the form editor where you have to pick one a form (like tabpanel and then the form property)

Yes the bootstrap components are just for now a small example, we will increase/enhance that library in the time to come.

Also should we really spend a lot of time todo bootstrap, or should we move to material design and use flexbox (css standard) as the layout standard…

david:
Summary
Proof of concept state…not something usable. Again, maybe this is just a Mac thing?

Its not a Mac thing. Same experience on Windows.

rwanink:
Hi,

(just to introduce myself, I have joined Servoy as CTO last June).

Ronald, Welcome to Servoy :D I hope to see you on here more. First post since June!

I think the issue here is a communication of expectations. Responsive Design was touted as one of the new key features of Servoy 8. It now releases crippled, with core components like a tabpanel just stubbed out (no API or Handlers): https://github.com/Servoy/servoy-client … panel.spec . Can you do responsive design in the current release version of Servoy 8…sort of, but with so many of the responsive components missing their API, you can’t really do anything useful. What you can do is to build your own components, and that works quite well. I just finished a simple navigation Bootstrap navbar and sidebar. Then of course I wanted to throw a tabpanel in, and use it to load the appropriate form based on the navigation item the user clicked on… Doh! no tabpanel API. Back to expectations…
Take a look at the docs on editing a Responsive Form: https://wiki.servoy.com/display/DOCS/Ed … ayout+form . There is no mention of the missing API functionality in the core components. Leaving folks like David and I to get disappointed when we go to try it, and its not clear if its not working because of an installation issue, or its just not implemented yet. I shouldn’t have to go digging through your SVN source code to find those things out.

jcompagner:
Yes the bootstrap components are just for now a small example, we will increase/enhance that library in the time to come.

Also should we really spend a lot of time todo bootstrap, or should we move to material design and use flexbox (css standard) as the layout standard…

It really doesn’t matter which one you choose (although my personal suggestion is Bootstrap). Once you have one full set of components complete, with their Angular templates, then just about anyone can take those and make their own components. At that point its just about including different JS/CSS libraries and specifying the appropriate markup on the html of the component. I know its a lot of work, but I think once you get one set of them complete, other developers in the community can see your examples and extend it to other frameworks.

PS. And since most of my post was complaining…THANK YOU to the Servoy dev team for all your hard work. Transitioning CTO’s while doing a MAJOR new version is tough. Looking forward to seeing whats next :!: