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Saturday, January 25, 2014PrintSubscribe
Mobile Responsive Web Design

A mobile application created with Code On Time has a Responsive Web Design. User interface is automatically adjusted for optimal viewing experience on any client device.  Generated applications will run equally well in modern HTML5 browsers of smart phones, tablets, and desktop computers.

Consider the mobile demo built on top of the Northwind database to explore Responsive Web Design in action. The fluid application user interface is shown on Apple iPhone 5, Apple iPad Air, and Google Nexus 7.

iPhone 5

The following screen shot shows iPhone 5 with a list of products. A customer record is selected. The phone numbers of all customer are clearly visible with the business names partially hidden. A label is displayed next to the contact names. Partial address of customers is listed in the the last row of each list item. Context menu and  search icons are visible on the right-hand side of the  toolbar.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in portrait orientation on Apple iPhone 5s.

Change the phone orientation to landscape. A full name of each customer is now visible. An additional label shows next to the contact title. Application toolbar also features two additional icons “Edit” and “Delete”.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in landscape orientation on Apple iPhone 5s.

Tap the selected record or click “Edit” icon on the toolbar and switch to portrait orientation.

The selected record is now displayed in a form view. Labels are positioned on top of field values. Icon “Edit” is displayed on the toolbar next to the “Context Menu”  button.

Form view of a mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in portrait orientation on Apple iPhone 5s.

Click “Edit” button and change orientation of the mobile device to landscape. Labels are now positioned on the left side of the corresponding fields. Two additional icons “OK” and “Delete” are visible on the toolbar.

Form view of a mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in landscape orientation on Apple iPhone 5s.

Action buttons are displayed in the form views with additional shortcuts duplicated on the toolbar. If the text of a button is too long, then the button icon is migrated to the top while the text is displayed at the bottom of a button. You can see this in action in the screen shot of the same mobile app with a Spanish localization.

Form view of a localized mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in portrait orientation on Apple iPhone 5s.

iPad Air

Tablets with ultra-high resolution offer a significantly larger screen as compared to a typical smart phone. Mobile apps created with Code On Time will take a full advantage of the available screen real estate.

The list of customers shown below is much easier to read. The right-hand side of the screen is occupied by a docked sidebar with context actions. Actions “Edit”, “Delete” and “Search” are also duplicated on the toolbar as icons.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in portrait orientation on Apple iPad Air.

Change the device orientation to landscape and observe a two-column list of items. The default mode of “list” presentation in Code On Time mobile apps is called “Cards”. List items are rendered as “cards” as soon as a sufficient screen width is detected.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with docked sidebar in landscape orientation on Apple iPad Air.

If the sidebar is undocked, then a two-column list of cards is displayed in portrait mode as well.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with undocked sidebar in portrait orientation on Apple iPad Air.

Landscape-oriented iPad Air displays three columns of cards when the sidebar is undocked. Numerous action shortcuts are now visible on the toolbar of the mobile app.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with undocked sidebar in landscape orientation on Apple iPad Air.

Users can also enable a “list” mode as an alternative to “cards”.  The following screenshot shows an open context menu with the “List” presentation style selected. The list of customers features labels next to each component of the address (Address, City, Region, etc.).

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with undocked sidebar in 'List' mode with portrait orientation on Apple iPad Air.

The form view in this screen shot shows customer data fields with available actions conveniently displayed in the docked sidebar.

Form view of a mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with docked sidebar in portrait orientation on Apple iPad Air.

Undocking of the sidebar will cause some of the available actions to render as actions buttons.

Form view of a mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with undocked sidebar replaced by action buttons in portrait orientation on Apple iPad Air.

Nexus 7

Users of a smaller tablet will also enjoy the benefits of addition screen real state. List of customers displays actions “Edit”, “Delete”, and “Search” next to the “Context Menu” on the toolbar. Data fields are clearly visible in portrait mode.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in portrait orientation on Google Nexus 7.

A sidebar with context actions is displayed in the portrait mode of Nexus 7 tablet.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with docked sidebar in landscape orientation on Google Nexus 7.

Undocking of a sidebar will cause a two-column display of list item “cards” with additional buttons on the toolbar of the mobile app.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with undocked sidebar and two-column list of 'cards' in landscape orientation on Google Nexus 7.

Landscape orientation of a tablet with docked sidebar allows easy access to context actions when editing data in a form view.

Form view of a mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with docked sidebar in landscape orientation on Google Nexus 7.

Context actions are instantly exposed as action buttons when orientation of the mobile device is changed to portrait.

Form view of a mobile app created with Code On Time displayed with action buttons in portrait orientation on Google Nexus 7.

Other Devices

Exactly the same fluid and responsive web design is demonstrated on other types of devices. You can see the app rendered in a desktop version of Internet Explorer 10.

Mobile app created with Code On Time displayed in a desktop version of IE 10.

Code On Time turns development of line-of-business mobile applications in a fast assembly line while offering the same “mobile” style presentation on desktop devices as well. Only one version of the app must be developed while covering a wide range of mobile and desktop devices.

Applications produced with Unlimited edition of the app generator will also feature a dedicated version of the desktop presentation style that may benefit some groups of users as well.

If you are building a mobile app then a “desktop” version of it has already been created. The opposite is also true.

Universal Mobile/Desktop Client of an app created with Code On Time displayed with 'desktop' presentation style in IE 10.

Thursday, December 26, 2013PrintSubscribe
Mobile Database Apps for iPhone/iPad/Android, Visual Studio 2013
Code On Time release 8.0.2.0 introduces an updated Universal Mobile/Desktop Client in the apps created with Premium and Unlimited editions. The new mobile client offers editing capabilities and Responsive Web Design. The same exact app will take a full advantage of the client mobile device and offer the most efficient method of presenting data. Continue reading for full release notes after the screen shots.
See the live mobile demo at http://demo.codeontime.com/northwind/pages/home.aspx?_mobile=true.
These are the screen shots of iPhone 5s with the product list and a single product in an edit form.
Mobile client rendering of a product list in the app created with Code On Time app generator.  Mobile client rendering of an edit form 'editForm1' in the app created with Code On Time app generator.
Modern tablets feature high resolution screens. iPad Air with portrait orientation in shown in the screen shot below with the display of the same product list. List items are wider and a fixed context sidebar is automatically visible on the right-hand side of the screen.
Mobile client rendering of a product list in iPad Air with visible context sidebar in the app created with Code On Time app generator.
This screen shot shows the product list in iPad Air with landscape orientation. The context sidebar has been undocked to offer three columns of list items.
Mobile client rendering of a product list in iPad Air with landscape orientation in the app created with Code OnTime app generator.
Don’t forget that apps created with Unlimited edition also support Desktop client devices. See the desktop version of the demo at http://demo.codeontime.com/northwind/pages/home.aspx?_mobile=false.
Mobile client rendering of a product list in iPad Air with landscape orientation in the app created with Code OnTime app generator.
Application framework automatically detects the type of client device and hooks either mobile or desktop client library to rendered application pages ensuring the most friendly presentation.
The following features and bug fixes are included in this release:
  • Updated mobile client library with full editing capabilities and Responsive Web Design.
     
  • Production release of jQuery Mobile 1.4 is the foundation of the mobile client library.
     
  • Visual Studio 2013 is now supported.
     
  • Windows Azure SDK 2.2. is now supported.
     
  • Client library supports "lookup-details-hidden" tag to hide "arrow" that allows view object details from lookup fields.
     
  • Thumbnails of images are now rendered on transparent background. Previous releases where rendering images with white background and thin gray frame.
     
  • Web.Config.Release and Web.Config.Debug transformations are now supported in Web App Factory and Azure Factory apps.
     
  • Application page builder will prevent creation of duplicate pages and configure the first foreign key field as Filter Source field if multiple FK fields are referencing the same controller.
     
  • Import processor passes the name of the temporary file to ImportProcessorFactory to allow overriding and correction of the submitted import file.
     
  • Import processor will automatically bind records imported into child data views to the primary key of a selected master on any level of hierarchy.
     
  • Thank you Ed Blum for contributing "nl-NL" enhanced localization.
     
  • Method DataViewExtender.AssignFilter will accept an array of values for Include and Exclude filters.
     
  • Removed extraneous ")" from the project build file that was preventing Web App Factory from generating the Login page.
     
  • Spansh style of "a.m./p.m" designator is using "space" in the middle on Window 8.1. The client library will correctly parse time.
     
  • Legacy apps without /project/features/framework/@scriptOnly set to "true" in DataAquiarum.Project.xml file will not try to render Mobile Client.
     
  • Desktop client correctly positions Calendar in all browsers.
     
  • Desktop client correctly processes selected lookup values in FireFox.
     
  • Desktop client does not apply the URL command parameters to object Details when a user clicks on an arrow.
     
  • Removed "x" button in IE10 and above in desktop apps.
Next release is planned for January of 2014. There will be numerous enhancements to the mobile client to further narrow the gap between Desktop and Mobile features. Here is a partial list of things we are working on:
  • Blob upload/download.
  • Confirmation data controllers
  • Multi-field copy and context fields in lookups.
  • Dedicated presentation for Auto Complete, Check Box, and Check Box List lookup styles.
  • Filtering capabilities.
  • Mobile version of Advanced Search Bar.
  • Display of aggregates in context sidebar.
  • “Tabular” display of data lists.
  • Multiple-selection of list items.
  • Conditional visibility of categories and fields.
  • Conditional read-only fields.
  • Calculated fields.
We are also preparing to showcase http://cloudontime.com. We have done tremendous amount of work to bring built-in dynamic page creation, workflows, blogging and support forum capabilities to the apps created with Unlimited edition of Code On Time. Stay tuned.
Sunday, October 20, 2013PrintSubscribe
Allowing Access to Data Controller Views on Public Pages

The client library of apps created with Code On Time allows only authenticated users to interact with data. If a user is not authenticated by the app then a request to retrieve data will be denied. There are scenarios when anonymous users must be allowed to interact with application data.

Let’s create a public Customer Sign Up Form in the Northwind sample to illustrate this situation.

Select the project on the start page of the app generator and activate Project Designer. Create a new page with the following properties:

Property Value
Name SignUpForm
Roles ?

Value “?” specified in Roles will allow anonymous users to access page with signing in.

Right-click Customers data controller on Controllers tab and choose Copy in the menu.

Copying data controller reference to the clipboard.

Switch back to Pages tab, right-click Sign Up Form and choose Paste in the context menu.

Pasting a data controller reference on page of an app.

A data view view1 in container c101 will be created under the page node Sign Up Form.

A data view on the page on app created with Code On Time app generator.

Configure the data view as follows.

Section Property Value
Startup Action Command Name New
Startup Action Command Argument createForm1

Click Generate on the Project Designer toolbar.

Annonymous users are not authorized to access application data by default in Code On Time apps in Mobile and Desktop client.

The exception at the top of the page indicates that the view createForm1 is private. The anonymous user is not authorized to access data.

If you click Login and sign in as user / user123%, then an empty New Customers form will be displayed.

If we want to allow anonymous users to create new customer records using createForm1, then the view must be configured for Public access. Also the standard actions of the data controller Customers need to be adjusted to work in a perpetual “new customers” loop. The user will be prompted to create a new customer after a successful entry of a new record instead of displaying a list of existing customers.

Select the view Sign Up Form / c101 / view1 (Customers) in Project Explorer.

A data controller view selected on page in Project Explorer of Code On Time app generator.

Change the Access property of the view.

Property Value
Access Public

Now configure the action state machine of the data controller.

Create a new action in action group Sign Up Form / c101 / view (Customers) / Actions / ag2 (Form) with these properties:

Property Value
Command Name New
Command Argument createForm1
When Last Command Name Insert
When HRef (Regex) SignUpForm

The action Sign Up Form / c101 / Actions / ag2 (Form) / a100 will be activated only when the page Sign Up Form is loaded in a web browser. The action will display createForm1 in New mode every time a new record is created.

Then select each of the actions ag2 (Form) / a8, ag6 (ActionBar) – New / a3, and  ag6 (ActionBar) – New / a4 shown in the picture to configure them to be inactive on the page SignUpForm.

Property Value
Whe HRef (Regex) false:SignUpForm

Data controller actions that must be deactivated when SignUpForm is displayed to the user.

Property When HRef (Regex) is a regular expression evaluated against the current URL loaded in the address bar of the browser. If there is match then the action is active and taken into consideration by the action state machine. Otherwise the action is considered to be inactive. Placing “false:” in front of the property value will make an action inactive if the regex following after “false:” is matched to address bar URL.

Browse the app without signing in and confirm that new customers can be entered on Sign Up Form by anonymous users.

Customer 'Sign Up Form' in action.

The form will remain in “New” mode after a new customer is created.

Log in to verify that the record is stored in the database.

Authenticated users can interact with a full list of customers in our sample.