Web 2.0 sites feature a rich and user-friendly interface, mostly based on Ajax. GeneXus X facilitates the development of Web 2.0 applications (which in general are very complex for the developer) thus reducing development time and effort, and increasing productivity.
The following are some of the main features introduced in this version, under certain categories that we considered relevant for web 2.0 applications.
Creativity and fun are its main characteristics, so Ajax-based Rich Internet Applications can now be developed without any tricks!
This feature lets the end user drag & drop the content associated to controls...
Read more...
The current trend is to implement Intent-oriented interfaces, which can be approached by keeping track of the application context and taking actions accordingly...
See Context Sensitive User Interfaces
User Controls are Web controls that can be inserted in GeneXus Web objects. There are a whole bunch of new controls ready to use, built by the GeneXus Community!
Read more...
Cascading Style Sheets are aimed at separating the presentation and content of web pages.
There have been important improvements in CSS generation:
- Theme Editor fully integrated into GeneXus.
- Optimization of Cascading Style sheets.
CSS generation is performed by considering the class inheritance of the Editor; in this way, the properties in common are written only once.
- All application images can be changed by simply changing the Web Theme object. Change the Theme of the application and all images are changed automatically.
Click here for more information
- Rounded Buttons. New button styles are available, Click here for more information
- New Themes are introduced.
One of our goals is to generate applications that can share information and interact with other applications, as well as increase standardization and facilitate the exchange of information with third parties.
External Objects allow the user to access external resources from the KB as if they were just another object.
These external resources can be language-native classes, Stored Procedures, Web Services, and they can also be Enterprise Java Beans.
Note that in previous versions there wasn't a direct way to call external Enterprise Java Beans from the Knowledge Base. Now, this can be achieved very easily by the External Objects typed as Java Session Beans.
Click here for general information about this topic.
A new set of properties has been implemented in order to improve the XML representation of a structured data type, thus reducing the programming effort by using the standard XML methods. Click here for more information about this topic.
Another new featured related to the use of XML files and structure is that GeneXus allows you to import structured data through the XML schema definition itself.
See XML Schema Import for more information.
Convert the content of a blob to Base64 in order to achieve interoperability between different applications.
Click here for more information.
We have significantly reduced server workload by introducing the following features:
User events are executed using AJAX, which means that intelligence is applied to avoid unnecessary roundtrips to the server, and to reduce the amount of data that travels from one side to the other (from server to client and vice versa).
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When does the grid refresh take place? Click here for an answer.
No more flickering! When a user event is executed on the web server, it is always executed using Ajax. Only the necessary information returns to the client, so the response sent to the client does not bring redundant information. Click here for more information.
Isvalid event is supported in the Web platform. It is useful for validating a field in the web form, or triggering actions after exiting a field in the form. See here for more.
As a consequence of introducing so many features that use Ajax, there also have been significant security improvements in comparison with previous GeneXus versions.
Read about this topic here.
The purpose of this feature is to allow the end user to find specific information from different sources.
"Full Text Search" gives you the ability to change the way end users navigate through the pages of your site...
Read more...
Runtime translation can now be done! So, you can have only one site with different options to translate into the desired language at execution time.
Read more information here
If the Enter event exists but is not associated to any web control of the form, pressing the Enter Key executes the Enter Event.
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GeneXus X introduces the DblClick event for Web environment in transactions and web panels. The objects that support it are Bitmaps, Dynamic List Boxes, Edits, List Boxes and Texts. This event occurs when the user double-clicks on a control.
Read more...
- Automatic Column Ordering: Column content can be ordered automatically, without the need for programming any additional code. Read more information here
- Automatic Refresh Click here
- Automatic Paging Click here
- Web transaction grids improvements Read more..
In previous versions, if A calls B, and B calls C, a return command in C returns to B, and a return command in B returns to C, not to A. Now, the behavior is that B returns to A, which is its actual caller.
Read more..
The Window data type allows opening an object in a modal popup window.
See information about it here
Use the data of a web site in another context. Make the experience of creating an RSS application a good experience!
Intelligent components –which are capable of processing various types of inputs, and producing an output– are called DataProviders in GeneXus X. Together with Business Components, they will play the leading roles in the construction of our applications’ future Business Frameworks.
See here for additional information: GeneXus X: Productivity