All new major release of dbQwikSite website designer and code generator is now available for download.
This new release includes many enhancements with special emphasis on generating websites that offer richer user experiences.
IDE Enhancements:
Live Preview Highly integrated design and testing. See your pages live as you design them. Live preview embeds a browser into dbQwikSite, so you can see not only how your pages look, but how they work as well. Live preview also interprets all your custom code so features implemented in custom code and via plugins are visible. Test and design at the same time.
Build more Powerful Pages:
Active plug-ins Active plug-ins are a whole new type of plug-in for dbQwikSite. Technically speaking these plug-ins are intelligent “auto snippets”. What they do is offer little bits of functionality to add to your pages. Many of the V6 new features are, in fact, active plug-ins.
Multiple Categories Category filtering has been one of our most popular features allowing your visitors to get lists filtered by a category. Now, we’ve gone one better, multiple categories. Filter by category then sub-category, and sub-sub-category and so on, all with never leaving the data list page.
Group Actions on List Page Ever want to make a page where users can tick, tick, tick several items and perform an action against the selected items? Now you can. Use standard actions, such as delete, or update a field or write your own actions in developer edition. Supercharge your repetitive action tasks with Group Actions.
In-line Add/Update/Delete Want to let your users work with records of their list page without navigating in and out add/update pages? In-line delete has now two new friends, in-line add and in-line update. Add and update forms can now be presented as pop-up dialogs rather than separate pages, to make working off the list page easier than ever.
Unbound Forms Do you have the need to collect information from your site using HTML forms, but you really do not need to store it in a database? New Unbound forms let you design forms that email you the user input rather than storing in a database table. It’s a fast way to create simple web forms.
Email Added / Edited Records Do you need to know when a new record is added or updated in your database? Now you can have dbQwikSite forms automatically send you a copy of the updates that take place on your web site.
Capcha Stop those pesky hackers and robots from submitting your forms, add Captcha to your forms. Capcha is the system where graphics are displayed, containing letters to type in before a form can be submitted..
Autocomplete Create input controls that look up values from your database as you type, allowing users to find existing values without scrolling trough long drop down lists. Unlike drop down lists, auto complete allow users to enter their own values when the value they seek is not already in the database.
RTF Editor You can now turn any text box control into an advanced RTF editor. Users can create formatted text to be stored and displayed from your database.
Quick Search Add s simple search right to your data list pages. Visitors can pick a field and filter by a value without needing to go to the search page.
Multiple Value Search Need to search for a shirt that is either red or blue or black? V6 now offers the ability to search for multiple search values in a single database column.
PDF Print via Online services Do your visitors ask for PDF copies of the pages they see on your site? Now you can simply add a Print PDF button to any page which sends that page to a free PDF document creation service.
XML and JSON Services. Now you can turn any dbQwikSite data page into a web service serving either XML or JSON data streams. There’s nothing to do other than call your page with a special URL parameter: return=XML or return=JSON.
Build Pages with More Pizzazz:
Custom Form Layouts Full support for custom layouts of Add and Update pages. Create professional looking form designs placing input field prompts and input field controls where ever you want them, add in borders and any HTML formatting and your forms will impress.
HTML Zones let’s you add “stuff”Add HTML “stuff” into more places on your page. We’ve exposed the layout “quadrants” found in developer edition to all editions. Previously, you could customize page headers and footers, as HTML segments. Now you have the same functionality for 10 separate zones arranged around the dbQwikSite generated content in a North, East, South, and West fashion.
Conditional Formatting Ever think that you’d like to change the format of data on your page based on the value of that data. For example show negative numbers in red, or bold any string that starts with “New “. Conditional formatting lets you do just that. You can control all CSS attributes of a data field based on the value contained in that field
Google Charts Who doesn’t like looking at graphs to visual their data? Whether it’s monthly sales or average rainfall, graphs inherently make numerical data easier to understand. dbQwikSite now seamlessly integrates to Google’s free (conditions apply) web service for creating graphs. No coding required, just pick the columns to graph and dbQwikSite does the rest.
Google & Live Maps Add maps to your web sites, with ease. Give point of a field in your data that is an address or a longitude / Latitude pair and add the power of interactive maps to your page.
Improved CSS dbQwikSite is great at making pages, hundreds of them a minute, all following the same formatting. Now you can gain greater control over the look of your pages, with new, more granular classes. Make your generated pages a truer reflection of your personal creativity.
Item level CSS controlEvery page item now lets you assign your own inline CSS attributes on both the caption and the data values. Now you can make certain fields stand out, and other fade out. Any CSS attributes are available down to the finest level of your page design.
Scrollable Data Areas Do wide tables and lots of data rows ruin your page, making it run off your monitor? Now you can easily constrain your tables into scrollable data areas, helping preserve the appearance of the your page design.
Showing posts with label PHP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PHP. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
dbQwikSite V6 is on its way
Without a doubt the single most asked question I hear is: "When is version 6 coming?" The answer too often eludes me. But today I am happy to say... it's on the way.
After going through some staffing changes, version 6 took some hits in terms of both scope and delivery schedule. I have been avoiding answering that most prevalent question because, I just did not want to misguide our loyal user community. Amid all the forum rumors of the lack of delivery of new versions, I did not want to add to the confusion.
Truth be told we have been working on version 6 all along and it is shaping up for a release. Version 6 offers a range of new features that should make dbQwikSite generated web sites more powerful and flexible than ever before. The list is not yet finalized, as we try to squeeze in those last few features before freezing development to begin testing in earnest. V6 focus is on two areas, making pages more powerful for the end user and on design flexibility to allow designers greater control on the look of generated pages.
In the area of more powerful pages, look forward to: multiple categories, in-line edit/update, group actions against multiple selected records, new user controls, and enhanced search capabilities.
In the area of design you can expect to see: custom add/update form support, enhanced CSS classes, customizable HTML sections on all pages.
The above lists are not comprehensive, but should give you an idea of what to expect. As far as delivery dates, these will depend on testing results. Tomorrow is the date set to set the final scope and thus the development target deadline. After that some testing, and finally general release. It's hard to say exactly when these will occur, but stay tuned to this blog for news and updates.
Beyond V6. Many will note that V6 does not include true dot net code generation. That's because we wanted to do that right, and rather than shoehorning dot net functionality into the more classic paradigm of dbQwikSite generated pages, we decided to come out with an all-new version of dbQwikSite for dot net. That in no way infers that we are dropping PHP support. Quite the contrary, we are planning to migrate PHP into the same framework as the dot net product, leveraging a class oriented code generation in both languages. This will open new doors to PHP users, as well as Microsoft platform users who wish to extend and enhance dbQwikSite generated code.
After going through some staffing changes, version 6 took some hits in terms of both scope and delivery schedule. I have been avoiding answering that most prevalent question because, I just did not want to misguide our loyal user community. Amid all the forum rumors of the lack of delivery of new versions, I did not want to add to the confusion.
Truth be told we have been working on version 6 all along and it is shaping up for a release. Version 6 offers a range of new features that should make dbQwikSite generated web sites more powerful and flexible than ever before. The list is not yet finalized, as we try to squeeze in those last few features before freezing development to begin testing in earnest. V6 focus is on two areas, making pages more powerful for the end user and on design flexibility to allow designers greater control on the look of generated pages.
In the area of more powerful pages, look forward to: multiple categories, in-line edit/update, group actions against multiple selected records, new user controls, and enhanced search capabilities.
In the area of design you can expect to see: custom add/update form support, enhanced CSS classes, customizable HTML sections on all pages.
The above lists are not comprehensive, but should give you an idea of what to expect. As far as delivery dates, these will depend on testing results. Tomorrow is the date set to set the final scope and thus the development target deadline. After that some testing, and finally general release. It's hard to say exactly when these will occur, but stay tuned to this blog for news and updates.
Beyond V6. Many will note that V6 does not include true dot net code generation. That's because we wanted to do that right, and rather than shoehorning dot net functionality into the more classic paradigm of dbQwikSite generated pages, we decided to come out with an all-new version of dbQwikSite for dot net. That in no way infers that we are dropping PHP support. Quite the contrary, we are planning to migrate PHP into the same framework as the dot net product, leveraging a class oriented code generation in both languages. This will open new doors to PHP users, as well as Microsoft platform users who wish to extend and enhance dbQwikSite generated code.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Smart XSL Snippets: Mini Code Generators
Today we released dbQwikSite 5.3.0.3. By most counts, this is a simple maintenance release but hiding in the list of updates there appears one rather mundane looking item entitled “xsl snippet support”. Looks pretty small and simple on the surface, but this single new feature infers some pretty powerful implications. It means that you can make mini-code generators inside the dbQwikSite generation framework.
Let’s take a closer look at this feature. We call it XSL code snippets. What it means that in any of the 150-plus custom code insert points found in Developer Edition, you can write an XSL(T) template. But this is not a template transforming xml data to format HTML in the browser. These XSL templates work a code generation time and they work against the XML of your project. This is really cool, because it means that you can access all the design information stored in your project model to generate code snippets. It takes a bit of time to wrap your mind around the concept but once you do the implications are quite interesting.
Let’s step back a bit. Let’s say we are working with Developer edition, which in itself is very powerful. What we can do is add in new script code to enhance our generated pages. We can do all kinds of neat things by typing in “static” script syntax into insert points / events. Ok, so we can understand adding code snippets to our pages. But what about a “smart snippet”? One that can write the code snippet for you. One that can know about other pages in your project, one that can react to the design setting contained in your project model. That’s exactly what the XSL snippets offer. And when you think about it, that’s exactly what the dbQwikSite code generation engines does, translates your design setting to code. But what’s extra cool about the XSL snippets is that it is you who defines what is to be generated, rather than the code generation engine itself. Now, that’s pretty advanced flexibility, and you won’t find this type of power in any competing tool. If you are lucky you may get “events” and then only a handful at best. With dbQwikSite you get over 150 “events” and you get smart snippets that can actually generate code themselves.
So why would we ever write a smart snippet. There are a number of situations that make smart snippets indispensible. The first one that comes to mind is to be able to have code snippets that is “project aware”, for example you may want to create code that adds new page flows, but without the names of the other pages, you could not so this, smart snippets can gather information from the project XML. Another situation is to make a snippet that is settings aware, for example you want it to create code differently if the page is secured or not, or if the group has a shopping cart. These are examples where smart snippets can outperform their “static” counterparts. You can write snippets that are not project specific, they are generic and self adjusting between projects. Another example could be a multi-scripting language snippet. For example rather than writing two snippets, one in ASP and one PHP and maintaining, managing and distributing both snippets, you have only one smart snippet, that automatically detects the generation language and inserts the correct language syntax.
Granted, writing smart snippets may not be for everyone. You can get along quite well inserting ordinary “static” script code into your insert points. To write a smart snippet, you need an understanding of the project XML and XSL as well as the code that you want to generate. But if you are into these technologies, you may be interested in a few of the details of the mechanics of XSL smart snippets. To create a smart snippet, you do as you would for any other kind of code snippet. But instead of typing in script syntax you type in an XSL template, and check the box that says this is a XSL snippet. During code generation, your XSL is executed and the output is placed into the insert point that invokes the snippet. Your snippet is passed the entire DOM of project XML, as well as two parameters. The two parameters are the Page ID and the Item ID (when applicable), giving you the context of the call to your XSL. You can easily work your way through the DOM to access Groups, Pages and other project objects to produce the code syntax you need.
That’s it, one small item in a maintenance release, the gives you an extremely powerful capability, a capability that you won’t find elsewhere. And even if you are not up to writing your own smarts snippets others will write and share smart snippets and you can benefit. This is yet another way that we are providing ways for the user community to contribute to the development of dbQwikSite. With our first step about a year ago providing an XML project model, to support for user defined project reports, addition of a plug-in architecture, user definable payment processing page generation, code snippets and now smart snippets. You can look forward to dbQwikSite becoming more powerful and more flexible with every release.
Let’s take a closer look at this feature. We call it XSL code snippets. What it means that in any of the 150-plus custom code insert points found in Developer Edition, you can write an XSL(T) template. But this is not a template transforming xml data to format HTML in the browser. These XSL templates work a code generation time and they work against the XML of your project. This is really cool, because it means that you can access all the design information stored in your project model to generate code snippets. It takes a bit of time to wrap your mind around the concept but once you do the implications are quite interesting.
Let’s step back a bit. Let’s say we are working with Developer edition, which in itself is very powerful. What we can do is add in new script code to enhance our generated pages. We can do all kinds of neat things by typing in “static” script syntax into insert points / events. Ok, so we can understand adding code snippets to our pages. But what about a “smart snippet”? One that can write the code snippet for you. One that can know about other pages in your project, one that can react to the design setting contained in your project model. That’s exactly what the XSL snippets offer. And when you think about it, that’s exactly what the dbQwikSite code generation engines does, translates your design setting to code. But what’s extra cool about the XSL snippets is that it is you who defines what is to be generated, rather than the code generation engine itself. Now, that’s pretty advanced flexibility, and you won’t find this type of power in any competing tool. If you are lucky you may get “events” and then only a handful at best. With dbQwikSite you get over 150 “events” and you get smart snippets that can actually generate code themselves.
So why would we ever write a smart snippet. There are a number of situations that make smart snippets indispensible. The first one that comes to mind is to be able to have code snippets that is “project aware”, for example you may want to create code that adds new page flows, but without the names of the other pages, you could not so this, smart snippets can gather information from the project XML. Another situation is to make a snippet that is settings aware, for example you want it to create code differently if the page is secured or not, or if the group has a shopping cart. These are examples where smart snippets can outperform their “static” counterparts. You can write snippets that are not project specific, they are generic and self adjusting between projects. Another example could be a multi-scripting language snippet. For example rather than writing two snippets, one in ASP and one PHP and maintaining, managing and distributing both snippets, you have only one smart snippet, that automatically detects the generation language and inserts the correct language syntax.
Granted, writing smart snippets may not be for everyone. You can get along quite well inserting ordinary “static” script code into your insert points. To write a smart snippet, you need an understanding of the project XML and XSL as well as the code that you want to generate. But if you are into these technologies, you may be interested in a few of the details of the mechanics of XSL smart snippets. To create a smart snippet, you do as you would for any other kind of code snippet. But instead of typing in script syntax you type in an XSL template, and check the box that says this is a XSL snippet. During code generation, your XSL is executed and the output is placed into the insert point that invokes the snippet. Your snippet is passed the entire DOM of project XML, as well as two parameters. The two parameters are the Page ID and the Item ID (when applicable), giving you the context of the call to your XSL. You can easily work your way through the DOM to access Groups, Pages and other project objects to produce the code syntax you need.
That’s it, one small item in a maintenance release, the gives you an extremely powerful capability, a capability that you won’t find elsewhere. And even if you are not up to writing your own smarts snippets others will write and share smart snippets and you can benefit. This is yet another way that we are providing ways for the user community to contribute to the development of dbQwikSite. With our first step about a year ago providing an XML project model, to support for user defined project reports, addition of a plug-in architecture, user definable payment processing page generation, code snippets and now smart snippets. You can look forward to dbQwikSite becoming more powerful and more flexible with every release.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Google Checkout++ new in dbQwikSite 5.2.3.0
Today we released dbQwikSite 5.2.3.0. This release concentrates on enhancing payment gateway support. There are two major payment gateway enhancement offered in this release. The first is the addition of support for Google Checkout and the second is the ability to add your own payment gateways to dbQwikSite.
Those who know Google Checkout, likely know that there are two flavors of checkout; a single charge checkout and a multi-item checkout. The good news is that dbQwikSite support both flavors. If you just want to bill the bottom line, then the single item checkout is what you want. If you want to have an itemized billing then the multi-item checkout is just the ticket.
When it comes to native payment gateway support, the list now includes: PayPal, Google Checkout, Authorize.net, World Pay, SecPay, and VCS. However that is only the beginning, now you can add your own payment gateway support to dbQwikSite. Under the covers, we have added a payment gateway plug-in architecture, which means that not only TheDevShop, but also you, can add new payment gateways without the need for programming. So, virtually any payment gateway can be supported by dbQwikSite.
Adding a new payment gateway involves defining XML and XSL files. There are basically 2 steps, define the user input needed during design this is done using an XML document, and define an XSL that transforms saved dbQwikSite model into a web script. To create payment gateways you likely need some proficiently in XML Style Sheets. The great part is that these gateway plug-ins not project specific, that means that they can be shared amongst users. There is no “compiling” or “updating” involved, just drop the XML/XSL in the right folder and “presto” a new payment gateway. If you do happen to delve into creating a payment gateway plug-in and want to share it, just send the files to support and we will add them to the plug-in download page. Other users, I am sure, will be most appreciative. Documentation on how to create payment gateway plug-ins can be found on the dbQwikSite download page http://www.dbqwiksite.com/download.html in the “Other Downloads” section.
On other news, many people are asking about Developer Edition. It is definitely still on the product road map. The release has been delayed as we decided to do some serious R & D into two areas: “proper” .net support and Web 2.0 support. As that effort winds down we turn our attention back to developer edition. We have just set up our first beta tester and we are starting to move forward on the development of Developer Edition. An later this year, you should see some great stuff as a result of our R & D being incorporated into the product.
Those who know Google Checkout, likely know that there are two flavors of checkout; a single charge checkout and a multi-item checkout. The good news is that dbQwikSite support both flavors. If you just want to bill the bottom line, then the single item checkout is what you want. If you want to have an itemized billing then the multi-item checkout is just the ticket.
When it comes to native payment gateway support, the list now includes: PayPal, Google Checkout, Authorize.net, World Pay, SecPay, and VCS. However that is only the beginning, now you can add your own payment gateway support to dbQwikSite. Under the covers, we have added a payment gateway plug-in architecture, which means that not only TheDevShop, but also you, can add new payment gateways without the need for programming. So, virtually any payment gateway can be supported by dbQwikSite.
Adding a new payment gateway involves defining XML and XSL files. There are basically 2 steps, define the user input needed during design this is done using an XML document, and define an XSL that transforms saved dbQwikSite model into a web script. To create payment gateways you likely need some proficiently in XML Style Sheets. The great part is that these gateway plug-ins not project specific, that means that they can be shared amongst users. There is no “compiling” or “updating” involved, just drop the XML/XSL in the right folder and “presto” a new payment gateway. If you do happen to delve into creating a payment gateway plug-in and want to share it, just send the files to support and we will add them to the plug-in download page. Other users, I am sure, will be most appreciative. Documentation on how to create payment gateway plug-ins can be found on the dbQwikSite download page http://www.dbqwiksite.com/download.html in the “Other Downloads” section.
On other news, many people are asking about Developer Edition. It is definitely still on the product road map. The release has been delayed as we decided to do some serious R & D into two areas: “proper” .net support and Web 2.0 support. As that effort winds down we turn our attention back to developer edition. We have just set up our first beta tester and we are starting to move forward on the development of Developer Edition. An later this year, you should see some great stuff as a result of our R & D being incorporated into the product.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
dbQwikSite 5.2.1.7 –Paves the way to a New Edition
This week we released dbQwikSite 5.2.1.7 this is a maintenance release with a few bug fixes and minor enhancements. Hardly worth writing about, except for the reason behind the release which is far more exciting news. We released this edition because it contains fixes that we wanted to get to the user community, before dbQwikSite undergoes a major change to the code generation engine. This change will introduce new, powerful of functionality for web designers and web developers.
What’s it all about? You’ll get a hint if you upgrade to version 5.2.1.7.
In some of the property dialogs, version 5.2.1.7. In some of the property dialogs, you’ll see a new option tab “Custom Events.” This is the essence to an all new “Developer’s Edition”. The Developer’s Edition adds the ability to incorporate your own custom code into your projects. It will offer both “client-side” and “server-side” script support. This means that you can add your own JavaScript to run the browser or add ASP(.net) or PHP code that will execute on the server. We introduce “events” and “insertion points” in this edition. You can add your own code at any of these points to change or enhance generated pages.
If you are a designer, you likely have seen, or used, JavaScript to do such things as create rollover effects, validate form fields, and highlight errors or other dynamic HTML effects. With Developer Edition, you can use provided JavaScript functions or incorporate your own scripts that you write or download from script sites. Web developers familiar with ASP(.net) and PHP can insert their own code “snippets” to change processing on the server side. For example you could change the security authorization or perform server-side validation or calculations. Having the ability to add your code to dbQwikSite code opens the door to creating even more advanced, highly customized applications. Unlike editing the generated code which is overwritten if you regenerate a page, embedded code is preserved between code generations.
Stay tuned to this blog from more breaking news about dbQwikSite Developer Edition and other news about dbQwik products.
What’s it all about? You’ll get a hint if you upgrade to version 5.2.1.7.
In some of the property dialogs, version 5.2.1.7. In some of the property dialogs, you’ll see a new option tab “Custom Events.” This is the essence to an all new “Developer’s Edition”. The Developer’s Edition adds the ability to incorporate your own custom code into your projects. It will offer both “client-side” and “server-side” script support. This means that you can add your own JavaScript to run the browser or add ASP(.net) or PHP code that will execute on the server. We introduce “events” and “insertion points” in this edition. You can add your own code at any of these points to change or enhance generated pages.If you are a designer, you likely have seen, or used, JavaScript to do such things as create rollover effects, validate form fields, and highlight errors or other dynamic HTML effects. With Developer Edition, you can use provided JavaScript functions or incorporate your own scripts that you write or download from script sites. Web developers familiar with ASP(.net) and PHP can insert their own code “snippets” to change processing on the server side. For example you could change the security authorization or perform server-side validation or calculations. Having the ability to add your code to dbQwikSite code opens the door to creating even more advanced, highly customized applications. Unlike editing the generated code which is overwritten if you regenerate a page, embedded code is preserved between code generations.
Stay tuned to this blog from more breaking news about dbQwikSite Developer Edition and other news about dbQwik products.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
dbQwikSite 5.2.1 Released: Single Language Editions get X-Gen
Today we released dbQwikSite 5.2.1 adds X-Gen technology for easier local testing with single scripting language editions. Single scripting language editions include: Personal Edition (PE), Publisher (Pub), and Express Edition (XE). X-Gen allows users to design and test using one scripting language and then deploy to another scripting language.
This is a free upgrade to all version 5 users. It is available via the Live Update menu option found in the Help menu.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
dbQwikSite 5.2 New Cheaper Editions
Today we launch dbQwikSite new entry level editions. Now there are editions to suit all budgets. The new members to the dbQwik™ Family are: dbQwikSite Publisher Edition, and dbQwikSite Express. As the name suggests Publisher creates display pages, but no on-line forms, it is perfect for those who only need to publish pages on the web, and do not need on-line data entry. Express, is a single scripting language edition of Pro, designed for those who do not need to generate to multiple target platforms. We also bid farewell to two current license levels, PE+
What about the price you ask? Cheap, cheap, cheap, is the answer. But before I tell the price I want to warn you, there are new and different limitations so do read the following paragraphs or check the feature comparison page before you rush out to buy. I am sure that no one will be unhappy with their purchase, but I wouldn’t want your purchase to be a surprise either. Prices in USD are: PE and Full Trial are FREE, Publisher $39.95, Express $99.95, Pro remains $149.95 and Ecom remains $179.95.
What you need to know about the new edition restrictions. Where major areas where editions differ is in script language support and generation capacity. The lower cost editions are all single scripting language, you must choose between, PHP, ASP and ASP.net. There are limits to project size as well, actually the projects size itself is not limited but code generation stops once you hit your project page limit.
There are some tweaks to the free versions. PE now does much more,than before, but the code generation speed is throttled, initially fast, but slowing as the installation ages. A special note to PE users is that you now have to “Activate” your preferred scripting language on-line. The activation process requires no personal information although there is a voluntary user registration to gain support privileges. Full Trial plays new tricks, you can generate everything for any platform, for a full 7 days, but the output pages have “scrambled” vowels, making your page read strangely. You may find an “Idit” button on your page rather than an “Edit” button.
Release 5.2 also includes a number of functional updates. We have added support for auto-increment fields in the universal table editor. The deploy wizard has been “Opened up” to offer a greater selection of target platform database combinations in addition to the recommended ones. We now allow generation of PHP with native MySQL connection on windows platforms, in addition to Linux. The shopping cart pages have gone through some QA to address some of the outstanding issues with these pages. We have also updated the activation and license manager, to better manage multi-license sites. This change will require users using live update to re-activate their software, which is a painless task, all your current information is pre-populated, so it is just a click of a button.
Today we rolled out the web site updates. Live updates will take another few days to get live update on-line. Current version 5 users should find the live update on-line by June 5th 2007.
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