Visual DataFlex 2009/15.1 Overview

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Current status: Released December 2009  

(Download from: ftp.dataaccess.com/pub/products/vdf/Software/Testing)

The regular delivery of significant feature additions and product improvements in Visual DataFlex continues with the latest version: 2009/15.1. Building great databae applications is faster and easier than ever before.

According to Stephen W. Meeley, V. P. Product Management, "In addition to delivering great features, enhancements and fixes, our goal with 15.1 is to eliminate the developer’s upgrade overhead. In 15.1, we’ve maintained as much compatibility as possible with 15.0 across the entire product - we almost made this an in-place 15.0 upgrade. If you are running Visual DataFlex 2009/15.0, we recommend that you upgrade immediately."

Version 15.1’s functional and productivity enhancements include....

Studio File Search - to enhance developer productivity, a new toolbar has been added to the Studio that incrementally searches through the files in the environment and easily selects which file to open. Familiar interface – similar to the CodeSense list displayed with “Use” statements Lists all files accessible from current workspace, libraries and system library Workspace Explorer Interface Added an Other Files node for any files used in the current project that are not categorized as Views, Reports, Dialogs or Data Dictionaries Studio Tab Interface - streamlined to reduce the number of tabs required while maintaining the available information and flexibility for developers

The Visual DataFlex 2009/15.1 Studio features an improved tab interface, an updated Workspace Explorer that now shows all files in the current project, and a new Quick Find toolbar for instantly finding and opening any file in the workspace.

AJAX Library

• The AJAX Library is the recommended tool for building rich, "web 2.0" internet applications with Visual DataFlex. Version 2.1 of the AJAX Library is included with Visual DataFlex 2009/15.1. It includes:
• Layered forms
  • Increases the usability of validation functionality without full data binding.
• Treeviews
  • Fully featured (controllable using keyboard)
  • Dynamic content loading using JSON
  • Uses CSS sprites for fast loading
• Lots of "under the hood" enhancements
• Bug fixes

Client Engine (Runtime)

• XML has achieved de facto standard status for automated information interchange among applications and web services in all industry sectors. It is especially critical to the globally accepted HL7 standard for health care information interoperability. Version 15.1 includes important XML enhancements to enable all Visual DataFlex developers to build open, competitive applications for their respective marketplaces.
  
  • New XML schema validation support automatically validates any XMLdocument that includes a schema reference. Manual validation can also be performed when the developer assigns a schema
  • XML performance optimizations - individual results will of course vary, but real-world example tests are completing in half the time (or less!) than with pre-15.1 XML processing
  • Utilizes latest Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML 6)

Client Web Services

• The following web service client additions enable developers to easily support more third party web services (including ones that are less standards compliant)
  • Added support for various derived xsd string datatypes
  • Added support for schema attributes
  • Added support for <xs:choice>

Implement Numerous Developer Suggestions and Fix Bugs

Class Reference documentation improvement