Server Enhancements

VAIL

• VAIL now supports packages which can be used to organize an application’s code.
• The builtin procedure Utils.clone is now deprecated. Use Object.clone instead.
• Incompatible change: removed the following deprecated VAIL syntax:
  • Dedicated recommendation keywords FILTER, MATCH, and RECOMMEND. Note that FILTER is still legal when used to process sequences.
  • SQL style block syntax using DO, THEN and END (all blocks must use the JavaScript style { and }).
  • SQL style variants of the DDL statements CREATE, ALTER, and DELETE (only the JSON style syntax is supported).
  • The EVALUATE keyword.
  • The PUBLISH WITH variant of PUBLISH.

Catalogs

• Catalog and catalog member resource names are now distinct from the nodes they use. Most of the catalog procedures have had their parameters changed to accept the catalog’s name instead of the node’s name.
  • To maintain compatibility with 1.30, catalogs, catalog members, and their nodes have the same names and use the same naming scheme as before. The names will continue to be generated to match until the 1.32 update.
• Catalog service updates now happen by re-registering as a publisher or subscriber.
• Publish To Catalog support was added, as optional parameters within the existing PublishToTopic activity pattern.

App Components

Components are reusable and parameterizable sections of Apps that solve commonly found problems. Components may be dragged from the Component section of the App palette and used as a black box providing higher functionality than any out of the box Activity Patterns. This will significantly improve developer efficiency for long-time users, reducing the redundant code written between Apps. Furthermore, this will also lower the barrier to entry for new users.

Components may specify configurable parameters that users of the Component will provide to tailor the Component to their needs. Configurations for Components may be augmented using custom Component Generation Procedures. Components may be created from scratch or by selecting a subsection of tasks within an existing App. Components may be expanded within an App to visualize the tasks that constitute it or “exploded” to use the internal tasks directly (which severs the connection to the original Component).

For more information on Components, reference the Component Documentation

Management and Deployment

• Added an operation to update all node URIs on an installation, useful if the installation URI changes. Only usable by the system administrator.
• Management of External Lifecyle (e.g. for Connectors) has been added. See the External Lifecycle Management Guide and Resource Guide.

UI Enhancements

Modelo

• There have been various changes to Modelo in support of the new “package” feature:
  • When creating certain resources there is now a place to supply the “package” as well as the “name” of the resource.
  • The “Project Contents Browser” tree on the left side of a Project will now show packages as part of the hierarchy inside the appropriate resource type.
• The “Show Documents” list pane can now be sorted by the “created” or “modified” date columns (but these only appear when the pane is maximized).
• The Inactive Panes Dock (when using Tiled Layout Style) is now configured to have a maximum number of ten inactive panes. This maximum may be changed or disabled using the Maximum Inactive Panes value in the IDE Settings dialog. When the maximum is reached, the oldest pane without unsaved changes is removed.
• The “Blacklist” feature has been renamed to the “Exclusion List”.

Client Builder

• There have been major changes to the structure of the Client Builder. These changes were in service of three goals:
  • Optimize the usage of real estate within the Client Builder and make it easier to temporarily reconfigure the tools to provide maximum working space for your task (e.g., editing Widgets, editing event handler code, etc.)
  • Provide a hierarchical “tree view” of the Widgets in a Page which is in sync with the current WYSIWYG view
  • Make the JavaScript “event handler” editors modeless with respect to the Client Builder and the rest of Modelo, making it easier to refer to other parts within the Project while editing.

  For a more detailed discussion of these changes you should refer to this section of the Client Builder User’s Guide.

• When creating a new Client, the developer now chooses from several built-in templates as a starting point. After creating and editing a Client, the developer may want to use that Client to create similar Clients. The new Client may be saved as a Client Template so that it will appear in the New Client dialog. For more details about using and creating Client Templates, please refer to the Client Builder User’s Guide.
• There is a new type of DataStream called “Paged Query” which is intended for use with the DataTable Widget when displaying Types with a large number of records in the result set. When bound to a “Paged Query” the DataTable will only query for the records it needs to display the current page. (This is in contrast to the “Timed Query” DataStream which will load the entire result set into memory.)
• There is now a new “Theme” color called “Title Bar Foreground Color” which applies to these Widgets:
  • DataTable
  • AccordionLayout
  • ListViewer
  • Calendar
  • Chat
  • Signature

VAIL Editor

• When editing VAIL in Rules and Procedures, the VAIL editor now supports saving those resources even though they may contain compilation errors. If there are compilation errors, the word Error in red appears at the top of the editor and, if possible, the VAIL text causing the error is highlighted within the editor. Hovering the mouse over either Error or the highlighted text displays a tooltip with details about the error. If VAIL with highlighted errors is edited, all highlighted errors appearing after the edit point are cleared.

Client Launcher

• When you run a Client within the Client Launcher, the text of browser’s tab will be changed to match the title in the “nav bar”. For example, if you change the title using “client.navBarTitle” the browser’s tab text will now change as well.

Deployment Tool

• The Deployment Tool adds a new tree view in the project tab for better visualization of large deployments.
• Deploy results now include details of each resource deployed, records copied, procedure executed, resource activated, and catalog setup status. Users have the option to see errors only.

Services

• Users can generate a JavaScript library for a service. Procedures of a service are exposed as JavaScript functions which can be included and used by Clients.
• Users can define Global or Partitioned State Types directly from the Service Pane. Users may reference and edit existing Types, or create a new Type.

App and Collaboration Builder

• Search box in the Task palette allows users to quickly find the tasks they need
• Suggestions have been improved to include nested Type definitions
• Nodes within the Graph may be collapsed or expanded. Collapsing a node within the App or Collaboration graph hides all children of that task.
• Publishing an App event to the Catalog now exists as part of the PublishToTopic task

Test Tools

• Test Output Validation Procedures may either take one parameter, the received event, or two parameters, the received and expected event. This allows Validation Procedures to be more widely reusable between outputs.
• Users may delete individual Captures events
• A new REMOVE_KEY transformation value has been added for the specified property of a resource, which will remove the property from all events captured on that resource.