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[Reuben B.]

In the last few days, I upgraded my iOS Devices to 8.4.   Criticise me if you like but I did it without explicitly backing up my devices beforehand and simply pressed the button to upgrade.  I only made two concessions, I waited a few days so I was not the first, and I did my iPad a few days before my iPhone.   I don’t even intend to make great use of the new functionality.  Apple has a relatively high rate of adoption of new upgrades. 

Near the end of the year, we here at Four Js will be releasing the next major version of Genero, Genero 3.0   (http://4js.com/genero-version-3-0-preview/)  Fortunately for you, we do not expect the same fast adoption rate of Apple upgrades - your development cycle is typically quite long (years rather than months), so you need time to digest, produce and deploy.  That's why on the support desk we still take support calls involving version 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3, when it is only versions 2.4 and 2.5 we will likely issue new maintenance releases for, if required. Nevertheless, we'd like more of you on the latest release.

When making decisions to upgrade, you normally factor in the benefits and the risks.

For a Genero upgrade, the benefits could include:

• New features that improve the ergonomics of your app
• Under the hood performance improvements
• Support for new O/S and database versions
• Support for latest bug fixes in Genero.  Typically we support current and previous release for bug fixes and patches

For a Genero upgrade, the risks include the possibility that we will change something that affects your system in an adverse way.   It maybe something minor such as the definition of the color green, or the thickness of a line, or it maybe something major such as your code being unable to compile, or your program crashing with a runtime error.

We would rather identify and resolve those risks now before we release the product to general availability.  This is one of the core reasons we run the Early Access Programme (EAP). We take your feedback to lessen the impact of improvements on your existing code and to marry your desires/needs with other requests.

Our current timeframe is

EAP – September - October 2015
GA – December 17 2015

We are telling you this now so that you can start planning for your development team to participate in the EAP.   In the past we have made EAPs available, only to be told by developers “Sorry I am too busy doing something else, why didn’t you tell me earlier”.  Consider yourself told.

To give you a hint about what exciting features and functionality we have in store, we have updated the product roadmap http://4js.com/genero-version-3-0-preview/

For further details about what the EAP involves, we have added a section about EAP’s to our FAQ page
https://4js.com/en/support/faq/index?c=49

I look forward to your participation in the coming months.

Thanks,

Reuben Barclay
Developer Relations Manager

[Anderson P.]

Reuben, thanks for the feedback from the development team! It's very positive to have this integration between users and developers.

Genero V3 comes with very promising improvement, for me i can say i'm very anxious for the HTML5 V2. I am currently creating a huge project in Genero HTML5  and had tested one screen with our consultant Florencia Vitale, who wanted to test the new Gravity attribute and i have to say it looked great! The interface is much better, now it truly look like a web interface. Congratulations for that, is surely comes in handy.

I would also like do enforce something i have already talked about with Florencia, which is the <video> tag from HTML5. Currently we have an application that reproduced videos directly at the GDC interface with a webcomponent. For this to be possible, i had to appeal to Adobe Flash, but due all the security breaches that are being revealed i feel the need to move ahead and replace Flash.

We will keep in touch with Florencia to evaluate the possibility of making some early tests.

Thanks for all the attention

[Snorri B.]

Is it possible to see the Genero 3.0 BDL documentation?

[Reuben B.]

Is it possible to see the Genero 3.0 BDL documentation?

Hi Snorri,

Not yet, documentation is still Work In Progress too.

Some of the content in the powerpoint was new with Genero Mobile which in effect contained a 2.51 BDL release.  So some of this maybe of interest http://www.generomobile.com/online_documentation/fjs-fgl-manual/#fgl_whatsnew_251.html

If there was anything in the powerpoint presentation that you are very interested in, and you want to ensure that it meets your needs, get in contact with your support contact.  They should have an alpha copy of the 3.0 release and should be able to test a scenario you have in mind and if necessary provide feedback to the developers before the EAP officially starts.

Reuben

[Snorri B.]

Thanks Reuben.

What I'm mainly interested in at this point is:
(from the slides:)

Generic UI
New methods to help write generic dialog code
̶ Dialog with a variable number of fields and actions
̶ Suitable for advanced programmers only

[Reuben B.]

Hi Snorri,

What I'm mainly interested in at this point is:
(from the slides:)

Generic UI
New methods to help write generic dialog code
̶ Dialog with a variable number of fields and actions
̶ Suitable for advanced programmers only

You will like this feature :-)

Essentially these are a new series of ui.Dialog methods that allow you to build a DIALOG statement dynamically, and then respond to events occurring in that dialog.

It is hoped that you will be able to write generic single table maintenance programs, or a generic zoom window using these new methods (without resorting to some of the hacks that currently are used to achieve these).  Also a program where the end-user can point and click and add fields to tables and hence their dialogs should also be possible. 

I've only had access for one sprint and was able to modify my generic zoom window routine (fgl_zoom https://code.google.com/p/sourcefourjs/wiki/fgl_zoom) to use the new methods and remove some of the hacks, and it was looking very promising  (just missing CONSTRUCT which will hopefully be in the next sprint).  You should also make a note to look at the new base.SqlHandle class which will help for these programs.   

It is intended for advanced programmers, it is not intended as a direct replacement for INPUT,CONSTRUCT, DISPLAY ARRAY etc. 

You probably want to experiment with this now, all I can say is be patient, and place make sure you keep some time free to participate in the EAP.

Reuben
 

[Reuben B.]

A reminder that the Genero 3.0 EAP will commence on or about Thursday October 15 with a planned release of Genero 3.0 on or about December 17.

Subsequent to what was included in the the presentation sent out a month ago http://4js.com/genero-version-3-0-preview/ I would like to add that we have made significant improvement to compile times, and you maybe pleasantly surprised at just how quickly your application now compiles.

The presentation has evolved on the website so I would suggest reading it again to catch up on any changes.  I would like to point out there will be one version of Genero Studio from which you will be able to compile your desktop, web, mobile applications, and your web services

I will be back in touch just prior to the EAP with some instructions for first time participants, and things to look at.

Reuben

[Reuben B.]

The EAP is almost upon us.  Before the EAP starts, it may help to do the following ...

Ensure you have a clean compile and base from which to compare.

You will need or want to compare the new version against your existing application.  So ensure you have a clean compile of your existing application, that is you can compile your existing application without errors, and you can run your application using your existing Genero version.

On your development server, configure a separate area and environment to use for the EAP

Do what is necessary in your development server environment to set up a new area that will hold a separate copy of the Genero tools, and a new area to hold a copy of  your application, both sources, and compiled objects.

For the Genero tools, ideally it is a case of installing the EAP packages into new directories, and setting FGLDIR, FGLASDIR, GREDIR etc to point to these new directories . ( I find it a good practice to not install Genero packages into their default directories but to include the version number in the install directory name e.g.  instead of /opt/fourjs/fgl, install into /opt/fourjs/fgl/3.00.00)

For your application, it is a case of creating new directories for the source and compiled objects to, and setting your environment variables / configuration etc to point to these new directories (whilst not mandatory if you have an environment variable e.g. MY_APPDIR pointing to your applications root directory, then other environment variables FGLRESOURCEPATH, FGLSOURCEPATH, FGLLDPATH etc can be defined relative to this)

Finally determine what ports you are going to use to avoid clashes between your existing app and the EAP version of your app.  So if you are using 6400 for your existing app running against the GDC, decide on a different port number e.g. 6401 to use for the EAP version of your app.   Perform the relative configuration to use these port numbers (e.g for GDC, modify FGLSERVER value, and modify GDC to start on this port using –p argument)



The reasoning behind the above is to compare the compilation of your existing application using the EAP version of Genero and your current production Genero version (you may get a pleasant surprise at just how much quicker your application now compiles), and to be in a position where you can compare the running of your existing application using the EAP version of Genero and your current production version Genero.  Having a separate area also allows you to experiment with any new features, and to understand the code changes required.

I would also gather together any internal documentation you have on what customisations you have made, why you made them, and how you made them.  In particular this applies to Genero Studio and more so to Genero Application Server.

Hope this helps,

Reuben

[Anderson P.]

Is the mobile development tool implemented on the Genero V3 released today, or it will be released as a separate software?

[Reuben B.]

Is the mobile development tool implemented on the Genero V3 released today, or it will be released as a separate software?

It is included.  From the one Genero Studio you can now compile and build for desktop, web, and mobile.

Also now that the EAP has started, could I ask that any EAP questions be directed to the EAP mailing list.  Instructions for this are in the welcome e-mail you receive after your registration via https://4js.com/en/download/eap has been validated.

Thanks

Reuben