7.0 Beta is out; SmartGWT right around the corner
At long last, the fabled 7.0 is available for everyone to try out. Use the download links below.
http://smartclient.com/releases/SmartClient_70beta_LGPL.zip
http://smartclient.com/releases/SmartClient_70beta_Evaluation.zip (30 day eval)
Please post any issues with 7.0 in the SmartClient Forums as usual, but please be very sure to mention that you are reporting an issue with 7.0 beta (ideally, put it in the subject line).
The list of new features in 7.0 is just staggering. Here’s what you’ll find in the release notes, which covers major features only:
What’s New in 7.0
- SilverWave and BlackOps skins, two more professionally designed, free (LGPL) skins
- Calendar component: complete drag and drop, databound event editing similar to Google Calendar
- TileGrid component: display records as a series of tiles, with databinding, load on demand,
filter and sort capability - Advanced Filtering: client- and server-side support for field-operator-value filtering of
data, including arbitrarily nested queries - Filter Builder: specialized form for end user construction of advanced filters of arbitrary
complexity - Automatic databound dragging behaviors: grids and trees will now inspect data
relations declared in DataSources and automatically “do the right thing” for a databound drag - ColumnTree component: ITunes-like tree navigation (one column per level)
- Printing: comprehensive and customizable support for rendering printable views of
SmartClient applications - HeaderSpans: second level headers in grids, for grouping related columns
- Grid row rollover effects and controls: general purpose ability to attach SmartClient
components to rows, allowing rounded selection, controls that appear on rollover, and more - Grid header rollover: drop-down menus appear on rollover, offering column show/hide,
freezing and grouping options that previously required right click to discover - Data autofitting: horizontal and vertical autofitting to data for ListGrids
- Grouping modes: built-in and custom grouping modes, such as the ability to group a date
column by week, day, month or year - Visual Builder “toolskin”: edit applications in any skin while Visual Builder itself
retains consistent look and feel - Visual Builder “auto-add”: double-click palette items to intelligently add to last, for
ludicrously fast screen building - AutoFitTextAreaItem: autofits to contained text
- Full Tree connectors: TreeGrid connectors support now optionally includes full connectors
- CubeGrid facet auto-derivation: greatly simplified creation of simple cubes
While you wait for your download, take a look at the new skins as they appear in Visual Builder. This is a real, unmodified screenshot of Visual Builder editing an application using the new SilverWave skin.
SmartGWT Beta on the verge of release
As if this wasn’t enough excitement for one day, in other news, SmartGWT is right on the verge of final release. Early adopters (those who emailed us) have already been working with the technology for several weeks, contributing samples and helping with testing (thanks guys!). Calling this a “First beta release” would give a very false impression of how comprehensive and robust SmartGWT has already become – with over 500 classes and almost 4000 documented APIs, all of SmartClient’s core features are now exposed through Java, and we have an example browser with nearly 250 samples already contributed, covering the same range of use cases as are shown for SmartClient’s set of default examples.
Stay tuned.
Cheers,
Charles
