9 replies to this topic

[DARREN]

We installed 6.2.18.0 (production release) on to our Linux server yesterday and it is truly amazing. The open client is nothing less that a work of art...pure genius. It is incredible to see a PROIV application running in a browser (firefox in my case). This is not smoke and mirrors where a great big control is installed onto the client - this is all server side rendition into the browser.

All the demo functions work and the open client supports features that I would not have expected it to, including tree controls and client re-size (the latter being a new feature where the number of rows and columns in a PROIV screen can be set dynamically). List boxes and combo boxes all work and the new active paging screen model is a dream and something I for one have been waiting for for years.

We are importing our application into it right now and know that we have a little work to do to replace client side code like dde, some custom activeX controls and client.execute with server side objects, but that is a small price to pay for the functionality.

will keep you updated on our progress...

[Richard Bassett]

Mmmm.. very interesting.

Is there anything anywhere that explains how this attractive new option actually works? White paper, anything architectural?

I take it from what you say, and I seem to remember reading, that you don't have to install anything up-front on the client pc where the browser is.

But I also see something that says Open Client requires Java Version 6. Is Java being used in the browser or is it only Javascript (and CSS etc. presumably)?

If Java is required, then where is it required? Is there a Java application or something on a server between the PROIV VM and the client/browser? If so, what is that actually doing and what kind of dialogue is it having with the kernel

Anyone enlighten me?

[jbach35]

I believe that java 6 is required on the server side, as I attempted to install it under a Linux environment only equipped with ver 5, and the install script informed me this version (6.2.18) required java ver 6.

The primary benefit of installing P4 v 6.2 on a server and running open client is that nothing is installed on the client side. This allows the end user the freedom to have a workstation that is not dependent on any one OS.

Jon

[jbach35]

Darren,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a tree control an activex control?

Jon

[Paul Blew]

Not when it's written in javascript

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a tree control an activex control?

[JamesS]

The open client server is 100% java and is deployed as a web application within a servlet container; without going into too much detail it generates an initial page and then sends / receives events from the browser as the user utilises the application; this gives it a nice interactive feel. It doesnt generate intermediate JSP or anything like that; which means you can develop in PROIV developer and then see it work in a browser pretty much instantly.

All the PROIV ActiveX controls we ship as part of V6 are provided as a JavaScript replacement so if you have written an application using them it will continue to work. We've currently disabled PROIV developer because we havent created a JavaScript implementation of the Logic Editor; other than that Developer works fine (but it should do because its a PROIV application ).

You can customise the look and feel through CSS and you can also provide your own implementations of the 'controls' we use; so for example its dead easy to loose the status / menu bar and then embed OC into your own webpage.

JS

[Richard Bassett]

Cheers James

[DARREN]

Just a quick progress update on our 6.2 upgrade.

I exported all our functions from our 5.5. development environment to 6.2 without issue. I spent a little time removing junk functions from the export list that always seems to accumulate in a development environment and this was a worthwhile exercise. Even with this done the export files (as I broke them down into screens,updates, reports and globals) included over 12,000 functions. I imported and regened...and this system came up The whole process from star to finish took less than three hours. There is an additional export utility called "non-source export" that exports operator settings, security, system defaults etc and this saved a lot of time as I did not have to enter all that in again in the new environment.

The new Developer (previously referred to as VIP) is very sharp. I cannot put my finger on it but it 'feels' like a development tool now. A lot of the features have been redesigned and the drop down tool-bars make a masive difference to the navigation.

I will say it again...the open client is GENIUS!!!. I have attached some screen shots of our application running in it. I have made no code changes. The menu driver and security was purchased from PROIV a while back along with the security suite. They also did our graphics.

There is a great resource page on the PROIV web site in the form section for the open client http://www.proiv.com...id=kpd1lhkpk10p

We have only scratched the surface on what this thing can do as we have still to explore the features of Server Side Objects, PDF document creation, Web-services, active paging and all the other stuff that is in there.

Our java programmers have had a good look at this and are most impressed...not to mention a little uncomfortable...as PROIV programmers can now write web apps !!!

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[Richard Bassett]

Good to see - thanks for the update. Something like this has been needed for a long time but credit to PROIV for delivering.

I'm not surprised your Java programmers are a bit shocked - I would think your productivity is going to be way better anywhere PROIV is viable.

Will be very interesting to see how well this might work over a long-haul, high-latency connection. I'm assuming the typical existing PROIV app probably won't work as well as one would like since the logic/data etc. is still remote - but maybe a coding approach adapted to that scenario could lead to something effective?

Anyway, now Rob just has to rewrite ProivRC in PROIV 6.2

[JamesS]

The messages are pretty small between OC and the server; remember the browser only has to send a description of the event that has occured. The reply usually has some small change to the existing browser window; if the whole screen changes then you are going to get a bigger hit; but this would be the same for any web app .

James