OpenInsight version 9.0 is released!

I am pleased to announce the commercial release of OpenInsight version 9.0, the latest version of Revelation’s Windows Application Development Toolset. This new version includes new tools and enhancements designed to deliver more features to end-users, whilst further reducing development times for developers.

With companies facing a new year with the challenge of getting more from their development teams and with ever decreasing budgets, we expect this new version to be welcomed by existing OpenInsight developers and other developers looking for a more flexible and economical solution to their current toolsets.

Over 4,000 entity enhancements this is a major release, which also features:

• A brand new IDE
  The new IDE has been completely written using the OpenInsight toolkit and it sees yet another part of the product written in itself. The IDE can be launched through a command switch added to your shortcut (/IDE=1). This uses the CFG_RTI_IDE record to launch the new IDE, launching the old one if no switch is set. Furthermore, this feature is exposed to developers, so setting /IDE=2 and including a second field in CFG_RTI_IDE enables developers to launch an alternative window. It goes without saying that the system expects to launch a window.
  
  
• OIPI.NET
  OIPI.NET is a brand new print engine for OpenInsight. The old ‘classic’ OIPI print engine is still available and either can be selected by changing the CFG_OIPI record in the SYSENV file. Setting the value to VSPRINTER will run the ‘classic’ OIPI print engine, whilst setting VSPRINTER2 will run the new OIPI.NET version.
  
  The new print engine provides users with navigable thumbnails within the print preview window, which sports a brand new interface with more ‘Save As’ options on the report and the ability to Search or Copy the previewed output.
  
  One of the best new features is the ability to use the new SET_PRINTER messages for INPUT fields. These messages enable end-users to add data to an OIPI report prior to it being printed.
  
  Additional enhancements include a TEXT FILE option that will now create text for a complete document including addtables and textxy data (pictures will not be included in the text file). An environmental option has been added for default path users and the handling of shading polygons has been greatly enhanced.
  
  
• Report Builder Security and Multi-Column Support
  The Report builder now has the ability to print two or more columns on a page and field level security has been added to the environment settings. This enables excluded fields to be removed from the report builder options and they will not show as blanks in list commands.
  
  
• WebOI
  WebOI is a brand new web publishing tool to OpenInsight. It can be launched from the System Monitor using ‘EXEC WEBOI’ or from the new IDE using the link towards the lower left of the window.
  
  WebOI can take an existing OpenInsight form and convert the events into a single commuter module so that the form runs in a more modern and efficient way, with both full screen and handheld options. Following a simple conversion involving just a few mouse clicks, the form is ready to run using OECGI or OCGI2 as fully Web2.0 compliant AJAX driven web solution. The templates are fully configurable and, out of the box, they include full navigation, record save, etc. In addition, there is a massive help facility and online development mode.
  
  The release includes a comprehensive WebOI Quick Start Guide using IIS6 and I am currently writing a version for those of us running Vista and who wish to use IIS7 – yes OECGI and OECGI2 work under IIS7 :)
  
  
• Bravo Dashboard
  The Sierra Bravo Dashboard is one of the most flexible and powerful dashboard development tools available. Revelation are proud to deliver Sierra Bravo’s business intelligence to the OpenInsight community as part of the version 9.0 release. The release includes a sample application and a dedicated Quick Start Guide.
  
  
• A brand new System Editor++
  The new System Editor includes fast, accurate colour coding with the ability to collapse code sections and show line numbers. It also supports the opening and editing of OS files and performs colour coding on HTML and Javascript tags.One of the nicest new features is the syntax assistance tips for Basic+ keywords, functions and subroutines.
  
  
• The ability to create upgrade SETUP.EXE files within the RDK
  The RDK now includes a new tab that enables developers to quickly and easily create a single setup.exe file containing all of their application components for an upgrade. This makes the installation of upgrades much easier for end users and provides them with a familiar experience.
  
  
• The ability to manipulate individual Edit Table cells
  There have been numerous enhancements to the Edit Table control in version 9.0. These include the ability to feature multiline cells, combo box and check box processing for individual cells, rows and columns.
  
  Revelation have also added a new Send_Message function for manipulating an edit table. This now enables developers to:
  
  - Set and retrieve the style for an entire column, row or cell.
  - Create a button within an edit table cell. Clicking the button
  will raise the tables OPTIONS event.
  - Include a drop down type of combo box within edit table cells.
  
  The CLEAR_TABLE command has also been enhanced to rebuild any indexes on the file.
  

I hope that you enjoy OpenInsight version 9.0 as much as I have enjoyed using the beta versions to build my new examples application. OpenInsight WORKS subscribers can download the new version from the WORKS area on http://www.revelation.com/. Please contact your usual Revelation representative if you are not a WORKS subscriber and wish to gain access to OpenInsight version 9.0.