OpenInsight 9.1 - Where do I start??

Yesterday I said to watch the blog for further details with regard to the new functionality in version 9.1, then later I downloaded and reviewed the 9.1 readme and wow, there is much ,much more than I had anticipated. This posting is therefore very much a touch of the highlights and I suggest that you review the full readme for full details – email me if you are not a WORKS subscriber and would like a copy of the readme to review.

One of the main new features to immediately become apparent is the enhanced support for the .NET framework. This new release includes two key methodologies for integrating OpenInsight with .NET and they include NetOI and RevDotNet. The NetOI .NET assembly enables developers to code entirely in Visual Studio and to develop a Windows application that utilises OpenInsight as its data source. RevDotNet is a set of API calls made from within OpenInsight to a .NET control. In addition, Revelation have provided a DOTNET EXPLORER window that enables developers to crack open and explore a .NET control.

In addition, The Basic+ commands for working with .Net assemblies have been modified. These include STARTDOTNET, SET_PROPERTY.NET, GET_PROPERTY.NET, GET_INFO.NET, EVENTS.NET, SEND_MESSAGE.NET, CREATE_CLASS.NET, FREE_CLASS.NET, CREATEINTERNALOBJECT.NET, and PARSEDOTNET.

The new release also includes the ability to send a fax from within OpenInsight using the standard Windows Fax Server that is now included in Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003 and Server 2008. In addition, RTI_CDOMAIL enables an email to be sent from within OpenInsight using an authenticated login and or SSL.

RTI_TASK_SCHEDULER has been introduced in this release, providing an OpenInsight front end to the Windows control panel scheduled tasks. Along with the Engine Server, this can then be used with the new RTI_INDEXER_CONFIG routine to schedule indexing. OERUN.exe also uses the RTI_TASK_SCEDULER and it is intended for this to be run from the Windows task scheduler, but it can just as easily be called from a batch file as required.

The RTI_CreateGUID routine enables a GUID to be generated without using locking and provide developers with a nice way to obtain unique keys and other unique identifiers.

For those of you who need to validate passwords, credit cards or Social Security Numbers without storing those details, RTI_MD5 has been created.

At the last UK RUG, Mike spoke about support for JSON within OpenInsight and this release sees a new routine called RTI_JSON which allows your to generate JSON formatted data. This is especially useful for anyone involved with custom web programming using AJAX techniques. Revelation have included an example (RTI_RSS) that shows how RSS feeds can be read in JSON format.

Another feature of the RUG was the Code Templates and these too find there way into the new release. As many OpenInsight teams grow and organisations looks for consistency within their programs, this new feature enables code templates to be created and saved for future use. These can be used for countless purposes, but one of the main ones will be to prompt developers for consistent opening comments that include a description of what the program does, who initially authored the code and on what date and details of any subsequent modifications. These code templates are stored in the System Editor ++ and a handful of examples templates are included with the 9.1 release.

Many of the new features in 9.1 have been lead by OpenInsight developers through your feedback, comments, suggestions, etc. Many of you have requested an ability to obtain a network user’s name and this is now facilitated trough the use of RTI_GETNETWORKUSERNAME.

I could continue for sometime yet as just about every part of OpenInsight has seen some change, turning what was expected to be a small patch release into another major release. For example, the maximum number of controls on a form has been more than doubled to 2048, ARev32 features eight notable enhancements as a result of a growing number of ARev conversions, WebOI sees a handful of changes and CTO includes the ability to create macros for use with the CTO Child and Standalone forms.

However, I’ll finish up with yet another couple of customer driven enhancements;

The first is the ComboBox Populator which has been enhanced to support a SORTBY tag. This now enables data in a ComboBox to be sorted as ascending left or right and descending left or right. Also, additional ‘literal items’ can be added to the list and they will appear at the top of the dropdown.

I am frequently asked for assistance with modernising the look of the user interface. Revelation have provided two such features in version 9.1. The first of which is the ability to add icons and text separators in your application’s menus – both the main menu and also the context menu and the two menu designers have been modified accordingly to make the process of adding icons and text separators as simple as possible.

Secondly, a new set of FOCUSCELL properties have been added. I’ll leave you to review the readme and OpenInsight help system for complete details, but to summarise, these new properties enable developers to take far more control over a specific EditTable cell. For instance a specific font can now be set for a cell, as can specific colours be set for the foreground and background colour of the cell that has focus. In addition, the border of the cell can be manipulated to change its line style and thickness. A new page and tab in the Database Manager have been added to the Environment Settings window and these allow the developer to set default behaviours for the application’s forms background gradient colours, EditTable FocusCell settings and Graphical Menu settings.

I personally think that this, along with version 9.0, is an awesome release and I’d like to express my thanks and admiration to everyone involved with the development of the 9.x releases. Roll on version 9.2!