Version 8.2

aware_support

Many have been asking us what our plans for the next version are. This is what we currently have in mind. Please note that the list of major features below is relatively tentative - we may not be able to pull some of them off for the next version.

MAJOR FEATURES:

Multi-developer mode
Debugger
SAML support (Single Sign On framework)
Custom HTML forms (as explained in this thread https://forum.awareim.com/https://forum.awareim.com/d/10478>)

MINOR IMPROVEMENTS:
Many of the improvements discussed at the Conference in Providence and mentioned in this thread https://forum.awareim.com/https://forum.awareim.com/d/10236>

Note that not all of these will be implemented.
Some of the improvements that have been already implemented:

Better looking initial visual perspective
Drag and drop between categories
Max. length for text and multiple allowed for refs is displayed in the new attribute dialog
Name dialog appears immediately for new elements
Default grid on a form is no longer displayed as a line - attributes to display are picked at random
AES encryption for MySQL
"Redisplay form" flag when defining Create Object operation
Applicability conditions available for all types of operations
Applicability conditions can be expanded
10.Last search values are remembered (rules and scripts)
11.Double click supported in Insert Attributes and Auto-Refresh dialogs
12.If a category is expanded it is not closed if another item is selected
13.Pressing F5 during rule editing is hotkey for LoggedInSystemUser
14.Support for CSS styles and classes for separators in forms
Find string in locale editor
16.Rename category command
17.Inline editing of Yes/No fields represented by checkboxes
18.Ability to insert HTML, Google Map and Gauge cells directly in the form designer
19.Column Selection Mode button in the form designer
20.Ability to display item operations on the left of the grid

Your comments, questions, suggestions are welcome.

customaware

Would love to add another one...

So, you have created a BO and laid out the Form... All good.

Now at some later date, you add additional attributes and or reference attributes and the Reference Attributes may have a matching attribute.

Would like to have a checkbox when adding ANY attribute.... Don't Add To Form...

So the Default is ... yes add to Form (of course it will not add if the Forms have been renamed or there are multiple forms but more often than not, this is not the case)

But if you click the checkbox, the attribute will be added but will not automatically be added to the Form AND any Matching reference attribute will not be added to the Matching BO Form.

This would save a lot of time that is needed to go back and remove the unwanted attributes on the forms.

PointsWell

Please address the issue of changing items in the Server / Settings / Database and Logging that causes the BASServer.props file to be overwritten.

And please either:

provide an explicit SAVE that can be called by a process (COMMIT TRANSACTION doesn't work with a form) OR
specify an output location for processes called after the Save button on a form has been pressed. At the moment it makes single screen forms unworkable.

The attached video shows a form being saved with a process to then show the form after save. Because you cannot specify the output it overwrites the whole page.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ugjekgdsglvqt8r/20180719-Save%26Show.mov?dl=0

BenHayat

3. SAML support (Single Sign On framework)

I suggest that this item is placed at the top of the list, as it will make AIM more desirable for larger companies. Plus, once/if you go to a full scale REST exposure, the tokenization and security is already in place.

I think it's about time (after AIM being in market for over 16 years), that all settings, in particular Memory settings, being done in ONE place in Panel configuration and not so many files spread all over the place. It makes the product look very incomplete and prototype grade.
Aware should intelligently guide user (Aware's developers) how these setting should be done and making sure the ranges are allowed. This is one of the most unfriendly parts of using Aware as a RAD tool. The control Panel should make all the necessary changes to all the files that are relevant. Those files are only for Aware system and we should not manually touch them.

tford

2. Debugger

Perhaps I've missed a thread or this was discussed at the conference. Can you provide details?

aware_support

Perhaps I've missed a thread or this was discussed at the conference. Can you provide details?

No, it hasn't been discussed at the Conference, but many people have been asking about it over the years

At this stage it's a relatively rough idea.

A developer should be able to set a breakpoint "on a rule"
The debugging mode should be activated somewhere in the browser. When it is activated a special application will pop up (just like the LogViewer)
The user will be able to perform operations in the browser as usual until a rule that has a breakpoint is activated - in this case the browser will freeze temporarily and the special application will show all log entries up to the current point. A developer will be able to click on any log entry and see all business objects in the Context at that point. For every business object he will be able to see values of the attributes
The user will then click Continue and the browser will un-freeze and continue execution up to the next breakpoint.

This way the developer can track what's happening in the Context at each point in the application, which should help debugging rule execution significantly.

softserv

Having a timeout notification to alert users that their session is about to expire and giving them the option to extend the session.

idpSteve

A way to stop 'native' mobile user sessions from expiring would be the most helpful to me.

BLOMASKY

eagles9999 wrote
Would love to add another one...

So, you have created a BO and laid out the Form... All good.

Now at some later date, you add additional attributes and or reference attributes and the Reference Attributes may have a matching attribute.

Would like to have a checkbox when adding ANY attribute.... Don'So the Default is ... yes add to Form (of course it will not add if the Forms have been renamed or there are multiple forms but more often thant Add To Form...

.

Mark, what I do with all new BOs, is never use the DEFAULT Form, but i create a new one with the attributes I want. Of course, this requires that all my ENTER NEW need a USING "form name" but that way when my user requests a new attribute I don't "break" existing forms.

Bruce

BLOMASKY

PointsWell wrote
Please address the issue of changing items in the Server / Settings / Database and Logging that causes the BASServer.props file to be overwritten.

And please either:

provide an explicit SAVE that can be called by a process (COMMIT TRANSACTION doesn't work with a form) OR

specify an output location for processes called after the Save button on a form has been pressed. At the moment it makes single screen forms unworkable.

The attached video shows a form being saved with a process to then show the form after save. Because you cannot specify the output it overwrites the whole page.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ugjekgdsglvqt8r/20180719-Save%26Show.mov?dl=0

Can I just be a "ditto-head" and say DITTO!

Bruce

PBS

PointsWell wrote
...
And please either:

provide an explicit SAVE that can be called by a process (COMMIT TRANSACTION doesn't work with a form) OR

specify an output location for processes called after the Save button on a form has been pressed. At the moment it makes single screen forms unworkable.
The attached video shows a form being saved with a process to then show the form after save. Because you cannot specify the output it overwrites the whole page.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ugjekgdsglvqt8r/20180719-Save%26Show.mov?dl=0

If what you are saying includes the action of a CREATE resetting the screen to blank (I presume for entry of next record) is a pest, I agree with you. If not, then can we please have a checkbox attribute that says "Stay on form after CREATE".

The logic is that often the form being edited has a grid at the bottom which itself has an "Add New Record". Often I would like to setup for CREATE of the parent record and then proceed immediate to add the child records.

PointsWell

PBS wrote
If what you are saying includes the action of a CREATE resetting the screen to blank (I presume for entry of next record) is a pest, I agree with you. If not, then can we please have a checkbox attribute that says "Stay on form after CREATE".

The logic is that often the form being edited has a grid at the bottom which itself has an "Add New Record". Often I would like to setup for CREATE of the parent record and then proceed immediate to add the child records.

There are a raft of issues with how this works.

SAVE / CANCEL buttons will show on a form when the form IS NEW. Ordinary operation buttons can't be shown until the BO has been saved. But processes run after SAVE cannot be have their output directed. And SAVE will throw up a new empty form when in most instances I want to show the BO that I just created but in a non editable format.

To be able to direct output you need to CREATE then VIEW the object in order to make the operation buttons (that can have output directed) show. But you can't make the process SAVE the BO so you have a pseudo save button that says save but still generates a This form has been altered do you want to save dialogue. Which then has the user asking why does it say SAVE then ask me Do you want to save? Yes I pressed the button, I want to save. Of course the CREATE/VIEW route then requires a cleanup operation in the event that the user decides to cancel the operation which is further overhead that wouldn't exist if you could just direct the output of a process run after save.

While on the subject of forms and their state (edit/NoEdit) can the form be updated to make the form obviously uneditable. Either by greying out the field background or by showing just field contents with no field box around it, or even better can forms have a State flag - Edit/NoEdit off which operation buttons can be visible or not visible - that would allow for an Edit button to show when the form is not editable and a Save/Cancel combo when the form is editable. At the moment it requires two different forms and then you are back to the start of my post - can't direct output to show the form after save.

Personally I feel that this is a fundamental thing that needs addressing before the other stuff. But that may just be me.

ACDC

1. Multi-developer mode

This is good news, please could you expand on this and describe how it would conceptually work.
I mean can two developers work on the same BSV ? 😮 that would be really great and a major milestone

Thanks

mrbdrm

no love for mobile. 🙁
i will skip this version since it have no benefit to my application.

aware_support

1. Multi-developer mode
This is good news, please could you expand on this and describe how it would conceptually work. 
I mean can two developers work on the same BSV ?  :O that would be really great and a major milestone

Yes, several developers will be able to work on the same BSV:

The idea is to support locking of individual configuration elements:

business objects
individual forms of objects
rules of the object only
individual queries
individual processes
etc

This idea will require the following changes:

Management of configurators (developers)
a) The Configuration Tool will include a special module that will allow managing of configuration tool users.
b) There will be two types of users - administrators and developers. An administrator will be able to create a "developer" - define his user name, password and specify which business spaces the developer has access to
There will be a special "multi-developer" mode for a business space. If the business space is not in this mode it will continue to function as it does now with the following exceptions:
a) Locking of a business space version will be removed, as it will be superseded by the new mode
b) Visibility of a business space will be removed as it will be superseded by management of users
A business space can be put into a "multi-developer" mode under the following conditions:
a) Configuration Tool is running remotely accessing the server
b) An administrator selects a business space version and puts it into "IN DEVELOPMENT" state. This will be a new state for the version (can be displayed in orange, for example). Any version can be put in this state, but only one version can be in this state.

So basically if there is a version IN DEVELOPMENT on the server, all the Configuration Tools accessing this server remotely are running in the "multi-developer" mode

A version IN DEVELOPMENT cannot be changed in the conventional way. The only way to change such a version is to invoke special operations to check-out and then check-in a particular element of the configuration (this is similar to having a version control system in traditional development)
A version IN DEVELOPMENT cannot change its status to UNDER TEST or CURRENT - there will be special operations only accessible to administrators to put the system under test or publish. These operations will create a COPY of the version IN DEVELOPMENT and then change the status of the copy to UNDER TEST or CURRENT. This is equivalent to making a build from the current trunk in traditional development systems.
If a developer wants to make changes to the system he will have to do the following:
a) Check out one or more configuration elements from the version IN DEVELOPMENT
b) Export the version IN DEVELOPMENT into a BSV file
c) Start a local copy of the Configuration Tool that connects to the local database of the developer
(so all developers will have their local copies)
d) Perform changes to his local system changing and testing in the local mode in very much the same way he does now.
e) When he is ready to check in his changes he should export his local work into a BSV file and start the remote Config. Tool. Then he has to create a copy of the version in development and import the BSV with his changes. Then he has to select every element he changed and check it in using some special operation. The version IN DEVELOPMENT will be updated with his changes
1. Of course, there will be some tools to make the process easier:
  a) It will be possible to compare versions (available already(
  b) It will be possible to see who locked what
  c) It will be possible to see history of changes for every element of the version and compare different versions

ACDC

Excellent, thank you for this detailed explanation, I am very excited by this multi-developer functionality.

Could I ask you to consider some kind of security mechanism that lets me as an administrator set a developer's right to export a BSV and also the right to set passwords on a BSV. This could be done by way of prompting for a password to export or by a simple checkbox in the developer setup that the disables the export function on the developer panel

BenHayat

aware_support wrote
Yes, several developers will be able to work on the same BSV:

As I always desire to see AIM to be accepted and used by larger companies, "THIS" feature will make AIM very attractive.
Combined with new tokenize Identity security system.

Perhaps for V9, you should consider extending AIM in such a way that AIM works with external DB just like internal DB without any limitations and anyone can connect to any existing DB and would work just like it was created by AIM. And on the other side of this feature, AIM should also create the schema, indexes and etc. just like a DB engine would make and all relationships are recognized by other products and tools. Many companies shay away from AIM, because of it's proprietary relationship schema. Perhaps a few yours ago it was accepted, but in today's standard, everything becoming open and transparent.
Hope this helps!

weblike

This is a feature that was present in 7.1 and was removed in 8.0

Standard Menu in VP: ability to add custom html code in HEADER / FOOTER (these are present in Panel Bar)

BenHayat

To Support;

I'd like to make a suggestion.proposal regarding the items on the list for 8.2

For version 8.2, my suggestion is just to focus on the "MINOR IMPROVEMENTS" that will allow you to release the 8.2 as a sub release and ALL the "MAJOR FEATURES" to be for version 9. This way you will have more time to plan out and finish a COMPLETE system. These are heavy duty features that take time. So it either pushes 8.2 very far or you end up cutting features out of those MAJOR FEATURES. Better to separate the two and do each one independently.

And for version 9, please consider adopting external DB as a first class citizen in Aware and allow any Aware developer to use an exiting DB or create a new one or combine both.

BenHayat

aware_support wrote
SAML support (Single Sign On framework)

Why SAML and not OpenID Connect direction? Why not going with the newer technology?

OpenId Connect vs. SAML

There are two popular industry standards for Federated Authentication. SAML (or Security Assertion Markup Language) flow, and OpenId Connect.

=> OpenId Connect is built on the process flows of OAuth 2.0 and typically uses JWT (JSON Web token) format for the id-token.
=> SAML flow is independent of OAuth 2.0, and relies on the exchange of messages for authentication in XML SAML format (instead of JWT format).

Both flows allow for SSO (Single Sign On), i.e. the ability to log into a website using your login credentials from a different site (eg. facebook login or google login).

OpenId connect is newer and built on the OAuth 2.0 process flow. It is tried and tested and typically used in consumer websites, web apps and mobile apps.

SAML is its older cousin, and typically used in enterprise settings eg. allowing single sign on to multiple applications within an enterprise using our Active Directory login.