Dynamically resized Dialog Boxes

A new feature in Rapide allows you to track the size of a dialog box based on another varying size control.

In the example below, the listbox height is set according to the number of rows with a min of 5 and max of 15 rows.

The dialog box height is then tracked to the height of the listbox and is thus dynamically altered based on how many rows are in the listbox.

Take a look at this in the live demo (navigate to the Listboxes page): http://80.177.61.42:81/demo

Expanding & Contracting Group Boxes

A new feature added to Rapide is the ability for desktop and browser applications to have expanding/contracting group boxes. These allow infrequently used fields to be hidden away and free up space on the browser window, which is especially useful when designing for smaller browser sizes like mobile and tablet devices.

The example below comes from the Rapide Controls demo which has been updated to use this new feature.

Note how the group box has an image on the top left and expand/contract control on the top right. The layout management has also been updated to allow control positions to be relative to other controls. In this example the second and third group boxes are positioned vertically relative to the group box above so that when the group box expands or contracts, the group boxes below it are re-positioned.

Take a look at the live demo (navigate to the Text Controls page): http://80.177.61.42:81/demo

Images from BLOBs

Gen 8.5 introduces the ability to define BLOB (binary large object) attribute views and to store and retrieve them from the database. Rapide has been enhanced to allow images stored in blob views to be displayed on the window design, either as single images or as columns in a listbox.

A future enhancement to our mobile API will allow a picture taken on the device camera to be stored in a BLOB view as well.

How would your application benefit from the ability to dynamically display graphical and image data with the images stored in the database or dynamically loaded from image resource files? Let us know!

Moving to the Browser - what about those OCX controls?

Since announcing Rapide a few weeks ago, we have already had some very interesting discussions with Gen sites who are keen to migrate their Gen Windows GUI client applications to browser and mobile applications.

Rapide has been designed to provide a high level of support for existing Gen client applications, and this includes support for OCX controls for desktop based clients, but it is generally accepted that using ActiveX controls in a browser is not a good idea because they are only properly supported in Internet Explorer.

So, what are the options?

To start with, Rapide already provides native widget support for some of the controls that you may have used an OCX for. Examples include using bitmaps in tables, date and time 'picker' controls, tabs, timers, progress bars and other stylised number controls like sliders, spinners, etc.

We plan to enhance listboxes to support tree views and more sophisticated layouts, and additional controls can be added based on customer requirements.

In addition, we are researching options for adding custom JavaScript based controls into a Rapide UI design.

If you are planning to convert a Windows GUI based application to the web or mobile and have used OCX controls, then we would like to hear from you. Having a good understanding of what controls have been used in Gen GUI applications and typical customer requirements will hep us plan and prioritise our roadmap for extending the range of controls that we offer.

Demo Apps Updated

The Rapide demo apps have been updated to show the use of resizeable sashes. The Booking App now uses a vertical sash for the Booking Detail to allow the user to change how much space is allocated to the detail panel.

The Controls Demo now uses a horizontal sash in the Multi Frame demo.