Isomorphic Software Logo SmartClient™ SDK Release Notes
Version 5.5.1/SDK Development Only (2006-12-12)

Welcome

SmartClient provides an open DHTML/AJAX client engine, rich user interface components, and metadata-driven client-server databinding systems, for rich GUI, zero-install web applications. Whether you are upgrading from an earlier release, or exploring SmartClient for the first time, these notes will help you to install and use this release more quickly and effectively. Please take a few minutes to review this file.

What's New in 5.5.1

SmartClient 5.5.1 is a maintenance release with small feature additions and documentation updates.

What's New in 5.5

SmartClient 5.5 implements the following themes and features:

1. SmartClient SDK Explorer

This small SmartClient application replaces the old SDK homepage with an interactive, window-based launcher for SmartClient developer resources. To use the SDK Explorer:

The source code for this application is located in index.html and docs/resources/, with some comments for the curious.
 

2. Rich look & feel

SmartClient GUI components and services have been broadly enhanced to support a range of new visual effects and customized themes, including:

The "SmartClient" theme has been upgraded to take advantage of these new features. This skin is now applied to the SDK Explorer, Demo Application, and Hello World examples. If you are interested in creating your own rich GUI themes, start by examining load_skin.js and skin_styles.css in isomorphic/skins/SmartClient. Check with technical support for the status of undocumented skinning interfaces.

The skinning interfaces will be documented separately in an upcoming release. For more information on the relevant APIs in this release, search the SmartClient Reference for the terms "edge", "shadow", "icon", or "src".

Note: The old "SmartClient" theme has been renamed "fleet", and is still available in isomorphic/skins/.
 

3. Animation effects

SmartClient visual components now implement a wide range of animation effects, to increase usability and improve user experience. For live examples of many of these effects, see SDK Explorer > Examples > Animation. The SDK Explorer itself demonstrates several window animation effects (expand, collapse, flash, and minimize).

To explore all SmartClient APIs related to animation, search for "animat" in the SmartClient Reference.
 

4. Background resource loading

In addition to background data operations and remote procedure calls, SmartClient provides interfaces for background loading of: without reloading your entire application. For more information, see the SmartClient Reference entries for: Simple usage examples are also provided in examples/uiLoading/.
 

5. Client-side XML/WSDL integration

SmartClient now provides easy interfaces to consume and process XML resources directly in the web browser, including: For more information, see the SmartClient Reference entries for:

Simple usage examples, including client consumption of RSS feeds, are provided in examples/dataBinding/. XML loading and XSLT transformations are also provided directly under the XML tab of the SmartClient Developer Console.

Note: These capabilities are not currently available in MacOS Safari web browsers.
 

6. Rich form controls

SmartClient 5.5 provides a collection of enhanced form controls, including:

ComboBoxItem, PickTreeItem, and SpinnerItem controls are used in the SmartClient Demo App in this package.

Please refer to the SmartClient Reference for more information on these new controls.
 

7. DataSource operation bindings

SmartClient DataSource objects now support custom bindings at the operation level. Each DataSource operation (Fetch, Add, Update, Remove) may be bound to a different WSDL operation, XML feed, or server object/method. For detailed documentation, see the SmartClient Reference entries for:

For an overview of all DataSource integration options, see the Client-Server Integration topic
 

8. Direct Method Invocation

SmartClient now provides a direct method invocation (DMI) path for server integration. DMI enables you to bind DataSource operations and RPCRequests directly to methods or attributes of your server objects. For detailed documentation, see RPC > DMI in the SmartClient Reference. This documentation also references the DMI code examples in:

Other features

In addition to the core feature areas listed above, SmartClient 5.5 provides an assortment of enhancements including:
  1. End user application layout with SectionItem and SectionStack components - see examples/demo_app/demo_app_JS_dragPanes.jsp for example SectionStack usage
  2. Flexible back button support - see examples/components/backButton.html for usage
  3. Deeper Struts integration - see examples/struts/ for integration of SmartClient AJAX form validation with existing ActionForms
  4. Modular AJAX client - separate AJAX client modules for independent loading of standard capabilities (Core, Foundation, Containers, Forms, Grids, DataBinding), advanced options (Analytics, FileLoader, RealtimeMessaging) and custom feature packages
  5. Resource preloading & caching - using the FileLoader service of the optional SmartClient Network Performance module
     

Sneak Preview: Visual SmartClient

This release also includes a "sneak preview" of the in-development Visual SmartClient application builder. You can launch this browser-based development tool from SDK Explorer > Tools > Visual Builder. This Visual SmartClient preview provides: Note: This preview is provided for evaluation only. Licensing and support of the Visual SmartClient tools are not yet formalized.

Quick Start

The SmartClient SDK distribution includes an embedded application server and database engine for rapid, stand-alone development and evaluation. To get started quickly:
  1. Download and install the Java 2 SDK 1.4+ if necessary. (Mac OS X users note: JDK 1.4 is already installed on your system)
  2. Start the embedded server by running start_embedded_server.bat (Windows), .command (MacOSX), or .sh (*nix).
  3. Open the open_ISC_SDK_from_server shortcut (Windows/MacOS) or open a web browser and browse to http://localhost:8080/index.html (all systems).
  4. Create a bookmark or favorite in your web browser to the URL javascript:isc.showLog(), for easy access to the SmartClient Developer Console and integrated SmartClient Reference.

The SmartClient Quick Start Guide (PDF format) is your best starting point for an overview of the SmartClient SDK, system, and capabilities. This guide also covers common installation and configuration issues.

The SmartClient Reference is the central reference and usage documentation for SmartClient developers.

Supported Clients

SmartClient 5.5 applications run in the following standard web browsers:
Limited support is available for earlier browser versions. Please contact Isomorphic for details.

Supported Servers

SmartClient 5.5 server-side components require a Java Servlets 2.3 compatible server (complete list here).

SmartClient .zip and .tar.gz packages include an embedded Tomcat server for rapid stand-alone development, but SmartClient is also tested and supported on BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, Oracle iAS, Sun AS, Caucho Resin, Mortbay Jetty, and JBoss servers. SmartClient .war and .ear packages without Tomcat are provided for deployment in existing server environments. See the Server Installation Notes for server-specific configuration and tested versions.

The SmartClient SDK includes an embedded HSQL database for rapid prototyping and evaluation using the SmartClient object-relational connector. This connector is also tested against DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL databases. See the Server Installation Notes for database-specific configuration and tested versions.

Upgrade Notes

If you are upgrading from a previous version of SmartClient, you should be aware of the following changes implemented in SmartClient 5.5. Please contact Isomorphic Support if any of these changes present compatibility issues for your applications.

Distribution Package Directories

The SmartClient SDK and SmartClient Runtime are now provided in a single distribution archive with the top-level directories: 
          smartclientSDK
          smartclientRuntime
Please note that these directory names have changed from the isomorphicSDK and isomorphicRuntime directories in the previous separate packages. You may need to update automated integration scripts or paths that rely on the previous top-level directory names.

SmartClient AJAX Modules

The SmartClient AJAX client has been modularized for independent loading of standard and optional feature packages. If you currently load the SmartClient system in your JSP pages using the <isomorphic:loadISC> tag, no changes should be required. If you load the SmartClient system by explicitly including: 
          isomorphic/system/Isomorphic_SmartClient.js
in your pages, you should now include: 
          isomorphic/system/modules/ISC_Core.js
          isomorphic/system/modules/ISC_Foundation.js
          isomorphic/system/modules/ISC_Containers.js
          isomorphic/system/modules/ISC_Grids.js
          isomorphic/system/modules/ISC_Forms.js
          isomorphic/system/modules/ISC_DataBinding.js

Skin changes

The following changes have been made to component look & feel in the provided example skins: Isomorphic makes every effort to thoroughly test and ensure backwards compatibility. If you encounter any upgrade issues in these or other areas, please contact Isomorphic Support for immediate attention.

Known Issues

Internet Explorer Caching

If the browser cache is disabled, full, or corrupted, application performance will degrade as the client-side SmartClient engine, UI skin elements, and your application resources are repeatedly accessed from the server. This problem may be indicated by slow loading of repeated images, e.g. the node icons in a TreeGrid component.

This problem is most likely to occur in Internet Explorer browsers, due to bugs in the browser's cache implementation. If you encounter this problem, please take the following steps:
  1. close all instances of Internet Explorer
  2. open your Internet Options control panel
  3. click the Delete Files... button (under Temporary Internet Files)
  4. when the wait cursor clears (this may take 10 minutes or more on some systems), click the Delete Files... button again
  5. reduce your cache size to 200MB or less to avoid this Internet Explorer bug in the future

Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and accessKeys

SmartClient components and form items support an accessKey attribute which allows the user to focus on the widget in question via a keyboard shortcut.
As of Mozilla Firefox version 2.0, the key-combination to use is Shift+Alt+[accessKey]. This differs from all other supported browsers (including earlier versions of Mozilla) where the key-combination is Alt+[accessKey].
This is a change to the Firefox web browser that will also apply to any standard HTML elements with a specified accessKey attribute.

Sun AS 8.1 - SQLException: The database is already in use by another process

The evaluation SDK provides an in-memory instance of the HSQLDB database to run examples and support rapid prototyping. Sun Application Server 8.1 does not correctly handle this in-process instance of HSQLDB. You may deploy the SDK on Sun AS 8.1 with no database, with a different database, or with a stand-alone instance of HSQLDB.

Real-Time Messaging in Safari

The Real-Time Messaging module (server-push messaging) is not currently supported in Safari web browsers. You can approximate this capability on Safari with client polling via isc.Timer.setTimeout() and isc.RPCManager.sendRequest().

XML Processing in Safari

Client-side XML loading, binding, parsing, and transformation utilities (primarily implemented in the XMLTools class) are not available in Safari web browsers. Current alternatives include using Firefox on MacOS, or processing XML on the server. If you require XML processing capabilities in Safari web browsers, please contact Isomorphic.

Developer Console performance impact

The SmartClient Developer Console continuously polls and inspects the running application, which impacts client-side application performance. If you are profiling your code, or testing an application on a slow system, you can close the Developer Console to minimize this impact.

Slider component event handling

The Slider component was enhanced in 5.5b2 to support separate event handling paths for valueChanged() calls during a drag interaction versus at the end of a drag interaction. valueChanged() is now called twice (before and after mouseup) with the final value from a drag interaction. To detect whether the value has changed due to an ongoing drag interaction, call the new slider.valueIsChanging() method inside your valueChanged() handler. You may choose to execute temporary or partial updates while the slider thumb is dragged, and final updates or persistence of the value in response to the other events.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments, or requests, please feel free to contact the SmartClient product team: We welcome your feedback, and thank you for choosing SmartClient.

©2006 Isomorphic Software, Inc.  All rights reserved.  Your use of this software is subject to the License Agreement. Isomorphic Software, SmartClient, and all Isomorphic-based names and logos that appear herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Isomorphic Software, Inc. All other product or company names that appear herein may be claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (http://www.apache.org/). This product includes Hypersonic SQL.