BASIS Releases BBx and Barista version 21.0

Marketing Communique

April 19, 2021

MC-21000

NEW Dynamic
Web Client

BBx 21.0 Enhancements

Highlights That Benefit Your Barista-Based App

TechCon 2021
Update

Staying Connected

BASIS releases BBx® and Barista® version 21.0 and makes them available for download now.

Included in this major release is a first peek at the most significant new functionality in the BASIS technology stack in the last decade; a new client! The all-new Dynamic Web Client (DWC) is a ground-breaking new Java-less client for your mobile, web, and desktop application deployment that will bring the technology advances in JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS to BBj with better performance, responsive design, and extensibility - all in a lightweight package. More details and an overview video are available below and in the BASIS Products 21.0 Up Close document.

We have selected a few of the other most exciting enhancements to highlight below and documented the balance HERE for your reading pleasure.

Download and install version 21.0 today! For additional details, refer to the BASIS Products 21.0 Up Close document and the readme, relnotes, and fixes files.

NEW Dynamic Web Client

NEW Dynamic Web Client

BASIS's NEW Dynamic Web Client is being developed in response to the world's changing mobile, web, and desktop application development requirements. As technology has evolved, we are now able to do things we were unable to do when we designed our first Java-less BUI client 10-years ago. BUI is still the client of choice for running existing BASIS GUI applications in the browser with the least amount of code changes. And, during the development cycle with the new client, one has the ability to honor the size and position of controls with a flag to mimic GUI and BUI client behavior. Those familiar with CSS layout methodologies, like Flexbox or CSS Grid though, can begin creating new dynamic applications to realize the full capabilities of the new client. The new client's functionality is still being fleshed out and, while it is far from complete, it will soon be ready for the creation of a subset of new production application modules.

HERE is a 5-minute introduction to this exciting new client technology component in the BASIS ecosystem.

Benefits of the Dynamic Web Client:

PERFORMANCE - The new client does not rely on the Google Web Toolkit (GWT), and as a result, with few exceptions, start-up speeds are MUCH faster than before since only the required JavaScript needed by the application is downloaded. This can represent more than an order of magnitude less than the previous incarnation. The application's performance is further boosted by requiring substantially fewer round-trips, with many functions, such as layout changes, being performed by the local browser's JavaScript engine.

STYLABILITY - Take advantage of the DWC's support for CSS variables to create themes for your application without having to write hundreds of lines of CSS.

EXTENSIBILITY - The new client uses web components to create certain BBj controls. Developers can integrate other controls into their applications using a BBjHtmlView to encapsulate arbitrary web components in the same way that GUI and BUI programs can.

RESPONSIVE DESIGN - CSS layout styles deliver fast, robust responsiveness to your application - rules determine the size and position of your application controls on different devices. This is efficiently done on the client thereby eliminating round trips to the server.

Interested in hearing still more about the new Dynamic Web Client's responsive design and CSS variable capabilities? HERE is a 7-minute deeper dive.

When it's ready for a "hands-on" experience, look out for an announcement and documentation on the BBj-Developer list on configuring a program to run in the new client.

BBx 21.0 Enhancements


NEW BBj Calendar Plugin Application Building Block	All of BASIS's Eclipse Plug-ins from a Single URL
BASIS introduces a robust JavaScript calendar control in BBj. Using a set of BBj custom classes makes it easy to add a fully-featured calendar to your BBj program with just a few lines of code. The classes enable developers to customize dozens of calendar configuration parameters. HERE is an introductory video to the calendar plugin.	Updates BASIS' plug-ins from a separate URL model (where each plug-in collection had to be installed from a different P2 repository URL) to a combined or composite URL model (where all of BASIS' Eclipse plug-ins are offered from a single URL). This model will help to ensure that we avoid version-mismatches between the plug-ins, as well as simplify the process of installing multiple plug-ins in Eclipse. The new composite model is documented on BASIS's Eclipse Plug-ins help page.

New BBxServlet Class

Adds a new BBxServlet class to replace the already-superseded BBjServlets and the BBJSPServlets. This new servlet implementation combines the best of both of the older servlet models while avoiding their known issues and limitations.

Highlights That Benefit Your Barista-Based App


NEW Menuing System	Enhanced User Menu Keyword / Direct Invocation
Barista's menuing system has been improved "inside and out," as it is now stored in a single set of data tables rather than flat text files making it much more flexible and robust. The Menu Maintenance program now provides an advanced menu tree that is synchronized with the corresponding standard Barista maintenance form. The menu tree has new features to allow for menu node creation and positioning via drag-n-drop. Custom application menus can be deployed and added to Barista installations using the same synchronization functions used for other application objects.	It's like a Favorites menu on steroids. By specifying a Menu Keyword on the Users form, users who spend a lot of time in a given form can have it launch automatically as soon as they log in - a real-time-saver. The new 'Direct Invocation' flag goes even further and, when set, instructs Barista to bypass the MDI and run the menu task directly after login in SDI mode. Also, the 'Field Find' function for the Menu Keyword displays the menu tree, so it's fast and easy to find the menu item of interest.

List Editor	Quick-Sync
A new system dialog type in element types manages a string of comma or semicolon-separated list items, like email addresses, via a simplified tree form with each "node" being an item in the list. After making changes, saving the list rebuilds and returns the single string value. To see the new editor in action, click the Find Field button for email recipients when emailing via the Document Processing Queue.	A new option to the Auto-Sync and Synchronize Barista dialogs imports any application and administrative sync records only. It does not import table definitions, nor perform subsequent processing on them.

Learn about the many new features and enhancements
in BBj and Barista version 21.0

Click Here

Update to BBj 21.0 Now!

TechCon 2021 Update

Out of an abundance of caution, this year's planned technical conference will not be an in-person event. BASIS is currently planning a traditional in-person conference scheduled for May of 2022. As a replacement for this year's in-person conference, we will preview some of the in-person content in a virtual TechCondensed conference format tentatively scheduled for the last week in September. As has been our tradition in our live conferences, BASIS engineers will be available and accessible to respond to your questions. Details for TechCon 2022 and the virtual TechCondensed will be made available in the coming weeks.

Staying Connected with The BASIS Advantage
Dig into the wealth of information in this technical publication. Read the articles online or download to your device of choice. Click HERE. Communications For current information, be sure to subscribe to all BASIS announcements and join our discussion forums.

BBj, BBx and Barista are registered trademarks of BASIS International Ltd.