UNIFACE
8.4
announcement
The theme for UNIFACE 8.4
will be Performance and Scalability, exploiting the existing
capabilities of the UNIFACE 8 deployment architecture and enabling customers to build and
deploy high performance, scalable applications that are mission critical.
The deliverables of the Performance and
Scalability theme can be divided into two areas:
These
include the fine tuning of the UNIFACE Source code using the DevPartner products, TCP/IP driver optimization, various enhancements in
the area of database access and memory management
improvements.
Increased
documentation coverage on how to design, build and deploy UNIFACE applications
while gaining the maximum in performance
and scalability. The UNIFACE Monitor utility will be enhanced to provide
increased application performance logging, enabling customers to monitor
and tune deployed applications.
Further
UNIFACE 8.4 planned functionality:
Alignment of OptimalView and
OptimalFlow
With the UNIFACE
8.4 delivery, the UNIFACE based portal, OptimalView, and the UNIFACE
based business process automation product, Optimal Flow, will be closer aligned to become a UNIFACE based
solution.
Web
Services
The existing Web
Services functionality will be expanded with the delivery of Web Services
call-out functionality, enabling the integration of WS-I compliant applications
through XML and SOAP.
Application
Deployment Utility
The way that
UNIFACE applications are distributed for deployment and then subsequently
maintained will be greatly enhanced with the ability to create UNIFACE Archive
Files (.UAR files) from within the UNIFACE Development
Environment.
These UAR
files can then be deployed using a utility that will
automatically install the contents in the deployment environment, taking the
settings and directions of the UNIFACE assignment file settings into
consideration. The ability to update UNIFACE dynamic object libraries (.dol
files) and UNIFACE signature files (.urr files) is included. This functionality will greatly assist application
distribution for all customers, and will assist in the integration between
UNIFACE applications, and UNIFACE View installations.
New
Procedural Code
New procedural, proc, code functions and statements for
the positioning of UNIFACE form components, and for operating system
commands, will be implemented.
Grid Widget
Enhancements
The grid widget,
first delivered in UNIFACE 8.3, will be
further enhanced with the support for new widget types within the grid, and the
support for UNIFACE code execution from the user event of
pressing column headers or row numbers.
Documentation
Enhancements
A new Widget Work
book is planned to be published, providing details, code examples and working
samples on how to use the UNIFACE widgets.
Migration
Path
Migration to
UNIFACE 8.4 will be supported from all UNIFACE 8 versions.
Discontinued
Functionality
No functionality is
planned to be discontinued with UNIFACE 8.4, although obsolete versions of
operating systems and databases will be dropped.
After
UNIFACE 8.4
UNIFACE 9 is
planned to be delivered in 2005. The themes of this release will be Visual
Development and Hot Deployment. Further details will be published
in early 2004.