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APPX 5.5.0/5.5.1/5.5.2 Feature Index

This is the starting point to discover details of the new features found in APPX Release 5.5 and subsequent patch releases. Follow the links below to learn more.

Overview 5.5.x

Release 5.5.x has many new features for Application Designers, System Administrators and Users. To accommodate the new screens and new features, we have increased the minimum rows and columns in the client. For normal users (i.e., those not using Application Design) we recommend a size of 25 rows by 100 columns. For Designers we recommend a minimum size of 35 rows by 144 columns or one row/column larger than your largest Image, whichever is greater. If the clients are not using these screen sizes they will use the older screens.

This page gives you an overview of the changes in each area.

Compatibility with Previous Releases

This release adds some new ILF commands (DEL ALL, SQL and EXITREAD) as well as the ability to comment a block of ILF. These features are not compatible with previous releases. If you use these features and install your application on an older release then any process that uses the new ILF commands will not compile. If you have commented out a block of code, older releases will not recognize this and treat the code as if it was not commented out. If you avoid using these features you will be able to develop under 5.5.0 and deploy in an earlier release although 5.5.0 specific features (such as explicitly setting a column heading on a Table) will be ignored.

Application Design Changes

In Application Design we tried to identify areas where we could make designers more productive, such as:

A Data API makes it easier to supply data to web based queries
A Multi Widget Editor (MWE) allows you to modify multiple Widgets at one time.
The Item Editor now shows you ALL item attributes on one screen so you don't have to switch between different dialog boxes.
In most cases, we tried to combine GUI Attributes and Additional Attributes on one screen.

And more:

Documentation can now be entered in HTML
Column headings & more in table widgets
Standard copy/paste shortcut keys in the Image Editor
Optional Child/Rules accessible from button definition
You can lock design of a file to prevent accidental changes
You can comment entire blocks of code
You can see the line numbers in the ILF editor and jump to a specific line
New ILF verbs – EXITREAD, SQL, DEL ALL
New APIs
Experimental – new style input for designing Input processes.

Go to this page for the complete list and full details.

System Administration Changes

For System Administrators we added an 'Inactive' flag on the User file. The Data/Design File management menus allow you to leave the Database, Application or Version blank so that you can select multiple Databases or Applications at once. We also added options to the Data File Management menu to copy data between databases and change FMS types (with/without data conversion). The Monitor application can not only show you what process the user is currently running but also the parent processes so you can see where they came from.

Go to this page for the complete list and full details.

SCCS Changes

A significant number of changes have been made to the Source Code Control System including enhanced notes, task dependencies, and more.

Go to this page for the complete list and full details.

Runtime Changes

For users we updated the look of the Disposition, Record Selection and Sort Orders screens to make them more contemporary and easier to use. Users can also email reports directly from APPX (requires the installation of the 'mutt' email client). Record selection and Sort Order parameters can be saved and recalled for reuse. Tables can be used in place of the normal SCAN displays.

Go to this page for the complete list and full details.