Unfortunately, I'm still not quite finished with the Elevate Web Builder 2
documentation, so the release is going to be delayed for a few more days.  I
will be uploading a new preview build today, however, so that everyone can
start using the release candidate product.  My apologies for the delay.

These are the new features in the release candidate:

- You can now bundle external images, fonts, etc. in addition to Javascript
using the project manager.  However, the web fonts are not being registered
yet, so don't use them yet.  I'll be adding this in before the final
release.

- There's a new "Reset Interface" option in the form designer that allows
you to reset the interface of a control to its default state.  This is
useful when switching out control interfaces.

- There is now support in the dataset transactions for fail-safe commits.
You can retry commits that fail as many times as necessary.  In addition,
this means that commits are asynchronous also, and so you can use
transaction wrappers around dataset update events without worrying about
timing issues with the transactions, or trying to chain together event
handlers.

- The TDatabase.Load method is now called LoadRows.  This is due to the
inclusion of a new TDatabase.LoadColumns method.  The general idea here is
to allow for more dynamic datasets from the back-end web server application.

- You can use user/password parameters for authentication instead of http
headers.  There's a new TDatabase.Authentication method for specifying this
(default is headers).

- The object persistence is done, meaning that you can now load/save
TPersistent descendants to/from JSON using a couple of method calls.

- There's a new TViewport class whose instance is attached to the
TApplication global class instance.  You can use it to specify whether or
not to show scrollbars in the browser viewport (separate X and Y overflow
properties), as well as retrieving information about the browser viewport
size.

- The TGrid control is done.  It includes automatic fit for columns (right
stretch) and the ability to turn on/off column headers and lines.  It can
now also have a transparent background, which you can see in action in the
multimedia example (see below).

- The TAudio/TVideo controls are done.

- Double-taps are now being properly mapped to OnDblClick events for touch
environments.

- There's a new standard interface that is more in line with the
Windows8/Metro style.  If you liked the old one, then you're going to have
to wait a little while before I can update it for all of the new controls
that have been completed since I switched out the old interfaces.  I've also
got a more rounded interface that will be published soon, also, and it uses
Google's Open Sans font, by default.

- There are new clElevate* colors that represent a default color scheme that
is used in the default standard interface.  It contains 3 shades of black,
gray, blue, orange, and green, as well as a gray background fill color.

- The TEWBDatabaseAdapter component for Delphi now includes a HandleRequest
method that will take an incoming TServerRequest from an EWB server module
and handle all of the messy details of processing the request and generating
a response.  In addition, there are now new
TEWBDatabaseAdapter.OnAuthenticateUser and TEWBDataSetAdapter.OnFilterRows
events that allow you to automate authentication and filtering of datasets.
The TEWBDatabaseAdapter now also handles URL user/password authentication
(see above).

- There are 3 new sample projects, one for multimedia, one for layout
properties, and one for object persistence (see above).

- There are quite a few little bug fixes and minor changes to the
interfaces.  If you've modified/customized the interfaces at all for your
projects, then you may have to adjust your modifications to accommodate some
of these changes.

If you encounter a bug with the release candidate, please report it, but
don't necessarily expect a fix before the actual release.  If it's anything
more than a very simple fix, I'll probably delay it until after the release.
I'm planning on doing a quick minor release anyways in order to clean up any
leftover issues that needs to be addressed.

If you don't see a particular feature/control property, method, or event,
then it won't be in the initial release.  Just submit an enhancement request
and I'll work it in ASAP.

Thanks,

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Tim Young [Elevate Software] wrote:

> I will be uploading a new preview build today,

I've just given this a spin for a new small project. The layout
facility is fantastic (now that I understand it, which wasn't hard). In
my past projects, putting a "Log out" link on the top panel at the
right, just a bit off the edge so it looks nice was painful. I had to
use panels or code. With EWB2, I just set the layout and the margin and
it is done. It's going to be good!

Matthew,

<< I've just given this a spin for a new small project. The layout facility
is fantastic (now that I understand it, which wasn't hard). In my past
projects, putting a "Log out" link on the top panel at the right, just a bit
off the edge so it looks nice was painful. I had to use panels or code. With
EWB2, I just set the layout and the margin and it is done. It's going to be
good! >>

I'm glad that it's making life easier for you.  EWB1 could be painful at
times, and the most pain was felt with the lack of layout options like
margins and padding.

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

Hello,

Is there a place from where I can download the trial version of EWB2? I have a large ERP application built in Delphi using MS SQL Server and I would like to move it to EWB with Elevate database in place of MS SQL Server.

Beni,

AFAIK  a trial will be only available with the final release.
When you place a preorder, you will get immediate access to the preview version though. Just order it, it's worth every cent.

Uli

"Just order it, it's worth every cent."

I'm sure it does but I have to:
- learn it
- evaluate it
- present the solution to the customer
- etc

<<
Beni wrote:

I'm sure it does but I have to:
- learn it
- evaluate it
- present the solution to the customer
- etc
>>

Then you really want the trial for the final release version since you'd need the documents completed etc to be able to evaluate it properly. It's coming very soon now (just docs remaining for now)

Raul

Beni,

<< Is there a place from where I can download the trial version of EWB2? I
have a large ERP application built in Delphi using MS SQL Server and I would
like to move it to EWB with Elevate database in place of MS SQL Server. >>

We'll have a trial version available as soon as the 2.00 release is complete
and available.

Thanks,

Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com

"Tim Young [Elevate Software]" wrote:

<<We'll have a trial version available as soon as the 2.00 release is complete
and available.>>

Any hint on when will this happen?

Beni wrote:

> <<We'll have a trial version available as soon as the 2.00 release is
> complete and available.>>
>
> Any hint on when will this happen?

In the Preview newsgroup, Tim has been keeping us informed of progress.
I think "very soon" is probably fair, depending on the details of
requirements, as with any software. The preview purchasers are already
able to use a darned good system.

--

Matthew Jones