GDC 2.20 new features

Discover the new features and changes in functionality introduced with Genero Desktop Client (GDC) 2.20.

Important: This page covers only those new features introduced with the Genero Desktop Client version specified in the page title. Check prior new features pages if you migrate from an earlier version. Make sure to also read the upgrade guide corresponding to this Genero version.

Corresponding upgrade guide: GDC 2.20 upgrade guide.

Table 1. General
Overview Reference
Qt4 is now the internal library used for the Genero Desktop Client. See GDC 2.20 upgrade guide.

SVG image format is supported.

If an SVG image is displayed to an IMAGE form item (either dynamically as a field or as a static image), an SVG renderer is used. If the widget is resized according to STRETCH and AUTOSCALE attributes, the image is resized without resize artifacts.

For all other form items, the SVG image is used as a pixmap. It cannot be resized.

See the Providing the image resource topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Images used in GDC are now copied and stored locally, to accelerate image lookup. The cache can be configured (enabled, cache size, and so on) in the 'Advanced' tab.

See Advanced configuration options.
Table 2. Monitor/Shortcut mechanism
Overview Reference
A customized login box can be created for shortcuts. See Creating Shortcuts using the Shortcuts Wizard

A command line option, "-i" or "--ignoreSettings", has been added to force ignore settings.

See Command line options
A read only stored settings option has been added on the Advanced Tab. Settings are applied when loading a form, but they are not modified when closing the form. See Advanced tab

A command line option, "-r [filename.log]" or "--logrec [filename.log]", has been added for recording a log.

See Command line options
SSH2 is default protocol type when -T is not set. See Command line options and The Shortcut System

Shortcuts can be exported as and imported from a Genero Desktop Client (gdc) file. GDC can also be started with a .gdc file and the shortcut starts directly.

See The Shortcut System.

The security level now ensures the application started by the Genero Desktop Client is the one you started.

See Security levels.

Several Connections and Terminals can be selected and closed (instead of closing them one by one).

See Connections Panel.

Default Proxy and Kerberos Realm can be defined in the Options / Connection panel. This information is used when GDC connects to GAS as well as when GDC is looking for an image.

See Connections Panel.
Table 3. FrontEnd functionCall
Overview Reference

The standard frontCall getwindowid has been added.

See the getWindowId topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Four new parameters have been added for the functionCall Standard feinfo:

  • osversion
  • numscreens
  • screenresolution
  • fepath
See the feInfo topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.
Table 4. Widgets
Overview Reference

You can add a TreeView widget in your Genero application, based on a simple DISPLAY ARRAY.

See the Tree views topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

HTML hyperlinks are now managed in Labels by setting the styleAttribute textFormat to "html" .

See the TextEdit style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

TextEdit can have an integrated search facility with style integratedSearch.

See the TextEdit style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

A spelling checker is included for TextEdits.

See the TextEdit style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Folder nodes support a position style attribute.

See the Message style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Window style attributes actionPanelDecoration and ringMenuDecoration have been introduced to define the decoration for the ActionFrame.

See the Window style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Menu "popup" supports a "position" style attribute.

See the Menu style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

You can now use the mouse wheel to change the focus of the menu.

No reference.

The Button node now supports a "buttonType" style attribute.

See the Button style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

MDI Containers can now be displayed as "Tabbed MDI" (like FireFox / IE7) with two new style attributes: tabbedContainer and tabbedContainerCloseMethod.

See the Window style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Table 5. Tables
Overview Reference

MultiSelection in DISPLAY ARRAY enables you to select different lines using the usual key combination (SHIFT, CTRL, and so on)

.

DISPLAY ARRAY ar TO sr.*
  BEFORE DISPLAY
  CALL DIALOG.setSelectionMode( "sr", 1 )
END DISPLAY
See the DISPLAY ARRAY topics in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide

Columns can be sorted in INPUT ARRAY.

See the Editable record list (INPUT ARRAY) section in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

The TABLE widget can be used to render a Picture Flow, a widget to display images with an animated transition effect.

See the Table style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

When you resize a table and make it wider than the size of the content, an empty space can appear on the right side. You can now set the styleAttribute resizeFillsEmptySpace to "yes" and the last column will be automatically resized to fill the empty space.

See the Table style attributes topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Table 6. Action mechanisms
Overview Reference

To adapt to Multiple Dialogs and ON ACTION ... IN FIELD, the LocalAction mechanism has been slightly revised.

See the ON ACTION block topic in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

The Genero Desktop Client creates local actions prefixed by the screen record, for instancesr1.nextrow. This allows you to create ActionViews bound to a specific screen record, such as a dedicated navigation panel for a specific table.

See List of local actions in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.
Table 7. Experimental features
Overview Reference
The lookAndFeel style attribute allows you to customize your application to look-and-feel like a specific operating system. The lookAndFeel presentation style attribute for a Window is no longer relevant.

The Form Layout is a style applied to a GRID that lets the Genero Desktop Client display the content of the section, ignoring the per alignment and so on.

The layoutType presentation style attribute for a Grid is no longer relevant.
Image containers can serve as a browser through the use of of the imageContainerType Image style attribute. See Image style attributes in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.
Note: Experimental features are available in the product, but:
  • they are likely to be changed in future versions, or even simply removed from the product.
  • they are not supported. We won't be able to fix all reported issues; most of the time, this is due to current technical limitations.
  • they may not work 100%, not on all platforms, and likely not with all Front-Ends.