UI 3.0

... and is done. Gyro applications have a new look and increased usability.

The search bar is now on top of the category tabs, more user preferences, the forms are faster now, and they restore before showing on the screen (avoiding the annoying resize after the form is shown). There are tons of new things, most of them regarding usability(see previous post).

UI models

I've seen some screenshots of enterprise applications, and I've decided that the Gyro application search/results-based UI is not enough for some situations.

I've added a new property for every entity (you can actually combine models for different entities):


You can choose from search/results (standard model) or master view/detail, minimizing the number of open forms for the user (and actually increasing the productivity for the end-user).




The screenshots are from an actual application, so I've blurred some of the data.

I've modified the home screen (yes, again):


And as usual, bug-fixes, most of them regarding the MongoDB applications.

Repli-Gears and bugfixes

I had a few days off, just enough to make some new test units for GyroGears. I've noticed that Gtk+ 3.4 is windows-ready, and I'm waiting for the official release. Concept Client already works on Gtk3, but I'm using unofficial windows builds, that have some problems. The biggest problem is with GtkSheet (from gtk+extra), a widget that is not available on Gtk 3. To avoid this, I've modified the RTreeView control, to act in some situations more like a grid.

This function was already available, but it wasn't very user friendly. The standard behavior is this: the user presses enter or clicks on the column he wishes to edit, types all the text and presses enter. The cursor doesn't move automatically on the next column. To avoid that, I've modified this behavior, and now, beside the enter key, the user can press the tab key, and the cursor moves automatically and remains in edit mode (Avoiding two key events: press the right arrow key and the enter key). It doesn't seem much, but when dealing with large amounts of data, it can make a difference for the user.

The new feature is record duplication.


This allows the end-user to duplicate a record. This will duplicate all the non-exclusive relations (many-to-*), for the new created object.

For the exclusive relations (one-to-*) you can decide in GyroGears if is "duplicable" or not.

If this is checked, the exclusive relation will be duplicated. If the related entity has unique fields, this will bypass the standard validation (this feature is not stupid-proof), and GyroGears will issue a warning.

I've switched the default GyroGears web control to RWebKit (dropping RHTML). This is a preparation for Gtk3 (I'm not sure if they will suport GtkHtml anymore). However, I've emulate the old RHTML control using RWebKit, not to affect the existing software (just Concept Client will use the new control).


I've used some nice CSS3 effects like shadow.

I've modified the multiple delete and archive engine. Now, if an error is encountered when deleting/archiving, the entire operation is undone (rolled back). I've also speed up these operations that take significantly less time when dealing with large amounts of data.

Cranberry tea with end-users

About a week ago I sat with 4 of my end-users. The youngest has about 27 years and the oldest about 55, 2 men and 2 women. I watched how they use a Gyro-generated application, and notice they reflexes. And then, I've noticed how their eyes were looking for information on the screen. They had never used a Gyro application before. After watching them, I came out with a few and simple features that increase the overall usability.

First of all, the notebook tabs. The users sometimes find it hard to look for the tabs on top of the screen. He or she is maybe used with paper notebooks, that are indexed on the left or right side. So, I've added some new options there.


Now you can organize the categories into left- or right- aligned tabs, depending on your users.


I've noticed that some times the users are overwhelmed by the amount of information required for them to fill it in, so, I've added the expanders (by default, an expander containing a mandatory field is opened).


As you can see, every subcategory can now be expanded/collapsed. Simple, but very useful for the end-user.

Usability, usability, usability !


Some bug-fixes, as usual, mostly regarding the UI and one with some unoptimized queries.

For old folks, that use dBase, I've added support for dbf files. Not really needed these days, but useful when interacting with old applications.