RAP 1.3 - New and Noteworthy

The RAP theming now supports gradients and rounded borders for many widgets. Both features are implemented using vector graphics (SVG/VML) on the client-side. Of course, this works with all browsers supported by RAP.

For gradients we followed the CSS syntax implemented by Safari, as there is no official CSS syntax around. Beside a start color and an end color, you can also define any number of intermediate steps. Currently, only vertical linear gradients are supported.

  background-image: gradient(
    linear, left top, left bottom,
    from( #ffffff ),
    color-stop( 48%, #f0f0f0 ),
    color-stop( 52%, #e0e0e0 ),
    to( #cccccc )
  );
        

For rounded borders, we followed the approach outlined in the CSS Backgrounds and Borders Module. You can set rounded borders using the border-radius property, even a different radius for every corner is possible.

  border: 2px solid #005092;
  border-radius: 6px;
        

A large set of missing SWT API has been added. This will make it easier to reuse existing code or to utilize new features. This list is just a selection:

• Widget: getListeners(int), isListening(int), reskin(int) (and SWT.Skin event)
• Control: update(), isReparentable(), setParent()
• Composite: layout(Control[], int), setLayoutDeferred(boolean)
• Device: getDPI(), getFontList(String, boolean), getDepth()
• Display: beep(), close(), disposeExec(), getSystemCursor(int), getCursorLocation(), update(), addListener(), removeListener() getAppName(), setAppName(String), getAppVersion(), setAppVersion(String), findDisplay(), getSyncThread(), getCursorControl(), SWT.Close and SWT.Dispose events
• SWT: getVersion(), style flags TOOL, SHEET, CURSOR_NO, CURSOR_APPSTARTING, SYSTEM_MODAL, and PRIMARY_MODAL, events MenuDetect, Arm and its typed counterparts
• Shell: default constructor, setImages(Image[]), getImages(), getMinimumSize(), setMinimumSize(int, int), setMinimumSize(Point), setFullScreen(boolean), getFullScreen(), setModified(boolean)
• Tree: select(TreeItem), deselect(TreeItem), getItemHeight(), TreeItem#getTextBounds(int)
• Table: showColumn(TableColumn)
• List: getTopIndex(), setTopIndex(), showSelection(), deselect(int), deselect(int, int), deselect(int[])
• Text: getCaretPosition(), getText(int, int), setMessage(String), getMessage(), setEchoChar(char), getEchoChar()
• Combo: getSelection(), setTextLimit()
• Spinner: getText(), getTextLimit(), setTextLimit(int), setDigits(int)
• ProgressBar: setState()
• ToolBar getItem(Point)
• TabFolder: getItem(Point), TabItem#getBounds()
• CTabFolder: setSelectionBackground(Image), setShowClose(boolean), setUnselectedImageVisible(boolean), setSelectionBackground(Color[],int[])
• and many more ...

It is now possible to attach help listeners to controls and menus. These events are generated when help is requested for a control or menu, typically when the user presses F1.

The new Javascript-Testrunner enables developers to write client-side tests for their custom-widgets using a JUnit-like syntax. The TestRunner also includes tools to simulate client-server communication and user-interactions. A simple test-case might look like this:

  qx.Class.define( "com.example.widgets.tests.CustomWidgetTest", {
      extend : qx.core.Object,
      members : {
        testText : function() {
          var widget = new com.example.widgets.CustomWidget();
          widget.setText( "Hello World!" );
          assertEquals( "Hello World!", widget.getText() );
        }
      }
    } );
        

If any assert fails, the TestRunner will inform the developer via its very simple UI and freeze Qooxdoo to ease debugging.
The project is located in the RAP Source Code Repositry under runtime.rwt.test/org.eclipse.rap.rwt.q07.jstest.

The DateTime widget now supports the SWT.DROP_DOWN style.

  DateTime dateTime = new DateTime( parent, SWT.DATE | SWT.DROP_DOWN );
        

The appearance of the drop-down button can be changed with CSS in the same way like in Combo.

Until now, responses sent by RAP were compressed using gzip. When running on Tomcat, this could lead to character garbage being delivered to the browser (see bug 259977).
Therefore we decided to turn off compression in RAP by default (bug 285669). Beside the issue in Tomcat, compression is a task that should rather be done by the servlet container to give administrators better control over the setup.
Compression can be turned on by specifying the VM argument org.eclipse.rwt.compression=true. This is the default setting for newly created launch configurations.

Constructors for the following resources were implemented

• Cursor
• Color
• Font
• Image

The factory methods (Graphics#get*) are still the recommended way for dealing with resources in RWT. If single-sourcing is desired and the extra memory is justifible, using resource-constructors might be considered.
With this change, also dispose() and isDisposed() were introduced. Even though these methods exist for all resources (shared and non-shared) it is considered an error to disposed of factory-created (shared) resources and an IllegalStateException is thrown in this case.

New API has been added to interact with the browser's history stack. The IBrowserHistory implementation can be obtained via RWT.getBrowserHistory(). To create a new history entry, you can use its createEntry() method. In order to receive notification of user-directed changes to the current history entry, use addBrowserHistoryListener().

To see the browser history support in action, see the RAP Examples

We implemented a themeable focus indicator for buttons. This allows to show the focus rectangle inside the buttons.

RAP now supports Drag and Drop. The user can use the mouse and keyboard the way he is used to in his desktop applications to move, copy or link data. The API is SWT-compatible, using DragSource, DropTarget and Transfer.
This first version still has some limitations, in particular: feedback- effects (e.g. for trees and tables) are missing, the escape key can not be used to cancel a drag, and the operationChanged-event is not yet thrown. We expect to deliver those features soon.

To try out drag and drop online, see the RAP Examples (go to the List page).

The ISessionStore has undergone slight API changes. The methods addSessionStoreListener, removeSessionStoreListener and getAttributeNames are affected in that they don't throw an exception anymore when being invoked on an invalidated session.
Instead their return value indicates whether they completed successfully. Due to the multi-threaded environment, it is not possible to reliably determine the outcome before calling one of these methods (isBound() could have changed meanwhile). Please see the JavaDoc for more details.
We don't expect to break existing clients, the changes are documented here for completeness. However, if you are having trouble file a new bug or re-open bug 278258

With the support for SWT BrowserFunctions it is now possible to register custom Java functions for a Browser widget and call them from JavaScript. In addition it allows you to pass any parameters from JavaScript to the Java function.
Thanks to the donation of henzler informatik gmbh we were able to acquire additional resources to have the BrowserFunction implemented for M5.

ImageData and related classes (ImageLoader, ImageLoaderEvent, etc.) are now public API. As a result, the Image(Device,ImageData) constructor is also available.
The factory methods (Graphics#getImage) are still the recommended way for creating image in RWT. If single-sourcing is desired and the extra memory is justifible, using constructors might be considered.

In order to increase code-resuse for text measurement from SWT, we introduced the classes GC and FontMetrics.
getAverageCharWidth, getHeight from FontMetrics and getCharWidth, stringExtent, textExtent from GC delegate to the respective methods from class Graphics.

It is now possible to contribute CSS code to existing themes using the extension point org.eclipse.rap.ui.themes. This way, plug-in developers can easily add CSS rules for their controls without the need to copy and extend an existing theme.

It is now possible to contribute ServiceHandlers via extensions using the extension point org.eclipse.rap.ui.serviceHandler. This way, plug-in developers can easily declare ServiceHandlers instead of registering them programmtically.

The theming was extended in serveral places

• The Shell has a new themeable element called Shell-DisplayOverlay. When a modal shell with is opened, there is a usually invisible element that is blocking all user-interactions with what is behind the shell. This "overlay" can now be themed to visualize this behaviour, using a semi-transparent background-color or image.
  For example:

   
    Shell-DisplayOverlay {
      background-image: none;
      background-color: #000000;
      opacity: 0.5;
    }
         

  
  
• We introduced the opacity-property on the following widgets:
  Label, CLabel, Composite, Menu, Menuitem, ToolBar, ToolItem, ToolTip and ProgressBar-Indicator
  
  This is an easy way to achieve semi-transparency. Be aware that there are currently two unresolved issues regarding its use in Internet Explorer: Bug 302713 and Bug 303603
  In some cases those can trigger minor graphical glitches.
• The Combo and CCombo widgets now have a styleable FocusIndicator like Button.
• The Text widget now supports backgroundGradient.
• Tables with alternating row colors, combined with vertical-only grid lines are a common design that was so far not supported by RAP. With the introduction of the vertical and horizontal states for the Table-GridLine-element, this is now possible:

    Table-GridLine {
      color: #d0d0d0;
    }
  
    Table-GridLine:horizontal {
      color: transparent;
    }
         

  
  
• We now support animations as part of the theming. They allow for simple transition-effects to create a more organic user-experience. Currently only a few widgets (Button, ToolItem, ToolTip, Shell-DisplayOverlay, Menu) and effects are available, but you can expect more in the future. The API is a subset of the CSS3 Working Draft for animations. To define an animation you need to set three values (effect, duration, and timing function) and you can define several per widget.
  For example, to create an animated hover-effect for buttons, the syntax could look like this:

    Button : {
      animation: hoverIn 200ms linear, hoverOut 500ms ease-out;
    }
         

A subset of the graphics context (GC) from SWT is now available in RAP. It can be used for basic drawing on the the Canvas widget:

  Canvas canvas = new Canvas( parent, SWT.NONE );
  canvas.addPaintListener( new PaintListener() {
    public void paintControl( PaintEvent event ) {
      Rectangle rect = canvas.getClientArea();
      event.gc.drawOval( 0, 0, rect.width - 1, rect.height - 1 );
    }
  } );
       

The graphics are rendered on HTML5 Canvas on the client, for Internet Explorer, a VML-based (vector-graphics) emulation is used. The performance on IE may degrade drastically when the number of shapes drawn exceeds a limit of about 500.
To see the graphics context in action, try out the Canvas page in the RAP Examples.

RAP now contains an implementation of the SWT FontDialog.

With the support of the FormText widget we now provide an implementation of the cheatsheets plugin known from RCP. With this it's possible to provide step-by-step cheatsheets with direct integration of the application itself.

See the Eclipse help for more informations about cheatsheets and how to use them.

To customize an existing RAP design was not possible without touching the providing bundle. Therefore we introduce a new mechanism to make it much easier for adding or replacing own contributions to a design.
The mechanism makes it possible to replace existing LayoutSets. Therefore LayoutSet elements from the org.eclipse.rap.ui.layouts extension point got a new optional attribute called overridesId. To override a single LayoutSet a developer has to create a new extension of org.eclipse.rap.ui.layouts and give it the same id as the Layout which contains the LayoutSet to override. After this he just has to declare a new LayoutSet element and set the overridesId to the original one.

It's important to use the same identifiers for images, fonts, colors and positions within the ILayoutSetInitializer.

The TableViewer can now display tooltips for its content. It can be activated by calling ColumnViewerToolTipSupport#enableFor(). Afterwards you need to override CellLabelProvider#getToolTipText(Object) and have it return the respective tooltip text. Other tooltip-related methods (getToolTipBackgroundColor, etc.) are not supported.

With the support for the Eclipse Help infrastructure, you're now able to integrate the well-known help system into your RAP applications.

Currently RAP only provides the infrastructure to plug in a help system implementation. Depending on your needs you can go ahead and use a simple implementation as shown in our FAQ. In case you are already using the cheatsheets plugin with links to the help system, please be sure to include a help system implementation. Otherwise your users will not be able to open the associated help topics.

JFace ControlDecoration support has been added. Clients can now decorate any kind of control with an image and description text shown when the user hovers over the image.

Since M4, the Equinox extension registry is able to handle multiple locales (see bug 244468 for details). A socalled LocaleProvider service is used to determine the current locale.

The RAP workbench now registers a LocaleProider service that returns the locale based on the RWT locale of the current session.
Please note that you have to add a new system property in order to activate the multi-language support for Equinox:
-Declipse.registry.MultiLanguage=true

With these changes the org.eclipse.rap.equinox.registry fragment is rendered obsolete.

Since M5, there is support for Servlet Filters in Equinox. See the 3.6M5 New & Noteworthy for details.

With support for IApplications, you're now able to start a RAP application the same way as it is possible in RCP. This means that you don't need to provide an IEntryPoint implementation.

<extension
  id="myapp"
  point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.applications">
    <application visible="true">
      <run class="org.eclipse.rap.demo.DemoWorkbench"></run>
    </application>
</extension>
       

As stated in this example, the entrypoint parameter to access the application is equal to the id of the extension. This means the application is available at host:port/rap?startup=myapp. In case you want to refer to your application in the branding extension point (e.g. as default entrypoint), you have to use the fully-qualified name of the extension (e.g. org.eclipse.rap.demobundle.myapp).

We adopted the JFace 3.6 code base to make new JFace features available and increase code-reuse between RAP and RCP. Some of the more noteworthy changes are listed below:

• PixelConverter and Dialog#convert... methods to convert between pixels and DLUs and vice versa
• MessageDialog#CONFIRM and MessageDialog#open()
• RowLayoutFactory and RowDataFactory
• Enhancements in TableColumnLayout and TreeColumnLayout
• ConfigureColumns, a column configuration dialog for trees and tables
• ArrayContentProvider#getInstance
• ICheckStateProvider for tree- and table-viewer with checkboxes

We adopted the Forms 3.6 code base too. New API added:

• MasterDetailsBlock#createContent( IManagedForm, Composite )

To provide a more consistent design we replaced the configuration dialog of the Business design with a more lightweight implementation. Additionally we added an effect called Lightbox which occurs when the dialog is open. To improve the usability of the design we also have disabled the configuration button if a view has no actions or viewmenu.

With RAP 1.2 we released a new look and feel called business design. With this design we wanted to show how RAP can look like in a serious sector. Now we introduce another example called fancy design. This design shows that RAP is a really modern technology and can look like one too.
To use this design a developer should follow the steps from the business design and replace the servlet name with "fancy".

Please note that we changed a few IDs of some of the LayoutSets. So, if you have replaced some LayoutSets please update the overridesId attributes by removing the word "business".

We extended the theming for a couple of widgets (such as CTabFolder, CLabel, Combo, Spinner and DateTime) and improved the new "fancy" design e.g. the support for standalone views was added.

Almost all RWT widgets got a new theming. The theming is coupled with the design examples. So, we have created two themes. One for the business design which uses a blue color scheme and one for the fancy design which uses a green color scheme. To activate one of these themes just add the bundle org.eclipse.rap.design.example to your launch configuration and set the theming id in your branding to org.eclipse.rap.design.example.business.theme or org.eclipse.rap.design.example.fancy.theme.

Before RAP 1.3 M5 the CoolbarManager has renderd the contribution items into the main Coolbar. Since M5 the items render themselves. This results in more flexibility and you can use all items which implements IContributionItem and the method fill(ToolBar parent, int index). To render the items into the UI a ToolBar is used instead of a CoolBar. Since 1.3 M2, RAP has a new ToolBar implementation which provides more opportunities for theming. This gives you the possibility to style the ToolBar in a way that fits more with your RAP design.

The interaction desing API gives you the possibility to style a Shell's MenuBar. With RAP 1.3 M5 we have created a whole new MenubarManager implementation to provide a much more flexible menu. Therefore, we use a ToolBar to provide you a high themable menubar.

We have extended the branding to make all view contribution items visible by default while using one of the new designs. The presentationFactory subelement of the org.eclipse.rap.ui.branding extension point got a new attribute called viewActionsVisible. The value of this attribute is false by default. So, all view contribution items are invisble to provide a cleaner UI. When changing this value to true, all items will be visible and the configuration menu will be disabled.

The RAP Application Launcher now has an option to specify the session timeout in Seconds. This can come in handy if you whish to test session shutdown scenarios and saves you from remembering the lengthy org.eclipse.equinox.http.jetty.context.sessioninactiveinterval VM argument.

We have added the new designs and themes to the RAP templates. The old templates made usage of the default theme. We changed this for two of the three existing RAP templates. The following changes were made:

• RAP Application with a view uses the fancy theme now.
• RAP Maildemo uses the business design now.

The Hello World template still uses the default theme.

We are proud to announce that EMF now provides RAP support out of the box. To see how it works, please refer to this wiki page.

Initial support to run Riena Ridgets on RAP has been provided by the Riena team. Please see this blog and the Riena on RAP wiki page for further details.

The Eclipse Packaging Project now offers an Eclipse for RCP/RAP Developers package from its download page.
It is a complete set of tools for developers who want to create Eclipse plug-ins, Rich Client or Rich Ajax Applications (RCP + RAP).