RAP 1.3 M2 - New and Noteworthy

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 CVS 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.

Here is a list of API methods added in M2:

• Text#getCaretPosition()
• CTabFolder#setSelectionBackground( Image )
• CTabItem#setShowClose( boolean )
• Display#getCursorLocation()
• Control#isReparentable() and Control#setParent()
• SWT.SHEET style flag for Shell
• Tree#select( TreeItem ) and Tree#deselect( TreeItem )
• Shell#setImages( Image[] ) and Shell#getImages()
• Shell#setMinimumSize( int, int ), Shell#setMinimumSize( Point ) and Shell#getMinimumSize()
• List#deselect( int ), List#deselect( int, int ) and List#deselect( int[] )
• Control#update() and Display#update()
• ScrolledComposite#showControl( Control ), ScrolledComposite#setShowFocusedControl( boolean ) and ScrolledComposite#getShowFocusedControl()
• Table#showColumn( TableColumn )

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.

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".