ItsNat, Natural AJAX Java Web Framework

File Release Notes and Changelog

Release Name: 0.6

Notes:


Changes:

* Preliminary support of full remote control. This feature
is already included but disabled in this version (an 
internal flag can be used to enable it, contact if you need 
this feature). 

* Final support of modal layers (ItsNatModalLayer 
component), this feature works in ALL supported browsers 
including Opera Mini and Pocket IE. Pure SVG is supported 
too. Added "clean below" mode to ensure elements below the 
modal layer cannot be accessed in no way. 

* Improved default renderers, for instance the default 
implementation of ElementRenderer, now replace the first 
text node containing "some" text, ignoring spaces, tabs and 
line feeds. 

* Event capturing simulation on Internet Explorer 6+ 
(desktop). With this feature events in MSIE 6+ are almost 
W3C DOM Level 2 Events compliant from a server point of 
view (MSIE already does bubbling).
 
* Event capturing and bubbling simulation in Pocket IE 6 
(WM 6 and 6.1). Now setJoystickMode(true) is not mandatory 
(links are necessary but now events traverse the DOM tree 
then listeners registered in parent nodes will be 
executed). 

* Improved default in place edition: editor control is 
automatically removed when clicking outside the editor 
control. This fixes edition in place when blur event is not 
fired in some browsers. Default in place edition works 
inOpera Mini and Pocket IE  too. 

* New feature: "Event listener chain control". A global 
listener (or a listener registered in a component) can 
control the flow of listener dispatching. This feature is 
useful to catch exceptions and transaction management. For 
more info see ItsNatEventListenerChain. 

* This release adds more developer control for errors, the 
developer has more opportunities to avoid the default ugly 
exceptions thrown to the end user. Now 
ItsNatEvent.getItsNatDocument() and 
ItsNatServletRequest.getItsNatDocument() in servlet level 
listeners return null when the document is lost or the page 
does not exist. Cases:

  - Detection of session expired or server page lost (for 
instance timeout).
  - Detection of not found template specified in 
itsnat_doc_name (cannot load).
  - Detection of requested page for remote view/control 
does not exist.
  - Detection of session expired or server page lost in 
remote view/control.

* CometNotifier is now event based: added addEventListener 
and removeEventListener methods to register user defined 
event listeners. These event listeners are dispatched when 
the client is being to be notified and an opportunity to 
update the document accordingly. 

* CometNotifier now inherits from ItsNatUserData (is 
synchronized) to share data between background threads and 
web request threads.

* ClientDocument now ever holds a strong reference of the 
ItsNatDocument including in remote view/control clients. 

* Reduced the amount of JavaScript code sent to the client 
and increased speed of this code (more use of innerHTML 
when appropriated).
 
* Removed ItsNatRemoteCtrlEvent.OBSERVED_INVALID phase and 
global property, user code can ever ask to 
ItsNatDocument.isInvalid() because ItsNatDocument 
associated to the observer is ever accessible. 

* Improved support of server-sent events in NetFront, the 
weird native method dispatchEvent is no longer used. Now 
the Feature Showcase example "Func. Testing Using Browser" 
works in NetFront. 

* Internal node path resolution is more robust in browsers 
filtering text nodes with blanks (for instance BlackBerry). 

* New browsers and versions supported or tested: 

  - Google Chrome since 1.0 (previous versions deprecated).
 
  - NetFront v3.4 is officially supported (tested with 
Access Linux Simulator). This browser is included in many 
SonyEricsson mobile phones. 

  - S60WebKit since S60 3rd Feature Pack 1 (previously FP 2 
was the minimum version). This is the first release of 
S60WebKit. S60 5th v0.9 (touchscreen) is tested too with 
success, any S60WebKit version should work. 

  - S40WebKit since S40 6th v0.9 (Nokia 6600 and similar). 
ItsNat adds some workarounds to avoid some bugs in this 
browser (change event not fired and scroll is not updated 
in select elements).

  - Internet Explorer Mobile 6 of Windows Mobile 6.1.4 is 
supported. This browser, named "IE 6 on 6", is a full port 
of IE 6 desktop and some parts of IE 8 (JavaScript engine). 
This browser is more powerful and very different to the IE 
included in WM 6 and 6.1. To avoid confusion IE Mobile of 
WM 6 and 6.1 is named Pocket IE. 

  - Android v1.0 Release 2, deprecated previous versions. 
ItsNat adds workarounds to avoid some Android bugs for 
instance the serious bug "first option ever selected in 
select multiple". 

  - SkyFire v0.9, deprecated previous versions. 

  - Internet Explorer v8 RC 1 is officially supported. 
Fixed problems with item selection in select elements. By 
default IE 8 runs in default mode (IE 8 mode). This mode 
can be changed with a response header or a <meta> tag. 

  - iPhone 2.2 new minimum version. 

  - Safari 4 beta and Opera 10 Alpha seem to work fine with 
no special adjust. 

  - Iris Browser 1.1 (1.1.3) is tested with success, this 
version is highly recommended because it fixes a serious 
bug in multiple selection (only single selection, with no 
workaround was provided by ItsNat).
 
* Changed name of JavaScript file itsnat_msie_mobile.js as 
itsnat_msie_pocket.js. 

* New interfaces/classes: ItsNatEventListenerChain, 
ItsNatCometEvent, ItsNatAsyncTaskEvent 

* New methods: 

  NameValue.toString() 
  ItsNatEvent.getItsNatEventListenerChain() 
  ItsNatEvent.getClientDocument() 
  CometNotifier.addEventListener(EventListener) 
  CometNotifier.removeEventListener(EventListener) 
  ItsNatServlet.createServletRequest(ServletRequest,Map) 
  ClientDocument.dispatchEvent(EventTarget,Event,int,long) 
  ItsNatTimerHandle.isCancelled() 
  ItsNatDOMUtil.isNodeInside(Node,Node) 

* Moved methods (preparing ItsNat to full remote control 
support): 

  ItsNatDocument.addContinueEventListener(*) => ClientDocument.addContinueEventListener(*) 
  ItsNatDocument.removeContinueEventListener(*) =>  ClientDocument.removeContinueEventListener(*) 
  ItsNatDocument.createItsNatTimer() => ClientDocument.createItsNatTimer() 
  ItsNatDocument.addAsynchronousTask(*) => ClientDocument.addAsynchronousTask(*) 

* Changed methods: 

  ClientDocument.addAsynchronousTask(Runnable,boolean) => ClientDocument.addAsynchronousTask(Runnable,EventListener) 
  ClientDocument.addAsynchronousTask(Runnable,boolean,int,long) => ClientDocument.addAsynchronousTask(Runnable,boolean,int,EventTarget,EventListener,int,ParamTransport[],String,long) 
  ItsNatRemoteCtrlEventListener.handleRequest(*) => ItsNatRemoteCtrlEventListener.handleEvent(*) 
  ItsNatComponentManager.createItsNatModalLayer(Element,int,float,String,NameValue[]) => ItsNatComponentManager.createItsNatModalLayer(Element,boolean,int,float,String,NameValue[]) 
  ItsNatComponentManager.createItsNatModalLayer(Element,float,String,NameValue[]) => ItsNatComponentManager.createItsNatModalLayer(Element,boolean,float,String,NameValue[]) 

* JavaScript code generated by the framework when 
registering event listeners has changed and two new public 
JavaScript methods have been published: getNativeEvent() 
and setMustBeSent(boolean). See "6.2.3 Custom pre-send 
JavaScript code" in Manual for details. 

* Fixed a bug in table components in joystick mode. 

* Fixed bug: ItsNatDocumentTemplate.isMarkupDrivenComponents() returns 
the joystick mode. 

* Fixed bug: text inside option is not updated in NetFront. 

* Fixed bugs in form controls in browsers with bad support 
of change event (including iPhone). 

* Fixed many bugs in Pocket IE and big performance 
improvements avoiding annoying blinks. For instance the 
Feature Showcase example "Func. Testing Using Browser" now 
works in Pocket IE. 

* Fixed <input type=file> elements in BlackBerry: no longer 
is necessary to hide these elements (attribute "value" is 
fully avoided including with empty value and automatically 
removed to avoid unexpected Java exceptions). 

* Fixed some bugs in remote view/ctrl using timers and 
avoiding user changes when loading the page and form 
auto-complete in some browsers. 

* Workaround to avoid a BlackBerry bug: removeAttribute() 
does not remove the style attribute. 

* Workaround to avoid a NetFront bug when adding a <select> 
element with multiple and/or size attribute using 
appendChild/insertBefore. 

* Reduced the stability problems of Opera Mobile 8.6. Added 
a workaround to avoid a browser bug: <button> elements are 
extracted if inside a <p>, these buttons are reinserted in 
the original position. 

* Other bug fixes 

* Manual: 

  - Updated accordingly with API changes. Comet example 
updated with event listeners. 

  - Added "6.2.8 Chain control of event listeners". 

  - Added "6.2.9 Detection of session or page lost with 
global event listeners". 

  - Added "6.22.1 More about the request phase and how to 
ask permission to user". 

  - Added "6.22.4 Document not found detection" (in "6.22 
REMOTE VIEW/CONTROL"). 

  - Added "6.22.5 Session expired or web application reload 
detection" (in "6.22 REMOTE VIEW/CONTROL").

  - Added "6.27.1 Detection of no template found with the 
specified document name". 

  - Added "6.36 ADVICES TO CODE ITSNAT APPLICATIONS FOR 
POCKET IE". 

  - Added "7.14 MODAL LAYERS". 

  - Changed the JavaScript code generated to manage user 
defined code in event listeners, see "6.2.3 Custom pre send 
JavaScript code" for details. 

  - "7.21.3 The case of Pocket IE" is no longer a 
subchapter of "7.21.2 Joystick mode" because joystick mode 
is no longer necessary in Pocket IE. Changed accordingly. 

* Feature Showcase: 

  - Updated project to NetBeans 6.5 (may work with previous 
versions). 

  - New example: Core/Listeners/Event Listener Chain 
Control. 

  - Updated "Core/Asynchronous Task" and "Core/Comet 
Notifier" now event based (using EventListener). 

  - Detection of page lost in GlobalEventListener 
(registered on servlet level), end user is notified and the 
page is automatically reloaded. 

  - Detection in GlobalItsNatServletRequestListener of 
template not found specified in itsnat_doc_name An 
exception is thrown. 

  - Detection of document not found when requesting remote 
monitoring a document in GlobalRemoteControlSupervision 
(registered on servlet level). Output is redirected to a 
specific error page. 

  - Detection of session expired or app. reloaded when 
remote monitoring a document in 
GlobalRemoteControlSupervision (registered on servlet 
level). A JavaScript alert notifies to the end user about 
this situation. 

  - In Remote View/Control the user can be optionally asked 
before monitoring. 

  - Renamed "IE Mobile" examples as "Pocket IE". Now the 
feature tree works in Pocket IE (see PocketIEUtil) using 
AJAX, in spite of this most of examples are painfully slow 
and some of them do not work (they are not customized for 
PIE). Edition in place is enabled in Pocket IE Free List, 
Table and Tree examples. Because ItsNat adds bubbling (and 
capturing) to Pocket IE, setJoystickMode(true) is not 
needed anymore, this implies PocketIEFreeListStructure and 
PocketIETableStructure are no longer necessary, 
PocketIEFreeComboBoxSelectionDecorator and 
PocketIETableRowSelectionDecorator have been updated 
accordingly. 

  - The "Func. Testing Using Browser" example is now 
deterministic and can run as quick as possible. See 
FuncTestUsingBrowserUtil.dispatchEvent method. This example 
works in ALL supported browsers. 

  - Added "Components/Modal Layers" examples.