Was wondering if anyone has HTML tool/design alternatives to the current dev studio HTML composer? we have a recent shift to 1/3 of our users having an iPad in their briefcase and much of the IBI composer elements o not work under safari and/or iPad. Our team designed javascript libraries work fine, but in particular the chained drop down boxes do not render within the iPad / safarie browsers. Also we utilize drill menus extensively. The drill menus do not anchor to the element that has the menu in safari. Any tips, suggestions or alternative solutions are greatly appreciated.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kerry,

I would love to see some feedback on this subject. There's a workshop on building an iPad app at the 2012 summit - maybe it's with WebFOCUS 8 because I can't see how they'll do it with WebFOCUS 7.7.

thanks Francis. I've scoured the board , tech support , etc with no real solution for IBI sourced HTML pages within the version 7 series. sounds like hand coding launch pages and report behavior is in order.

I don't know if you've come across this one simple bug that effects all html files that reside in MRE:

Create a JavaScript file and store it anywhere within the WebFOCUS realm (apps, MRE, web apps). Add this file to the HTML page using DS HTML Composer - you know, that odd dialog box Insert > CSS/Scripts > ...

The file gets copied to the "Other" folder within MRE and the path reflects this.

When viewing the HTML file in Safari, Chrome or Firefox, none of the referenced JavaScript functions located in this external JS file are found.

To make this work, I had to edit the HTML file in the text editor and reference the JS file in the web apps folder (which is where it should be anyways).

the only solution I can suggest is to build it all your self.

HTML, JS, CSS, etc.

Funny that you say that, as I'm currently experimenting with moving our dashboards out of MRE, into HTML using JQuery. A simple mockup already looked way better than the built-in dashboard stuff and turns out to be much more flexible and actually quite easy to edit.

For your ipads, you can use HTML5 (and CSS3), which makes it even easier to make good-looking pages with barely any need for unnecessary mark-up code.

I'm (yet) fairly confident that using JQuery and the adhoc query tool (with TABLE FILEs that output XML), it should be fairly easy to get the current functionality from the launch pages (you do need to escape() the data to send to the adhocfex to urlencoded data suitable for POST requests though).
Most of the stuff that IBI stores in the HTML for the launch-pages is related to layout for the GUI tools, it seems.

I have to add that my previous jobs were with web development businesses, so I'm well-versed in HTML, CSS and Javascript. Still, I found the current standards relatively easy to work with compared to how things used to be.
My boss (who doesn't have my experience with said technologies) quickly proved how easy it is (once you have some basic framework to work with) by adding a number of reports to my mockup code all by himself.

As of release 7702, Composer pages are certified to run on the iPad. I don't know what makes you say they din't work, so please open cases for any issues. We test on iOS5 currently, but the prior iOS was tested when it was current as well.

The calendar control does not work. It takes a five page document to explain how to use the double-list box. I could go on...

If any one is interested, I can upload screenshots of a B.I. Dashboard screen designed using DS HTML Composer with tabbed areas containing reports from fexes.

The thing looks OK on Windows 7 - IE 8 but not so good in Firefox, Safari and Chrome. It does not load in Opera.

It does not look very good in Safari on iPad - in fact one of the reports that displays graphs on each line does not display said graphs. Neither does that work in MobileFaves.

Also, how does one make a DS HTML Composer designed HTML page responsive for MobileFaves use? By default, each element in a DS HTML Composer designed HTML page is absolutely positioned, how can this be displayed properly in MopbileFaves when the page is designed for a screen larger than 1024x768?

Francis,

The calendar control works just fine for us. I'd appreciate a case for your issue. Also, there is documentation in a Tech Memo about Apple's nuances with the double list control. I suppose you are referring to how it says 0 items when there are items in the list? That is because Apple does not count unselected items, just the selected ones. I don't like that as well, but Apple won't do anything about it.

David,

I apologize. I created a test file and the calendar control works in IE and Firefox on Windows and in MobileFaves and Safari on iPad.

A few months ago, in our real-world application, it did not work in either Firefox on Windows or Safari or MobileFaves on iPad (I don't remember which) so we gave up.

I'll try a backup version of our real-world file.

That's good news Francis. Do let us know how the other example pans out.

I did some developement using 7.7.03 and HTML Composer. The pages load fine in both IE and iPad (it's a scorecard dashboard). The dashboard doesn't have any double list control, so can't comment on "The Apple" way of implementing it. Shall try it though.

this is really good feedback for myself and my team. we are eagerly waiting to upgrade to 7.7.03 but our datamart/integration layer is XFOCUS with extensive use of MDI's. There is an issue with the indexing Auto Strategy that is a show stopper for us. It's in IBI's programming group. That being said the company rolled out 1000 ipads to our remote sales users so now we are trying to hand code around 7.67 DS HTML composer to get them 90% functionality of our existing system. Raj if you can try something quick using chained drop down boxes and let me know that would be helpfull.

David/Francis,

I have similar issues with calendar controls on ipad. On some html pages, the calendar control works, but most of them do not.

Also, I'm just wondering if you guys have experienced difficulties opening multi-spreadsheet excel in ipad. If it's a single worksheet excel, it's not a problem.

Any thoughts?

quote:

Originally posted by Francis Mariani:
If any one is interested, I can upload screenshots of a B.I. Dashboard screen designed using DS HTML Composer with tabbed areas containing reports from fexes.

The thing looks OK on Windows 7 - IE 8 but not so good in Firefox, Safari and Chrome. It does not load in Opera.

It does not look very good in Safari on iPad - in fact one of the reports that displays graphs on each line does not display said graphs. Neither does that work in MobileFaves.

Also, how does one make a DS HTML Composer designed HTML page responsive for MobileFaves use? By default, each element in a DS HTML Composer designed HTML page is absolutely positioned, how can this be displayed properly in MopbileFaves when the page is designed for a screen larger than 1024x768?