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Upgrading Servoy Application Server

As Servoy 6 is a major release a fresh Servoy Application Server installation is required.

See ... for more information.

Upgrading Servoy Developer

As Servoy 6 is a major release a fresh Servoy Developer installation is required.

See ... for more information.

Moving the

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Upgrading existing Solutions

A note before getting started

Servoy 6 offers some amazing new features in the Servoy Developer IDE when it comes to designing forms and writing business logic.

Part of the latter is a greatly improved JavaScript code validation: the entire code base of a solution will be continuously checked for possible coding mistakes, like accessing or setting non existing variables, calling non-existing methods or calling methods with the wrong number or type of parameters.

While this is great once you get going, if you're upgrading an existing solution to Servoy 6, you will most likely get a lot of warnings on your code. Why is that?

JavaScript, the scripting language used in Servoy to write down the business logic is what they call "weak-typed". This means that a variable can hold any type of value, that a function can return any type of value and that the parameter values that can be send into a method call can be of any type. At least: this hold true for JavaScript in it's core.

The new script validation in Servoy Developer 6 however tries to determine if the the properties you access actually exist, if the method you call exist and if you call them with the right number and type of arguments. The validation mechanism tries to be as clever as possible to determine which code is correct and which code isn't, but due to the weak-typed (and dynamic) nature of JavaScript, somethings clever logic just isn't enough and the validator requires more input from the developer in order to do proper validation. This developer input is done in the form of JSDoc.

While previous versions of Servoy already had support for JSDoc, in Servoy 6 this support has been extended and improved, in order to better facilitate the validation process.

So, while you might get numerous warnings once you open your existing solutions in Servoy 6, remember that these are just "warnings", not errors, they do not mean that your solution is not working. While we advise to solve the warnings, so you can also reliable start using some of the other great features of Servoy 6, like automatic code refactoring or search for references, you can ignore the warnings. It's even possible to turn off all the warnings, see Window > Preferences > JavaScript > Error/Warnings.

JSDoc primer

Behavior changes

Changes that might break existing code

Bugfix: JSFoundSet.getRecordIndex(JSRecord) now returns -1 instead of 0 when the record is not found, to be inline with other functions that return -1 to indicate "not found"
BugFix: When passing JavaScript Arrays into the Scripting API (Servoy Scripting API or plugins), previously empty Array positions were removed, not they are reserved
plugins.rawSQL.executeStoredProcedure() now returns the last resultset retunred by the stored procedure, instead of the first
In the solutionModel when asking for a specific element on a form, if the element is not on the form, the super scope will be inspected and return the element if the element in inherited. For the plural getElements() type of functions, an optional paramter has been added to include the inherited elements in the return value or not.
When adding a tableFilter on a column that already has a tablefilter on it, the newly applied filter will not override the existing filter, but the new filter will be appended, so both the existing and newly added tableFilter are in effect. To implement the old behavior, the TableFilters need to be created with a name and then when applying a new TableFilter the old one needs to be removed through scripting.
In Smart Clients running under Java 6, Modal Dialogs (JSWindow of type MODAL_DIALOG and the dialogs displayed using the dialogs plugin) will be modal for their parent window (hierargy). This means that when having multiple windows (JSWindow of type WINDOW) open, a Modal dialog opened in one window will only block that window, not the other Windows. This aligns the behavior with the Web Client behavior. Unfortunately, the ability to set the scope of dialog modality in only possible from Java 6 onwards. When running Smart Clients on Java 5 modal dialogs will block all windows.

The passing of deepLink arguments to the onOpen methods of both the Login solution (if applicable) and the main solution has been normalized:

Proper supports for deeplinks that specify multiple values for both the predefined "argument" parameter as well as custom named parameters.
The difference between deeplinks using the full syntax ("arguments") or short syntax ("a") for specifying arguments has been hidden: short syntax will be automatically converted to full syntax.

The query arguments in the URL that represent the solutionName or the methodName are filtered out, so only the real arguments are send into the onOpen method
Examples:

http://domain:port/servoy-webclient/ss/s/{solutionName}/argument/1/m/{globalMethodName}/a/2/a/3/b/1/b/2/b/3 or
http://domain:port/servoy-webclient/ss?s={solutionName}&a=1&method={globalMethodName}&a=2&a=3&b=1&b=2&b=3 or
http://domain:port/servoy-client/{solutionName}.jnlp?a=1&a=3&b=1&a=2&b=2&b=3

all results in the following arguments applied to the onOpen method

arguments[0]: 1
arguments[1]: {argument: [1,2,3], b: [1,2,3]}]

Behavior changes

BugFix: A bug was fixed that allowed making elements visible in scripting on which there was a security constraint that made the element invisible. The new behavior is that security takes preference over scripting for "visibility", like was already the case for "enabled"
The position and dimensions of JSWindow's (Windows and Dialogs) are now persisted over client sessions
The client that gets started as Authenticator during the login process isn't consuming a license any more
controller.recreateUI() will keep the existing x and y scrollPosition of the form being recreated.
application.getTimeStamp() in the Web client will return the timestamp based on the timezone of the Client and the time of the Server: Before it would just return the timestamp based on the time and timezone of the server.
Tooltips in the Web Client are not shown immediately, but after a short delay, to synchronize the behavior between the Smart and Web Client. Note that through the UIProperties APP_UI_PROPERTY.TOOLTIP_INITIAL_DELAY & APP_UI_PROPERTY.TOOLTIP_DISMISS_DELAY the initial show delay and the dismiss delay are now controllable by the developer in both the Smart and Web Client
DeepLink arguments are now also applied to the onOpen method of the login solution. As a result of that, the application.getStartupArguments() method is deprecated, as it's no longer needed
Enhanced Security is now the default mode. The UI in Servoy Developer and in the Application Server to disable it has been removed. It is only possible to disable Enhance Security through setting the relevant property in the servoy.properties file: "servoy.application_server.enhancedSecurity=false"

Changes affecting the appearance

Fonts inside an HTMLArea expressed in "pt" instead of "px" will display slightly smaller due to a bugfix.
Non-modal Dialogs in the Web Client rendered inside the main window, instead of as new browser windows due to JSWindow implementation, allowing multiple modal and non modal in the same window
Default alignment for text in TableView & Portal headers brought inline (Centered)
Aligned default border and alignment for all elements between Smart Client and Web Client
When using labels with labelFor link to other elements in TableViews to control the TableView header rendering, the first label will now determine the height of the header
Due to added support for vertical and horizontal alignment on labels and buttons in the Web Client, any custom HTML displayed in a non-editable HTMLArea in the Web Client will be offset from the top by 50% of the height of the element, if the vertical alignment is left on Default, with means center. Set the vertical alignment to Top to get the HTML to display correctly again.
Due to the added support for an editable HTMLArea in the Web Client, end users will now see an HTML Editor in the Web Client if the HMTLArea is left enabled in the Solution Design, whereas in previous versions it would show the raw content of the dataprovider.

Form Design

Deprecated API

Designtime API

Object	Deprecated method or property	Replacement	Comment
Form	extendsForm	extends
	rowBGColorCalculation	CSS Row Styling & onRender event
Portal	resizeble	resizable	Fix typo
	rowBGColorCalculation	CSS Row Styling & onRender event
TabPanel	onTabChange	onChange

Runtime API

Object	Deprecated method or property	Replacement	Comment
controller	.getContainerName()	controller.getWindow().getName()
Button Label Fields Rectangle TabPanel SplitPane Portal	.setBorder() .setFont() .getTitleText() .setImageURL()	.border .font .titleText .imageURL	Matching getters or setters added, allowing both getting and setting the value. Not all mentioned properties are applicable to each mentioned type of object
RuntimeLabel	.getParameterValue()	N/A	Never worked properly
Date	.setYear()	.getFullYear()	This function is deprecated in the JavaScript specification
Application	.getStartupArguments()	onOpen event handler of the solution	Deeplink arguments are now passed to both the onOpen event handler of the Login and Main solution. The .getStartupArgument() is therefor no longer required to get access to the startupArguments prior to login
	.closeForm()	JSWindow.hide()	Servoy 6 contains a complete new Windowing API. A window or dialog is now an instance of the JSWindow class to which a lot of the methods have been moved. New methods were added to the application and controller objects to interact with windows
	.getWindowHeight()	JSWindow.getHeight()
	.getWindowWidth()	JSWindow.getWidth()
	.getWindowX()	JSWindow.getX()
	.getWindowY()	JSWindow.getY()
	.setWindowLocation()	JSWindow.setLocation()
	.setWindowSize()	JSWindow.setSize()
	.showFormInDialog()	application.createWindow('name',JSWindow.DIALOG).show('formName') application.createWindow('name',JSWindow.MODAL_DIALOG).show('formName')	The method application.createWindow(..) returns an object of type JSWindow, which has an Scripting API to control additional things like the title, resizability, initial bounds and whether or not to show a textToolbar
	.showFormInWindow()	application.createWindow('name',JSWindow.WINDOW).show('formName')
UICONSTANTS	.FULL_SCREEN	JSWindow.FULL_SCREEN
JSForm	.rowBGColorCalculation	CSS Row Styling & onRender event
JSPortal	.resizeble	.resizable	Fix typo
	.rowBGColorCalculation	CSS Row Styling & onRender event
JSTabPanel	.onTabChange	.onChange
<ac:structured-macro ac:name="unmigrated-wiki-markup" ac:schema-version="1" ac:macro-id="f5785adc-e3cd-4831-984d-75e89cdd7619"><ac:plain-text-body><![CDATA[	databaseManager	.getFoundSetDataProviderAsArray()	.convertToDataSet(['dataProviderId']).getColumnAsArray(1)	Duplicate functionality	]]></ac:plain-text-body></ac:structured-macro>
ServoyException	.INVALID_INPUT_FORMAT	N/A	never raised
plugins.file	.getHomeDirectory()	.getHomeFolder()	Match naming convention
	.getRemoteList()	.getRemoteFolderContents()	Match naming convention
plugins.http	.createHttpClient()	.createNewHttpClient()	The HTTP plugin was refactored to support all types of HTTP Requests and support more finegrained control over the requests. Instead of creating an HttpClient and referencing it by name, the HttpClient is now an object with it's own set of methods, for example methods to create all the different types of HttpRequests. Each XxxxRequest object has a .executeRequest() function that returns a Response object again with it's own methods.
	.deleteHttpClient()	N/A	No longer required
	.getHttpClientCookie()	.getCookie() on HttpClient object
	.getHttpClientCookies()	.getCookies() on HttpClient object
	.getLastPageCharset()	replaced by .getCharset() on Response object returned by the .executeRequest() method on any of the XxxxRequest objects created by the .createXxxRequest() methods on the HttpClient object
	.getPoster()	.createPostRequest() on HttpClient object
	.put()	.createPutRequest() on HttpClient object
	.setClientProxyUserNamePassword()	.setClientProxyCredentials() on HttpClient object
	.setHttpClientCookie()	.setCookie() on HttpClient object
plugins.window	setToolBarVisible()	.setToolBarAreaVisible()	Name now matches what the function does
MenuBar Toolbar	.validate()	N/A	No longer required

Upgrading Servoy Application Server

Upgrading Servoy Developer

Upgrading existing Solutions

A note before getting started

JSDoc primer

Behavior changes

Changes that might break existing code

Behavior changes

Changes affecting the appearance

Form Design

Deprecated API

Designtime API

Runtime API

New Features