The Coghead 2.0 release is primarily focused on improving two critical aspects of the Coghead service:
1. Client performance, robustness, and usability: The underlying client-side technology infrastructure has been changed from OpenLaszlo to Adobe's Flex technology.
2. Cost effective support for very large scale expansion of the service - The server-side hosting infrastructure has been updated to a service-based grid deployment using Amazon's EC2 and S3 services.
For more details, please refer to http://blog.coghead.com/cogblog/2007/11/weve-been-busy.html
Release Overview
New Home Page
o Simplified view of accounts, applications and common tasks
New Look and feel
o Improved layout and usability
Authoring Improvements
o Updated Form, Action and View Editor
Improved Performance
o Faster load times (pages, applications, collections and records)
New features and usability enhancements
o Grid, Attachments, Rich text labels, Search options and more!
New Features & Usability Enhancements - Details
Home page
1. Member-centric landing page
2. Simplified view of accounts, applications and common tasks available to the member
3. Quick access to Support Resources and Coghead community news
4. Access to account management screens based on administrative privileges
Form Editor
1. Consolidated view
a. Data structure always visible
b. Selected field properties always visible
c. Separate widget properties windows
i. Basic widget settings
ii. Conditional style settings
iii. Field settings
d. Widget panel – separation of form layout elements versus input elements
2. Updated attachment/image widget
a. Supports file, image or URL
b. Option to display attachment
3. Updated Grid widget
a. Single widget replaces old Embedded View and Embedded Collection; Grid Type specifies the grid functionality (Linked vs Local)
b. WYSIWYG grid editing capabilities
4. Updated column box widget
5. Added support for Euro (EUR), Sterling (GBP) & Japanese Yen (JPY) currency notation
6. Updated Label widget
a. Rich text capabilities
b. Supports URLs
7. Updated Text Widgets
a. Text Area – Rich Text, multiline
b. Input Box – Single or multiline, plain text
8. Ability to specify default view columns when editing a new form
9. Auto-sizing of form editor window based on user’s screen resolution
View Editor
1. WYSIWIG View Editor (similar to Grid)
2. Complete list of all View Fields
Action Editor
1. Improved layout and terminology
2. Improved Set Value Step
a. Variables retain previous value by default
b. You only map values you want to change
c. Source variables always displayed
3. Better view of all action variables
4. New Retrieve Record setup
a. Filtering options instead of Search Variable
b. Single Record Search no longer requires Properties/Name
5. Ability to set visibility on actions
6. Ability to reorder actions
General
1. Improved expression editor
2. New filter/sort dialog (text search + advanced search options are still available)
Miscellaneous UI & Usability Enhancements
1. Performance
a. Faster load times (pages, apps, collections and records)
2. Flex-based UI – improved layout, navigation and usability
3. Account context always retained as you navigate through applications
4. Easier navigation across accounts and applications
5. Detailed support options always accessible from within the application
6. Consolidation of authoring functions for form/view/actions into a single “wrench”
7. Drag and drop to reorder tabs/views/actions
8. Easier navigation when there are many collections in an application
9. One click option to clear out search results and return to the pre-search view
10. Updated new-user guidance tips
11. Improvements related to user clickability of buttons/UI elements
12. Clearer action button labels
13. Updated tooltips
14. Links/messages panel moved to the right
15. Terminology updates
16. Updated font/widget styles (specifically on forms)
17. Copying applications with permissions
18. Billing UI refinements
19. Browser “back” button support (limited to navigation between tabs in an application)
Admin and Security Enhancements
1. “Keep me logged in” option - All product access is via ssl to protect the privacy of both passwords and application data. Upon login, users can optionally choose to select the “Keep me logged in” option. If checked, the user will be logged in for two weeks at a time. (If they are actively using the app, ie not inactive for more than 30 minutes, they won't be logged out.)
2. Updated Members/Groups - Groups tab is now used to list and assign membership); Members tab displays read-only list of Groups/user
3. Added a new “Support” group to all accounts – For troubleshooting purposes, members can use this mechanism to invite the Coghead support team, and control what they see via security settings on their applications.
Known Issues
Form Editor
1. The merge/split feature on the one/two column widgets that existed in the Laszlo-based product has been deprecated. Authors can now directly specify the number of (equal-width) columns in the single column widget. We will introduce the ability to specify individual column widths in a future release.
2. Authors can adjust height of a form widget by a drag-n-resize capability (not by specifying % width which existed in the Laszlo-based product).
3. The “?” on individual form fields to invoke the expression assistant (e.g., in the advanced search dialog) has been deprecated. Users can instead use the condition box to specify expressions.
4. The “Show Footer” option associated with a Grid (Linked) (previously referred to as an Embedded View) has been deprecated; instead authors can use a calculated field to specify aggregate calculations on the columns in a Linked List.
5. Advanced constraints capability in the Laszlo-based product is now available as the “if-then-else” construct in the Flex-based product (accessed via the expression editor).
6. (Temporarily) removed the ability to directly add a data field in the form and then bind to a widget. This capability will not be available with the initial release, but we plan to add support for this as part of a subsequent product update.
7. The ability to specify sequence fields will not be available with the initial release – we will be restoring this capability in a subsequent update. Any existing applications that use the sequence field feature will be migrated successfully to the Flex-based platform; however, authors will not be able to update these fields until this capability is restored.
Action Editor
1. JavaScript capabilities have been deprecated (authors can instead continue to use Xquery).
Coghead 2.0 Release Notes – January 2008
The Coghead 2.0 release is primarily focused on improving two critical aspects of the Coghead service:
1. Client performance, robustness, and usability: The underlying client-side technology infrastructure has been changed from OpenLaszlo to Adobe's Flex technology.
2. Cost effective support for very large scale expansion of the service - The server-side hosting infrastructure has been updated to a service-based grid deployment using Amazon's EC2 and S3 services.
For more details, please refer to http://blog.coghead.com/cogblog/2007/11/weve-been-busy.html
Release Overview
New Home Page
o Simplified view of accounts, applications and common tasks
New Look and feel
o Improved layout and usability
Authoring Improvements
o Updated Form, Action and View Editor
Improved Performance
o Faster load times (pages, applications, collections and records)
New features and usability enhancements
o Grid, Attachments, Rich text labels, Search options and more!
New Features & Usability Enhancements - Details
Home page
1. Member-centric landing page
2. Simplified view of accounts, applications and common tasks available to the member
3. Quick access to Support Resources and Coghead community news
4. Access to account management screens based on administrative privileges
Form Editor
1. Consolidated view
a. Data structure always visible
b. Selected field properties always visible
c. Separate widget properties windows
i. Basic widget settings
ii. Conditional style settings
iii. Field settings
d. Widget panel – separation of form layout elements versus input elements
2. Updated attachment/image widget
a. Supports file, image or URL
b. Option to display attachment
3. Updated Grid widget
a. Single widget replaces old Embedded View and Embedded Collection; Grid Type specifies the grid functionality (Linked vs Local)
b. WYSIWYG grid editing capabilities
4. Updated column box widget
5. Added support for Euro (EUR), Sterling (GBP) & Japanese Yen (JPY) currency notation
6. Updated Label widget
a. Rich text capabilities
b. Supports URLs
7. Updated Text Widgets
a. Text Area – Rich Text, multiline
b. Input Box – Single or multiline, plain text
8. Ability to specify default view columns when editing a new form
9. Auto-sizing of form editor window based on user’s screen resolution
View Editor
1. WYSIWIG View Editor (similar to Grid)
2. Complete list of all View Fields
Action Editor
1. Improved layout and terminology
2. Improved Set Value Step
a. Variables retain previous value by default
b. You only map values you want to change
c. Source variables always displayed
3. Better view of all action variables
4. New Retrieve Record setup
a. Filtering options instead of Search Variable
b. Single Record Search no longer requires Properties/Name
5. Ability to set visibility on actions
6. Ability to reorder actions
General
1. Improved expression editor
2. New filter/sort dialog (text search + advanced search options are still available)
Miscellaneous UI & Usability Enhancements
1. Performance
a. Faster load times (pages, apps, collections and records)
2. Flex-based UI – improved layout, navigation and usability
3. Account context always retained as you navigate through applications
4. Easier navigation across accounts and applications
5. Detailed support options always accessible from within the application
6. Consolidation of authoring functions for form/view/actions into a single “wrench”
7. Drag and drop to reorder tabs/views/actions
8. Easier navigation when there are many collections in an application
9. One click option to clear out search results and return to the pre-search view
10. Updated new-user guidance tips
11. Improvements related to user clickability of buttons/UI elements
12. Clearer action button labels
13. Updated tooltips
14. Links/messages panel moved to the right
15. Terminology updates
16. Updated font/widget styles (specifically on forms)
17. Copying applications with permissions
18. Billing UI refinements
19. Browser “back” button support (limited to navigation between tabs in an application)
Admin and Security Enhancements
1. “Keep me logged in” option - All product access is via ssl to protect the privacy of both passwords and application data. Upon login, users can optionally choose to select the “Keep me logged in” option. If checked, the user will be logged in for two weeks at a time. (If they are actively using the app, ie not inactive for more than 30 minutes, they won't be logged out.)
2. Updated Members/Groups - Groups tab is now used to list and assign membership); Members tab displays read-only list of Groups/user
3. Added a new “Support” group to all accounts – For troubleshooting purposes, members can use this mechanism to invite the Coghead support team, and control what they see via security settings on their applications.
Known Issues
Form Editor
1. The merge/split feature on the one/two column widgets that existed in the Laszlo-based product has been deprecated. Authors can now directly specify the number of (equal-width) columns in the single column widget. We will introduce the ability to specify individual column widths in a future release.
2. Authors can adjust height of a form widget by a drag-n-resize capability (not by specifying % width which existed in the Laszlo-based product).
3. The “?” on individual form fields to invoke the expression assistant (e.g., in the advanced search dialog) has been deprecated. Users can instead use the condition box to specify expressions.
4. The “Show Footer” option associated with a Grid (Linked) (previously referred to as an Embedded View) has been deprecated; instead authors can use a calculated field to specify aggregate calculations on the columns in a Linked List.
5. Advanced constraints capability in the Laszlo-based product is now available as the “if-then-else” construct in the Flex-based product (accessed via the expression editor).
6. (Temporarily) removed the ability to directly add a data field in the form and then bind to a widget. This capability will not be available with the initial release, but we plan to add support for this as part of a subsequent product update.
7. The ability to specify sequence fields will not be available with the initial release – we will be restoring this capability in a subsequent update. Any existing applications that use the sequence field feature will be migrated successfully to the Flex-based platform; however, authors will not be able to update these fields until this capability is restored.
Action Editor
1. JavaScript capabilities have been deprecated (authors can instead continue to use Xquery).