OpenBiz Releases

(Aug 28 2006) Openbiz 2.2 preview is released. It still works with Openbiz Eclipse plugin 0.9.6 Important features in Openbiz 2.2 preview:

(July 8 2006) Openbiz 2.1 is released. Openbiz eclipse plugin 0.9.6 is released with 2.1. Important features in Openbiz 2.1:

Supports composite keys in BizDataObj
Add best practice in document
eclipse plugin supports creating BizForm on BizDataObj and creating child objects
Bug fixes

(May 8 2006) Openbiz 2.1 RC is released. Openbiz eclipse plugin 0.9.5 is released with 2.1. Important features in Openbiz 2.1 RC:

Supports multiple primary key column (Id field) generation algorithms. BizDataObj Id field can be generated by
- openbiz ob_sysid table
- database native sequence
- database native identity (auto-increment)
- GUID, UUID
- customer-specific algorithms.
Shortcut key support on BizForm to achieve rich client user experience
eclipse plugin supports multiple databases
New date/datetime picker
Audit trail service to trace data change of BizDataObj
Bug fixes

(Mar 15 2006) Openbiz 2.1 beta is released. Openbiz eclipse plugin 0.9.4 is released with 2.1. Important features in Openbiz 2.1 beta:

Multi-step Wizard is available to guide users to finish complex process.
DataObject trigger to allow developers implement special logic when data is updated or deleted. Upon the event, developers can execute SQL, run external applications, send emails and other tasks.
Integrated with client side validation library jsval.
Integrated with rich text editor that allows users to edit html with WYSIWYG editor.
New UI widgets including tree, menu.
Enable outbound emails functionality by integrating with PHPMailer.
Support automatic value picking according to users input.
Add default value attribute in BizDataObj's BizField.
Two new directories: HTML pages under /pages, javascript files under /js.
Compiled metadata files are under __cmp directory to avoid confusion.
Fixed many bugs.

(Feb 1 2006) Openbiz 2.1 alpha is released. Openbiz eclipse plugin 0.9.3 is released with 2.1. Important features in Openbiz 2.1 alpha:

New event handling model allows developers specify more than one event handlers to a UI control.
- Being able to handle all HTML form events
- BizForm metadata schema changes accordingly
- Openbiz Eclipse plugin is changed due to the new event handling.
Provide more flexible syntax for simple expression language used in metadata file.
New browser side javascript class inheritance architecture allows developers to implement client side logic with their javascript code.
Automatic field dependency - subfields will change with their parent field
File (attachment) upload support
Import and export support
Tab interface support

(Oct 26 2005) Openbiz 2.0 is released. Openbiz eclipse plugin 0.9.2 is released with 2.0. Openbiz 2.0 includes mainly bug fixes and more details in openbiz manual.

(Sep 29 2005) Openbiz 2.0 RC2 is released. RC2 still works with Openbiz Eclipse plugin 0.9.1. Changs of Openbiz 2.0 RC2 from 2.0 RC1:

New project structure to separate openbiz core library and applications
- Openbiz core library
- demo application
- Openbiz developers need to reorganize your application specific code
More bugs fixed

(Sep 15 2005) Openbiz 2.0 RC1 is released. RC1 still works with Openbiz Eclipse plugin 0.9.1. Changs of Openbiz 2.0 RC1 from 2.0 beta 2:

New security model is added in openbiz architecture
- User authentication
- Role-based view access control
- Attribute-based data access control
More plugin services included in the package
To work this release with Openbiz Eclipse plugin 0.9.1, please download BizDataObjProfile.xml and put it under org.openbiz.metadata_0.9.1/config directory.

(Aug 22 2005) Openbiz 2.0 beta 2 is released. Beta 2 still works with Openbiz Eclipse plugin 0.9.1. Changs of Openbiz 2.0 beta 2 from 2.0 beta:

(Aug 08 2005) Openbiz 2.0 beta is released. Changs of Openbiz 2.0 beta from 2.0 alpha:

(July 24 2005) Openbiz Eclipse plugin 0.9.0 is released. See manual here. Important features include:

(May 31 2005) Openbiz 2.0 alpha is released. Important features in Openbiz 2.0 alpha:

Complete Object Relational Database mapping (ORM)
- Support mapping M-1, 1-M, M-M table relationship to BizDataObj
- Support aggregating tables column into a BizDataObj by join
Fully support PHP5 new object-oriented model
Metadata declaration file enhancement
Include Web-Calendar as a shared component

(February 02 2005) Openbiz 1.2 beta is released. Important features in Openbiz 1.2:

Fully support PHP5. Cannot run on PHP4 engine.
A new BizSystem class to provide a common application infrastructure layer
Most code is rewritten and reorganized to present better classed hierarchy.
Keep the same functionalities and metadata as 1.1.1. Upgrading is trivial work.

(February 02 2005) Openbiz 1.1.1 fix pack is released. It is mainly bug-fixing release. Please upzip the php files under openbiz_root/bin directory.

For Windows installer users, if you see the database connection error, that means the demo database is not installed. Please apply MySql_Demo.zip to your %AppServPath%\mysql\data\ directory.

(October 02 2004) Openbiz 1.1.1 is released. Important changes from Openbiz 1.1:

Metadata inheritance.
- Allow BizObj and BizForm metadata files inherit from parent object's metadata.
- Increase development productivity, make application management easy.
Provide no cache option for BizObj query.
- Lower the BizObj memory usage for most navigation only views.
HTML ComboBox and table column binding
Composite key support in BizObj

(August 06 2004) Openbiz 1.1 is released. Important changes from Openbiz 1.1 beta:

Allow users to specify 3rd party package directories in sysheader.inc file.
- This makes easy resource sharing and more efficient opcode caching. Now support ADODB, SMARTY, FPDF, JPGRAPH.
Introduce chartService as plug-in service.
- chartService renders chart based on the chart xml file. Support Bar, Line, Pie and combination charts.
Support more flexible queries on BizForm
- Can query with >, >=, <, <=, !=, = symbols and AND, OR logic connections
Calendar and timestamp picker improvement
- More compact and easier configuration by changing style sheet file and variables definitions

(July 04 2004) Openbiz 1.1 beta is released. Jumping from 1.02 beta to 1.1 beta is due to the significant changes:

All metadata files are organized by packages so that metadata files for big application can be stored in different directories.
Easy plug-in service interface to invoke customer-specified functions.
Long-expected PDF report and Excel export support are added as plug-in services.

(June 14 2004) Openbiz 1.02 beta is released. More efficient session management is introduced to reduce the session file size (save memory usage if you map session directory to memory). Building multiple-database application is supported.

(May 22 2004) Openbiz 1.01 is released. More flexibility is added by introducing OtherSQLRule and support SQL functions in BizObj. View access control is easier to use than before. To answer customers questions, a FAQ page is available on Openbiz website.

(April 24 2004) Openbiz 1.01RC is released. Compiled config files feature is introduced.

Every *.xml file is compiled to *.cmp file which is a serialized array, reading config file is just unserializing *.cmp file instead of parsing it with domxml. This feature is very important to use openbiz on a web-hosting site where you don't have permission to enable php extensions. Meanwhile loading the *.cmp config file is 50% faster than parsing it with domxml. But in order to use Design Studio, you still need enable domxml php extension.

Openbiz windows installer works with AppServ (install Appache + PHP). It can help you install source code + Demo database and enable mmcache + domxml extensions.
BizFormTree class is new to present the tree hierarchy of a database table. Please see maual for detail. Meanwhile demo is rewritten to cover more features.
To fix a Mozilla/Netscape bug, please download the patch as well, copy the clientUtil.js to the root of openbiz.

(Feb 29 2004) Some BizForm improvement added in B10109 to give more convenience and flexibility in writing templates. Please view change log for detail. Updating BizForm and BizObj xml schema is needed. To see the demo, please reapply gendb.sql to demo database. Design Studio performance issue is solved in B10109.

Customerizable view access control interface is also available in B10108. Support 3 types of permission - No Access, Read, Write. Please read manual for details. *Need upgrade BizForm schema.

OpenBiz 1.01 B10107 supports common HTML elements, please check Section 5.6 "Present data with various HTML elements" in manual page. Please download the gendb.sql to get the demo work. *Need upgrade BizForm and BizView Xml schema.

Add BizField Type, Format and validation in OpenBiz 1.01 B10105. Schema change on BizObj, please check Section 3.5 "Upgrade configuration xml files when openbiz xml schema changes" in manual page. *Need upgrade BizObj Xml schema

XMLHTTP is used to make RPC call since OpenBiz 1.01 B10102, RPC no longer goes through a hidden iframe. Support IE 5+, Mozilla 1.x and Netscape 7.x browsers.

From OpenBiz 1.01 B10101, OpenBiz Design Studio is included in the package. Your configuration process will be enjoyable and error-proof. Please see Tutorial to understand how to use Design Studio. After install the package, open Design.htm in browser. In unix, make sure your metadata directory has write permission open for web clients.