Introduction

This document details what features are currently unsupported in BrightWeb, and also which features behave slightly between the two platforms. Please consider these differences with regards to cross-platform development.

At the end of the document, there is also an explicit list of unsupported methods for reference.

General

Form Opening/Closing

• Opening forms or message boxes are not supported on the parent form's open/close.

Settings

• Settings are not present within BrightWeb, as the username and password is that of which the user uses to switch in is the server login and the data will run directly from the BrightServer instance's default data source.

• Application resources are all stored on the server,

• Application tracing level is based on the level of tracing set on the server.

• Licensing is done on a per-user basis, rather than based off individual devices.

About

• If unspecified in a project, the BrightWeb's about page will open in a new window

Form Controls

Controls

• Focus not supported

• Tabbing not supported

• Setting colours via methods not supported

• DoClick() not supported

• SetColour() not supported

• IsDirty() not supported (only for scribble)

• SelectText() not supported

Edit:

• Min/Max numbers are not validated on AddRecord()

• AutoScroll not supported

• Text Change events do not run

• Text format doesn't work correctly on numbers

• SIP display/highlighting not supported

• Numeric keypad entry not supported

• Mask not supported

• Precision not supported

• Strings may be entered in number fields via expressions

• Binary data may be accessed from devices via the 'Web - File Input' Edit control property, provided the browser and device supports said file operations.

Button

• Disabled button images' graphics do not appear greyed out

• Down image will display on mouse over of the button, focused image will display on click

DateTime

• Up/Down date select not supported

Image

• Proportional stretching not supported.

• Binary transfer of image data between controls is not supported

Scribble

• Base64Binary value as text may not be accessed; when loading text value or into a variable, '<binary>' is used.

• ToJPG/ToBMP not supported.

Combo

• Combo boxes do not contain an editable section.

• Disable load when disabled/hidden is not supported.

Listview

• Listview may not be edited in real time – inserting and deleting columns not supported.

• DateTime data cell is not supported.

• Listview selection may only occur one column at a time through the listview control. Data may logically be multiply selected via other fields such as a 'selected' checkbox.

• Resizing of columns is not supported in web mode. Instead, web specific properties like blocking and cell wrap should be used.

• 'Headers - Drag to re-order' property is not supported.

• GetColumnValue() will work for columns which are not contained in the listview.

• In Windows Mobile, row values may be retrieved even when there is no row selected visually. For example, if a row is selected in the listview, but then Refresh() is called with no subsequent selection, GetCurrentRowColumnValue() will still return its values. This is not the case for BrightWeb; these methods will return NULL if there is no visible selection in the listview.

Forms

Dimensions

• Forms are developed in BrightBuilder in a 1:1 ratio, which is reflected in the application's browser.

Navigation

• Closing forms is handled by the web toolbar's 'close' button

Properties

• No concept of maximised

• Cannot hide title bar

• Cannot hide menu bar

• Web specific properties to customise the web toolbar are provided

Project

Aspects

• Multiple aspects for a single devices are not supported, screen will remain same size on orientation change.

• A project may have many aspects for multiple devices and/or browsers by specifying a User Agent ID.

Locale

• Is not able to switch locales; first render is the only render of the form, even after close/reopen.

Queries

• Standard and Advanced queries may only be used.

• Stored procedures are handled as exec calls to the server, rather than via the sync engine.

App Settings

• App Settings are re-initialised for every new application deployment.

Deployment

• When deploying files to the ‘My Documents’ folder, it is considered to be the ‘BrightProjects Folder’.

• Specifying ‘BrightForms Engine Executable’ and ‘BrightForms Upgrade CAB’ options for attached files will have no effect.

• Users need to be configured to have web access on BrightServer to access the application in BrightWeb.

• As there is no concept of synchronisation on web, application updates for each user occurs on their next login.

Synchronisation

Due to direct access nature of web, this is not supported. For more information on the concepts of web, please refer to the Designing for BrightWeb section of this document.

Objects

Camera

Currently not supported

ConnectionManager

Currently not supported

Database

Database changes will occur directly onto the server when the AddRecord(), UpdateRecords() or DeleteRecords()/DeleteRecordsLocally() are used. Database must be set as a server data source.

MagneticStripeCard

Currently not supported.

File

Files may be uploaded to the server via edit controls' 'Web - File Input' property. File methods operate on the server's local disk space.

GPS

Currently not supported.

NFC

Currently not supported.

Query

Queries are run directly on the default data source specified by the BrightServer configuration.

Report

Print() will generate HTML report for printing. PrintToPDF() may be used in conjunction with System.MarkFileForDownload(), allowing the user to download the report generated.

Scanner

Currently not supported. Scanning functionality may be used with external scanner hardware add ons (converting to text).

Security

Methods which aren't MD5 are currently not supported.

SMS

Currently not supported.

Synchroniser

Not supported due to direct access nature of web. If a 'local' database for a user must be created, stored procedures and expressions may be used.

System

• System.Sleep() does not suspend the whole system, rather, it suspends the expression for the given period of time.   

• Sound does not work

• Show/HideBusyHourGlass is not supported.

• No device ID, no 64 device ID, no BF version,

• Any settings file method query does not work

Trace

Outputs to BrightServer log stream.

List of Unsupported Object Methods

Database

• Compact

• ReleaseServerLock

• SetCompactionSettings

• GetChangedRecordCountForQuery

• GetChangedRecordCountForTable

• GetDeletedRecordCountForQuery

• HasDataToSendServer

Email

• SetAccountName

Form

• ShowBusyHourGlass

• HideBusyHourGlass

• GetFilePath

• SetFilePath

• ShowFileOpenDialog

• ShowFileSaveDialog

• ShowSettingsDialog

• ShowSyncDialog

• SetBackgroundColor

• IsFormDataChanged

• ShowRecordPosition

System

• GetDeviceId

• GetDeviceName

• GetDiskFreeSpace

• GetOSMajorVersion

• GetOSMinorVersion

• RunProgram

• RunProgramAndWait

• GetBatteryLevel

• GetBatteryStatus

• IsBatteryCharging

• GetScreenHeight

• GetScreenWidth

• GetDatabaseName

• GetProjectPath

• IsPasswordCorrect

• IsUserNameCorrect

• SetDatabaseName

• SetPassword

• SetProjectPath

• SetUserName

• PlaySound

• StopSound

Controls

• SaveBitmapFile

• GetVertScrollPos

• SetVertScrollPos

• ShowSIP

• HideSIP

• SetInputMethod

• GetVerticalScrollPos

• SetVerticalScrollPos

• InsertColumn

• DeleteColumn

• DeleteAllColumns