This document describes the changes that have been made in the current development version of Jaffa, relative to the Jaffa 1.3.0 release.

For details about a previous release click here

1. Enabled the support for Tiles by adding the TilePlugin in struts-config.xml
2. MainLayout.jsp which can be used as the JSP common to all pages in an application
3. FinderLayout.jsp which can be used by all Finders
4. finder.js, which is used to perform some finder related tasks when posting a form
5. The build script HttpUnitTestApp.xml was enhanced to merge tiles definitions
6. SourceDecomposerUtils.java, which has a useful utility to list the customizations in code generated files
7. The Uniface DomainMeta Tool was provided with the 'DoNotOverwriteExistingRelationships' feature. If set to 'true', then relationships will not be over-written in an existing DomainCreator file
8. The object_finder_2_0 pattern for generating object finder components. It has the following features:
   • Uses Tiles to render the criteria and results screens
   • Has the property 'consolidatedCriteriaAndResults' which will display the criteria and results JSPs in one page
   • New base classes FinderComponent2, FinderAction and FinderForm
   • This uses just one Form class to support both the criteria and results JSPs
   • This uses just one Action class to handle the events raised by the criteria and results JSPs
   • Displays 'NumberOfRecords' below the UserGrid on the results jsp. Added the message 'label.Jaffa.Inquiry.numberOfRecords={0} records were retrieved'
   • Uses the object-finder-meta_2_0.dtd, which has the new attributes - ConsolidatedCriteriaAndResultsTitle, MainLayout, FinderLayout, FinderExcelLayout, FinderXmlLayout
   • The Excel and XML contents are brought up in a new browser
   • Added the attributes - ConsolidatedCriteriaAndResultsTitle, MainLayout, FinderLayout, FinderExcelLayout, FinderXmlLayout - to object-finder-meta_2_0.xsd and generated the JAXB bindings
9. The object_lookup_2_0 pattern for generating object lookup components. It has the following features:
   • Uses Tiles to render the criteria and results screens
   • Has the property 'consolidatedCriteriaAndResults' which will display the criteria and results JSPs in one page
   • New base classes LookupComponent2, LookupAction and LookupForm
   • This uses just one Form class to support both the criteria and results JSPs
   • This uses just one Action class to handle the events raised by the criteria and results JSPs
   • Displays 'NumberOfRecords' below the UserGrid on the results jsp. Added the message 'label.Jaffa.Inquiry.numberOfRecords={0} records were retrieved'
   • Uses the object-lookup-meta_2_0.dtd, which has the new attributes - ConsolidatedCriteriaAndResultsTitle, MainLayout, LookupLayout
   • Added the attributes - ConsolidatedCriteriaAndResultsTitle, MainLayout, LookupLayout - to object-lookup-meta_2_0.xsd and generated the JAXB bindings
   • Supports multi-selects. For this to work, the client component will need to register IMultiSelectLookupListener with the Lookup component and render it in the same screen
10. The object_viewer_2_0 pattern for generating object viewer components. It has the following features:
    • Uses Tiles to render the JSP
    • Uses the object-viewer-meta_2_0.dtd, which has the new attributes - MainLayout, ViewerLayout, Updator
    • Can invoke the Update component, if specified
11. The object_maintenance_2_0 pattern for generating object maintenance components. It has the following features:
    • Uses Tiles to render the JSP
    • Can create wizard-type screens having previous/next/finish buttons
    • Suppors RELATED objects
    • Supports the Delete constraints - restricted, cascading - for RELATED objects.
    • Addresses the dirty read issue (Feature Request#727176) by introducing the 'UseForDirtyReadCheck' element in a field definition
    • Supports leave-field triggers through use of ValidateFieldHandler
    • Supports the StampType feature to stamp the following on a field - CreatedUserId, CreatedDateTime, LastUpdatedUserId, LastUpdatedDateTime
    • Created a voucher generator interface and its default implementation. Allows a field to be labeled as voucher. The Tx will use the specified implementation to generate a voucher for the field
    • Supports default values by using a properties file local to a component. Removed the <InitialValue> element
    • Supports the ability to specify 'DisplayOnly' fields on a component
    • New base classes MaintComponent2, MaintAction, MaintForm
12. The object_skeleton_2_0 pattern for generating skeleton components. It has the following features:
    • Uses Tiles to render the JSP
    • Uses the object-maintenance-meta_2_0.dtd, which has the new attributes - Title, MainLayout
    • Added the wizard feature (previous/next buttons)
    • The attribute 'ScreenName' is now mandatory
    • Creates one Form class and one Action class for the component
13. Added the ability to embed components within a screen. The following were the changes -
    • Created the classes - FormKeyChangeEvent and FormKeyChangeListener
    • Added the property 'containerFormKey' to IComponent and Component
    • Added the methods addFormKeyChangeListener(), removeFormKeyChangeListener(), getFormKeyChangeListeners() to IComponent and Component
    • Modified the ActionBase, so that it always intercepts the returned FormKey for a component having a ContainerFormKey. In case the ContainerFormKey is found, it fires FormKeyChangeEvents on the registered FormKeyChangeListeners passing the FormKey and finally returns the ContainerFormKey
    • Modified the Component so that it fires FormKeyChangeEvents on the registered FormKeyChangeListeners during a quit(), passing the ReturnToFormKey
14. Added 2 new answers for the <Override> question in all patterns.
    • OverrideIfMarkerPresent - This will overwrite an existing file only if the '//JAFFA-OVERWRITE' marker is present.
    • OverrideIfMarkerPresentOrCreateTempFileIfMarkerAbsent - Similar to the above option. In case, the marker is absent in an existing file, a temporary file with the '.new' suffix will be generated.
    • These new options allow us to regenerate non-mergable files which have not been customized.
15. Introduced the HistoryNav. This gets initialized whenever a component is created from the startComponent.do action. Just include the historyNav.jsp as a tile in a layout to view the list of links for all the screens visited upto the current screen. Some of the changes involved are:
    • Added the GlobalForward 'jaffa_home' For the Home page to struts-config.xml
    • Created a new class HistoryNav with helper routines for the process
    • Modified StartComponentAction and ActionBase to support the HistoryNav
    • Refer to JaffaCore/docs/Design_v2.0_History_Nav.txt for more details
16. Added the ability to implicitly create hyperlinks to Viewer components from the Text widget. This involved:
    • Added 2 new properties - framework.DomainFieldViewerComponentMappingFile and framework.KeyFieldPerViewerComponentFile to framework.properties
    • Add an attribute 'disableHyperlink' (default value is 'false') to TextTag to control the generation of hyperlinks
    • Enhanced the TextTag lookup the 2 new properties files to determine a Viewer component for the given domain field
17. It is now possible to generate the ApplicationResources.properties file from a default value which can have some of its values overridden by values from the override file. This involved:
    • Added the dynamic properties to Config - PROP_APPLICATION_RESOURCES_LOCATION, PROP_APPLICATION_RESOURCES_DEFAULT_LOCATION, PROP_APPLICATION_RESOURCES_OVERRIDE_LOCATION
    • Added optional parameters to the InitApp servlet - framework.ApplicationResourcesLocation, framework.ApplicationResourcesDefaultLocation, framework.ApplicationResourcesOverrideLocation
    • If the values are provided for the InitApp parameters, then
      • InitApp will combine the ApplicationResources.default and ApplicationResources.override files to generate the ApplicationResources.properties file.
      • Additionally, the servlet will set the appropriate dynamic properties in the org.jaffa.config.Config class.
    • Refer to the design document Design_v2.0_Label_Editor.txt for more info
18. Created the class PropertyMessageResources, which is based on the struts class org.apache.struts.util.PropertyMessageResources. It has the following features
    • Loads the properties file using File I/O. This allows us to view the changes to the file, without having to reload the webapp.
    • Supports the flushing of the message-resource cache
    • To use the above file, specify the following parameter in struts-config.xml <message-resources parameter="ApplicationResources" null="false" factory="org.jaffa.util.PropertyMessageResourcesFactory"/>
    • Refer to the design document Design_v2.0_Label_Editor.txt for more info
19. The following jaffa widgets/components will have an anchor generated next to them for editing a label (via the LabelEditor component created in the JaffaComponents module):
    • Label, UserGridColumn, GridColumn, TableColumn, Button (not of type Image), FoldingSection, RaiseErrors, Nav History
    • Refer to the design document Design_v2.0_Label_Editor.txt for more info
20. Added a new variation of the getUrl() method to the URLHelper. This method can load a file from the filesystem as opposed to the classloader. This allows the application to pick up changes made to a file without having to restart the JVM, since the classloaders typically cache any loaded file.
21. Created a utility class 'ListProperties'. This class combines the utility of the Properties class with a List. Features are:
    • Maintains the order of properties when loading them from an InputStream and when the properties are added manually.
    • Provides a sort capability for the properties
    • Provides a 'comments' attribute for each property
    • Stores the properties in an OutputStream, maintaining the order of the properties and the comments

1. Modifed ActionBase by adding a handler 'do_refresh()' which gets invoked whenever a user changes the settings on a UserGrid. This allows a sub-class to provide a different implementation for the 'refresh' event.
2. Changed the Defaults.getClassString() method to return a "byte[]" instead of "[B" for byte[].class. Consequently the UnifaceSchemaReader was refactored
3. The Uniface DomainMeta Tool will no longer generate Relationship info for tables not defined in the tableInfo.xml file
4. Moved the FindFiles class from 'org.jaffa.tools.build' to the 'org.jaffa.util' package
5. Changed the default jaffa icons, and added them to the 'contextNav' sections of the default object patterns
6. Refactored the basic pattern layouts, and modified sectionNav to support auto generation when used prior to the body being displayed (it was assuming the body was being rendered first)

1. Deleted the previously deprecated Config constants - PROP_PORTLET_SECURITY_ENABLED, PROP_PORTLET_SECURITY_MGR, PROP_PORTLET_SECURITY_BYPASS_ACTION_LIST
2. Deleted the previously deprecated PortletServlet
3. Deleted the previously deprecated package org.jaffa.presentation.portlet.security
4. Deleted the previously deprecated UserSessionFilter
5. Deleted the previously deprecated logon.jsp
6. Deprecated FinderComponent, FinderCriteriaForm and IFinderListener, which are used by the older object_finder_1_0 pattern.
7. Deprecated LookupComponent which is used by the older object_lookup_1_0 pattern.
8. Deprecated MaintComponent which is used by the older object_maintenance_1_0 pattern.

1. Refactored the new version2.0 patterns to use the new attributes of the DomParser.ValueObject class - JavaDataType, GridColumnDataType, CriteriaFieldType, MetaFieldType, WidgetType, WidgetTypeInCriteriaScreen, WidgetTypeBasedOnBreakup, BooleanValue, CriteriaFieldTypeThrowsException, DataTypeDateOnly, DataTypeDateTime, DataTypeBoolean, DataTypeString, DataTypeNumeric, ParserMethod
2. Enhanced the PatternGenerator to support attributes in the input XML files
3. Added the property 'code' to the CodeHelper component. This allows us to obtain codes from the same domainClass for different fields using differing criteria
4. The Persistent class now implements Cloneable
5. The FormName in a FormKey can now have parameters. The resulting string should be encoded in the UTF-8 charset. You can use the utility class java.net.URLEncoder for encoding. The ActioBase class was suitably enhanced to parse the formName and set the attributes on the request stream for each paramter.
6. Added the ability to check for minimum characters in String fields. This involved
   • Created the TooLittleDataException class
   • Added the validation to check for minimum characters in a String field in the FieldValidator class
   • Added the minLength attribute to the StringFieldMetaData class
   • Added the minLength attribute to the string fieldvalidator in rules_1_0.dtd
   • Added the minLength attribute to the StringFieldValidator
7. Editbox widget now auto-adjusts its column size to a factor of (widthFromFieldMetaData + 2) to the nearest 10 columns. The column attribute overrides this. The default value is 50, if no meta data is present. The auto-adjusted value will not exceed the limit of 50. Made the following changes:
   • Fixed EditBoxTag to make the appropriate adjustment
   • Fixed EditBoxModel to set its maxLen, only if the FieldMetaData is passed in the constructor
8. Refactored the Uniface domain meta tool. The following features were introduced:
   • Made the Uniface domain meta tool like the appbuilder
   • Allows us to specify the application name and the package style in tableinfo.xml
   • Allows us to specify the module for each table in tableinfo.xml
   • Uses the application name and module name to generate the correct label
   • Uses the application name and module name to generate the domain package
   • The DomainPackage element is now optional. If specified, it overrides the auto-determination of the domain package
9. Enhanced the TypeDefs class to create oracle-specific CLOB/BLOB objects when dealing with LOB data. This was done to get around the oracle error of not storing more than 4000 characters in such fields
10. Added a helper routine to the StringHelper readLine(), to read a line from an input Reader.
    • This method returns a StringHelper.Line object which contains the line contents and the EOL character.
    • This is supposed to be more useful than the BufferedReader.readLine() method, which cannot indicate if the last line in the file has an EOL character.
    • Fixed the SourceDecomposer to use the StringHelper.readLine() for reading lines from a file
    • The SourceMerge and ConfigFileUpdate were appropriately modified to not add EOLs, since the SourceDecomposer output will have them
11. The names for the fragment files, generated by the different patterns, have been standardized
    • All property fragments will have the extension 'pfragment'.
    • All XML fragments will have the extension 'xfragment'.

1. Jaffa has been tested with JWSDP-1.3 without any problems. But we've decided to stick with JWSDP-1.1 for the moment. The following are steps involved in case you need to upgrade.
   • Remove the JWSDP-1.1 JARs - jaxb-api_1_1.jar, jaxb-libs_1_1.jar, jaxb-ri_1_1.jar
   • Add the JWSDP-1.3 JARs - jaxb-api.jar, jaxb-impl.jar, jaxb-libs.jar, xsdlib.jar, namespace.jar, relaxngDatatype.jar and jax-qname.jar
   • There should be no problems in running an existing application, since JWSDP-1.3 is backwards compatible with JWSDP-1.1
   • If you regenerate the JAXB bindings using the targets in JaffaCore/build/Generate.xml, JWSDP-1.3 will generate a different set of files compared to the previous version, which will not work with the older libraries