New Features and Enhancements in V9

In this release, the following features have been introduced to provide an enhanced Quantum Visualizer experience.

  

Storyboard View in Quantum Visualizer

From Quantum Visualizer V9, while designing your app, you can develop a storyboard for an application by using Storyboard view. Storyboard view in Quantum Visualizer enables a user to view all the application forms in a single view, organize the application flow and manage the navigation logic. You can also use this feature to define simple navigation actions between various forms in a project. You can also create forms within App Groups in Storyboard view.

For more information about this feature, click here.

QUANTUM TEST FRAMEWORK

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the test automation feature for the Jasmine testing framework has been provided. Test automation enables you to record any activity on the application and generate test scripts. The testing framework also allows you to build atomic test cases that can be reused as part of larger test suites and test plans.

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the following enhancements have been made to the Jasmine Test Framework:

  • Ability to edit the recorded test script by adding actions such as wait, assert, and scroll to widget. You can then run the generated test scripts by using the Live Preview or a mobile device to test the application. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • Ability to modify the port on which the Quantum Automator runs. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • Ability to edit a recorded test case manually through code with the Edit Test Case Manually option. For more information on this feature, click here.
  • A Dashboard feature has been added in the Jasmine test framework. The dashboard provides an overview of the last five tests that have been executed and an option to play recorded tests, then automate these tests as part of the continuous testing lifecycle through our DevOps platform. For more information about this feature, click here.

Modify the Test Plan File

To enable testing in Quantum Visualizer, a default testPlan.js file is present in the Test Plan folder. You can modify the testPlan.js file in the following ways:

  • Invoke the require function for a test plan
  • Invoke the require function for selected test suites

For more information on writing a test plan, click here.

Enable Debugging During Automation in Android

In previous versions of Quantum Visualizer, it was not possible to debug an Android application while the application was using Jasmine test scripts. From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can enable debugging while using Jasmine scripts for testing by adding the enableJasmineJSDebuggingForAndroid key to the projectproperies.JSON file.

CLIENT-SIDE WORKFLOW

Easily create Client-side business logic using the new client-side workflow in Visualizer. The Client- side workflow can be launched from the Storyboard view and can be created following an event driven design in a workflow editor using drag & drop actions to design a visual workflow of the client side business rules.

For more information on the Workflow support, click here.

RAPID APP Generation

Adding to its many existing productivity features, Visualizer now enables users to rapidly generate simple applications with CRUD based forms from objects in a database or a data model. In a few simple steps users can import data from an excel, csv or from a database and generate applications that allows users to view, create, update and delete data.
For more information about this feature, click here.

Quantum Collab

From Quantum Visualizer V9, Quantum introduces the Collab feature that helps developers who use Git as the collaboration tool to avoid conflicts while working on the same Visualizer project. Collab notifies the developers who work on the same file or the same project and highlights possible conflicts.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Build Native Apps LocalLy

From Quantum Visualizer V9, a new menu option, Build Native Local, is added in the Build Menu of Quantum Visualizer. Use this menu option to build native app binaries in Quantum Visualizer and store the binaries on a local machine.

For more information on building a native app on a local machine, click here.

Build a Universal Windows Platform App

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can generate a Universal Windows Platform app binary using the Build Native Local option in the Build menu of Quantum Visualizer. You must configure the required settings and certificates in the Windows Native settings before you build the application.

For more information on generating a Windows native app, click here.

Generate an app binary for the Quantum App Viewer App

From Quantum Visualizer V9, a new menu option, Custom Quantum App, is added in the Build menu of Quantum Visualizer. When this menu option is selected, Quantum Visualizer internally checks for NFIs in the app. If there are no NFIs, the QR code to download the Quantum App Viewer App is shown. If the app uses NFIs, the Build process packages the NFIs with the app and generates a binary that you can view on the Quantum App Viewer App.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Data & Services Panel Enhancements

Quantum Fabric Node Moved to the Data & Services Panel

In Quantum Visualizer, the Quantum Fabric node and associated actions have been shifted from the Project Explorer to the Data & Services panel. This feature has been introduced to enable a unified and enhanced user experience of using Quantum Fabric data and services from within Quantum Visualizer.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Disable/Enable the Categorization of Project Services

Previously, Project Services were categorized into Identity, Integration, and Objects by default. Even when there were not any linked services, those categories under Project Services were displayed.

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the service categories are displayed under Project Services only when a service is linked from the Data & Services panel. In addition, an option to disable/enable the categorization of linked services under Project Services has been provided in the Preferences window.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Enhanced Discoverability of Data Storage Object Services

Data Storage Object services and related actions are now prominently displayed on the Data & Services panel in Quantum Visualizer. This feature has been introduced for an enhanced discoverability and simplified usage of Data Storage Object services in Quantum Visualizer.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Workflow Service support in the Data and Services Panel

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can configure, view operations, edit, and unlink Back-end Workflows associated with a Service through the Data and Services Panel.

For more information on the Workflow Service support, click here.

Configure an Object Data Model by Importing an Excel File

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can create an object data model for an Object service by importing a locally-stored Microsoft Excel file. Earlier, you had to generate a data model in Quantum Fabric Object services from back-end systems such as RDBMS and SAP, but not from an Excel file. With this feature, low-code developers have an easy and faster way to import an object data model from a locally-stored Excel file.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Simplified Data Storage Object Service Invocation

This feature simplifies the invocation and field definition of Data Storage Object services from the Data & Services panel. You can create a new data table object for an Object service. Several object details such as data type, Primary key, nullable, and maximum length can also be specified.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Support for Enumeration Data Type in Object Data Model

From Quantum Visualizer V9, Enumeration (enum) has been provided as a data type for a field in the object data model of an Object service. The (enum) data type allows you to add a maximum of 50 comma-separated options as valid values in a field. This data type is rendered as a drop-down list containing only those valid values that you defined, and users can choose only one option at a time for that field.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Customize the Generation of Data Model Objects

From Quantum Visualizer V9, enhancements have been made to customize the generation of Data Model objects to include this option for Grid types of forms.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Dynamic Customization of Data Model Objects

You can configure the generation of data model objects of an Object Service while designing your app. This enhancement enables you to select, reorder, and customize various properties of all the fields that you want to be displayed on the required screen of your app.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Generation of Object Services UI for Responsive Web

The UI/UX generated for Responsive Web forms on the drag and drop of Object services has been enhanced. Instead of separate List and Detail forms, a Grid Details form and a List & Detail form have been introduced. These options are available on the drag and drop of the Get operation from the Data & Services panel. In addition, the Entry form that gets generated currently for Web on the drag and drop of Create and Update Object service operations has been updated.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Generation of CRUD Forms for an Object Service

From Quantum Visualizer V9, full CRUD forms are generated on the drag and drop of a method, object, or the entire Object service. This feature is available on Mobile, Tablet, and Responsive Web channels. The feature to generate CRUD forms has been enhanced to include features such as a new Dashboard form, breadcrumb links in the form templates, a new Login screen template, and much more.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Action Editor Enhancements

From Quantum Visualizer V9, while adding actions to widgets present in your app, the Action Editor now opens in a new modal window. The window contains three sections: A list of all the actions in the left pane, the Action Editor Canvas in the middle, and a properties pane on the right.

There are three different views in which the Action Editor is displayed: Diagram, Design, and Code. The default view is the Diagram View, which represents the action sequence in a graphical flow structure. The existing view of the Action Editor is the Design View. The Code View displays the action sequence in JavaScript format.

For more information about this feature, click here.

New Actions in Action Editor

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can add the following new actions to widgets present in your app:

Consolidation of Service Invocation Actions

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the service invocation action feature in the Action Editor has been revamped to include an Invoke a Service action that contains the option to invoke all types of services (Identity, Integration, Orchestration, Object Services) from one place.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Search Functionality and UX Updates

New fuzzy search functionality has been added to search for actions in the Action Editor. In addition, various user experience enhancements have been made in the Action Editor, such as a new error message banner, color differentiation of the main flow diagram and the nested flow, support for Rename Action Sequences, and display Help text for Actions.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Mapping Editor Enhancements

Set Data for the Segment in a Component

From Quantum Visualizer V9, a new feature has been introduced to auto-generate Templates and widgets for a Segment in a Component.

For more information about this enhancement, click here.

Create a Template from a Default Segment Template

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can create a customized template from an auto-generated segment template.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Set Data for the Widgets in the Section Header Template of a Segment

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can map the widgets of the Section Header Template of a Segment by using the Mapping Editor.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Set Data for Components with Contract

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can use the Mapping Editor to create data mappings among various forms, components with contract, and widget elements as well as global variables.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Project Settings Enhancements

The Project Settings section is enhanced to port a few features from Visualizer Classic into Quantum Visualizer. New settings introduced are Android Wear Settings, Platform Settings for iOS, and General Tab in the Adaptive Web Settings.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Connect Quantum Visualizer to an on-premise Quantum Fabric Environment

From Quantum Visualizer V9, an option to sign in to an on-premise Quantum Fabric environment has been provided in the Quantum Fabric section of the Preferences tab. This feature has been introduced to support the porting of features from Visualizer Classic to Quantum Visualizer.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Quantum IQ Enhancements

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the following features have been enhanced in Quantum IQ:

  • The translation feature has been enhanced to convert the text used for properties of a widget that have been set through code into equivalent i18n keys in the target language. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • You can now search for any Hike that is available in the Hikes Catalog by using Quantum IQ. The list of related Hikes appears under the Hikes tab in the Quantum IQ chat window. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • Support to identify the duplicates of a design has been added in Quantum IQ. When you type a query to identify the duplicate designs, Quantum IQ displays the duplicate designs that are available in the project. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • Support to open a terminal within Quantum Visualizer. When users type a command to open a terminal, a terminal tab opens in the bottom pane of Quantum Visualizer. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • Ability to pause the suggestions feature for an hour. Using the Pause suggestions feature, you can pause the design suggestions for the current form. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • Ability to convert a design suggestion into a component and import the component into your project. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • Ability to enable or disable Design Suggestions from the Help menu. For more information about this feature, click here.

Support for KSLint

Quantum Visualizer V9 provides support for a new linter, KSLint. KSLint identifies errors in code and also any deviations from basic JavaScript code guidelines. KSLint allows developers to configure default rules and add new custom rules.

For more information on KSLint, click here.

Resolve Conflicts in Designer and Developer actions

From Quantum Visualizer V9, if there are any conflicts in the actions of a widget or form when a project is imported from Visualizer Classic, Quantum Visualizer provides an option to resolve these conflicts in bulk at the time of import or by widget during later stages of the app's development.
This feature has been introduced to support the porting of features from Visualizer Classic into Quantum Visualizer.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Responsive Support for Collections

Earlier, you could not create components with responsive properties. From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can create instances of components (without contract) and add responsive properties within responsive forms. When you add such instances to a collection library, the responsive properties that are configured along with the custom breakpoints do not change; even when you reuse them in a different project/form via the Collection Library.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Support for Responsive Web Components

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can create components with different breakpoints for responsive web apps. You can create layouts for different breakpoints and then insert it into a responsive web form.

For more information on using responsive web components, click here.

Support for onBreakpointChange event in Components

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the onBreakpointChange event has been added to Responsive Web components. When you select a Component that has been designed for Responsive Web Breakpoints, the event appears in the Action tab of the Properties panel in Quantum Visualizer.

For more information, click here.

Custom widget support

In earlier versions of Quantum Visualizer, importing custom widgets into SPA and Desktop Web applications was not possible. From Quantum Visualizer V9, developers can import custom 3rd party web libraries into SPA and Desktop Web applications to generate a widget or a component.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Image Recognition API and Widget

Image Classification API

Image Classification is a technique used to classify real time objects based on the trained model categories. Using the Image Classification API, a developer can identify the name, label, entity or category of an object based on the image captured either from the device camera or by using an image from the device gallery.

For more information, click here.

MLCamera widget

In previous versions of Visualizer, you had to use FFI to provide the capabilities of Image Recognition in Android and iOS applications. From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can use the MLCamera widget and Image Classification APIs to implement image recognition in your application. Using this capability, you can scan and classify real- world objects.

For more information, click here.

Augmented Reality API and Widget

Kony.ui.ARRenderer API

A new Kony.ui.ARRenderer API is added in this release. The ARRenderer API creates the ARRenderer widget. The AR Renderer widget occupies some space on a form depending on its positional and dimensional properties.

For more information on the Kony.ui.ARRenderer API, click here.

ARRenderer widget

In previous versions of Visualizer, you had to use FFIs to provide the capabilities of augmented reality in Android and iOS applications. From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can use the ARRenderer widget to implement augmented reality in your application. Using this widget, you can scan an area and then add a 3D object to that area.

For more information on the AR Renderer widget, click here.

PDFView Widget

From iOS 11, a new widget to view PDFs on iOS devices is added. In previous versions of Quantum Visualizer, the Browser widget was used to render the PDF content. You can load a PDF using the PDFView widget via a URL or a file Path.

For more information on PDF Viewer, click here.

Widget Enable property

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can change the actionability of widgets in an application by using the enable property for a particular widget.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Widget Support for CursorType Property

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can assign the mouse pointer type to a widget by navigating to the Hover Skin tab in the Skin tab in the Properties panel of Quantum Visualizer.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Widget Enhancements for Android Q

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the hyphenationFrequency and breakStrategy properties have been introduced for the Android platform. This is to improve the text layout in the Label and RichText widgets. The hyphenationFrequency property specifies the periodicity of the word breaks in a text, and the breakStrategy property specifies the method of line breaking in paragraphs of text.

Widget Enhancements for Responsive Web

Zooming support for Map for Responsive Web

From Quantum Visualizer V9, support for zoomLevel and showZoomControl properties of the Map widget has been added in the Responsive Web and SPA platforms. This feature helps users control the zoom feature of a map in Responsive Web and SPA platforms.

Microphone API for Responsive Web

From Visualizer V9, support for the kony.media.record API has been provided in the Responsive Web platform. This API helps your application to record audio.

Screen Recording and Screenshot APIs for Responsive Web

From Visualizer V9, the kony.screenrecorder namespace has been introduced to implement the screen record feature of WebRTC in Web apps. The kony.screenshot API has also been introduced to capture the whole web page or screen of your web application.

Swipe Functionality for Segment Widget

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can configure the Swipe functionality in Segment widget. You can either dismiss a row or reveal certain actions when a Segment row is swiped to the left or right.

For more information about this feature, click here.  

Update modified data of Segment widget

When the setDataAt method is used to modify a row in the segment widget, the data of the entire row gets updated. From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can use the stopRerenderOnSetDataAt property of the Segment widget for the SPA and the Desktop Web platforms to update only the data that is modified.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Calendar widget Enhancements

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can modify the alignment of the calendar icon when the RTL feature is enabled by using the calendarIconAlignment property. You can also hide the dates of the previous and next months by using the hidePreviousNextMonthDates property.

Browser widget Type enhancement in iOS

Earlier, the default type of Browser widget used in iOS was UIWebView. From Quantum Visualizer V9 onwards, the default value of Browser Widget Type has been changed from UIWebView to WKWebView in iOS platform. Quantum Visualizer has also introduced the browserType property, using which, you can assign the type of WebView engine for the Browser widget.

capture Image Metadata

From Quantum Visualizer V9, when an image is captured using a Camera widget for Android and iOS applications, you can retrieve information such as height, width, EXIF version, dateTimeInMilliSeconds, etc. of the captured image.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Auto-fill property for TextBox widget

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the setImportantForAutofill has been introduced on the Android platform for TextBox widgets. This property specifies whether a TextBox widget must be considered by the platform to be auto-filled or not.

Map Callout Visibility

From Quantum Visualizer V9, Responsive Web applications support the setCalloutVisibility method for the Map widget. In addition, when the visibility of the Map widget is set as false, the setCalloutVisibility method will have no impact.

For more information, click here.

Support for CSS 3.0

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the Responsive Web platform has added architectural updates to the CSS generation for improved performance. Following this, the platform has deprecated support for the lineSpacing, contextMenu and blockedUISkin properties. In addition, the Adaptive Web and Responsive Web applications now support the textStyle property for the Label widget.

For more information, click here.

Android Enhancements

From Quantum Visualizer V9, support for Android X is added in Quantum Visualizer. Further, a few enhancements are made to the following APIs.

  • The requestPermissionSet API has been added in the kony.application namespace to request the user for a set of permissions before they can access the resources of the device. The requestPermission API has been enhanced to provides a unique error code that identifies if the access permission is denied using the Never Ask Again option.
  • The Geofencing feature has been enhanced to receive better location updates in the background. The startForegroundService, updateForegroundNotification, and stopForegroundService APIs have been added in the kony.application namespace to start, update, and stop a foreground service to run user initiated actions when an app is either running in the background or when the device is locked.
  • The retrieveSMS, clearSMSListeners, and generateAppHashKey APIs have been added in the kony.phone namespace to automate the user authentication process by using a one time password (OTP).
  • From Quantum Visualizer V9, 64-bit architecture is the default architecture for Android builds. For more information about this feature, click here.
  • The Local Authentication APIs have been enhanced to support additional biometrics such as Face and Iris based authentication along with touch-based authentication. For more information on Local Authentication APIs, click here.
    If you have used the Local authentication API in your Quantum Visualizer V8 projects, before moving your project to the V9 release, ensure that you read the Local Authentication Migration guidelines article on Base Camp.

    NOTE: Face and Iris based biometric support is subject to the availability of the feature on the device.

Cache Progressive Web Apps

From Quantum Visualizer V9, two new caching strategies, cacheMechanism function and replace Service worker file, have been introduced. You can use these caching strategies to cache static and dynamic data from third-party services.

For more information about this feature, click here.

List Supported Environments

Prior to the Quantum Visualizer V9 release, Visualizer would only list the environments to which you have full access. However, from Quantum Visualizer V9, you can view environments to which you have full and read-only access.

For more information about this feature, click here.

WebP format support for images

From Quantum Visualizer V9, Visualizer supports the WebP format for images in the SPA and the Desktop Web platforms.

For more information about this feature, click here.

App Logo for Applications on the Enterprise App Store

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the logo of an application published to the Enterprise App Store (EAS) will be the image that you set in Project Settings > Native > Application Logo. If you do not set an application logo, a default icon is displayed as the application logo.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Push Notifications for Cloud Build

From Quantum Visualizer V9, you can configure push notifications for applications that are built by using cloud build.

For more information about this feature, click here.

ControllerActions Files In Gitignore

For a form created using the Reference Architecture, Quantum Visualizer creates a controlleractions.js file corresponding to the form. When the project is hosted on GIT, during the commit process, as Quantum Visualizer creates the controlleractions.js file every time Visualizer restarts, GIT commits will result in conflicts. To avoid these conflicts, the controlleractions.js file commit process is modified, and now the file will automatically be added to the .gitignore folder.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Convert Integer to Number through Android FFI

In earlier versions of Quantum Visualizer, when an FFI code returns an integer value, it was passed as an opaque object. From Quantum Visualizer V9, all Integer values that are returned from an FFI code are passed in the Number type to the JavaScript code.

Enhancements in kony.nosql APIs

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the following APIs have been added or enhanced:

DeviceInfo Object Enhancements

From Quantum Visualizer V9, for Responsive Web platform, you can specify the OS type name, OS version, and hasCamera properties for the deviceInfo object.

For more information about this feature, click here.

Get Push Notifications Status

A new API to allow an application on a device to get Push Notifications Settings status is added. The getApplicationNotificationSettings API takes an object with notification type and callback as the input.

For more information on this API, click here.

Get Open GLES version

A new API, the kony.os.getOpenGLESVersion, is added in this release. The API returns the maximum OpenGLES Version supported by a device. Depending on the OpenGLES value returned, you can determine if the device supports Augmented Reality capabilities.

For more information, click here.

Deprecated Support for UIWebView

Apple will not support UIWebView from April 2020. Hence, the support for UIWebView has been deprecated in Visualizer. It is recommended to use WKWebView to display the contents of the Browser widget and the CordovaBrowser widget.

Digital Experiences

This release packages some sample applications to showcase modern digital experiences integrated within Visualizer like Chatbot for native & web apps, Artificial Intelligence & Augmented Reality using the native AI & AR frameworks.

Support for Edge with Chromium

Continuing with our support for the latest in web and native technologies, we have certified support for the latest Microsoft Edge browser using the Chromium engine.

Security Enhancements

Security of applications is always our highest priority. With this release we have added Web Obfuscation and protection capabilities with our new & best in class protected mode for Web.

Deprecated Support for Windows 8

From Quantum Visualizer V9, support for Windows 8 devices has been deprecated.

Deprecated widgets

From Quantum Visualizer V9, all the deprecated widgets such as Charts, HBox, VBox, Line, Link, PopUp, ScrollBox, ImageGallery, HorizontalImageStrip, Box Form, Box Layout Rules, ComboBox, MenuItem, ObjectSelector3D, and MenuContainer, have been removed from Visualizer. Further, Flex Container Backward Compatibility feature is also removed.

Deprecated APIs

From Quantum Visualizer V9, the Data-store API and the Streaming API have been deprecated.