New Features and Enhancements in V9 Service Pack 3 (2021.08)

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

  

Micro Apps Architecture

Large applications are easier to be modularized into smaller applications using the Micro apps architecture. Using Micro Apps, users can create standalone and independent apps that can be combined together to form a larger application. Micro apps reduce the complexity for application developers by dividing large apps into smaller and easily manageable apps.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Configure Style Constants

Quantum Visualizer has introduced support to configure Style Constants for Colors and Fonts. Using the Style Constants feature, users can create and apply pre-defined styles for colors and fonts, and use these styles in the skins throughout the project. This helps the app developers to easily manage their application branding through the style constants. In addition, from Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3, the Skins tab in the Project Explorer has been renamed as the Themes tab.

Further, from Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3, developers can select a color for a widget's background skin by using a color picker.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Quantum Visualizer has added support for a Navigation Manager which enables the concept of model-driven navigation, where the entire navigation flow of the app resides in a single place. Users can use the Navigation Manager to define the navigations between the forms and between multiple Micro Apps. The model-driven navigation approach enhances the readability of the application flow and the maintainability of the application code.

In addition, support for the kony.mvc.resolveNameFromContext, the kony.mvc.getNavigationManager, and the kony.mvc.getApplicationManager APIs has been added in Quantum Visualizer to support the usage of the Navigation Manager.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Filters For Project Explorer

Quantum Visualizer now provides the capability to optimize the project explorer view for each tab by configuring the visibility of different entities and channels. This filter can be applied to nodes in a project and for each Micro App in case of a larger application. The filter enables users to declutter the project explorer palette by hiding unused or empty nodes.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Developer Productivity Features

In V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer includes several new features to further simplify the app design and development experience and enable better productivity for app developers.

  • Support for Pinning and distribution tools have been added in the Properties panel for widgets and containers. By using widget pinning, you can align child widgets in reference to the parent widget and the neighboring widgets to simplify the widget layout.
  • Support for the Color Picker has been added to select color swatches from the project.
  • Support for the Search option has been added in the Fonts section to select Fonts from the project.
  • Enhancements have been made to simplify the development of applications while adhering to Accessibility guidelines.
  • Improvements have been made to the application build time.

AI Assisted Development Enhancements

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer has added a few more enhancements to the AI Assisted Development capabilities. The AI Assistant now enables developers to easily identify and cleanup unused variables and stubbed or hard-coded data in the controllers and code modules.

For more information on this feature, refer Remove Unused functions and Remove hard-coded data.

Component Updates

Support for Color as a Property Type for Components with Contract

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support to provide a Color as a Property Type for custom properties in the Manage Properties section for components with contract.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Support to Delete Associated Assets of a Component

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support to delete a component along with its associated skins and assets.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Support for iOS App Clips

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support to integrate iOS App Clips in Quantum Visualizer. An app clip is a lightweight part of an app that is discoverable, when needed, and lets users perform everyday tasks swiftly, without downloading and installing the full app. Developers can recommend installing the full app through the App Clip by using the kony.application.recommendApp API.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Configure iOS Home Screen Widgets

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support to integrate iOS Home Screen Widgets in Quantum Visualizer. A widget elevates key content from an app and displays it on the home screen of an iPhone or iPad, where users can see it at a glance. To use iOS Home Screen widgets, you must include the widget configuration in the .kar file of the app.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Support for App Level containers

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the kony.application.setAppLevelWidget API. This enables app developers to design Headers and Footers consistently in iOS and Android that span across multiple forms.

In addition, from the Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3 release, support for the appLevelWidgetConfig property has been added in the FlexForm widget to enable or disable the header or footer of the app for that particular Form.

Extended Widget Enhancements

Extended Widget Support in Segment Template

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the Widget Extensions feature for a Segment Template. By using the Widget Extensions feature, developers can customize an existing Quantum widget's properties to perform a specific task. This customized widget can then be used within a Segment Template like any other Quantum widget.

For more information on this feature, click here.

iOS Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made on Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3 for the iOS Platform:

Enable Data Protection for iOS Apps

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support to enable Data Protection Entitlements for iOS apps. Data protection is an iOS feature that prevents unauthorized access to an app's files by encrypting user data. While creating an app, you can specify the level of data protection you want to apply to the app.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Enable App Bound Domains for iOS Apps

In iOS 14, Apple has introduced App Bound Domains. This mechanism that enables an In-App browsing experience without exposing users to tracking risks. In Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3, support for the limitsNavigationsToAppBoundDomains property has been added in Browser widgets that use WKWebView as the ViewType. This opt-in technology improves in-app browsing by offering greater user privacy by limiting the domains on which an app can utilize powerful APIs to track users.

Generate Native Bindings Enhancements

In Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3, support to configure the SupportedArchs and Mode keys has been added in the Config.plist file. Use the SupportedArchs key to generate native bindings for system frameworks based on the architecture used (Root-level and Third-Party Framework-level architectures). Use the Mode key to generate NFI outputs based on the input mode provided.

In addition, support to generate the third-party framework for .xcframework projects has been added from Quantum Visualizer version V9 Service Pack 3.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Android Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made on Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3 for the Android Platform:

Configure Tablet Size for Universal App Binaries

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the Universal App Tablet Breakpoint setting. The setting configures the minimum length threshold that identifies a device as a Tablet for an Android Universal Binary.

Support for Sensor Rotation Control

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the splashOrientationClassifier property that provides screen orientation modes at a granular-level for a particular Splash Screen Orientation mode. In addition, support for the displayOrientationClassifier property has been added to the FlexForm widget. The displayOrientationClassifier provides screen orientation modes at a granular-level for a particular Form.

Support to Enable SMS Retriever

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support to configure the addSMSRetrieverSupport key in the androidbuild.properties file to enable the SMS Retriever. Using the SMS Retriever, you can implement SMS-based user verification in an app without requesting users to manually type verification codes, and without requesting for any additional app permissions.

Autofill OTP for Text Widgets

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the auto-fill feature while entering an OTP in the TextArea and TextBox widgets. To enable the Auto-fill feature, the following properties are now supported in the TextArea and TextBox widgets:

Responsive Web Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made on Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3 for the Responsive Web Platform:

Support for Spacing in Responsive Grid Layout

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer has introduced support for the following properties to provide spacing within a Responsive Container:

 

In addition, from the Quantum Visualizer V9 Service Pack 3 release, support for Breakpoint Forking is available for a component's custom properties in a Responsive Web app.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Support for ECMA Standard Conversion

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the latest ECMA script. In case, developers need to fall back on the older ECMA script, they can Enable ES5 Build setting for Responsive Web apps that enables ECMA standard conversion of the ES6 (and later) syntax to the ES5 syntax.

Test Automation Enhancements

Support for Data Externalization

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for data externalization in the Quantum Test Automation Framework. For each Test Case's input data that the user records, the Quantum Test Automation Framework creates a test data file that is an editable JavaScript (.js) file containing datatsets for the input data.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Support for Cross-Application Testing

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for cross-application testing in situations where developers need to test the functionality of multiple applications in a single test run with proper sequencing of tests and communication between the test apps. Cross-application testing is currently supported only on the Responsive Web platform with the Jasmine Test Framework.

For more information on this feature, click here.

To support the cross-app testing functionality, from the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the following APIs:

Automation API Enhancements

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for the following Automation APIs:

NFI Tool for Native Library Integration

With the V9 Service Pack 3 release, developers will now have access to an NFI generator tool which enables the conversion of any third-party iOS and Android libraries to an NFI which can then be integrated into apps using JavaScript. The NFI generator tool can be requested through a support ticket using the support portal.

For more information, click here.

Data and Services Panel Enhancements

Support to Generate Object Models at Runtime

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer enables the generation of an Object model during the application build, and alerts the users through notifications. If an Object Service's data models are not up to date ( in case there are delta changes in the Object model between the client app and the Quantum Fabric Object), an Update Object Models notification appears in a dialog box above the Data Panel. You can choose to either generate the data models or dismiss the notification. You can also choose to stop receiving the notifications by configuring a setting in the Preferences section.

In addition, if developers want to generate the Object Models during a CI build, they must update the value of the generateobjectmodels key to true in the HeadlessBuild.properties file.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Reference Architecture Extension Enhancements

In the V9 Service Pack 3 release, Quantum Visualizer introduces support for Form Controller Extensions which are JavaScript modules that provide specialized or enhanced functionality for FormControllers.

For more information on this feature, click here.

Support and Maintenance updates

  • Quantum Visualizer is now supported on MacBooks that use M1 processors.
  • Quantum Visualizer is now supported on MacBooks that run the MacOS Big Sur.
  • Support for XCFramework has been added for iOS apps.