dhtmlx blog

DHTMLX announced the release of its new product - dhtmlxScheduler, a web-based event calendar which provides simple in-browser scheduling solution. With smooth Ajax-enabled interface dhtmlxScheduler allows users to add, modify or delete events without refreshing the web page. Intuitive drag-n-drop behavior gives the possibility to change events date and start/end time by simply dragging the event boxes. The calendar events can be displayed in Day/Week/Month views.

dhtmlxScheduler is very lightweight (about 19KB gzipped), cross-browser and highly customizable. Each aspect of the calendar interface can be configured through JavaScript API. Developers can easily add/update events, change date format, time scale or calendar language.

Although dhtmlxScheduler is a pure JavaScript solution, it can be easily connected to the backend database with the help of dhtmlxConnector, a PHP extension that enables data communication between client-side interface and server-side datasource. You can also use your own server-side code written in any language (PHP, Java, ASP, etc.) to bind scheduler content to the database. 

dhtmlxScheduler is distributed under GNU GPL and commercial licenses. For more info about dhtmlxScheduler and live demo, please visit:

http://dhtmlx.com/docs/products/dhtmlxScheduler/index.shtml

DHTMLX announced the update of their Ajax UI Toolkit, a comprehensive set of full-featured JavaScript components which enable developers to create rich and high-performing web applications with less efforts and time.

Version 2.1 introduces lots of significant improvements and bug fixes. The updated components bring better stability and performance, and provide compatibility with IE8 RC, Google Chrome 2 and Safari 4 in addition to other supported browsers.

One of the key products, dhtmlxGrid, was enhanced with extended grouping functionality and faster rendering capabilities.

Also, a couple of innovations have been introduced:

The first one is dhtmlxConnector which provides an easy way to connect client-side components to the server-side database (currently available for PHP only). This extension handles client - server interaction for DHTMLX components which content is bound to the server database, such as grid, treegrid, tree, and combo. It also provides such functionality as loading/editing data, server-side sorting, filtering, paging, etc. The video demonstrating some dhtmlxConnector’s features is available here.

Another addition in this release is dhtmlxTree.Net, an ASP.Net control built over dhtmlxTree component, which provides an easy way to build navigation treeviews with complete feature set and Ajax support. The rich client-side functionality of dhtmlxTree remained the same, but now the component can be effortlessly integrated in .Net applications.

To download the Standard Edition of DHTMLX v2.1, please visit this page:
http://dhtmlx.com/docs/download.shtml
To learn how to obtain the Professional Edition of DHTMLX v2.1, please follow this link:
http://dhtmlx.com/docs/products/licenses.shtml

DHTMLX released a major update for its comprehensive Suite of Ajax UI controls. New version 2.0 introduces a powerful and simple approach for building web interfaces realized with dhtmlxLayout, a new member of DHTMLX line of products. This JavaScript control provides an easy way to configure an interface structure and effortlessly integrate dhtmlx UI components, or other HTML objects, into its panels.

DHTMLX is pleased to announce the update of its dhtmlxSuite, a complete suite of Ajax-enabled components for building rich web interfaces. Version 2.0 brings a new approach to building application interface simply by arranging its modules via newly introduced dhtmlxLayout control. It not only allows developers to effortlessly construct interface structure, but also provides the possibility to easily compose DHTMLX components into a single layout.

The current release also includes important bug fixes and performance improvements together with unified skins and better mutual integration of the components. DHTMLX v2.0 introduces some new components such as:

dhtmlxLayout
A simple and affordable way of arranging elements of interface structure visually on page is now available through a new DHTMLX component – dhtmlxLayout. It provides a good deal of ready-made Layout patterns that can be applied to sophisticated web applications. The possibility to integrate other UI components from DHTMLX line into dhtmlxLayout panels easily is one more significant feature of this innovation. Read the rest of this entry »

Translated from original posted on www.monoxrom.net

I had long wanted to have a look at Google Gears in action, but always had some other fish to fry. You can hardly expect a user to agree on implementing some off-site plug-in developing a simple web-page. But if it is about developing for the Intranet, it doesn’t come out to be anything like a serious problem.

Still less chance a user has to implement an off-site plug-in in the Intranet. But if the boss wants it, so “keep quiet and drive”

Initially we have: a file with tabular data (an Excel file, in practice).
Required output: a changes-friendly interface for a remote user.

The most trivial solution - to use ready-made online services (for example, Google Spreadsheet) - doesn’t meet the case, unfortunately (authorization is required, and it is laced with some (un)healthy paranoia).
The second simple approach is using one of ready-made grid-like solutions, to which Google Gears can be attached for additional comfort.

Read the rest of this entry »

What one can learn about dhtmlxTreeGrid after using it for a couple of weeks? This evaluation version feedback is likely to save your “couple of weeks” or at least it could be of interest for those who consider using this component…

There were a few things we were looking for at the onset of our evaluation (in their order of importance):

1) Performance

The performance was spectacular. Our company actually has a similar solution in-place which utilized HTC files to create tree-grid structures out of <table> elements based on XML streams. We had found that, while it met all requirements, it did so at a heavy cost in performance. We knew that it’s performance could be dramatically improved were we to re-work the DOM structure involved, however due to time constraints we decided to perform an evaluation of your product before beginning such a project. I’m glad we did. The numbers we captured speak for themselves, so I’ll just provide a sample of those:

Nodes	Original Time	New Time	% improvement
1	6.72s	.29s	2317%
10	7.08	.34	2095%
100	11.33	.37	3062%
10,000	(timed out)	1.03	OMG!

The above numbers were captured with the “smartXML” enabled, so I see no reason why the performance gains will not scale higher should we ever need it to (10,000 is our current expected upper-limit.) When all is totaled up, we saw an average performance improvement of nearly 3000%. Everyone (myself included) was much impressed.

Read the rest of this entry »

DHTMLX announces the latest update of its dhtmlxSuite, a professional Ajax components toolkit for web UI. The major updates concern Grid and Treegrid components and include a large number of new features and improvements, including the ability to load data from JSON and JS-array, smart rendering and paging support for hierarchical data grids. Also a new component, dhtmlxSlider, is introduced.

In the light of the latest update of its Ajax UI toolkit, DHTMLX have released the newest version 1.6 of its dhtmlxGrid component, a feature-rich Ajax data grid for web applications. Being the main “player” in DHTMLX components library, dhtmlxGrid incorporates all the advanced functionality required for building rich tabular interfaces, as well as fast and reliable performance and polished design.

With this release dhtmlxGrid, which is a pure client-side JavaScript component, introduces more flexibility for client-server communication capabilities providing the ability to load data from JSON and JS-array. So, now developers can chose which data format to use: XML, JSON, CSV, JS-array or simple HTML. Besides, since this update the grid supports custom XML format allowing developers to define custom XML attributes.

This new version adds lots of other enhancements, among which:

- Smart Rendering functionality that allows the component to work fast with large number of records is now available with any type of grid initialization: XML string, JSON, HTML, CSV, JS-array;
- Paging view is enhanced with new nice-looking skin;
- Dynamic paging was updated to use non-linear buffer and as a result grid with huge datasets works even faster: any grid entry can be accessed without loading all the previous ones;
- Grouping and Filtering capabilities, as well as auto-calculated values in footer/header, were updated to work in split grid; since recent update filters also work in hierarchical grids;
- New features in TreeGrid were introduced, such as paging support and Smart Rendering mode in which only rows situated in the visible area are rendered. Both features essentially improve the ability of hierarchical grids to handle large datasets.
- Extended script API and new event handlers introduced.

In addition to all the enhancements concerning the grid, this update also introduces a new member in DHTMLX components suite – dhtmlxSlider. The new component allows creating attractive horizontal or vertical slider bars.

About DHTMLX
DHMLX Toolkit provides a set of cross-browser Ajax-based components for building fast-performing and rich web applications. The toolkit includes such components as grid, treegrid, treeview, menu, tabs, calendar, windows, and more. All DHTMLX components are written in JavaScript and provide easy server-side integration (ASP, .NET, PHP, JSP, Ruby, ColdFusion). More information about DHTMLX and its Ajax components toolkit can be found on http://dhtmlx.com.

Online Wizard for dhtmlxGrid (beta version) is now available on our website. The wizard allows you to set/change Grid parameters and see the changes right away until you get the desired result. Then you can just copy/paste generated HTML and JavaScript code into your page. Configuration via XML is also available.

We’ve updated search functionality in our Knowledge Base. Due to the enhanced algorithm, search process runs much faster and provides more relative results. Now you can find required information easier.

We’re pleased to inform that we have released a new build 80319 for dhtmlxGrid/TreeGrid v1.5. This update features a few bug fixes, along with some enhancements and Safari 3.1 compatibility. The list of enhancements can be found here.

Also, two new DHTMLX components are introduced:

dhtmlxWindows - DHTML JavaScript component which allows one to easily implement modal or non-modal dialog windows. dhtmlxWindows simulate the behaviour of regular OS windows and provide rich possibilities for customization. Distributed under GPL and commercial licenses.

dhtmlxColorPicker - Cross-browser JavaScript control that allows you easily implement Photoshop-like color picker in web applications and sites. Distributed under Free License.

Both components are included in dhtmlxSuite package.

We are happy to introduce new DHTMLX component - dhtmlxFolders. This Ajax/DHTML component allows you to display objects with the same data structure in different views. It can be used as a basis for file/image browsers, product catalogs, search engine results or any kind of informational resources.

Using different visualization templates combined with different paging settings applied to the same data content, you can display objects (items) with different level of detalization. Paging support allows displaying these objects one-by-one, portion by portion or all at once. Built-in sorting and filtering capabilities make it easier to find necessary item among the others.

Please find more info on dhtmlxFolders homepage.