News & Blogs

News and blogs on our products, services, and events

117 Topics
149 Replies

117 Topics

Anne BuitAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Revised creation and automationBlog

The Thinkwise Platform version 2021.3 has revised the way the Creation screen works, opening up more elegant ways to leverage tooling to automate this process.The generation screen consists of a number of steps:Generate definition Validate definition Generate source code Execute source code Run unit testsThis has remained unchanged between versions 2021.2 and 2021.3. However, the way these steps are performed has fundamentally changed.In the previous version, the steps in the generation screen were bound to a specific client. A developer would start Generate definition and the definition generation would be orchestrated start-to-end by the users client. This has served us well for many years, but there are some drawbacks that we’ve addressed in this release. The new Creation approachAll ‘jobs’ are no longer performed by a client, but are instead performed by Indicium. This means that generation, validation and such will continue even if the developer closes the screen or even the Softw

87323

2 months ago

Frank Wijnhout

published in News & Blogs

Create your own validationsBlog

Too few developers create their own custom validations and solely rely on the default validations offered by the Software Factory. Though this default validation set is already great for higher quality, there is always room for improvement, especially in certain situations.Developers tend not to make custom validations for several reasons:The functionality is unknown Development itself has more priority Validations are not being used at all Developers think creating a validation is difficultTo stimulate the use of custom validations, we created a video in which we show an example. We hope this motivates you to create your own validations. Create a custom Validation in the Thinkwise Software Factory

941

2 months ago

Robert Jan de NieThinkwiser

published in News & Blogs

Check constraints using the Software FactoryBlog

In any application it is important to validate a user’s input.Is the value of the order smaller than the maximum order value? Is the start-date earlier than the end-date? Does this action lead to a stock amount smaller than zero?There are a few options how you, as a developer, can implement these checks:Domain (using min/max value) Default Trigger Check constraintA closer lookLet’s take the following example and work out if and how we can implement its validation:Is the start-date earlier than the end-date?Domain Validation through a domain is not possible in this case since we need to compare two values Default Clear out the end-date field and send a warning to the user informing that the end-date should occur after the start date Advantage: The user is being informed while the data is being entered. Risk: Business rule is only being enforced on the screens where the default has been implemented. When this data is created through other means, for example a task or external interfa

3060

3 months ago

Sjors NiestenModerator

published in News & Blogs

Release notes Universal GUI (2022.1.11)release notes

The release notes have been moved to a new area: Product updates.Don't forget to subscribe there!

760

3 months ago

Anne BuitAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Performance troubleshootingBlog

At Thinkwise, we strive to make development and maintenance of enterprise applications as easy as possible. But in the end, an operational application will have a lot of moving parts. Performance troubleshooting comes down to identifying and resolving a problem in one of those many moving parts.Unfortunately, most of the time it ends up in a witch hunt. Kick in every virtual door to find out what causes the curse. This makes performance troubleshooting very time- and resource intensive. Today, I’ll share a very focused approach to resolve performance issues.The title of this blog might as well be: How to avoid the red herrings! Performance troubleshooting processThere are many ways to approach performance troubleshooting. This blog uses a certain script that can be used and adapted for your own needs. The script assumes a single, agile development team working on an application.The script for performance troubleshootingI’ll go into detail for all the steps, but I’d like to start off wi

4261

3 months ago

Diana KuipersAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Release notes Windows GUI and Web GUI (2022.1.12)release notes

The release notes have been moved to a new area: Product updates.Don't forget to subscribe there!

490

3 months ago

Anne BuitAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Drag-drop of recordsBlog

When I leave my house every morning, I pick up my car keys from the counter and put them in my pocket. To me, this is a very common way of interacting with an object. I grab the keys, move them into my pocket and let go of the keys. But when it comes to our software, this would happen very differently. I would select the [i]Car keys[/i] record, put it in edit mode and change a field indicating the location from [i]Counter[/i] to [i]My pocket[/i]. I would then save the record and.. [b]*[/b]Poof![b]*[/b] – The keys are now in my pocket. Very unnatural if you ask me. Editing the car keys? I sound like a locksmith! This new feature, however, will bring our applications one step closer to the real world: Drag-drop of records! [h2]Model-driven drag-drop[/h2]As with every feature, the definition of drag-drop is a part of the model. To keep things as easy and accessible as possible, no new logic concepts were introduced. The existing concepts of tasks and corresponding context logi

6595

3 months ago

JasperAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Customizing the Universal GUI using CSSBlog

We often get questions about customizing the Universal GUI, particularly the login page. We plan to offer several model-options to customize it in the future, such as the logo, colors, title text and background image, and to display maintenance messages, for example. But with the latest release of the Universal GUI, it is already possible to make these adjustments manually, using custom CSS! SetupStarting with the latest (beta) release of the Universal GUI it is possible to inject your own custom CSS to change the styling of various parts of the user interface.To get started, simply rename the custom.sample.css file in the public folder of the Universal GUI to custom.css. This file will then automatically be loaded by the Universal GUI. By renaming the file, it will no longer be overwritten with Universal GUI updates.Next, add your own CSS to the custom.css file and you’re off! CSS classesThe Universal GUI provides static CSS classes for a selection of elements, mainly on the login pag

5047

3 months ago

QuidoModerator

published in News & Blogs

Deployment with DockerBlog

In order to easily package, ship, and run applications as lightweight, portable, and self-sufficient as possible, there is Docker. Docker allows us to run applications virtually everywhere. Therefore this blog post gives some guidance on how Thinkwise applications can be containerized.There are numerous approaches in how you might want to set up your Docker environment, so we will mainly focus on:Running Universal independently; Running Indicium independently; Running Indicium and Universal together.At the end of this post, we will uncover our future plans and what we're currently researching/developing. PrerequisitesTo follow along, you'll need to have:Docker installed on your desktop or server (for Linux containers); Universal downloaded from TCP; Indicium downloaded from TCP.Please note that for certain scenario’s with Docker you’ll need a license. The Docker FAQ is a good source to read upon these questions. Scenario'sThe scenarios covered here can be followed separately. 1. Runnin

1542

3 months ago

JasperAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Thinkwise Ideation Insights 2021Blog

Your input and feedback are incredibly valuable to us. That is why we devote a significant part of our capacity to implementing the great ideas posted and voted on by our amazing community. But how many of your ideas are actually being taken up?In this post we want to give you some insight into the number of ideas and votes that we have investigated, worked on, and delivered in 2021.Quick statistics for ideasSome figures about the ideas and votes in 2021:61 ideas delivered 🚀 252 new ideas created 💡 563 votes delivered 🚛 2029 votes added 💗Since the start of the Thinkwise community in 2019, we have managed to deliver no less than 23% of all votes cast! And this percentage is still steadily increasing, as the great ideas keep coming in.So once again, a big thank you to everyone in the Thinkwise Community who shares ideas and votes for other customer ideas. We greatly appreciate the insights and feedback you give us about our platform.Thinkwise Community dashboardIdeas we deliveredThes

790

3 months ago

Mark JongelingCommunity admin

published in News & Blogs

Revised synchronization and deploymentBlog

Hi everyone,We previously explained how the Thinkwise Platform version 2021.3 revised the way creation and automation works.In the Thinkwise Platform version 2022.1, we also revised the way the Synchronization to IAM (Intelligent Application Manager) and Deployment package screens work, allowing for seamless integration in CI/CD tools that many have been waiting for.The Synchronization and Deployment processes are the final two processes that now have been made to fully run via Indicium and therefore can be initialized via Indicium's API. More on that later in this blog.In the previous version, the steps in these screens were bound to a specific client. A developer would start to Synchronize to IAM and the synchronization would be orchestrated start-to-end by the user’s client. This also applies for the Deployment package process. This has served us well for many years, but there are some drawbacks that we’ve addressed in this release. The new approachAll ‘jobs’ are no longer performed

1460

3 months ago

Anne BuitAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Software Factory on Azure - Problem with json data typeNews

Update - jan-27The problem has been resolved.All new installations of the Thinkwise Platform will once again deploy properly on Azure databases.Platform upgrades from 2020.2 and up have been adjusted to not re-introduce the conflicting data type.Existing installations up until 2020.2 have a service fix available that will phase out the json user-defined data type.------------------------------------- An undocumented (or unintended) changeSomewhere around the start of this year, Azure has introduced a change to the managed SQL Server databases regarding user-defined data types. The change did not affect any existing databases but prevents deploying any databases which use a user-defined type named json as an Azure SQL Server database.The change has occurred overnight and we have yet to trace it back to a specific Azure Database update. So far, we have not been able to find any documentation regarding this change either. No versions of on-premise SQL Server databases seem to be affected

1364

3 months ago

Erik BrinkModerator

published in News & Blogs

Grid task linksBlog

In my previous blog I made a promise that more possibilities would soon come available to start task actions from the grid component, so here we are with the next one. The grid component of both the Windows and Web GUI now supports translated links to execute a task with.The idea is to create a better user experience by placing important tasks of a subject at a more intuitive location, so the user can find it more easily. Also, this will require less clicks to get the required task executed on a (inactive) record so users can do their work faster. You can choose to execute a process flow after the task execution to guide the user through a series of actions. Let's see how we should configure the Software Factory to use those links: Two model extenders are used to assign a related task and translation to a domain of the column containing the task link. To let the GUI know this column is a “task link”, we added a new control type “task_link” to the domain.This domain should be assigned t

2714

4 months ago

JasperAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Which DB2 drivers should I use?Blog

The Thinkwise Platform provides extensive, out-of-the-box support for the DB2 for IBM i database management system for many years already. This is why we have a large number of customers that successfully use the Thinkwise Platform to modernize their legacy DB2 application landscape. This is also recognized by IBM, who named Thinkwise as Best IBM Business Partner of the Year in Europe in 2009, and awarded one of our customers with the Most Innovative IBM i User of the Year award because it used the Thinkwise Platform.However, IBM did (and still does) not make things easy for us.When we started, IBM was still in the process of replacing their Classic Query Engine (CQE) with the much faster and more powerful SQL Query Engine (SQE), and we have been in regular contact with IBM about bugs in these query engines that nearly drove us insane. With the necessary adjustments and bug fixes by IBM and some workarounds in the Thinkwise Platform, we were able to solve these problems, and the Thinkw

1601

4 months ago

Anne BuitAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Applications using Crystal Reports in Azure CloudBlog

The Thinkwise Platform supports various types of report generation solutions. The choice for a certain type of reporting has functional implications. For instance, not all reporting solutions support the usage of sub-reports. Other reporting solutions may offer more features regarding the use of SVG images or HTML markup.There are also non-functional aspects to consider. License costs is often noted. Another important aspect is the portability of the reports. Not every type of report can run on both Windows and Linux environments.Quite some research has gone into the portability of the usage of Crystal Reports lately. We’d like to share some of our findings in this blog.Runtime installationAdministrators who have deployed applications using Crystal Reports know that it requires the installation of the Crystal Reports runtime. Either on the desktop clients when the Windows GUI is used or on the web server when the reports are generated by Indicium, the Application Tier, or the Web GUI.A

2020

4 months ago

Mark JongelingCommunity admin

published in News & Blogs

Test System flow during Development by Indicium APIBlog

Hi everyone!,Often we hear developers wanting to test their system flows but not knowing what is an effective and quick way of doing so. This blog will help you out!To test System flows, we can make use of Indicium's Process flow API as described here: https://docs.thinkwisesoftware.com/docs/indicium/process_flows.htmlSince Indicium requires a POST request, some extra tooling is needed to send such a request. We commonly use either Insomnia or Postman, but alternatives are available online. For this blog, I'll use Insomnia.Creating a System flowStart of making or determining a system flow you would want to test.System flowFor my example, I kept it very simple. The Decision process action will run a process procedure to create a new record to the system_flow_table in my database.DesignControl procedureUsing InsomniaInsomnia is a powerful app what can do a lot, but for this example we'll create a new POST request.Start off by right clicking in the left panel (or use the shortcut Ctrl+N t

1772

4 months ago

JasperAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Log4j vulnerability does NOT impact the Thinkwise PlatformNews

You have probably heard about the critical vulnerability found in the Apache Log4j library in the past few days, which is used by millions of Java applications for logging error messages. This vulnerability, CVE-2021-44228, is a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability that allows attackers to gain full access to a system.The Thinkwise platform does not use Java and is therefore not subject to this vulnerability.Thinkwise does advise its customers to check whether other applications or services use the affected library and to take appropriate steps to prevent abuse.At Thinkwise, we closely monitor the security of all third party libraries and components used in our platform, and notify our customers if any vulnerabilities are reported.

1460

5 months ago

Diana KuipersAdministrator

published in News & Blogs

Troubleshooting Universal GUIBlog

Written by Erik Brink/Diana Kuipers New developments require new knowledge and skillsets for Software Factory developers. For example, Thinkwise is constantly improving the process of troubleshooting unexpected behavior of our tooling.Since more and more organizations are using the Universal GUI, we would like to tell you more about the best practices in troubleshooting the Universal GUI in our 3-tier environment. So, in this blog, we will teach you about the tools that can help you solve possible problems in the logic executed by the Universal GUI's backend and its interaction with the Indicium data/service layer. The following tools and log files are available to support you:Extensive information on the tools and logs mentioned below is available in the Thinkwise Docs, chapter Tools for troubleshooting Universal GUI. The same manual also contains more information on Troubleshooting Universal GUI deployment.DevTools: the Universal GUI is a web application. Therefore, you can use the

2631

6 months ago

Mark JongelingCommunity admin

published in News & Blogs

Strategies for Control proceduresBlog

Hi everyone,For the 2021.3 release, the complete Creation process has been overhauled to be fully run by Indicium. There was one other feature on the backlog that was very valuable to the Generate definition process, and now was the perfect time to implement it. When generating, all generated program objects would be dropped and re-created by the control procedures. This process costs performance and IO. It would be smarter if objects were not simply dropped and re-created, but instead created/changed/dropped only when that truly applies. StrategiesTo improve the Generate definition process, several generation strategies have been implemented. A Strategy is a defined way of how the Software Factory should generate the control procedure. For every strategy there can be reasons to choose one over the other, but it is recommended to use the Staged strategy due to all its performance benefits. Read on to see how to implement these new strategies. The following strategies are now available

970

7 months ago

Moller TomaThinkwiser

published in News & Blogs

Thinkwise Low-Code Summit 2021News

The low-code market has developed quickly in recent years. Current events have put pressure on IT leaders to dramatically increase application delivery speed, even more than before. The COVID crisis has certainly demonstrated that the constant continued development of software is crucial.Want to know how you can improve the agility of your business and adapt quickly to changing circumstances and market opportunities using a low-code platform? Discover how Thinkwise enables you to modernize large, business-critical applications, with extremely high speed of development and flexibility, during our first Low-Code Summit on 13 October 2021.Time: 09:00 to 15:00 CEST Location: Online Admission: free of chargeSign Up NowWho should attend?Those new to low-code and looking to learn more about enterprise low-code for mission-critical systems (what is and how to get started). Business Executives: Hear directly from other business leaders on their approaches to adopting low-code for core systems f

810

8 months ago

Erik BrinkModerator

published in News & Blogs

Grid double-click task executionBlog

We are thrilled to introduce a great new feature. We received quite a few requests to apply some more possibilities to start user actions from a grid record, like we see also in apps like Outlook, Gmail, etc. Our Web GUI already supports grid links, where a column with a textual link can start a task based on the clicked record. We plan to support this feature in our Windows and Universal GUI soon too. In the future, we will also provide options to display the link in a nicer way, using icons and tooltips. More about that in a later blog post. Recently we’ve added a similar cool feature to the grids of our Windows and Web GUI’s: Grids now support a task to be executed when a record is double-clickedTo configure which tasks to use, the SF offers a new (model) extender, released in a recent hot-fix, which can be used to assign multiple table tasks to the double click action. The GUI will choose the first enabled task to execute. We chose to allow more than one so the developer can dete

56112

9 months ago

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News & Blogs

Product updates/release notes have moved to their own spaceNews

Sign in with ... the choice is yoursBlog

Monitoring Indicium live with Azure Application InsightsBlog

Using OAuth to get data from external applicationsBlog

Revised creation and automationBlog

Create your own validationsBlog

Check constraints using the Software FactoryBlog

Release notes Universal GUI (2022.1.11)release notes

Performance troubleshootingBlog

Release notes Windows GUI and Web GUI (2022.1.12)release notes

Drag-drop of recordsBlog

Customizing the Universal GUI using CSSBlog

Deployment with DockerBlog

Thinkwise Ideation Insights 2021Blog

Revised synchronization and deploymentBlog

Software Factory on Azure - Problem with json data typeNews

Grid task linksBlog

Which DB2 drivers should I use?Blog

Applications using Crystal Reports in Azure CloudBlog

Test System flow during Development by Indicium APIBlog

Log4j vulnerability does NOT impact the Thinkwise PlatformNews

Troubleshooting Universal GUIBlog

Strategies for Control proceduresBlog

Thinkwise Low-Code Summit 2021News

Grid double-click task executionBlog

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