Platform Roadmap
From OpenLaszlo
[This page is current as of 7/31/2008. See the Archive page for complete release history.]
Contents |
Current Releases
OL 4.1.1
OpenLaszlo 4.1.1 is the recommended release for DHTML and SWF development. OpenLaszlo 4.1.1 is the latest version of OpenLaszlo and contains some important bug fixes for OpenLaszlo 4.1. For a complete list, see the Release Notes [1].
This is a major release with over 800 bug fixes in the source code and many underlying architectural changes, in part paving the way for SWF9 support. OpenLaszlo 4.1 has been fully-qualified across the following browser/platform combinations: Safari3/OSX, Firefox2/OSX, Internet Explorer 7/WinXP, Firefox 2/WinXP, and Firefox 2/Linux. We have tested the full suite of demos, samplers, and example applications with the requirement that, when possible, DHTML applications behave the same as their SWF counterparts. Keep in mind that DHTML does not support audio and video. To include that in your application, you can embed a SWF application within your DHTML application, as in this example [2].
OpenLaszlo 4.1 also debuts the new and significantly improved documentation. There have been over 300 bug fixes made to the Reference Guide, and over 225 bug fixes in the Developer's Guide. The Reference Guide and Developer's Guide are also being built using the new doctool chain, which is described in the Developer's Guide, for contributors interested in adding to the documentation.
Preliminary support for SWF9 is included in this release. As such, we removed the swf9 button from the dev console for this release. You can compile applications for SWF9 by appending lzr=swf9 to the compilation URL. Or, if you are building the LPS from source, you can uncomment the swf9 radiobutton in lps/admin/dev-console.lzx, and then rebuild the dev-console by running the new console-rebuilding ant task there: cd lps/admin ant
Remember to clear your browser cache before reloading to see the rebuilt dev-console, as it is loaded as a SOLO application. We will add the SWF9 button to the developer console for OpenLaszlo 4.2.
Upgrading to OL 4.1.1
OpenLaszlo 4.1 has two major changes that may require your attention. A summary is provided below. Complete details and additional information on the differences between the SWF and DHTML runtimes can be found on the Runtime_Differences wiki page.
In OpenLaszlo 4.1, user classes are no longer defined as part of the global namespace. This gives OpenLaszlo better interoperability with other frameworks. In your application, user classes defined as:
<class name="Foo" .../> <new foo(...)
will need to be changed to:
new lz.foo (...)
A script has been posted by Sebastian Wagner to help convert user classes. It can be found here: http://code.google.com/p/laszlo4converter/.
In addition, warnings may now appear if you are using deprecated syntax in your application. OpenLaszlo 4.1 includes a perl conversion script (convert_laszlo.pl) to help mitigate these warnings.
OL 4.0.12
OpenLaszlo 4.0.12 is a is the latest version of OpenLaszlo and contains bug fixes, enhancements, and other changes from previous versions.
If you are using an earlier version, we recommending upgrading to 4.0.12, which is the recommended release for swf development. Support for applications to DHTML remains at "beta" level; it will be fully supported with OL 4.1.
To see the list of changes, please refer to the Release Notes at http://www.openlaszlo.org/lps4/docs/release-notes.html
For every release, we rely on the OpenLaszlo community to help ensure the quality of the platform release and to determine its future direction. To propose or participate in discussion of new features, see the wiki ( http://wiki.openlaszlo.org/Enhancement_Proposals ). We encourage you to report any problems, and to make suggestions for enhancements, through our JIRA bug tracking system ( http://www.openlaszlo.org/jira/browse/LPP ).
OL 3.4.0
OpenLaszlo 3.4.0 is an official release containing two major new features: runtime CSS and streaming audio/video. Because of time pressures related to the OpenLaszlo 4.0 effort, this release was only qualified against several internal Laszlo Systems applications. These applications are large and exercise essentially all of OpenLaszlo, but prospective adopters of OL3.4.0 should be aware of the test coverage. Note that runtime CSS and streaming audio/video will also be integrated into OpenLaszlo 4.0. Also note that the runtime CSS feature has not yet been fully integrated into the LFC or the Components, and so is probably not yet appropriate for general use. Full integration is planned in the future.
OL 3.3.3
The previous, current stable recommended release was OpenLaszlo 3.3.3. With OL 4.0.5, there is no need for any SWF application development in the 3.x branches.
Planned Releases
DING DONG (OL 4.2 ALPHA)
branch=trunk; JIRA project name=DingDong; projected release = early Aug, 2008
DingDong is the next OpenLaszlo release from the active development branch. It's primary goal is to provide alpha-level SWF9 support, in addition to high priority community bug fixes for DHTML/SWF as reported from OL 4.1.1. This release provides alpha-level functionality and is suitable for trying out the SWF9 features and performance improvements.
The planned SWF9 functionality includes:
- swf9 installers, pre-packaged w/open-source flex compiler
- databinding and basic replication
- "implicit this" working (compiler limitation that "super" cannot be used)
- Text, fonts, scrolling, and selection APIs
- Keyboard and mouse events
- Multi-frame resource support
- Image loading
- Resource stretching
- Script tag support
- Fully functional LzPix sample application
- Fully functional Weather sample application
- Fully functional Component Sampler application, with the exception of the datagrid control
- XML-RPC
KRISPY KREME (OL 4.2 BETA)
branch=trunk; JIRA project name=KrispyKreme; projected release = early Sept, 2008
KrispyKreme follows DingDong. It continues the support path for SWF9. SWF9 functionality currently slated for this release includes:
- JS browser communication
- Media streaming (AV components)
- More media support (flv's, playing swf animations - conversion required for playback controls, sound)
- HTML tag and mousewheel support (both depend on JS comm)
- laszlo debugger support (note: adobe debugger can be used now)
- kernel support for embedded fonts, scaling
- mixin tag
- grid control
- setter syntax
- Amazon and Calendar sample apps running
DUNKIN (OL 4.2)
branch=trunk; JIRA project name=Dunkin; projected release = early Oct, 2008
This will be a fully-qualified release of OpenLaszlo. It will include:
- all sample apps running with parity to swf8
- includes rich text, video
- performance tuning
Project Branches
Trunk
Trunk is the active development branch for all SWF, DHTML, and SWF9 work. This is the single development branch, from which OL 4.1 was released, that supports all multiple-runtime development.
Pagan-Deities
Pagan-Deities is the SWF-only 4.0.X development branch. OL 4.0.12 was the last supported release from pagan-deities.
