Hello Everyone,

I'm sure you're all getting tired of seeing my name on nearly every post -
but a promise is a promise, and I'm still high from the Conference :-).

Thank you to Ben Johansen, for jogging my memory on some important
points. You're a Rock!

DISCLAIMER - Remember, I'm only human with less than perfect memory (as my
ex-wife always enjoyed pointing out) and I may not have the facts completely
straight, but here goes...


v5.0 Server and XML Support
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Phil and Andre have apparently done some preliminary work on introducing
XPath to the Witango DOM, as well as some rumored XSL support (the later I
never got clarified unfortunately). This is excellent news of course in
either case.

Mind you, the version of XPointer currently supported by Witango, although
dated, has never prevented me from getting where I need to go - but XPath
will get me there with fewer lines of code.

My tip for those that want to learn more about XML and Witango; Brush-up on
the XPointer syntax and documentation first in your PDF User's Guide, before
you design your first XML document. Because XPointer is how you find and
extract your data from the XML and you always want the fewest lines of code
to do it - so optimize your XML design with XPointer in mind.


XML Support and <@URL>
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In the XML world of Web Services, the <@URL> Metatag can be your best
friend. And the new Pre-emptive Threading model in v5.0 means no more lag or
stalls to your whole application when calling an external site or service
that is hanging.

Additionally, Phil sees that we'll be able to bump up the 64K return limit
on <@URL> to somewhere in the neighborhood of 1Meg without too much effort
(or possibly higher).


Application Scope
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By default, you can set an expiry timeout for variables in all Scopes. But
by definition, Application Scope is different - therefore Application Scope
in the new server will not expire to help make it more stable.


Standard Snippets that ship with v5.0 Editor
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Guess what? You'll be able to edit and customize all the standard built-in
snippets to your heart's content. Even add your own icons and folders.

The Standard and Custom (personal) Snippets can be located in a configurable
location as well (via a special *.ini file), to aid development teams
who share a common code base.


Custom Personal Snippets with v5.0 Editor
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Your Snippets will now be stored in formatted XML files.

What does that mean to you? How about quickly and easily sharing code with
your colleagues over the List or web-site downloads or even a Witango Code
Depository that's an XML Web Service.

But wait - it gets better :-)  How about dragging and dropping whole
sections
of Code including Actions in and out of your Snippets. With luck this may
show up in v5.0, but may not appear until v6.0 (big piece of work).


Search the Snippets
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The Witango team is amazing - I don't know about you, but I have a ton of
old and new Snippets and being able to search on a fragment of Code to find
the right Snippet (all inside the Editor) would be great, huh? This may
appear in v5.0


Integrated Metatag Help and Attribute Settings.
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In addition to the above features being added to the Workspace window - a
cursor sensitive Help view is being worked on that displays for a selected
Metatag. As well, Phil showed us a prototype of an Attribute window in the
Workspace that allows you set values (from drop-downs where appropriate) for
a selected Metatag's attributes.

The above was a prototype and is still under design and may change
and no firm release information was available.


New Property Browse View for TAFs and TCFs.
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Does it drive you crazy when you've got too many TAFs open and each one of
those has half-a-dozen Search Actions, For Loops and Results Windows open -
and you need to stay sane because you're on a dead-line?

v5.0 has a new Browse View that allows you to open a TAF with 3 view panes.
-- One for the Actions (normal view)
-- A second view pane that displays the property settings of a highlighted
Action
-- And a third view pane that is your Results, No Results and Error HTML
window of the highlighted Action.
All integrated into a single flat view of the TAF. Very slick and clean!


Debug Features
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As I mentioned in Part 1, line numbers that correspond to new Error Trapping
functions may be coming to a Witango Editor near you in v5.0

Likewise, there is rumor of a Code Debug window in the Editor, with Break
and Step Over features - but this is preliminary.


Vaporware Discussion
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The topic of the Editor got alot of attention during the Vaporware session,
as well as other points during the Conference, and a ton of very exciting
ideas came out from everyone for other improvements in the Editor.

I don't want to list the suggestions (exciting as they are), because I'm
sure
Phil and the Team are still digesting them. But even if only a fraction of
those ideas come to fruition - combined with the above - then we'll
have one kick-a** Editor.


Part 3 and Java J2EE and .NET
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Last, but DEFINITELY not least!

Move into Enterprise development on a world scale and take
your Witango skills and tools with you :-)

Part 3 coming soon....

Thank you for your patience and I hope this relieves some
anxiety for those who couldn't make it to the Conference.


Have a great day. Cheers...

Scott Cadillac
http://xml-extra.net
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



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