How to easily prevent clearing a lookup field value?

This post is devoted to one more usability improvement in version 13.2: 

Usability - Make it possible to hide the Clear Action via the application model

In particular, our customers wanted to make it possible to easily hide the Clear Action in lookup Property Editors and thus disallow end-users to clear values for certain fields.

Previously, it was already possible to implement this task in code, but it required writing two platform-dependent Controllers. For instance, in WinForms you could find the LookupWindowController and deactivate its ClearAction in code. As for the Web, you could find a required ASPxLookupPropertyEditor and update the ClearingEnabled property.

Now we simplified it to setting a single AllowDelete property for a required LookupListView node via the Model Editor:

Take special note that after this customization in WinForms app your end-users will not be able to leave the lookup value empty via the Control+Delete shortcut supported by our XtraEditors.

Of course, this also works on the Web:

Although this is not the only way to implement this scenario (e.g., you could also use validation rules here), I hope you liked this small usability improvement. Please let me know your thoughts in comments.

Beware of issue with custom wizards in the Model Editor property inspector

I would like to pay your attention to the Model Editor - Custom editors invoked from the property inspector did not save any value issue, which you may encounter in the version 13.1.6. 
Basically, it may prevent you from modifying model properties like ImageName, Criteria, Filter, EditMask, Settings and others, which use wizards instead of plain editors in the property inspector. 

Note that it is still possible to change a property value by typing it manually, i.e. without using wizards:

Good news is that we have already fixed this problem and you can
download a patch from here.
In any event, let me take this moment to apologize for all the inconvenience here.

System XAF controllers are now categorized within the documentation for easier access

I have recently asked our tech writers to implement the subject, because this way it will be much easier for developers to find a required Controller to customize or extend by just looking at the category instead of not very meaningful technical name:

Do you find this small usability improvement helpful?

Wizards - XAFARI way

I wanted to inform you about another bright contribution from the XAF community - a new Wizards module developed by the international company Galaktika as part of their XAFARI business platform (learn more about these guys in my introductory post).

Here are some screenshots for you to better understand the functionality I am talking about:

Configuration in the Model Editor

 Result in the Web UI

Result in the WinForms UI

You can download this reusable solution from http://xafari.ru/download

How to prompt when the user is about to exit a WinForms application

Today I improved  the implementation one of my WinForms examples by changing the code and also by adding functional tests powered by our EasyTest engine.

This example is about displaying confirmation message when the main application window is being closed by a user to avoid accidental closure of the whole application and losing all opened screens:

You might remember this behavior from many browsers, which ask you under similar circumstances.
This is not rocket science (just a single WindowController for you to add), but probably your end-users will appreciate it.

www.devexpress.com/example=E527

The functional test is also quite straightforward and easy to understand for regular human beings:

It seems that all of my peers in the US (Oliver, Paul, Julian, etc.), are interested in XAF recently:-). Please check the latest blog from Seth Juarez (a PM for DevExpress Analytics division - follow him on Twitter at @sethjuarez):

Building a Simple Contact Application with XAF

I hope you like it and find it helpful, especially if you are not using XAF yet and considering its benefits for one of your future LOB apps. BTW, a more detailed and comprehensive getting started tutorial can be found at http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/Application_Framework/getstarted.xml 

XAFARI 13.1 is available

I am back from a short vacation, and I would like to inform you that XAFARI - a business platform from Galaktika Corp has recently been updated to the version 13.1.5 of XAF: http://xafari.ru/download

You can learn more on what is new in XAFARI 13.1.5 from http://xafari.ru/news/reliz-xafari-13-1-5

If you like the new and existing XAFARI features, do not hesitate to like their page on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/Xafari.ERP and send your feedback to Galaktika developers.

P.S.
I should remind that the English version of the XAFARI web site is still under construction (I believe the more users feedback this XAF extension gets, the sooner the site will be finished), but the built-in Google Chrome translation from Russian to English will help you understand most of the info - at least that works for me;-)

Webinar: What's Coming in XAF 13.2 (08/20/2013 )

Join Julian Bucknall and members of the DevExpress XAF team as we discuss the new features currently in development and expected to ship as part of our Universal Subscription v13.2.

REGISTER HERE

Do not miss other DevExpress webinars at http://www.devexpress.com/Support/Webinars/  

Quick Access Navigation on the Web

I just would like to remind you about a feature that currently exists only in XAF Web UI, but which is for some reason is rarely used by customers (at least from what I see in the Support Center while helping other customers). Please refer to the attached screenshot:

Does it look familiar to you?
If not, then please refer to the XAF documentation to learn more about the IModelNavigationItem.QuickAccessItem property. You can set it via the Model Editor for a required navigation item while configuring the navigation system under the NavigationItems node.
Technically, these items are rendered by the QuickAccessNavigationActionContainer class placed within the default web page template.

Hope, I will see this small feature more often in your apps from now. As for the Win UI, you may be interested in tracking the Navigation - Allow end-users to mark certain navigation items as favorite  ticket, which is a more general request.