OpenEdge 11.2 provides the ability for REST clients to initiate the execution of business logic on an OpenEdge AppServer, and to receive back results from that execution. REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for distributed computing that was defined in conjunction with the HTTP protocol. A REST client is similar to any other OpenEdge client, and uses HTTP as its communication protocol.
REST support in OpenEdge includes:
Application development tools in Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge (Developer Studio)
Testing on a built-in Web server (Apache Tomcat) in Developer Studio
Configuration and management through command line tools or OpenEdge Explorer/OpenEdge Management
Secure REST application configuration supported using the Spring Security framework
Publishing REST applications to external Web servers
OpenEdge Mobile application support
OpenEdge Mobile allows you to build a complete mobile application, including the mobile UI, with access to AppServer business logic and data that you can deploy on a variety of popular mobile and Web devices and platforms, including:
Apple iOS devices, such as the iPhone and iPad
Android devices, including numerous smart phones and tablets made by a variety of manufacturers
Web browsers running on a wide variety of computers and mobile devices
Apache Tomcat Web server for REST access to the AppServer
OpenEdge Mobile supports development for two basic types of mobile UI (Mobile App):
Web apps that run in a Web browser on multiple platforms and devices
Native apps that are built the same as Web apps, but that are deployed to run in native device containers
You can build and test all application components end-to-end, including the AppServer and corresponding Mobile services, the Mobile App, and the Web transport between them, using OpenEdge Mobile tools available through Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge (PDSOE). When your application development is complete, you can then deploy the application components as required to supported mobile devices and Web platforms.
OpenEdge AppBuilder integration
The 11.2 Release of Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge (Developer Studio) includes the integration of the OpenEdge AppBuilder. The new improved seamless AppBuilder integration makes Developer Studio a one-stop solution for developing and maintaining ABL GUI applications.
The AppBuilder integration introduces a new design editor for designing AppBuilder GUI applications called ABL UI Designer. This design editor allows developers to draw widgets and generate source code, similar to the Visual Designer that is used to build GUI for .NET applications.
With this integration, the following OpenEdge AppBuilder capabilities can be accessed from within the Developer Studio:
OpenEdge AppBuilder perspective to build AppBuilder GUI applications within an OpenEdge project.
AppBuilder options available as AppBuilder preferences and project properties in the Developer Studio. These options allow developers to control the behavior of AppBuilder and ABL UI Designer such as Dynamics, Editor, Grid Units, and Widget ID settings.
ABL GUI applications are OpenEdge project-aware. That is, developer can set common properties for all the ABL GUI applications defined in an OpenEdge project using AppBuilder properties.
AppBuilder templates and wizards to develop new ABL GUI applications. Stand-alone AppBuilder templates and wizards run embedded in Eclipse standard wizards from within the Developer Studio.
Design ABL GUI applications using the ABL UI Designer editor which extends the native AppBuilder functionality such as dock-able widget palette, look and feel of Visual Designer editor, hierarchical widget Outline view, and synchronization between the AB UI Designer and ABL Editor.
Improved ABL Editor to make sections of the AppBuilder-generated code read-only and foldable. This ensures that developers do not inadvertently modify the AppBuilder-generated code while editing the ABL application code is the ABL Editor.
AppBuilder Section Editor to view specific block of code using the object nodes created in the Outline view. You can use the Section Editor Toggle button to enable or disable the Section Editor capability.
Progress Dynamics features such as Open Dynamics Object, Register to Repository, Save Dynamics Object as Static, Save Static Object as Dynamic, and Open Associate Procedure.
PRO*Tools utilities categorized into these three menu options: General PRO*Tools, AppBuilder PRO*Tools, and ADM2 PRO*Tools.
The OpenEdge AppBuilder can either run embedded in Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge or as a standalone application.
ABL Scratchpad view
The 11.2 release of Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge includes a new multi-tabbed view called ABL Scratchpad that allows you to write and test the ABL code without having to save it or creating a new file or project. This saves time and avoids the need to create a project or document multiple times for testing the code in different runtimes.
The ABL Scratchpad view appears in all the OpenEdge perspectives except the DB Navigator perspective. By default, this view appears at the bottom of the page in all the perspectives.
Application development tools in Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge (Developer Studio)