The Year in Review and Our Plans for 2018

As this year comes to a close, we at Stadium wanted to reflect on the year that has been, and look forward to the year ahead. Most importantly, we want to thank you, our users, for trusting us to meet your development needs and look forward to working with you in 2018.

A year ago we had spreadsheets full of goals and we’re proud to say we knocked (most of) them out of the park. Thank you for making 2017 unforgettable.

In 2017, we were proud to bring you

• Direct Page-Script interaction

  Being able to access page controls directly from inside scripts allows for simplified and more powerful scripting.

• Session Variables: Logged-in user information

  Basic information of the logged-in user can now be used in the application.

• User REST Web Api

  Basic management of the Stadium users in generated applications.

• Simplified query creation

  Use the Tables & Views Pane to quickly and easily generate queries for specific tables or views. Also use this pane to see what tables and columns are available in your database while writing your query.

• Expressions

  Build expressions by using a combination of javascript and application values and then assign the result of the expression to either controls or actions.

What’s in store for 2018!?

We are already planning some exciting updates, including more features, updates to the UI and a further streamlined experience including a new website.

• Events

  PageLoad and OnChange are some of the many other events we will be introducing. This will allow designers to greatly enhance the interactivity and the user experience of applications built with Stadium.

• Static Data

  Include files & images as static data into your Stadium application and use them in controls and actions.

• Stadium Server

  The Stadium Server will allow deploying applications to remote servers as well as managing your already generated applications.

• File System DataSource

  A DataSource that will allow you to access your filesystem.

• WebService DataSource

  This DataSource will allow you to invoke and use a WebService like you would a database.

Lastly, we want to implement the great feedback you are giving us - so please continue to let us know what you’re working on and never be shy to suggest new features and improvements.

It’s been a year of highs and lows, but one thing is certain: all of us at Stadium are proud of what we and our users have accomplished in the past year. Your work is the reason why we come to work everyday. We are dedicated to bring your ideas, your creativity, and your businesses to life on the web - and we couldn’t do it without you.

Happy holidays

The Stadium team

Stadium 4.2.2836.6165 is now available

Stadium 4.2.2836.6165 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following bug fixes:

• RDL Report Viewer fails to expand rows (#2938)
• IsExportable on Links does not work (#2887)
• Changes to Stadium Concurrent Login (#2873)

Stadium 5.8.1985.6160 is now available

We are releasing our first version of the Web Api that will simplify integrating the user database with other systems. On top of this, there are many other added features and improvements.

The features I want to draw your attention to in this version are:

• Web Api

  Access and manage users of generated applications via a REST web api. To see more on this, generate an application and visit the API menu of the Admin section in the browser.

• More powerful Image control

  The image control can now display images straight from a database or get an url to an image using datasources, settings, page parameters or expressions. Best of all, the control can be accessed from inside of a script allowing you to dynamically change which image is displayed without the need to renavigate to the page.

• 'Google-like' file upload

  Upload multiple files at once by selecting them from a file selector or by dragging them straight into the box. They will immediately start uploading without the need to press the upload button.

• New action: Call script

  Call other scripts from within a script. You now have the ability to break big unwieldy scripts into smaller more concise scripts and invoke them when needed. Creating smaller scripts leads to more readable and understandable applications as they grow bigger.

• Improvements to the Tables & Views pane of a Query

  Quickly generate CRUD queries by making use of our generator. Do this by right clicking on a table or view and choosing between a Select, Insert, Update or Delete statement. Changes have also been made to enhance both usability and the performance of this pane.

• Lists can now be set using JSON

  The items for any list control, i.e. CheckBoxList, RadioButtonList or Dropdown, can now be set by assigning a JSON object to the Options property. This simplifies reuse of lists across controls.

• More wide-spread use of expressions on actions

  Expressions proved to be so useful on the SetValue action, that we decided to make them available to all actions.

Please download this latest version and let us know what you think! Other added features and bug fixes are listed below.

Features

• Allow a Query to execute CREATE PROCEDURE
• All controls should have a Visible Property
• Change email to be the username of a user
• SetValue should allow column mapping when setting DataGrid.Data
• Allow assigning a query with output parameters to a control or action
• Connections and Queries: Always test/execute through the service in the Designer
• In the Menu Control: Order the pagenames in the Destination Page dropdown of the MenuItem
• Change all boolean values from True/False to true/false
• Remove the .NET Framework 3.5 dependency

Bug

• DataGrid search fails when searching for dates
• Pasting an action should select that action afterwards
• Do not allow tabbing into the texbox on the canvas
• Controls should be highlighted when their properties show
• Oracle should allow defining parameters with @
• A control cannot be dragged onto the canvas immediately after creating a new application
• Application Explorer loses focus after selecting a page, script, template, query or stored procedure
• No-typing ReferenceCombobox does not grab focus when dropped down
• ReferenceComboBox incorrectly changes the property description on the PropertyGrid
• Fonts missing from themes folders
• Uninstall does not remove Stadium from the StartMenu of Windows
• ODBC and Oracle render illegal column names
• Control loses focus after moving it on the canvas
• Edge reports 404 when fetching the generateSourceMap file
• Float icon overlaps tab when making the pane very narrow
• DataGridColumn renames header text when changing
• DataGridColumns across separate DataGrids can be selected simultaneously
• Tab stops with parameters in the Property Grid are incorrect
• Error page image is being cut-off
• Validations DropDown in the Property Grid allows moving through items with up and down arrows
• AutoMapping of fields for MySQL does not happen
• Horizontal Scrollbar is in the middle of the dropdown of the ReferenceComboBox
• Admin section does not populate the Page property on the Access Denied error page
• When all submenu items are unaccessible, hide the top level item
• Executing a stored proc via a query lists the parameters of the stored proc as parameters to the query
• DataSource toolbar menu does not highlight the submenu hovering over
• Tab order is not correct for the properties of the TextBox
• When opening the Stadium Designer, an exception is thrown if access is denied to the pc's environment properties
• Exception thrown when pasting an action on the page canvas
• The latest styles and scripts are not used on applications created on Stadium 5.7 and then upgraded to Stadium 5.8
• When dragging a table, view or column into a query below the sql text, a No-entry icon is shown
• Do not ask to remember the password when creating a windows authenticated admin user
• Prevent update queries being assigned as datasource for datagrids
• Property dropdown does not close when tabbing between programs
• Cannot call methods on References in the Expression Editor
• Tables & Views cannot be retrieved for example database, Wide Wolrd Importers
• Update PropertyGrid when adding or removing MenuItems on the canvas
• Image on the ErrorPage jumps to the left of the text at a certain width
• Do not allow Expressions on control properties
• DataGrid column not updating property grid when Database was selected
• ReferenceComboBox throws NullReferenceException in certain scenarios
• The Help file menu remains highlighted after the dialog closes
• DataGrid did not resolve fields correctly with spaces in the name
• 'Internal Server Error' exception occurs when testing the database connection

Stadium 4.2.2833.6157 is available

Stadium 4.2.2833.6157 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following bug fixes:

• GridIterator CheckBoxList variable not returning a value (Zendesk #2874)

Stadium 4.2.2832.6155 is available

Stadium 4.2.2832.6155 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

• Standard Bank Security Issues (Zendesk #2667)
• DataGrid SelectAllCheckBox column selects all checkboxes across all DataGrids on the page (Zendesk #2806)
• Image control cropping issue when on the same page as an UploadFile control (Zendesk #2801)

Stadium 5.7.1913.5819 is now available

The new version of Stadium 5 has exciting new features and improvements handing the designer of applications a lot more control and power.

I would like to draw your attention to some of these new features:

• Direct Page/Script interaction

  Scripts were seen as closed entities, not having access to the controls on the same page except via script parameters. This has been changed. Controls on the same page can now be accessed directly from your script. You can also set properties of controls using the new SetValue action.

• Session Variables: Logged-in user information

  Basic information of the logged-in user can now be used in the application. This information will only be populated if your site makes use of authentication, i.e. not an anonymous site.

• New Action: Variable

  Variables are moved from script level to be items within the script, enabling the variables to have scope.

• Allow a user to change his own password

Other added features, improvements and bug fixes are listed below:

Features

• Create the error, access denied and 404 pages
• Move the nuget packages to MyGet
• Change Stadium application icon for the designer
• Admin section: Change the 'To Application' menu item to be an arrow
• A new node to the Application Explorer should immediately be in edit mode
• Change the FormWizard scripts to make use of direct page / script interaction
• Change the name of the FormWizard scripts that are generated
• Speed up opening the designer
• Limit the Application Name to 49 characters due to IIS restrictions
• In the generated application, prevent firing a script twice on double click
• Order queries/stored procs alphabetically in ReferenceCombobox
• Change the file menu 'Release Notes' to 'Stadium 5 Blog'
• Introduce a Tables & Columns pane on the Query Editor
• Query Editor: Implement SQL syntax highlighting
• Add a "quick help" to the DataGrid Search
• ExecuteSQLCommand: Allow results and output parameters to be used further down in script
• CallWebService: Allow using result further down in the script
• UploadFile control should return uploaded filename
• More descriptive error messages on UploadFile control
• DataGrid and ExecuteSQLCommand should not allow typing a value into the DataSource property
• Remove SetOutput and SetVariable actions (the SetValue action replaces them)
• New Action: SetValue

Improvement

• Better naming of a Copy-pasted item
• Improved upgrading process via the Designer
• Remove the hamburgers from the query/stored proc parameters
• Show more information when a exception is thrown on save
• Space items equally on the menu bar
• DataGrid LinkColumn on a template threw an exception
• Script Variables Editor in Property Grid caused an exception
• Event Info not updating in Designer

Bug

• [STADFIVE-1843] - Control added at top of canvas if dropped at the bottom of the page
• [STADFIVE-1989] - LayoutTable inserts new row at wrong index
• [STADFIVE-1990] - Merge places all the controls horizontally next to each other
• [STADFIVE-1991] - Unnecessary wrapping of controls in LayoutGrid
• [STADFIVE-1996] - Set CurrentObject after deleting a control
• [STADFIVE-1997] - Script canvas loses focus after delete
• [STADFIVE-2003] - Query Pane Fields and Parameters has too many tab stops
• [STADFIVE-2004] - LayoutGrid always stacks controls
• [STADFIVE-2006] - LayoutGrid holds onto focus after merging cells (Causes copy paste and context menu issues)
• [STADFIVE-2009] - Query / Stored Proc naming issue
• [STADFIVE-2013] - Caching causes page to remember previous page parameter value
• [STADFIVE-2014] - Do not open sapz files made in future versions of Stadium
• [STADFIVE-2019] - Application Explorer node loses focus after renaming
• [STADFIVE-2020] - Cannot edit DataGrid Column headers on the canvas
• [STADFIVE-2023] - Error when opening file
• [STADFIVE-2026] - Deleting a script from an event causes NullReferenceException
• [STADFIVE-2029] - Canceling event creation causes NullReferenceException
• [STADFIVE-2031] - Copying and pasting a query causes error when trying to save the file later
• [STADFIVE-2034] - Designer throws exception when adding a control to the page
• [STADFIVE-2039] - Stadium Designer crashes
• [STADFIVE-2041] - Create new application using Folder toolbar button causes exception
• [STADFIVE-2043] - Not allowed to drop action on second drag
• [STADFIVE-2045] - Fields and Parameters Selection colour is wrong shade of blue
• [STADFIVE-2052] - Clicking on a DataGrid column does not select the column
• [STADFIVE-2056] - Installer drops the DownloadAllVersions appSetting
• [STADFIVE-2061] - DataGrid column Header Text should update if the field name changes
• [STADFIVE-2062] - Edge issue: Cannot scroll on a readonly Textbox
• [STADFIVE-2063] - ReferenceCombobox tabs into the 'hint' textbox
• [STADFIVE-2064] - Stadium error page: Page and Control are always blank
• [STADFIVE-2066] - Form Wizard throws NullReferenceException
• [STADFIVE-2067] - Name not displaying in Property Explorer for certain elements
• [STADFIVE-2069] - Upgrading Stadium removes the Custom.css from the WebApp.Template
• [STADFIVE-2070] - When generating over an existing IIS application, an error is occasionally thrown
• [STADFIVE-2071] - Cancel on the Application Explorer loses focus
• [STADFIVE-2072] - Form Wizard throws an exception when generating the form
• [STADFIVE-2075] - Some generated pages cause a syntax error in the web console
• [STADFIVE-2080] - Generation throws an System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbUpdateException exception
• [STADFIVE-2082] - Make ReferenceCombobox dropdown longer
• [STADFIVE-2084] - NullReferenceException thrown on save
• [STADFIVE-2089] - Images are not viewable when visiting the site remotely
• [STADFIVE-2106] - ReferenceComboBox does not want to close
• [STADFIVE-2110] - IIS Worker process crashes
• [STADFIVE-2115] - Property Grid loses focus when spacebar is used to check checkbox
• [STADFIVE-2132] - Setting the width of the image to 'auto' renders incorrectly
• [STADFIVE-2134] - Strange behaviour when dragging the designer window
• [STADFIVE-2140] - Error is hidden behind designer when opening a sapz file by double clicking
• [STADFIVE-2155] - Invisible elements can be seen when the page loads
• [STADFIVE-2165] - Dragging a control causes a NullReferenceException
• [STADFIVE-2203] - Sql Server type 'geography' throws error when retrieving Fields & Parameters
• [STADFIVE-2206] - New Page icon is disabled on context menus
• [STADFIVE-2231] - Moving the DataGrid into a Panel causes a object reference error
• [STADFIVE-2232] - Field names and query column names with spaces in cause script errors
• [STADFIVE-2235] - Canceling an event creation throws object reference exception
• [STADFIVE-2240] - Designer crashes when attempting to open the databases dropdown on the Query Editor with a faulty connection
• [STADFIVE-2241] - Database dropdown in the Query Editor toggles without something happening
• [STADFIVE-2242] - Connection String Editor can be closed without closing the popup dialog first
• [STADFIVE-2243] - List of open pages and scripts doubles up the icons
• [STADFIVE-2251] - Hyperlink in a column of the DataGrid does not wrap
• [STADFIVE-2253] - Can't change the case of headers or querystrings on the CallWebService action
• [STADFIVE-2258] - Keep Query tab open when something changed
• [STADFIVE-2230] - ODBC and Oracle render illegal column names

Thanks to the entire team: Bernhard, Anthony, Amol, DT, Rafael, Solveig, Franz and Leah! Welcome to Solveig who joined our team in July.

Stadium 4.2.2831.6148 is available

Stadium 4.2.2831.6148 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

• Add a 'Crop Height' and 'Crop Width' property to the ImageViewer for fixed size cropping (Zendesk #2584)

Stadium 4.2.2830.6146 is available

Stadium 4.2.2830.6146 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

• Stadium Server Side Paging/Filtering - Multiple Column Names (Zendesk #2662)

Stadium 4.2.2828.6142 is available

Stadium 4.2.2828.6142 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

• Encrypt the filepath sent as parameter to ImageViewer Control
• Add 'EnableRequiredField' property for TextBoxField inside of DataInput and DetailsView (Zendesk #2445)
• Filter retains incorrect data after error pop-up (Zendesk #2469)

Stadium 4.2.2827.6137 is available

Stadium 4.2.2827.6137 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

• Removed the requirement to run Stadium on a server with the culture set to en-ZA (Zendesk #2569). This was implemented with an override option available to prevent any negative impact on existing applications out there.
• For fresh installs the fix will automatically be activated. 
• For upgrades activate the fix by adding the following into the AppSettings section of the Stadium 4 web.config file:  <add key="UseRegionalSettingsBugFix" value="true"/>

Stadium 4.2.2825.6133 is available

Stadium 4.2.2825.6133 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

• Added Server-Side ComboBox for DataGrids (Zendesk #2089)
• Column name with spaces causes an exception when using server-side paging (Zendesk #2300)

Chrome deprecates the 'Subject' property in certificates

The following change will not affect you, if:

• you are not using a secure site
• your certificate already contains a 'Subject Alternative Name'  property.

The latest version of Chrome has deprecated the 'Subject' property on the SSL certificate and uses 'Subject Alternative Name' property instead.

From now onwards, should you browse to an application that uses a certificate without a 'Subject Alternative Name', a privacy error will be shown. Also, some images might not render properly.

The way to resolve this is to install a new certificate on the server with the 'Subject Alternative Name' property.

See this for more information.

Thanks Dina for bringing this to our attention!

Stadium 4.2.2823.6127 is available

Stadium 4.2.2823.6127 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

Improvement:

• Add a property 'IsExported' to the DataGrid column (Zendesk #2100)
• Decimal added as variable type on click-event (Zendesk #2149)
• Create an Html colulmn for the DataGrid (Zendesk #2095)

Stadium 5.6.1786.5197 is available

Stadium 5.6.1786.5197 is now available. Head over to the Stadium Website to download it.

Important new features:

• Feedback
  User feedback is very important to us. That is why we introduced a way for you to tell us what you think and which features you feel are missing straight from within the Stadium Designer. So please tell us!! :D
• Optimized query execution
  If the same query is used multiple times per page, code will be generated to execute the query once and re-use the result.
• Updating of the generated application
  Generating from the Stadium Designer will always update all settings on the site - After the initial generation of the web application via the Stadium Designer, the application can be updated via 2 different methods:
  1. Via the Stadium Designer (using the 'Run' button) - This is seen as debugging your application and will always use the settings defined in the sapz file as the source. Any settings on the generated web app will be overwritten with the values found in the sapz file.
  2. Via the Admin Site (using the Upload Application feature) - This should be used to update production or live environments. Using this route will not update/change any connections or settings  that have been altered on the Settings page of the Admin Site (altered connections/settings are indicated by the word 'edited' displayed next to them). Only the unaltered connections/settings that have been changed/added in the sapz file will be updated/added on the site. 
• Notification action
  This action displays toastr notifications to the user. Use this to keep your user updated as to what your script is busy doing or what your script accomplished.
• Save and Cancel was re-introduced on the dialogs
• Separated filename from Virtual Directory name
  Because of the differences between what a filename allows and what a Virtual Directory name allows, we thought it useful to split the two. Should you wish to, you can now set the Application Name (Virtual Directory Name) in the Stadium Designer. If not, we will sanitize the filename and use that as the Virtual Directory Name.

Things you need to know:

We had a bug on panels specifying transparent borders. When applications saved these panels, they were incorrectly specified as white. This has been fixed in the latest version but unfortunately requires you to manually set them back to Transparent when opening the application in the Designer.

Among other new features and improvements are:

• No data being returned is now handled as an empty value and not as a problem / exception anymore.
• Introduced a delete button on editors displaying a list of items
• Stabilized the Upload Application feature on the Admin site.
• TextBox now renders out an <input> if it is specified to only have 1 line. Previously, it would always render out a textarea.
• RadioButtonList defaults can now be set using a single string coming from a query
• Improved the Login screen
• Menu and toolbar changes
• 'Add a query' button was removed from the Form Wizard
• Show a clearer message to the user when a sql error occurs
• On scripting, allow placing other actions after a GetFile action
• Started our journey to even more powerful ways of using DataSources
• Queries and Stored Procs are now grouped per connection in the Application Explorer
• The Query Editor is now being displayed on the Canvas instead of a popup

Bug fixes:

• IIS Express Port specified in the config file was not used
• RadioButtonList with no default value caused a script error
• GetFile 
• failed to open pdf files
• did not stop executing the script when it failed
• FileUpload control did not clear the filename from the textbox after upload
• Queries specified but not being used in the application should not cause errors during generation
• Query failed when using a page parameter that is not present in the QueryString
• Renaming Query Parameters incorrectly updated them in the sql text
• Certain query parameter types caused errors during runtime
• An exception occurred when using the Form Wizard on a datagrid found inside of a panel
• Transparent panel borders did not take the theme into account
• Stadium did not successfully convert strings to Guid's
• Menu control: submenu items could not be deleted via the Menu Items Editor
• Form Wizard threw an exception if the focus was on a folder in the Application Explorer
• Cannot paste to the page canvas if the page was selected via the tab at the top of the canvas
• Copy paste issue regarding Layout Table control
• Error occurred when clicking on the Event Validation
• Double clicking a Decision Condition Validation did not open the Conditions Editor
• Drag drop issues
• UI related fixes:
• The DropDown control jumped around when clicking on it in the Stadium Designer
• Issue around the Context Menu when moving from grid column to the page
• The canvas jumped up when adding controls to the LayoutGrid
• Canvas jumped when selecting controls
• ReferenceCombobox with parameters caused property grid alignment issues
• Admin Site:
• The 'Enter' key should not add a newline when editing a connection on the Settings page
• Several other bugs were fixed

Thanks to the entire team: Bernhard, Anthony, Greg, Amol, Darshit, Franz and Leah! And welcome to Rafael who joined our team a week ago.

Stadium 4.2.2822.6120 is available

Stadium 4.2.2822.6120 is available for download from the Twenty57 website. It contains the following:

Improvements:

• Include the JQuery images in the install
• Improved error handling
• Add a 'DefaultInclude' property on filter fields (Zendesk #2053)

Bug fixes:

• In certain scenarios, the StadiumErrorPage caused an in infinite loop of redirects to occur. Steps have been taken to prevent this loop. Also additional logging has been introduced to provide more transparency as to the source of the problem. 
• Chrome only issue: A child grid event fails if in a Panel with width set to 100% (Zendesk #2057)