5 cool features you won’t want to miss

There are so much improvements, new features and capabilities that made possible in our new 2007 R1 release, for instances SmartWebResources, file cache server, new datasource control, new UI styles and more. With all these new stuff, sometimes it’s easy to miss certain small features, but in fact very useful ones.

Ok let’s just go to the points. In the following, you can find the list of top 5 cool things that you won’t want to miss in our 2007 R1 release.

1. Enable SmartWebResources and deploy with confidence.
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   We have received tremendous praises from developers that they loved this feature very much. Why? This feature saved their valuable time by enabling them to perform deployment with just xcopy — no more scripts and images folder copying or IIS headaches. Unbelievable, but true!
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   Here are some useful links to get you started with SmartWebResources:
   How-to: Configure SmartWebResources in a web application
   Features and benefits introduced by SmartWebResourcesâ„¢
   How does SmartWebResourcesâ„¢ work
    
2. Loved our new UI and styles? Then try our new DefaultStyle.
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   DefaultStyle is a new feature in WebGrid, WebCombo and WebInput. It enables these components to use modern UI styles automatically – without the need to load layout. You can enable them by simply setting a property.
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   Here are some useful links to get you started with DefaultStyle:
   How-to: Enable Default Style for existing instance of WebGrid
   Cleaner and reduced page output through built-in default style
   UseDefaultStyle property (server-side reference)
    
3. Data binding made easy with our new-born ISDataSource control.
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   It’s inevitable that many developers missed the DataSet binding feature in VS2005 since Microsoft decided to introduce datasource control in ASP.NET 2 and hence remove the ability to bind to DataSet in designtime. While the new datasource control concept is better (since it offers higher reusability and easier implementation through declarative markup), ASP.NET Team did not manage to come up with multi-table datasource control and hence causing databinding a bit more complex in VS2005.
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   ISDataSource brings back the good old days DataSet databinding ability to VS2005 in the form of datasource control. So you got the best of both worlds — ability to bind to DataSet and still have the power and benefits of datasource control.
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   Here are some useful links to get you started with ISDataSource:
   Walkthrough: Binding to data using ISDataSource.NET
   ISDataSource Architecture
   Walkthrough: Binding to Hierarchical data using ISDataSource.NET
    
4. Want to keep important information visible in your Grid view? Then freeze it.
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   Column freezing is always the most wanted feature in every data presentation application. Our experiences with column freezing has started since the DOS era where we used Clipper to build column freezing Grid. We absolutely understand how users expect the column freezing behavior in today’s Web era. The implementation is truly complicated, but we have made it very easy for you to enable it. With some property changes, you can now enjoy column freezing using WebGrid.NET Enterprise 5.0.
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   Here are some useful links to get you started with Column Freezing feature:
   How-to: Enable column freezing and configure initial settings
   How-to: Allow user to freeze/unfreeze at runtime
   Column Freezing Overview
   LiveFreezeâ„¢ behaviors and other notes
    
5. Keep your web user interface stylish with our pixel-perfect Office 2007 styles for WebDesktop components.
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   Many vendors claimed that they supported Office 2007 styles, and yet many developers told us that they were not satisfied with the components they were using before, because the Office 2007 styles that the other vendors provided are still far away from the real Office 2007 styles.
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   Our Office 2007 UI and styles are different. We have the closest styles and UI implementation to the real Office 2007 styles, because we take care on every single pixel of the appearance — even the smallest factors like padding, margin and border width. The good news is our 2007 styles rendered perfectly and consistently in both IE and Mozilla browsers.
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   Here are some useful links to get you started with our new Office 2007 styles:
   WebDesktopManager Office 2007 Style
   The complete WebUI Studio.NET® 2007 components in the fashion of Office 2007 Style
   WebTab Office 2007 Style
   Using Component Designer 2.0 to apply predefined style

Have a nice day and happy developing with WebUI Studio.NET 2007 R1! Enjoy!