m-Power Gets Preview Function, Multi-Language Support

February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

Developers who use mrc‘s m-Power tool will no longer have to compile their m-Power applications to see how their changes affect the application thanks to the new preview function that was added last month. The Chicago company also added a new feature that allows a single application to support multiple languages.

m-Power now features a preview window that allows users to see their applications take shape during the build process. According to mrc, the preview window will provide invaluable feedback to the developers as they customize applications using the templates and wizards that are at the heart of m-Power.

The company says the new feature will minimize mistakes by showing developers exactly how any changes will impact the end application. It will also speed up the development process, since users no longer need to compile the application to see how it works.

“The application preview window turns development into an even more visual experience,” mrc’s director of development Brian Crowley states in a press release. “Most importantly, it will further simplify application development for m-Power users, which is our highest goal.”

The preview function was one of a number of enhancements added last month to m-Power. The other major enhancement is support for multiple languages within a single m-Power application.

The vendor says that each time an application is compiled m-Power will automatically create and translate additional presentation layers for each language that has been configured. Developers will have the opportunity to tweak the default translation tables for full customization.

Other minor enhancements include an improvement that enables reports to show the correct field values for sequence keys at the sub-total level; better handling of fieldset tags in HTML; better “suggest” auto-completions in AJAX; streamlined installation; and improved handling of date calculations in the calendar template.

m-Power generates applications in Java, but since it uses a template-based approach, developers don’t need to know Java to use it. The software is typically used to write Web-based applications, such as business intelligence systems and e-commerce applications, that run on IBM i and any other Java-enabled platform.