XMod Pro 5 is now in its first public beta. It’s the biggest change the XMod product line has seen in its 20+ year history. I realize biggest change sounds a lot like marketing-speak, so let me explain.
I’d been carrying around an idea of how the XMod Pro workspace should feel long before I could actually build it.
The interface you’re familiar with started life 17-ish years ago. IE 6 and 7, Firefox, and Safari were the dominant browsers. Google Chrome didn’t arrive publicly until December of 2008. What I built, using jQuery and jQueryUI has served well, but it was built for what browsers could do back then. They’ve come a long way since.
Version 5 is a full-on replacement of that interface. It’s not just a pretty face, it’s a re-think of the user experience. I took what I’ve heard from you for all these years and designed the UI to make you more productive: create resources faster, find them quicker, leverage more of XMP’s power without having to dive into code.
Above all, I want to thank you for sticking with XMod Pro (and me) over these years. I look at version 5 as a way to say thank you for hanging in there with us. I hope you enjoy it.
There is so much that’s new, I can’t begin to cover it in one post. I’ll be giving each of the big changes their own spotlight over the coming days and weeks, but here’s a quick overview.
Tabbed Editing
Version 4 was one file at a time. Now, just like in VS Code or any modern desktop editor, you can open multiple files at once, each in its own tab.
Global Search and Commands
A global search sits behind Ctrl+K (or a toolbar mouse click) and surfaces any form, view, feed, or project the moment you start typing. No more paging through Manage screens to find the form you touched last Tuesday.
Further, if you type > you can choose from a list of commands (á la VS Code) to create resources or open a tool.
Backups and Versioning
Saving a file now comes with a full history you can retrieve so an overwrite or a browser crash doesn’t cost you an afternoon of work. It happens automatically when you save the file. You can even go back and compare two versions to see exactly what changed and recover that snippet of code you inadvertently deleted.
Power to the SQL
The database tools are now on steroids. Not only can you create tables from within the Control Panel but you can edit them and even create foreign key indexes (lookup tables). And, for good measure, you can browse the table’s data to see what the actual data looks like.
Projects
Most of the time, you use forms, views, and feeds together to create an application. Why should you have to hunt around in the various “Manage” screens to find all of them. Now you can simply put them all in a project and find them in an instant. Even better - a single click will open all of them at once in their respective tabs, ready for editing.
The Beta and Some Ground Rules
That’s the overview. Here’s where you come in. It’s a beta. It will break in spots and finding these spots is the entire reason its out there.
Do not install on a production site: It’s beta software. Expect bugs.
The beta will expire: This is pegged at 90 days from the release date. You will be unable to edit or manage your resources once it expires (unless you have an active support license).
Get this and future betas in the Downloads section of this site. For now it’s only available to current XMod Pro customers.
Requirements: The beta will run on any 9.2+ or DNN 10+ version of DNN. Make sure to pick the correct installation package.
Then try it on a copy of an existing site or with existing files. We want to make sure the app can still edit and run your existing forms, views (templates), and feeds. NOTE: DNN doesn’t allow you to “downgrade” from v5 to 4.9x. You will have to restore from your pre-v5 backups to do so. Another reason not to install on a production site.
Backups of your DB and website are highly recommended before installing beta software - even on a newly created test site. This will allow you to get back up and running more quickly.
Reporting Bugs/Problems/Confusion
When something trips you up or falls over, tell me at [email protected]. Tell me what happened, with as much detail as you can, including steps to reproduce and error messages from the DNN Event Log and or browser developer console. Screenshots are usually helpful.
You can also post to the Discussion page with any questions or thoughts you may have. Please use the tag xmp5beta.
It’s taken nearly a year to get to this point and I’m really excited to get this into your hands and hear what you think. Click the link below to discuss this.
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