OpenLaszlo 4.2.0.2 is the next fully-qualified release since OpenLaszlo 4.2, and is the recommended platform for all application development in the SWF8, SWF9, and DHTML runtimes. This release addresses critical user-reported bugs primarily in the swf9 runtime, but also in DHTML.
For those of you who have already upgraded your applications to OpenLaszlo 4.2, no further work is needed. You should just start using OpenLaszlo 4.2.0.2.
For those of you who have 4.0.x or 4.1.1 applications, we strongly suggest that you refer to this wiki page: Runtime_Differences. This page discusses the changes required by SWF9 and also provides a methodology for upgrading your application. It is very important that you run the automated conversion scripts in the recommended order, should you choose to take advantage of them.
The 4.2.0.2 release adds a section at the end of every documentation page where you can add an example or comment that expands upon the existing documentation or shows a non-obvious usage of a feature (or work-around for a bug that you have already filed) in OpenLaszlo. Documentation bugs or feature requests should be filed in our bug tracking system as in previous releases.
The 4.2.0.2 release includes more than 30 bug fixes since 4.2; we have provided links to our JIRA bug tracking system where you can view the details:
OpenLaszlo 4.2 is the next fully-qualified release since OpenLaszlo 4.1.1, and is the recommended platform for all application development in the SWF8, SWF9, and DHTML runtimes. This release follows the interim OpenLaszlo 4.2 Beta 3 release. The major new feature in OpenLaszlo 4.2 is the introduction of the SWF9 runtime, which can offer significant performance gains. Unlike previous versions of the Flash player, SWF9 has much stronger typing requirements and you must modify your code to take advantage of the performance gains it offers. To assist you in upgrading your applications to OpenLaszlo 4.2, we have provided various conversion scripts depending on your application goals.
To migrate your 4.0.X or 4.1.1 applications, we strongly suggest that you refer to this wiki page: Runtime_Differences. This page discusses the changes required by SWF9 and also provides a methodology for upgrading your application. It is very important that you run the automated conversion scripts in the recommended order, should you choose to take advantage of them.
This release has been fully tested on the following operating systems/browser/runtime platforms:
where: IE7 is Internet Explorer 7; FF3 is Firefox 3; and SAF3 is Safari 3. Please note that although we have also done some testing with Windows Vista, OpenLaszlo 4.2 has not been fully qualified against that operating system at this time. Please see the section below, Running OpenLaszlo Server on Windows Vista, for more information.
As with any initial release of a new runtime platform, there will be edge cases that have problems. For OpenLaszlo 4.2, incubator components have not yet been updated to run; the same is true for the charting and graphing utilities, which continue to remain at a beta level. SOAP support is another area that is still very rough. These are straightforward tasks that would welcome community involvement. If you are interested in contributing to the project, please send us an email for more information.
For every release, we rely on the OpenLaszlo community to help ensure the quality of the platform release and to determine its future direction. To propose or participate in discussion of new features, see the Wiki. We encourage you to report any problems, and to make suggestions for enhancements, through our bug tracking system. We'd also like to hear from you on the mailing lists and in the forums.
There is a new compiler switch in WEB-INF/lps/config/lps.properties:
compiler.swf9.execflex=false
This switch controls whether the flex swf9 compiler is invoked in the same Java thread as the
LPS Server, or using a separate exec'ed process. Setting execflex=false will be
more portable, as it doesn't depend on the shell and execution of a subprocess, however it
will require more max heap memory for the LPS Server. A minimum of 1024MB is recommended for
the Java -Xmx max heap memory init option.
If execflex is set to true, the flex compiler will be invoked in a separate
process. This will use less heap memory from the main LPS server or servlet process. On Unix
and OSX systems, the files in WEB-INF/bin/mxmlc and
WEB-INF/bin/compc will need to be set to executable permissions in the
filesystem. This should happen automatically in the release, but may not be set correctly when
deploying a WAR file using Tomcat's servlet manager; in that case those file permissions may
need to be set by hand.
addFormat() Method for <text>There is a new method on <text>, addFormat(), that
does the same as format, but appends to any existing text.
See the Text Views chapter of the Developer's Guide for a description and example.
There are two options. The first option is to manually ask for administrator privileges whenever you want to start or stop the OpenLaszlo Server.
Navigate to Start->All Programs->OpenLaszlo Server->Start OpenLaszlo Server.
Right click and select Run as administrator.
Click Continue when Vista displays a dialog box asking for permission.
Use the same procedure to select Stop OpenLaszlo Server or OpenLaszlo Explorer.
The second option is to modify the application shortcuts to run as administrator whenever they are selected.
Navigate to Start->All Programs->OpenLaszlo Server->Start OpenLaszlo Server. Right click and select Properties.
The properties dialog box should open in the Shortcut tab. Click on the Advanced... button.
Click on the checkbox to Run as administrator and click the OK button.
Click the OK button on the Shortcut tab. Vista will display a dialog box asking for permission to change the shortcut settings.
Follow the same procedure for the Stop OpenLaszlo Server or OpenLaszlo Explorer shortcuts.
Note: Microsoft Vista will still ask for permission to run as an administrator. However, you do not have to remember to run as an administrator each time.
The 4.2 release includes more than 600 bug fixes since the last fully-qualified release since release 4.1.1; we have provided a link to our JIRA bug tracking system where you can view the details:
We would like to thank the entire OpenLaszlo community for submitting bug fixes and participating in discussions to help make OpenLaszlo a better platform. We'd also like to thank the incredible engineering team at G.ho.st, who have worked with us as a sponsor to bring SWF9 to the community. Many thanks as well to the team at nexB for their continued diligence and effort in furthering the OpenLaszlo platform. And finally, special thanks to André Bargull and Raju Bitter for their continued and amazing support of the project.
OpenLaszlo 4.2.0.2 RC branches/4.2@13244 (13254) 2009-03-11T11:40:12Z
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