Profound UI version 4.6.0 is scheduled for release in early June. With this update comes a set of new features that will help you take your mobile application development to the next level. This article gives a breakdown of the upcoming goodies. Subsequent articles will show how each of them can be used to give your mobile applications that extra bit of functionality and polish.
Textbox Type Control
You can select from “number”, “email”, “date”, among other data types for textboxes. When set this way, the mobile device will bring up the appropriate version of the keypad automatically. For example for a “number” field, the keypad will be restricted to numeric digits, and a date picker will display for “date” fields.
Textbox Placeholder
The placeholder allows you to specify text which will display in a field before the user has entered any data. This text can be used to give an indication of what can be entered into the field.
CSS3-based Panels and Buttons
New types of panel and button widgets use CSS3 properties, rather than images, to produce effects like shadowing and rounded corners. This means that styling and customization are much easier than before.
The new CSS3 button styling is based on jQuery Mobile, which will give your applications a polished, professional look.
Dynamic Hyperlinks
Until now, you’ve had to make use of JavaScript APIs and manual URI formatting to produce “click to call” links, or links which open a document or email client.
A new bindable “hyperlink reference” property, along with automatic URI formatting options eliminate make it very easy to produce dynamic links without any JavaScript or manual formatting.
New Layouts
The CSS Panel Layout combines a panel widget with a Simple Container Layout. The Accordion Layout allows you to create collapsible sections.
Mobile Grid Effects
A new Mobile Grid is available on the widgets toolbox which is styled to give a native look and feel. The Mobile Grid also is setup to expand automatically to its parent container dimensions so that the grid will scale as the user changes the device orientation.
Scrollable Content Sections
One big difference in the user experience between mobile web vs. native applications is that native applications routinely make use of a fixed header/footer with a scrolling central content area. Mobile Webkit-based browsers do not inherently provide this capability.
That changes now with the introduction of scrollable sections in Profound UI. Using this new capability, you can create applications that have a truly native feel.
Offline Capabilities
A new API makes it easier to synchronize state when an application that is working offline connects to the network.
