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What's New in PHPMaker 4
PHPMaker 4 is a major upgrade from 3.x. It is loaded with a bunch of new features, including many frequently requested ones. PHPMaker has become more and more powerful and yet still easy-to-use.
PHPMaker does Ajax
Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) is a technique to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes. PHPMaker 4 make use of Ajax in the following new features:
Auto Suggest Textbox
You can set a lookup table for a text field and make the textbox for the field works like Google Suggest.
Add Extra Option to Lookup Table
With this feature you can add an extra option to a selection list with lookup table on the fly. You don't need to reload the current page and you don't even need a popup window.
Enhanced Dynamic Selection List
Dynamic Selection List now supports Ajax. If your selection lists are linked to lookup tables with a lot of options. Using this feature will greatly improve the page loading time because there is no more need to populate the selection lists by PHP during page load. The first combobox can be the parent combobox of multiple child comboboxes. Change in first combobox will change the options of all the child comboboxes.
More Advanced Security
Advanced Security in PHPMaker 3 has already been greatly improved. PHPMaker 4 goes even one giant step further.
Dynamic User Levels
Instead of defining the User Levels at design time before script generation, you can store User Levels in database and get the flexibility of changing the User Levels without re-generating scripts. PHPMaker can even help you create the required User Level tables in common databases and migrate your existing static User Levels.
Parent User ID
You can add a Parent User ID field in your user table and assign a parent user for each of your users. The parent user will then be able to modify the child users' records like his/her own.
Auto-Login
User can optionally choose to auto-login the site until the user explicitly logs out.
Extended Quick Search
Now you can add as many fields as you want to the Quick Search form so you can search more precisely other than using advanced search.
Multi-Page Update
This feature allows you user to add or update records in steps.
Enhanced File Uploading to Folder
- Unique name - existing file will not be overwritten
- Delete Uploaded Files - option to delete the uploaded file when the field is updated or the record is deleted
- File Type checking - only allow user to upload files of specified file types
- Separate upload path - in addition to the global upload folder, each upload field can have its own upload path
Extensions
PHPMaker 4 introduces template extensions. An extension is modification of template to make the template supports additional feature(s) implemented in the extension. An extension is a template itself, it has the same structure as template and you can modify them in exactly the same way as modifying the main template. Third-party tools like DHTML editors and popup calendars are now implemented as extensions so you can choose among the available extensions.
Note: All third-party tools are not part of PHPMaker and no technical support will be provided. See Third-party Tools. The extensions for TinyMCE is provided as additional examples of extensions and are provided for registered users only.
More
- Paths now relative to application root folder - allows putting upload files or audit log at upper level folders above scripts
- Email Component Options (PHP or PHPMailer, the latter supports SMTP Server authentication)
- "BETWEEN" search operator
- "AND/OR" condition between the 2 search operators for each field
- Duplicate value checking for non uniquely indexed fields
- Repeat column option for checkbox or radiobutton list (CHECKBOX/RADIO Edit Tag)
- CSS stylesheet now used for all projects, user interface HTML settings (General/Body/Table) applied to stylesheet
- Enhanced user interface - Windows XP style, fixed table/field names, checkbox in database pane
- Many other minor enhancements
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