MobiOne Studio Feature Highlights

Version 1.2 Early-Access 1

In the lead up to the MobiOne 1.0 production release last fall, we made preproduction versions of MobiOne available for community use. Similarly, we are making available an early-access release of MobiOne 1.2. An early access (EA) release is a development version of MobiOne that is greater than 90% feature complete but is still undergoing extensive testing and quality improvement. This document describes the feature highlights of the 1.2 release that are available to try out on the 1.2 EA1 release.

This 1.2 EA1 release is free for use with no trial limited features. The EA1 program is valid until June 30, 2011. At that time, either an update to a newer early-access release or a 1.2 production release will be made available.

In version 1.2, MobiOne introduces the first integrated Windows-based visual design and device emulation test product for the Apple iPad™. Using MobiOne 1.2, you can visually design a sophisticated multi-screen iPad application, test it in Test Center, and then send it to your iPad for final testing.

Starting a New iPad Design

Opening a new iPad design is the same as opening a new iPhone design. There are several ways to begin. If you close all designs in the Visual Designer, you see the New Design screen from which you can choose either iPhone or iPad.

Another way to open a new basic design is to select File>New>iPad Design from the menu. Alternately, click the arrow beside the New Design icon on the toolbar, and select iPad.

iPad Design Templates

Having templates of frequently used design layouts can make the job of creating new designs much faster. In Design Center, you can save any design as a template to be recalled again and again.

Using the Visual Designer, create the design you want to use as a template, and save the file. After the file is saved as a design file, you can save it as a design template.

To open a template, select File>New>Templates from the menu. The template you saved appears in the Template Browser window. Select the template to begin.

iPad Wallpaper in Test Center

In Test Center, you can customize the wallpaper on your iPad home screen just as you can with your iPhone device. From Test Center, select Windows>Settings from the menu, and then choose Wallpaper from the Settings view. Choose any image file for either the iPhone or iPad.

Design for Any Device Orientation and Display Size

In MobiOne 1.1, we introduced phase 1 of a technology initiative that allows mobile app design for a wide range of devices, beginning with iPhone and iPad. Phase 1 provided component auto-resizing and scrollable panel features. See the 1.1 Feature Highlights document for more information. In MobiOne 1.2, we complete this effort with the introduction of device scaling and device rotation between portrait and landscape orientations.

        

Device Scaling

A goal of MobiOne is to provide the most accurate device rendering as possible. Yet Because of the large iPad display size, we knew MobiOne 1.2 had to provide the option to trade off high fidelity, pixel-perfect design rendering in favor of better screen real estate utilization. The new scaling feature is available in both Design Center and Test Center.

The default scale setting is for the device to fit to the Visual Designer window. With this setting, regardless of how you arrange the layout of the workbench, the entire device screen always appears in the Visual Designer window.

You can change the scaling to either zoom to 100% or 150%, or reduce the size to 75% or 50%. Click the arrow beside the Change Scale icon on the toolbar, and select the scale. To revert to the default, click the Change Scale icon.

Device Rotation - Design Center

The Test Center emulator has provided the ability to rotate the device between portrait and landscape orientation. Now we introduce this capability in Design Center. By rotating the device between orientations, you can see how the change in aspect ratio affects the layout of your design, and then you can make adjustments. Click the Rotate icon on the Design Center toolbar to rotate the device between the portrait and landscape orientations.

Customizable Design Center Workbench

MobiOne Studio is built on top of the popular Eclipse RCP platform. In this release, the Design Center uses many of the Eclipse window management features. The Design Center window is known as the Design Center Workbench. The workbench is comprised of the Visual Designer and a number of peripheral windows known as Views. These views contain the component palette, media palette, properties and outline. Views can be sized, minimized, and rearranged within the workbench as well as docked or floating.

Docking and Undocking Views

To undock a view, drag the view's tab to any location. The view can float as a separate window, or you can dock it to a different location. As you drag the tab around the window, docking zones are highlighted to help you choose a new location to dock the view.

You can size views, which also adjusts the size of the Visual Designer. Drag the edge of the view in the direction you want to size the view. There is a limitation to how small or large you can size a view.

Minimizing and Restoring Views

To have more space in the Visual Designer, you can minimize views. Click the view's Minimize icon . If multiple views are in the docking zone, all views in the docking zone are minimized to icons and positioned either on the left or right side of the workbench by default.

The view icons are toggle buttons that toggle between a minimized and fast view. Click the view icon to temporarily restore the view. To permanently restore a view, click the Restore icon on the minimized view.

Increased Size Limit for AppSync Uploads

One of the most popular requests has been for an increase in the maximum size of MobiOne apps than can be hosted by AppSync. We have increased the limit from 1Mb to 2Mb.

Improved Screen Capture for Design Center

We updated Design Center’s Export As Image feature to function similar to Test Center’s Screen Capture feature. When you click the Capture Image icon on the toolbar or select Tools>Capture from the menu, the Image Preview window launches, displaying a capture of the current design.

HP (Palm) Pre Device Discontinued

Early in development of Test Center, we introduced experimental support for the original Palm Pre device. We have not maintained this device mode for some time. Beginning with the 1.2 release, we are discontinuing support and removing the Pre device mode from the Test Center emulator.

Related Documents

MobiOne Studio 1.2.0 EA1 Release Notes

Where Do I Learn More about MobiOne Studio?

The MobiOne online Learning Center site provides documents, tips, tutorials and videos to help answer your questions. Remember to check the Learning Center site for new and updated material.