Benefits of the Universal UI
Introduction to the Universal UI
Over the years, the Thinkwise Platform has evolved with many different GUIs to meet changing technological standards and user expectations. Our current UI is the Universal UI, a modern responsive interface based on Progressive Web App (PWA) technologies that works seamlessly across devices and platforms. The Universal UI is served through our Service Tier Indicium, introducing a more secure and robust 3-tier architecture for your applications.
Check the feature matrix in the Thinkwise Community Portal (menu item Software > Feature Matrix) for an overview of the supported features.
Universal UI compared to previous generation UIs
Compared to previous generation Thinkwise UIs, the Universal UI uses some different concepts, and some model settings are interpreted differently. These designed changes remain subject to change.
The most prominent changes can be found below.
Vertical scrolling
All components in the Universal UI are allowed to grow vertically. This can introduce scrollbars for a components or the enitre screen.
Breakpoints (horizontal space)
The Universal UI allows for screen-type switching at runtime, dependent on the horizontal space. This concept is known as breakpoints, see Breakpoints. For every screen type, breakpoints can be defined and come into effect when a certain minimum width is reached.
Form tabs as sections
Form tabs from the Windows GUI are interpreted by the Universal UI as new _sections_ instead of tabs.
The number of form columns can vary for each section.
Groups are kept together in form columns as much as possible and spread evenly over a section.
Form column count
The number of columns in a form is set in the Software Factory at different levels (subject, variant, branch) and cannot exceed the number of groups in the section. When form controls have too little space for comfortable use, the Universal UI drops columns down to one column on small screens.
Grid edit mode
In the Universal UI, if you select Add, Copy, or Edit in the toolbar, all editable components in a subject become editable. One record can be edited at a time. Changed values are synchronized, after which you can continue editing. When edit mode is activated on a subject, the next selected record will automatically enter edit mode after the previous one is saved. To enable edit mode on subjects, see Make a grid editable.
To offer a similar grid edit mode experience as the Windows GUI, you can enable Auto-save in the subject.
Mandatory fields
In the Universal UI, you can not save a row if a mandatory field is empty, even if this field is not visible to the user.
Tasks with a pop-up
In the Universal UI, a task with a pop-up will keep the pop-up open when the task execution is aborted. If a process flow is active, it will continue to the success step if subsequent execution is successful. It will continue to the failed step if the task pop-up is canceled.
Previous generation UIs do not present the task pop-up again and follow the failed step.
Model loading in Universal UI
Contrary to the previous generation UIs, not the full model of the application is loaded. Segments of the model are loaded on-demand, when a screen is opened, a look-up is translated or a component is initialized. This allows the Universal UI to quickly start massive applications.
Troubleshooting
Compared to the Windows GUI, troubleshooting in the Universal UI is different. See: