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What’s New

5.3 - 2 October 2019

New Features

• Multiple layouts can now be viewed, and switched between, using a tab-based interface at the top of Designer. Functionality originally in the Layouts panel is now accessed via the menu in the active layout tab.
• Layout editing has arrived in Designer. The Components panel has been upgraded to a components tree supporting drag-and-drop repositioning of components within the layout. This allows repositioning of both major and minor elements within your application layout, such as moving the results list to a different part of your application. In the next version of Designer you will also be able to add and remove components (and layouts), but for today you can start with an existing template and modify it to fit your needs.
• Layout properties for a component are now shown below the component configuration. This new capability allows for adjustment of layout-specific things such as relative and absolute sizing, horizontal and vertical alignment, which slot of a map a component resides in, whether a component is initially visible, and whether an aspect of the layout is resizable. This includes component-specific layout properties for components with special properties such as the panel component’s minimize, maximize, close, and back buttons.
• Charts make their initial appearance in Geocortex Web with the full support of the web map pop-up chart configuration for feature details. When configured as part of your web map, Geocortex Web will now honor that configuration and display the appropriate chart as part of your feature details view.
• A new Create Workflow command has been provided when configuring new items in various user components. This new command is contextual and provides several relevant templates to choose from based on whether you are working with a feature, a location, or no input context. When selected, a new workflow item is created based on the template and is automatically connected to Geocortex Web, with the option to open it directly in Workflow Designer.
• A new Search New Extent component that displays a "Search This Area" button on the map when the user changes the map extent after performing a search. This visual prompt to "Search This Area" helps the user understand that search results are limited to the current map extent at the time of the search.
• Extended user preferences infrastructure for Geocortex Web that allows preferences to be stored in your Esri portal if the Esri identity is Creator or greater. This provides ubiquitous access to preferences regardless of device or browser based on Esri identity. Currently, this mechanism stores user-defined bookmarks, and user preferences content will grow over time. For users that do not have Creator or greater, local storage is used as a fallback.
• Geocortex Web now supports startup workflows as well as the ability to launch workflows as part of the application URL. The menu for each app deployment stage provides a new Get Links option to generate launch URLs.
• The Get Links dialog provides an embed link for the Production app to assist with embedding Geocortex Web within other applications and web pages.
• A layer context menu has been added to the layer list to allow for layer-based commands. Commands for "Zoom to extent" and "Zoom to visible scale" for the layer context menu are now available.
• It is now possible to tag a Production app in your Esri portal with a Geocortex Web template tag to have that app appear in the list of starting templates in Designer. This provides a simple way to create a corporate-specific template (brand, color, logo, disclaimers) as your own starting point for new apps.
• Added the necessary hooks and commands to Geocortex Web to support embedded app scenarios where you have an application or a web page that wants to "remote control" Geocortex Web. These include a PostMessage listener to listen for external apps calling Geocortex Web commands, and a PostMessage command to allow Geocortex Web to post messages back to the containing app or web page.
• Geocortex Web now exposes the Geocoder configuration in Designer to allow you to more easily reference your own geocoder.

Behavioral Changes

• User testing showed a consistent expectation that what you see in the preview is what you get when you download. When downloading app configuration as a zip file, Designer now gives you the "in memory" app content rather than the last saved app content from the portal. We also exposed the download app configuration action in additional locations such as the File menu.
• User testing showed a consistent expectation that the User component should show up in the live preview. The User component (for signing in and out) had previously been suppressed to prevent accidental sign-out within Designer. We now render a non-interactive version in the live preview so that you can see a more accurate representation of your app in the preview.
• User testing showed confusion over the “revert to defaults” function of a component. Users expected it to “revert to last saved”, so this function has been renamed and updated to conform to this expectation.
• Additional loading animations have been added for longer-running processes. For example, when you select a new web map for your map component, there is now a brief loading animation for the few seconds it takes to retrieve and parse the web map and update the configurable layers so the user isn’t left wondering what is happening.
• Layout actions previously found in the Layouts panel are now accessed via the menu of the active layout tab. What was “Apply a New Layout” is now called “Swap Layout”. What was called “Revert to Initial Layout” is now called “Revert to Last Saved Layout”. A new "Rename Layout" option has also been provided.
• Designer save logic has been enhanced to examine app configuration and remove anything that is orphaned and requires cleanup.
• For applications supporting multiple layouts, the zip file produced by Download App Configuration and consumed by Upload App Configuration now supports multiple layout.xml files.
• The Get Configuration and Export Configuration interfaces have been enhanced to provide additional context about which layout(s) a component is associated with.
• Deployment summaries now contain additional intelligence to accommodate applications with multiple layouts.

Technology

• Geocortex Web now uses Esri JavaScript API 4.12.
• Rebuilt the results table on updated technology to allow for better performance and full WCAG AA keyboard compatibility.
• Enhanced the communication mechanisms between Designer and the embedded live preview of Geocortex Web. This resolves a few reported issues such as having Designer map component configuration listen to and respond when the 2D/3D toggle in the preview is toggled.
• When Geocortex Web is run with the debug=true URL parameter, workflows will no longer be cached to enable rapid iteration and testing of workflows.

Bug Fixes

• Identified and resolved several issues related to running Geocortex Workflow within Geocortex Web.

  • Auto-complete with required fields now shows the error properly when empty.
  • Set Form Element Items now correctly sets items when used with auto-complete.
  • Cancelling a workflow now correctly cancels the currently running command.
  • Default values for numerical input are now correctly submitted.
  • Drop down boxes no longer show the first item as selected unless the “selected index” property is set in Workflow.
  • Issue related to correctly converting results to graphics in Geocortex Web.
  • Get Map activity now returns map information in $map1.map.extension.
• Resolved an issue that could cause duplicate search results to appear in the results list.
• Identified and resolved a number of minor issues that caused warnings and errors to appear in the browser development tools console. While none of these errors affected user-facing function, we continue to clean them up to ensure that when an error occurs in the console, it is something that needs attention.
• Resolved an issue that prevented the image component from being selected in the Designer real-time preview by the component selection tool.
• Resolved an issue that caused the panel to show a blank panel screen when an alternate layout was applied to the app.
• Resolved an issue that prevented sub-menus from being properly destroyed when the parent menu item was destroyed.
• Resolved an issue that was causing the web map pop-up template to be written to the app configuration; this prevented updates to the web map pop-up configuration from being immediately recognized by Geocortex Web.

5.2 - 3 July 2019

New Features

• A new portal item explorer interface has been added to Web Designer to provide a more visual search and browse experience for Esri portal content. For example, when configuring your map component, you are no longer required to paste in a URL or an ID, instead you can search and browse for the item via its thumbnail to select it.

• A new layer presets component is available in Geocortex Web and Web Designer. This component allows you to define a set of named presets, each of which has certain layers visible or not. For example, you can create a Water preset that turns on three water-related layers and turns off all other layers. The end user sees the Water preset and, by pressing it, automatically turns layers on and off to match the preset.

• A new Web Designer configuration interface allows you to configure the base map picker. You can now choose which of Esri’s portal base maps should be included in their app's base map picker and which should not.

• A new Web Designer configuration interface allows you to configure a custom base map, which directly references multiple base and reference layers.

• Added support for on-map display of labels for highlighted results. Highlight and focus labels can be configured in Web Designer as part of Highlighting.

• A new Info side panel item has been added to Web Designer. This panel offers direct access to view and edit the Title and Description of the Esri portal item. This panel also provides the ability to view and launch the URL to the Esri portal item directly.

• The Web Designer interface now supports deep linking directly to a specific app. This allows you to share or bookmark a URL and immediately arrive in the Web Designer interface with that app already open and ready to be updated.

  For example, https://apps.geocortex.com/webviewer/designer/#app=e71af5ef8cd246c9a28f814639ea45

• A new Initialized event has been added to Geocortex Web that allows the app to run a workflow or command the web map or web scene is first loaded. This is configured within Web Designer in the Map settings in a section called Events.

• A new setting and URL parameter that allows an embedded mode for Geocortex Web to be used. When embedded, Geocortex Web will not allow the mouse wheel to zoom in or out of the map without a specific key modifier. This prevents unexpected behavior when scrolling down a web page and suddenly zooming the map.

• Reviewed and updated all error log strings to improve clarity and understanding of errors when they occur. Added a consistent mechanism for the clear display of user-facing errors.

Technology

• Geocortex Web now uses Esri's ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.11.

• Improved cache for Workflows to improve Workflow performance.

• Improved the visual styling of Workflow forms within Geocortex Web.

• Improved Webpack implementation allowing for improved handling of third-party libraries and ensuring even faster load times for Geocortex Web.

• Updated underlying technology for the Results Table component to ensure full WCAG AA compliance and improve performance in areas such as Tabs.

• Geocortex Web continues to improve its support for Geocortex Workflow. Version 5.2 introduces a breaking change: prior to 5.2, Geocortex Web would automatically transform feature data being passed into Workflow into Esri objects. While this made some simple use cases easier, it made many legitimate use cases impossible, as there wasn’t a deterministic way to transform the Esri objects back into Geocortex Web constructs. In 5.2, we have removed this automated conversion of Geocortex Web constructs when passing them into Geocortex Workflow. While this now allows back-and-forth connectivity between Geocortex Web and Geocortex Workflow, it also requires workflows to do some additional transformation work. In the future, there will be Geocortex Workflow activities to make this transformation work even easier. Based on usage analytics, we don’t believe this change will impact any current Geocortex Web app using Geocortex Workflow. However, if this impacts your current app, please reach out to Cam Barnard at the Geocortex Web Community and we’ll provide some extra assistance to help you adjust your workflow.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved issues around token refresh in Web Designer that improve the app creator’s experience when Web Designer is left open for a long period of time between tasks.

• Resolved an issue in Web Designer that prevents two different users from saving an app with the same name.

• Resolved an issue where parent containers were not deactivating when all their children had deactivated, leaving empty open areas that should have been automatically closed.

• Added a language resource file containing error message language strings to our internationalization source so they can be translated.

• Resolved an issue to ensure individual layer references to Esri portal items are accessible even when not located on the same portal.

5.1 - 1 May 2019

New Features

• When adding new menu items, feature actions, and map context items in Web Designer, you will now be presented with a higher-level set of contextually-relevant tools. The raw JSON view, and the list of granular commands are still available, but no longer the default experience.

• When browsing for a workflow, report, or print template from your Esri portal, Web Designer now queries beyond the standard single "page" of results from Esri’s API (50 items), allowing you to find what you are looking for even when you have many Geocortex items in your portal.

• Clicking the product logo in Web Designer now returns to the initial dashboard and safely closes any currently-open app.

• The simple layer list in Geocortex Web is now configurable through Web Designer.

• Geocortex Printing support has been added to Geocortex Web. This includes a new configuration component in Web Designer as well as a new Print tool that can be added to your Geocortex Web app. It is possible to print both 3D scenes and 2D maps. A print preview tool has only been provided for 2D maps at this time.

• You can now type Ctrl+S to save your app in Web Designer.

• Changes to correctly render Geocortex Web apps on mobile devices with appropriately-sized controls.

• Updated the 2D/3D Toggle button in Geocortex Web to clarify which mode is currently active.

• Extensive improvements to user-facing errors when they occur in Geocortex Web, such as when the app is unable to load due to unavailable map services. Improvements were also made to behind-the-scenes logging.

• Improved WCAG AA compliance for keyboard navigation and screen reader support for basemap picker, bookmarks and on-map expander control.

Bug Fixes

• Improved preservation of map/scene scale when toggling between 2D and 3D.

• Several small fixes to the on-premises installer.

• Allowed HTTP credentials to be sent to on-premises Portal for ArcGIS (supports certain authentication flows).

• Corrected behavior when applying a new layout in Web Designer with the preview popped out.

• Resolved an issue preventing the proper passing of a security token from Web Designer to the Geocortex Web preview when using federated secured services.

• Ongoing fixes and improvements to Geocortex Workflow behavior within Geocortex Web.

5.0 - 28 February 2019

What is Geocortex Web?

The first release of Geocortex Web is focused on providing beautiful, fast, flexible applications combining the 3D and 2D capabilities of Esri’s latest ArcGIS API for JavaScript. Developed with a SaaS-first approach, Geocortex Web is available both as SaaS and on-premises.

Since Esri first announced a new ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.0 in mid-2016, we have been planning and building the next-generation JavaScript viewer for our Geocortex customers.

In the future (2-3 years), Geocortex Web and the Esri ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.x will have matured to match and exceed the current Geocortex Viewer for HTML5. Until then, Geocortex Web focuses on the unique capabilities associated with the Esri ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.x that Geocortex customers may need today:

• Side-by-side or toggling 2D map and 3D scene visualization.

• Performance optimization made possible by the new API technologies.

• Improved control over color, and visual branding.

• Clean, fresh visualization of results on the map, and in lists, tables, and detail views.

• Familiar I Want To menus, toolbars, and contextual menu options.

• WCAG AA accessibility compliance for public-facing applications.

• Extensibility using 5-series Workflow and Reporting capabilities.

• A new configuration model separating functional app behavior from layout appearance that allows multiple components of the same type.

What is Geocortex Web Designer?

In addition to an all-new viewer there is an all-new Geocortex Web Designer experience for designing and configuring applications. This new experience provides:

• Quick verification of changes with a fully-interactive, live preview of your application.

• Improved mechanisms for finding configuration settings through both a contextual filter and a visual component selector.

• More space to work with larger areas for entering configuration and the ability to pop out the application preview onto a second monitor.

• Application management with dedicated functionality for managing development, test, staging, and production versions of your application and its associated web maps and web scenes.

Initial Capabilities

Initial components and capabilities include:

• Map/Scene navigation controls

• Base map gallery

• Geolocation

• Bookmarks

• Scalebar

• Coordinates of mouse on map

• Map context menu

• Legend

• Simple Layer list

• I Want To menu

• Toolbar

• Geocortex Workflow support

• Extent-specific search

• Identify

• Selections and highlighting

• Results List

• Results Table

• Feature Details

Known Issues

For the most part the Geocortex Web is working as designed and the initial features are well-tested and ready. That said, there are a few known issues that you should be aware of:

• Layout editing. The underlying configuration model supports very flexible layouts, and we’ve begun working on a layout editing interface within Web Designer. Until then, modifying the layout means editing XML. In the Deployment area, you can access the configuration files from the menu beside Development and clicking Download as Zip File. When you are done editing and have re-zipped them, select Upload Zip File from the same location.

• Mobile handheld devices. While supported, there is currently a scaling bug that renders components far too small on handheld devices. We are working on it, and you should see dramatic improvement in future versions.

• Internet Explorer is not a supported browser. The Esri ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.x makes extensive use of WebGL which leaves Internet Explorer behind. As Esri begins to release new viewers based upon the Esri ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.x, you can also expect they will not support Internet Explorer.

• Microsoft Edge. A supported browser, there is a current bug in the Esri stack that prevents authentication with Esri identities on Microsoft Edge. We anticipate this bug will be resolved by Esri soon.