ForeUI is an easy-to-use UI prototyping tool, designed to create mockup / wireframe / prototypes for any application or website you have in mind.

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Exciting News: ForeUI 2.0 is Released!

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Today I am so happy to announce that ForeUI V2.00 is released!  As a major upgrade, ForeUI 2.0 is so exciting.  You can find improvements here and there, it is quite hard for me to introduce all of them.  So I will just pick a few big updates to write up.

Windows 7 UI Theme

Now you can create prototype with the brand new Windows 7 UI theme.  Although many people are still using Windows XP, more and more people are moving to Windows 7.  So Windows 7 UI theme may be frequently used in the future.

Community Site Integration

About 3 months ago, we have considered such a community site for users to share their resources.  Now the site is online!  The community site provides user a new channel to get more plot examples and custom elements.  User will be able to get new examples and elements more quickly and more frequently, since they don’t have to wait for our new release.  Please keep in mind that the community site is not only powered by us, but also by all ForeUI users.  So if you have any plot or custom element that you think is interesting or may be useful to others, please consider uploading it to the community site.  You may not get paid by submiting the resource, but you will definitely get return from the community 🙂

The community web site has been integrated with ForeUI 2.0.  You don’t have to visit the site in web browser, just open the community window from ForeUI via the “Resource Sharing” button (on the bottom left corner), then you can do the resource download / upload.

Element Categories Management

Now you can configure the element categories on the left.  You can hide the category that you don’t like by setting it to “inactive” state.  You can also create new category and manage the elements inside.  To open the element categories management window, please click the “Manage Categories” button (on the bottom left corner).

Page Management Window

In 2.0 we implement a new page management window.  The pages are managed as tree structure, page can have its child page so that the entire sitemap structure can be built.  You can also create folder in the tree structure.  Folders can help organizing the pages, they can also control the content to be exported.  When the “Excluded from export and simulation” option is checked, all pages under the folder will not be included image/pdf/dhtml export.  This feature is useful when we want to hide the master pages from output.

Global Properties

Global properties are some properties that do not belongs to any element, it can be a system property (read-only) or a user defined property.  System property will be updated by system in the background, we can retrive its value when we need; User defined property can be a String or Integer, we can set its value via the “Set Global Property” action.  We can always insert a global property into the expression.

Custom Event

From now on, we can define event handler for custom event.  That means we can define a complex action in a custom event handler and then trigger the custom event from different places.  It is a powerful machanism to reuse the defined logic and make our work more easy.

There are still many new features, enhancements and bug fixings.  I do not have enough time to introduce here, so I will list them below.

Other New Features:

  • Display settings for toolbar icon, toolbar text, action flag and element button size.
  • Table element supports “Table Cell Values” property.
  • New placeholder element.

Enhancements:

  • Table content should not be wrapped, unless ‘n’ is used.
  • When inputing the target element id, the id list should include ids for group members.
  •  Property chooser also allow inputing element id directely.
  • Add page navigation buttons on bottom tool bar.
  • Improved some dialogs UI (page management, plot configure, element selector etc.)
  • Avoid selecting text within table body by double-clicking in the simulation. 
  • “Show Message” action can do optional calculation within the message.
  • Allow specifying the loop interval in behavior editor.
  • Adjust the title position for window element.
  • Rectangle, ellipse, triangle and placeholder support line stye (solid, dashed, dot).

 Fixed Bugs:

  • Bug_0126: The table element with spaces in content will be shows as “&nbsp…” when export html more than one time.
  • Bug_0127: If one row of table element contains less columns than other rows, error occur when exporting to html.
  • Bug_0128: Post commands list is disabled by default, even the post commands are enabled.
  • Bug_0129: ComboBox element can not contain “<“, “>” sysmbols.
  • Bug_0130: Delete a master page may cause the page manage window crash.
  • Bug_0131: Page management window should be closed when the plot is closed.
  • Bug_0132: The window icon and title is not aligned well when title contains parenthesis.

Try ForeUI V2.00  Now:

You can run ForeUI V2.00 in your browser via this URL:  http://www.foreui.com/demos/demo0/

 You can also download ForeUI and install it:

For Windows: http://www.foreui.com/download/V2_00/ForeUI_Setup.exe

For Mac OS X: http://www.foreui.com/download/V2_00/ForeUI.dmg

For Linux/Unix: http://www.foreui.com/download/V2_00/ForeUI.tar.gz

About the ForeUI 2.xx License

The price of ForeUI 2.xx license is $99 per user, if you buy license for multiple users, you can also get volumn discounts.  You can use the license on ANY V2.xx versions.  You can use the license on any machine you own.

To ForeUI V1.xx customers, you can upgrade your license with just $10 per user.   Comment: Since V1.xx is $79 per user, and now you can have the 2.xx license with another $10, so you totally pay $79 + $10 = $89, which is still less than $99.

Year 2009 Last Update – V1.90: Enhanced Table Element

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Year 2009 is such an exciting year, we launched ForeUI product and achieved unbelievable success.  Here I must on behalf of our company thank you again for your generous help, it is your ideas and creativity that push ForeUI become better and better.  Can you imagine what will we do today?  Yes we just released ForeUI V1.90!  This version will be our last update in year 2009, and it will also be the last one of the V1.xx serial.  As we’ve mentioned in our newsletter, ForeUI 2.0 is coming soon!  No doubt the 2.0 will be very exciting but today’s leading role is still V1.90 🙂

V1.90 is a big update actually; it contains many things.  Now let me show you the details.

Enhanced Table Element

Table Scrolling

In previous versions the table element is just a static image during the simulation, but now things have been changed.  Table element will be converted to real HTML table and support scrolling (if you enabled it).

The animation below shows how the scrollbar works in the simulation:

Table Cell Alignment

The table cell alignment can be configured independently, with the “<“, “=” and “>” prefix for the text.  The text alignment of the whole table will be the default alignment for each cell.  We can use “<“, “=” or “>” at the beginning of cell text to specify the alignment for the cell.

Set Cell Value Action

The enhanced table element supports the “Set Cell Value” action, this allow you to change the table cell value dynamically.

Input Action Target Element Id

This feature is requested by Ulrich, it can save your time to find element in a big plot.  Thanks for the good idea Ulrich 🙂   Now you can input the target element id for the action.  We also provide an auto-complete assistent when you type the id, it will show all candidates in a popup list and you can pick one with mouse or keyboard.

Post Commands for DHTML Export

This feature is requested by Tim, we find it very useful when you want to do some successor task after the exporting, thanks Tim for the idea!  Now you can input some commands in the “Export” tab of settings window, they will be invoked in turn after the DHTML is generated.  Here is an example, we will run the simulation in FireFox, Opera and Safari when the DHTML is generated.

“Set Selected Index” Action

In order to provide more flexibility for behavior definition, we implemented a new “Set Selected Index” action.  This action is supported by  Table, List, Tree, Tabs and VerticalTabs elements.  So you can change the selection of these elements in the simulation.

Other Enhancements

  • Avoid selecting header of table element in edit mode.
  • Press Backspace to delete element for non-Mac system.

Fixed Bugs

  • Bug_0120: Main window may be hidden when click the action button on page management window.
  • Bug_0122: Calendar element is not displayed correctly in FireFox.
  • Bug_0123: Tabs/VertcialTabs/Tree/List/Table elements should invoke the handler for “Selection Changed” event when default selection is changed.
  • Bug_0124: Sometimes Page Up/Down can not switch page in simulation after clicking some element.
  • Bug_0125: List/Tree element without selected item is not painted correctly in simulation.

ForeUI V1.85: Vertical Tabs and Enhanced ComboBox

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Hello everyone, it is my pleasure to announce that ForeUI V1.85 is released today!  In this version, we added a new vertical tabs element, improved the combo box element, implemented some useful enhancements and fixed a few bugs.

Vertical Tabs

We’ve put this vertical tabs in our TODO list for a while, and finally it is available now.  It is very similar with the Tabs element, but it will place the tabs on the left or right side.  Also the vertical tabs has four different looks according to the current UI theme.

 vert_tabs_themes
The vertical tabs also supports the “Selection Changed” event, just like the tabs element does.  You can handle this event, and control the visibility of elements within the tabs, just like this:
VertTabs

Enhanced ComboBox

Now we have more options to manipulate the ComboBox element during simulation.  The ComboBox element now provides “Selection Changed” event, “Selected Index” property and “Set Selected Index” action.

This example demonstrates the usage of the “Selection Changed” event and “Selected Index” property:

combobox_event_property

We can also use “Set Selected Index” action to change the selection of ComboBox:

combobox_action

Pin Windows

The element selector window and the page management window will be closed automatically once they lose focus, now you can pin it and keep it opened. Just click the small pin icon on the top-right corner, the window will be pinned and will not close until you click the “x” button.

pin_window

Other Enhancements:

  • Ctrl+Click to bring up context menu in Mac.  (Thanks Todd Sieling for the suggestion!)
  • Command+Click to remove element from selection in Mac.  (Thanks Todd Sieling for the suggestion!)
  • Store last modify time in .4ui and .fce files for future usage. 

Fixed Bugs:

  • Bug_0117: Page name editing should be stopped when closing the page manage window.  (Ulrich reported, thanks!)
  • Bug_0118: Page information in status bar is not correct if switching page in “Page Loaded” event handler. (Thanks Ulrich for the reporting!)
  • Bug_0119: Empty tab in Tabs element can not be selected in simulation.

ForeUI V1.80: New Events and Interactive ComboBox

Hi everyone, I’m here to proudly announce that ForeUI V1.80 is released today! This version bring us two new events and interactive ComboBox element, with some bugs fixed.

MouseOver and MouseOut Events

Now you can use these two new events in the behavior editor, they will be very useful to implement tooltip or element rollover effect.  The MouseOver event will be fired when you move your mouse cursor over the element; and the MouseOut event will be fired when you move your mouse cursor out of the element’s area.

 mouseoverout_actions  MouseOverOut

Interactive ComboBox

The ComboBox element is improved a lot in this update, it is no longer an image during the simulation, you can now interact with it.  In order to support multiple items, ComboBox element can have multi-line content now, one row for one item, you can assign the default selected item in edit mode.

Edit_ComobBox

When you run simulation, you can click the ComboBox and then the drop down list will be poped up, the ComboBox will have different appearance according to currently used UI theme.

 ComboBox_Simulation  ComboBox_Themes

Other Enhancements

We changed the default state for newly created radio buttons and checkboxes, this is suggested by Ulrich and we really think the “Normal” default state is more reasonable.

Fixed Bugs:

Bug_0114: Can not add more cases after defining the switch branching.  (Thanks Trevor Keegan for reporting)
Bug_0115: The “Element Clicked” event should also be fired when clicking on the Menu element. (Thanks Trevor Keegan again for reporting)
Bug_0116: Should not allow changing plot via Undo/Redo when editing element content.

Trial Duration Changed

BTW, the trial duration is changed to 15 days from this version, you can still contact us to extend the trial for another 30 days 🙂

ForeUI V1.77: Arrow Line and Alternate Row Color

Hello my friends, today we just released ForeUI V1.77!  This version bring us a new Arrow Line element and some interesting features / enhancements.

Arrow Line

The Arrow Line element is in our TODO list for a long time, and today we finally make it.   Arrow Line is very useful for making annotation on wireframe / mockups, so it is added to the “Annotation” category.

arrow_line2

The new Arrow Line element provides many useful options for tweaking, you can change its color, thickness, shape and size etc.  The animation below shows the details:

ArrowLine2

Alternate Row Color for Table/List/Tree

Now you can specify the alternate row color for table, list or tree element.  Here is an animation to show how to do this:

TableRowColors

This feature is requested by  Michael Matti, thanks for the good idea!

Color Picker Enhancement: Clear Color

We’ve made a small enhancement of Color Picker, so it can clear the editing color now. 

color_picker_clear

Just click the new button on the top-right corner can clear the current editing color.  This feature is only available for “optional color”, for now only alternate row color belongs to this category.  Once you clear the alternate row color, it’s actual value may vary according to the UI themes.

Fixed Bugs:

Bug_0111: Double-click the .4ui file to open ForeUI, sometimes it may hang.  (Reported by Michael ScolaVisa, thanks!)
Bug_0112: The group element can not be smaller than 20×20, ignoring its content’s actual size.
Bug_0113: Press Page Up/Down to switch page should not scroll the plot as well. (Reported by Ulrich Bottger, thanks!)