We are about to release the next major version of the PPJ Framework. It will be named PPJ Framework 2009. It will include a state-of-the-art RibbonBar component, a robust and comprehensive skinning engine, and native LINQ support for dynamic arrays (SalArray class) and our Table Window control (SalTableWindow - based on the widely used FlexGrid.NET control).
This is an important release because it is the first time that we add features that are not directly related to migrating Gupta/Unify Team Developer to Microsoft .NET. The new features are all designed to give former Gupta developers the best available tools for making their new .NET applications the best around.
Without doubts, the Gupta systems that we migrate to .NET have a real future ahead.
This release also marks an important milestone for our technology. It means that the PPJ Framework and our migration technology are a mature technology and we can now focus on the future.
The RibbonBar is integrated in the PPJ Framework and allows developers to host any existing form (migrated to .NET from the original Gupta/Unify application) inside a RibbonForm and take advantage of one of the best design time features of any RibbonBar component around.
The skinning engine is fully integrated in the PPJ Framework. Developers can skin any migrated applications using hundreds of freely available skins (and custom designed skins) on most Windows systems - yes you can skin non Visual-Style systems like W2K or W2003. Nothing is left out, the skinning engine skins all Windows controls, common controls, system dialogs, and custom controls. It's robust and extremely reliable. We have also synchronized it with the RibbonBar's Office themes to automatically skin hosted forms to be fully Ribbon compatible.
LINQ adds an extremely powerful new construct that allows developers to query existing (migrated) arrays of objects and Table Window controls using the power of the Language Integrated Query feature of .NET 3.5.
As I wrote before, as a long-time Gupta developer I'm amazed at how much fun it is to work on .NET with C#. Just think about working on a system without constructors or overloading versus using advanced features like LINQ.
If you want to see more about the PPJ Framework 2009 and 2010 visit this page: PPJ Framework 2009 / 2010.
What was already the best migration system to get off Gupta/Unify and jump on the .NET train just got better.