m-Power Manual

Using Application Preview   Beginning with the January 16, 2012 update of m-Power, developers will now be able to see their applications prior to building them. Throughout the build process, developers can watch their application take shape. Each time a change is made, developers can see the change immediately rather than having to compile the Read the rest of this document »

Data Dictionary Reporting   Note: The following documentation illustrates features that were added to m-Power with the April 18th, 2012 update. If your version of m-Power does not match what is documented below, please consider taking an m-Power update. Data Dictionary Reports allow m-Power developers to better understand the organization and hierarchy of their Data Read the rest of this document »

Control Data Output on Page Load Beginning with the June 2012 update of m-Power, developers will have the opportunity to disable certain m-Power templates from automatically displaying data on page load. With this enhancement enabled, end-users who load an application will be presented a standard m-Power page, except it will be void of any data. Read the rest of this document »

Improved m-Power Templates Beginning with the August 2012 update, m-Power templates have been significantly improved. Specifically: m-Power JavaScript files have been packed (compressed) into a single file. This packed JavaScript file is optimized for a faster load time of generated applications. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) file has been updated and relocated. Your Data Dictionary’s style Read the rest of this document »

Working with Lengthy Fields   m-Power has always easily handled fields of lengths less than 1000 characters. Beginning with the August 20th, 2012 update, fields of any length can be used within m-Power. When registering tables, simply add them as normal and the proper field lengths will be registered: Calculations also now support large field Read the rest of this document »

Working with True Dates & True Timestamps   m-Power is proud to announce the new Date/Time enhancements included beginning with the December 13, 2011 version. Now, m-Power is stronger than ever when using true dates and true timestamps within your applications by being able to handle any display format as well as work with any Read the rest of this document »

How to Create a Logical Field via the Data Dictionary   Logical Fields are fields that do not physically exist within your databases’ tables, but rather are configured by you as a Developer. m-Power’s Data Dictionary structure allows you to define these logical fields just one time, and you are able to access them throughout Read the rest of this document »

m-Power Translate   As of the January 16th, 2012 update, m-Power now supports m-Power Translate, an m-Power enhancement that brings language translation to web applications. This update allows developers to configure an unlimited number of languages to generated applications. Each time an application is compiled, m-Power will automatically create & translate additional presentation layers for Read the rest of this document »

Field Conversion   Introduction The Field Conversion feature is a powerful solution for cases when a database field is stored in one format, but that value needs to be converted to another format for display purposes. Any database field might be stored in a format different from its intended display format. In that case, the Read the rest of this document »

Parameter Listing   m-Power templates allow you, as a developer, to specify numerous parameters at run-time to control the behavior of your applications. Below you will find a complete listing of available parameters. Parameters listed as “Work Fields” indicate that while m-Power uses these parameters, you do not have control to change them. Common Parameters Read the rest of this document »

Edit Codes   Defined edit codes are stored in a text file /mrcjava/mrcclasses/editcode.txt which includes IBM and mrc pre-defined codes. The mrc pre-defined codes are called user defined code, so you can either change or define your new edit code within this section. Summary of IBM Edit Codes Edit Code Name Commas Decimal Point Sign Read the rest of this document »

Improving Database Performance   For the most part, applications generated by m-Power are run and executed in a timely fashion. However, there are the odd times when end-users have to wait too long for an application to return a dataset. In the case of slow database performance, an index can be created to significantly speed Read the rest of this document »

Introduction to Mobile Applications   m-Power allows developers to create applications specifically for PC browser, Tablet, and Smartphone devices. For the user, this means that they can access the same report on their PC, tablet, and smartphone and see a completely different output on each that has been tailor-made for their device. For the developer, Read the rest of this document »

Register SQL Views   An SQL View can be thought of as a virtual table — one that does not physically contain any data but rather stores useful SQL queries to improve database/user efficiency. While most developers realize how powerful an SQL view can be while running queries, they can now harness the same functionality Read the rest of this document »

Adjusting for Right Justified Fields within m-Power Applications   m-Power applications can control for right justified fields. In the past, if you had an 8 and 12 alpha field that we right justified, you would need to build logical fields over these fields so that they each were 8 positions to ensure the correct data Read the rest of this document »

Data Dictionary Tables   Naming Conventions MRCDCT Physical file MRCLDC Logical over one file MRCDCL Multi-file logical Data Dictionary Files MRCDCT01 File level MRCDCT02 Field definitions MRCDCT03 File/field cross reference MRCDCT07 Member/file cross reference MRCDCT08 Member description MRCDCT11 Synonyms Retrieval Files MRCDCT14 Application header MRCDCT15 Selected fields MRCDCT16 Retrieval Key Information Reporter Files MRCDCT2W Temp. Read the rest of this document »

Utilizing Multi-Member Files in m-Power   Many m-Power users believe that they are unable to utilize their multi-member files in m-Power because m-Power was designed to work over Databases other than DB2. Since these other databases do not have multi-member files, we removed the ability from the interface to access these multi-member files. However, there Read the rest of this document »

Saved Searches   Beginning with the September 7th, 2011 update of m-Power, end-users will have the ability to save their run-time/ad-hoc application options for subsequent use. Users will love this enhancement as it will allow them to bypass entering the same searching/sorting options multiple times on any given application. Instead, users simply do the following: Read the rest of this document »

Displaying System Variables within a Web Application   There are numerous times when a developer needs to display System Variables within a Web Application. This can be done easily through the calculation screen. Simply create a System Variable Calculation. Simply select “System Value” from the “Calc Type” dropdown list. Next, specify a description for this Read the rest of this document »

Stylesheets within m-Power Applications   m-Power templates utilize embedded on-the-fly-from-a-single-source stylesheets. The main benefit of this is that all style information is contained within the document. That means no matter if your servlet is run off of your application server, sent via email, or downloaded as an Excel File and stored on your PC it Read the rest of this document »

SmartLinks   SmartLinks allow you to easily link one application (Retrieval, Report, or Maintenance) to any other application, passing key data automatically. The benefits of this are many, including: You can create applications that allow users to drill from an order header table to order details records. View a list of products and maintain records Read the rest of this document »

Record Selections   Record selections include the following features: Improved “Is in the List” and “Not in the List” options, allowing developers to have a nearly-unlimited number of list values. Clearer instructions for developer inputs such as: Constant values, Application field values, and Runtime Value Prompts (where applicable). Improved Range and Null options, taking the Read the rest of this document »

Copy Applications to Other Data Dictionaries   This feature allows for even faster application development, as users can copy an application to a completely different data dictionary. Ultimately, this means that our Web Interface user can build one application and have it deployed to countless other data dictionaries in minutes rather than days. Here is Read the rest of this document »

One Click Data View   Included with m-Power beginning with the September 7th, 2011 version, the One Click Data View feature allows developers to take a sneak peak at their data with the push of a single button! Prior to this feature, developers who were unfamiliar with certain tables in their environment were forced to Read the rest of this document »