Overhaul of m-Painter makes development simpler, more intuitive

May 2012 · Oak Brook, IL

Today, software developer Michaels, Ross & Cole, Ltd. (mrc) announces the newly rebuilt m-Painter, the WYSIWYG editor built into m-Power. m-Power is a development platform that rapidly creates web applications such as report-writing, business intelligence, executive dashboards, e-commerce, customer portals, and mobile applications to name a few.

m-Painter overview

An integral part of m-Power, m-Painter is an open-source WYSIWYG text editor that lets users customize the look and feel of their web applications without any knowledge of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. m-Painter lets users improve their applications in a number of ways, such as:

• Easily add maps, graphs, charts, images, hover boxes, and more.
• Embed other applications within an application to create CRM apps, order entry apps, dashboards, or other complex applications.
• Add AJAX helpers, like calendar popups, lookup windows, or dynamic dropdown lists.
• Easily create drill-downs to other applications.
• Much more.

m-Painter's new features

In an effort to further simplify the application development process, mrc recently overhauled m-Painter. The newly rebuilt m-Painter brings many notable improvements, such as:

Cross-browser, cross-platform, and HTML5 support

m-Painter now gives m-Power users greater freedom and more options. Users can now access m-Painter across all operating systems and browsers, and include HTML5 features in their web applications.

New features speed up development

m-Painter now includes some great new features that can reduce errors and speed up the development process, such as:

• History feature: The new "History" feature lets users save and apply previous presentation layers to their web applications. This gives users the freedom to experiment with a variety of interface options, and protects them against accidentally overwriting their presentation layer. Using the new "History" feature, users can choose from a list of previously saved presentation layers, and view snapshots of each one (see screenshot below).
• Preview and execute feature: Users can now preview and execute their applications from within the m-Painter interface, which will speed up the development process.

Improved interface simplifies development

m-Painter's redesigned interface improves usability with a more intuitive layout and a modern look and feel (see screenshot below).

New options simplify source code editing

While m-Painter lets users enhance their applications without any coding, it also lets the more technical users access and edit the underlying source code. The new version of m-Painter simplifies this task, with a few new features designed to make source code editing even easier:

• Manual cell editing: Rather than sorting through hundreds of lines of source code, m-Painter now lets users quickly edit specific sections of the underlying code. Right-clicking any element in WYSIWYG mode will let users view and edit the underlying source code for only that element (see screenshot below).
• Color-coded source code: Instead of the traditional black text, m-Painter now color codes the source code for easier navigation and editing.
• Revert feature: The new "Revert" feature catches and eliminates user errors. If users make a change to the source code that causes an error, it will remove the error and highlight the problem for the user.

Even more new features

While the features listed above cover some of the most notable enhancements, the newly rebuilt m-Painter includes even more new features, all designed to improve the application development process.

"This enhancement is a major improvement on several levels," says Tyler Wassell, mrc's Lead Software Developer. "Not only does it simplify application development, it also brings some powerful new features that m-Power users of all skill levels are sure to love."

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