Overview
This document will address various FAQs on which version of m-Painter is the best choice for your existing and new applications.
This documentation will reference m-Painter as either “latest” or “legacy”. The most current m-Painter is called the latest m-Power, whereas its predecessor is the legacy m-Painter.
The latest m-Painter editor is only available for customers running a m-Power January 2024 update or later.
Which version of m-Painter is my application using?
Any existing application’s m-Painter Version can be identified via the Edit Properties section of the application.
Within the Program Options tab, the property m-Painter Version/Mode will be present, as displayed in Figure 1.
The options in Figure 1 are explained below:
- Latest – The application is using the latest m-Painter.
- Legacy – The application is using the legacy m-Painter.
- Text mode – Neither m-Painter GUI is used and the presentation is purely edited in HTML source mode.
Any new applications will be defaulted to Latest or Legacy, depending on the m-Painter Version property set within the Interface and Build Settings of the data dictionary. This is discussed further down in this document.
Visually, these two versions can be also be readily differentiated:
Latest m-Painter
This editor always opens in the current tab within the browser session, and is easily identifiable by the blue save button and green run button located at the left hand side of the screen.
Legacy m-Painter
This editor always opens in a new tab (labeled “m-Painter….”) within the current browser session and has all presentation options in a light grey toolbar:
All m-Power applications created prior to the installation of the January 2024 m-Power update are using the legacy m-Painter.
Using the new version of m-Painter for old applications
Existing dictionaries, created before the January 2024 update, will need a new property added that tells your applications if they should use the Latest or Legacy m-Painter.
To add it, please open the Interface and Build Settings properties from the developer interface and use the Property Options -> Text Mode feature to add this property manually via the text editor:
<mpainter_version pdesc="mpainter_version" value="2"/>
Add this BEFORE the final </Application Options> tag and then save the file. You will then be able to edit this property’s value via the interface:
This dictionary property is necessary, but understand it will only affect whether new applications are set to use the Latest or Legacy m-Painter, by default.
What are the requirements for using the latest m-Painter?
In order to use the Latest m-Painter, all of the following conditions must be met regarding the application:
- The m-Power software version is on the January 2024 update or later.
- The application is a newly created OR is an existing app recompiled with an HTML overwrite.
- The application’s template style is Bootstrap theme (set at the dictionary level).
- The m-Painter Version/Mode property in the application’s properties must be set to Latest (as discussed at the beginning of this document).
Which version should I use?
If all of the above requirements above are met, the latest m-Painter editor mrc recommends developers use. However for older customers who have existing Legacy applications and prefer this editor, individual applications may still use the legacy editor.