September 9th, 2010
We released a new version of the FREE Bindows gauges
(http://www.bindows.net/free_gauges/).
The Bindows gauges can be used with IE 5.5+ and Firefox, and now, also with WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari-4.
If you like the Bindows gauges - don’t be shy and tweet about it 
Today a customer made me aware of the fact that we have no sample for
creating Bindows apps using ASP .Net. He wanted a sample on how to add a
gauge and setting dynamic properties in the XML definition.
Of course we need ASP .Net samples. The forum can be seen as a sample on
server communication, but it uses Perl for the backend. I decided to make
a small and simple, yet instructive sample. I hope I was successful.
An application generated from dynamic sources is not much different from one
made of static sources. You still need an ‘HTML file’ and an ‘XML file’.
The difference is that both these ‘files’ are generated on demand and their
content can be different from one request to another based on server logic.
This sample was made using the free gauges. You can download them
here.
It is not difficult to translate the lessons learned in this sample to a
full Bindows application (ADF). Just replace the script in the ‘HTML file’
with application.start(…) or biExec(…) just as you would with static
HTML and XML sources.
For this sample my ‘HTML file’ is Default.aspx, the file that is
automatically generated by the WebSite project template. I edited its
content with the following:
<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<!-- Load free Bindows Gauges package -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="bindows_gauges/bindows_gauges.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<p>This is a very simple sample displaying a gauge.</p>
<div id="gaugeDiv" style="width: 250px; height: 250px;"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
var gauge = bindows.loadGaugeIntoDiv("Gauge.aspx", "gaugeDiv");
function setNeedleValue(nValue) {
gauge.needle.setValue(nValue);
gauge.value.setText(nValue);
}
// setNeedleValue(25);
gauge.unit.setText("[kW]");
</script>
</body>
</html>
Then I added a new aspx file (Gauge.aspx) using a random template. 
This
also created a code-behind file (Gauge.aspx.cs) that I deleted. Because I
deleted that I also edited the file header of the aspx file to remove the
reference. All I kept was this bit:
<%@ Page Language="C#" %>
In the content I pasted the sample gauge from the free gauges package and
edited it up a bit to suit my purposes. I added a <% %>
section at the top, where I initialized some C# variables:
<%
// Two values setting the start locations for warning hints on the gauge scale.
// These could be configured from user preferences.
int warnLow = 25;
int warnHigh = 180;
int value = 125;
// Error handling / range assertions.
if (warnLow > warnHigh)
throw new ArgumentException("The low range must be less than the high range.");
else if (warnHigh < 0 || warnLow < 0 || value 300 || warnLow > 300 || value > 300)
throw new ArgumentException("Values must be between 0 - 300.");
%>
Further down in the gauge XML I referenced these variables. Here’s an example:
<Gauge2RadialScale startValue="0" endValue="300"> <!-- Needle --> <Gauge2RadialNeedle id="needle" value="<%=value%>" stroke="#000000" strokeWidth="3" innerRadius="0" innerWidth="40" outerRadius="360" outerWidth="5"> <Gauge2RadialNeedle.Filler> <Gauge2RadialGradientFiller color1="#808080" color2="#000000"/> </Gauge2RadialNeedle.Filler> </Gauge2RadialNeedle> </Gauge2RadialScale>
Download entire web site source code (ZIP).
Cool demo application by Real Time Logic, using Bindows gauges.
One of the first users of our Bindows gauges shared with us few screenshots of Bindows gauges he modified, and is using in live applications - enjoy
CLICK to enlarge:
To learn more about our FREE Bindows Ajax Gauges Library, go to: http://www.bindows.net/free_gauges/
To post screenshots, or links to your site showing use of Bindows gauges, please email me at ran@bindows.net.
Our FREE Bindows Ajax Gauges library has been updated!
http://www.bindows.net/free_gauges/
* 2 brand new gauges (vertical gauge, time clock)
* Live digital value label added to several gauges - fully tweakable by you!
* And, some bug fixes
Let us know what you think (please comment below, or email us ran@bindows.net).
Read the excellent review in InfoWorld by Martin Heller (Strategic Developer).
InfoWorld Review.
The review covers our release of three new products: Bindows gauges library toolkit, BindowsFaces, and the Bindows 4.0 Beta.
Regarding Bindows FREE gauges library toolkit - InfoWorld appreciates the facts that the toolkit is completely free, and comes with a gauge wizard and a free subset of the Bindows Ajax library. The gauges are done with vector graphics and are fast enough to be used for soft real-time displays. Try it out online yourself.
The BindowsFaces library, as you might guess from the name, brings Bindows-based Ajax capabilities to Java through JSF. It’s for Java Faces programmers who’d prefer not to get their hands dirty with JavaScript or go through a compilation step. Martin quotes us “BindowsFaces is better than GWT or Oracle ADF.” Obviously, we are biased
Moving on to Bindows 4.0 beta “probably makes Bindows the most advanced professional Ajax framework in the market,” according to the Meriazes. One of primary design goal of Bindows 4.0 is to add the “ability to define a fully working application without writing a single line of JavaScript.” To join the 4.0 beta program, contact sales@bindows.net.
Thanks Martin for a great review!
We are proud to release the Bindows gauges library toolkit.
You can use the library to add vector-graphics based, Ajax-enabled gauges to any HTML page. The Bindows free gauges toolkit includes:
* A set of predefined sample gauges.
* An online wizard to easily create and personalize your gauge.
* A non exclusive licence to freely use and distribute gauges based on the library.
* A lightweigth Bindows™ distribution, tailored for use with this library.
The gauge library has been tested with Firefox 2.0.0.9 and IE 5.5+.
The package is provided free of charge, without any warranty and without any commitment for support.
Check it out at Bindows Ajax Gauges Library.
Sample of two Bindows gauges - CLICK the gauges to see them live (moving) and notice that the clock always shows your local time