Infragistics Debuts Ink-Enabled Toolset

Infragistics, a publisher of development tools for the .NET, COM and Java
platforms, plans to unveil a new version of its suite Monday that now
provides the ability to deploy ink-enabled Windows Forms applications
through its Presentation Layer Framework.

Windows Forms is an application, built around classes in the Microsoft .NET
Framework class library’s System.WinForms namespace, which gives developers
the ability to write graphical user interface applications that create
windows, process user input, and so forth.

Infragistics new NetAdvantage 2003 Vol. 3 suite can now be used as a
foundation to build any custom ink-enabled Windows Forms control, Brad
McCabe, senior technology evangelist for Infragistics, told
internetnews.com.


“We’re in the early stages of ink right now. We know that and everybody
knows that,” McCabe said. “But the Tablet PC is a form factor that we
really think is very viable and has great potential going forward. We’ve
seen tremendous productivity benefit for our own staff by running in a
Tablet PC world.”

He noted that even customers that aren’t interested in inking capabilities
have shown interest in Tablet PC, because the pen-driven interface can
often improve efficiencies. For instance, employees working in the field
that spend a lot of time filling in forms with checkboxes or pull-down
menus can benefit from the pen-driven input mechanism.

Dean Guida, CEO of Infragistics, added, “We are extremely excited about
being first-to-market with an ink-enabled toolset. The Tablet PC is
tremendously innovative because of inking, the system’s natural pen-driven
input mechanism. This is important to developers building Windows Forms
.NET applications, because there are many circumstances where pen-based
input is more natural and effective than keyboard input.”

Guida thinks Tablet PC and ink-based applications will especially increase
productivity in vertical markets, like health care, banking and other
service organizations.

“By making it as easy as dropping the NetAdvantage UltraInkProvider element
on any form you wish to ink-enable, developers can now enhance their
personal productivity and dramatically improve the efficiency of existing
business processes.”


NetAdvantage is built around Infragistics’ Presentation Layer Framework,
which provides a common set of core logic, through shared assemblies, found
in all its .NET Windows Forms products. The company said that means common
behavior and programmability across the elements of the toolset. McCabe
explained that ink-enabling any application entails installing NetAdvantage, installing the UltraInkProvider element in the toolbox, and bringing up any form that needs to be ink-enabled. The
developer then drags and drops the UltraInkProvider element onto the form.

McCabe said Infragistics has also made a host of other enhancements to its
suite. For .NET (Windows Forms), it has added new UI elements (including
Button, Label, and Button DropDown Container), .NET grid enhancements, .NET
tree enhancements, .NET schedule enhancements and .NET charting
enhancements.

For ASP.NET (Web Forms), it has added two new elements in the form of
ASP.NET date chooser and ASP.NET calendar. It has also made grid, menu and
charting enhancements for ASP.NET.

NetAdvantage 2003 Vol. 3 will debut with a manufacturer’s suggested retail
price (MSRP) of $695. The NetAdvantage 2003 Vol. 3 Enterprise Edition — a
subscription which includes all updates, upgrades, Infragistics .NET source
code and all new components added to NetAdvantage 2003 for one year (the
company puts out three updates per year) — has an MSRP of $995.

Both products will be available online on Oct. 6, and as boxed products on
Oct. 15. Current subscribers will receive the upgrade on Oct. 3 for free,
as part of the subscription.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to our newsletter.

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

News Around the Web