What's New in AppWave 4.0

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This section describes the new features of the various AppWave components in this release.

AppWave Public Store

  • Usability Update: Many improvements to the user interface have been made. These changes are:
    • New AppWave Store design.
    • App listings are now displayed in a grid view.
    • Hovering the mouse over an app listing displays expanded app details.
  • The product page for an app now includes three tabs:
    • Overview: When clicked, the screen shot expands in an overlay showing the app and the app description.
    • Details: A description of the app, including app details, version, and requirements.
    • Review: Reviews for the app as well as the ability to create a review.

AppWave Enterprise Store

  • New Reports: New usage reports allows you to monitor usage of streamed apps, including free apps that use workstation licensing. AppWave does not monitor the use of locally installed apps such as those used offline. These new reports include the following:
    • Streamed Application Usage Frequency Report: Number of times each streamed application was used by a specified user or group of users during the specified time range.
    • Streamed Application Usage Duration Report: Total number of hours each streamed application was used for the specified period. Streamed application that were not used are excluded.
    • Streamed Application Usage Duration by User Report: Total number of hours a streamed application was used by each user and group for the specified period.
  • Display of Apps:The apps are displayed in the following categories:
    • Average Rating (from highest to lowest) of apps available on the Enterprise Store
    • Download Popularity (from most downloaded to least) of apps available on the Enterprise Store
    • Time on System (from newest to oldest) of apps available on the Enterprise Store
    • The home page consists of alternating scrollable "top 10" sections interleaved with advertising banners
  • Viewing Featured Banner Placements Promoting Specific Apps:
    • The administrator has access to an interface that allows him to select which apps within the Enterprise store to promote
    • The apps will have, as part of their metadata, pre-built ad banners that will be displayed on the home page

AppWave Studio

  • Open for Upgrade: This command, available under the Gear command, takes an existing .app file and extracts it onto your machine. Once it is extracted you can make changes and then remaster it. It is a very powerful tool when you want to apply a service pack or add some files to an existing mastered app.
  • Smart App Links: Smart App Links allow you to right-click a document and open the app associated with that document type. It also lets you, for example, from a Microsoft Outlook app email, double-click the Microsoft Word file attached and open the document in the Microsoft Word app. When you try to open a file, AppWave cross references the file type with a database, retrieves a list of appropriate apps that can open the file, retrieves a list of already installed apps that can open the file, and presents a list of appropriate apps to you. This gives you the ability to immediately open the file and set a default within the same workflow regardless of if the application is already installed or not. AppWave Studio now includes the ability to include file type associations (FTA) information inside the mastered app. There is also a tool available for updating already mastered apps with the new FTA information.
  • WebApps Support: WebApps are applications that are accessible via an Internet Browser, typically executed on an application server either hosted by the enterprise customer directly or accessed as a "cloud" service that is hosted externally. The AppWave Studio now provides the ideal mastering tool for defining the parameters for the display and execution of WebApps from within AppWave Browser.

AppWave Browser

  • Smart App Links: Smart App Links allow you to right-click a document and open the app associated with that document type. It also lets you, for example, from a Microsoft Outlook app email, double-click the Microsoft Word file attached and open the document in the Microsoft Word app. When you try to open a file, AppWave cross references the file type with a database, retrieves a list of appropriate apps that can open the file, retrieves a list of already installed apps that can open the file, and presents a list of appropriate apps to you. This gives you the ability to immediately open the file and set a default within the same workflow regardless of if the application is already installed or not. AppWave Studio now includes the ability to include file type associations (FTA) information inside the mastered app. There is also a tool available for updating already mastered apps with the new FTA information.
  • WebApps Support: WebApps are applications that are accessible via an Internet Browser, typically executed on an application server either hosted by the enterprise customer directly or accessed as a "cloud" service that is hosted externally. Popular business-related WebApps include, Salesforce.com, Office Live, Microsoft Exchange (via OWA), Eloqua, and IBM/Lotus Connections. WebApp support allows your organization to provide a catalog of both internally available WebApps as well as controlled access to external WebApps. AppWave provides single click access for easy and transparent access to WebApps. The AppWave catalog and its integrated licensing and reporting capabilities makes:
    • AppWave an ideal platform for distributing, monitoring and controlling access to WebApps for your IT department.
    • AppWave Browser an ideal catalog, discovery and rating/review interface for WebApps for users.
    • AppWave Studio the ideal mastering tool for defining the parameters for the display and execution of WebApps from within AppWave Browser.
  • Progress Feedback: The Progress bar displays meaningful status text during app streaming and launch. The bottom of AppWave Browser now contains an app status bar, displaying the app name, a progress bar, and the percentage streamed. If more than one app is streaming, the progress for the app selected and displayed in the application window displays.
  • Colored and Labeled Buttons: New colorful buttons with meaningful labels display in the Application window.
    • Run: Launches an app that has been cached on your private AppWave
    • nstall: Launches the app installer. Installed apps run faster on your system and can be run when not connected to the private or public AppWave when offline license usage privileges have to been granted to the user.
    • +Add: Add an app that is not currently available on your private AppWave but can be to downloaded from the Embarcadero pubic AppWave to your private AppWave. Once available on your private AppWave, any user can then run or install the added app. Added apps are automatically bookmarked and will appear in your AppBookmarks folder. Once AppWave finishes broadcasting the app to your system, it will launch automatically and the +Add button for the app will change to Run.
    • Downloading: App that you have chosen to +Add is being broadcasted to your system.
    • Master: Opens this mastering template in AppWave Studio, so you can then complete the mastering process for this app.
  • Information Displayed on Hover: When you hover your mouse over an app in the Application window, more detailed app information displays. Clicking More displays the product channel.