As you know Vaadin Pro Account is an extension to the free vaadin.com user account that gives you access to online developer support services and licenses for software tools and components for speeding up your Vaadin application development.
Starting with Pro Account 2.0 we are offering full-blown support for Vaadin 7, including GWT. In addition to this we did a bunch of improvements to Pro Account, making it more friendly to use.
Pro Account Support for Vaadin 7
Vaadin 7 Bugfix priorities
Starting from Vaadin 7 Beta 1 Pro Account customers have been able to prioritize tickets reported in Vaadin Trac. Since Vaadin 7 is still in Beta and not fully stabilized we preserve the right to prioritize Vaadin 6 bug fixes over Vaadin 7 Beta fixes for the time being. In practise this means that we assign Vaadin 7 bug fixes to Vaadin experts within five business days. Once the first Vaadin 7 stable release is out, we will commit to the normal service level; bugfix priorities are assigned to a Vaadin expert within two business days.
The bug fixes reported for Vaadin Framework are only released for the latest major release. So for example if you find a bug in Vaadin 7 Beta 2 it will be fixed in the following Beta 3 release. If you should find a bug in a Vaadin 6.x.x release and prioritize it, that bug would be fixed to the latest 6 series release.
GWT integrated to Vaadin 7
Being an active member of the GWT steering committee and maintaining an own release branch of GWT makes Vaadin the only source for commercial first level GWT support, offering timely resolutions to your GWT problems. Frequent Vaadin 7 releases (fully compatible replacement of GWT) and the ability to contribute back to GWT provides a solid foundation to offer commercial support for pure GWT users as well.
Delivering commercial support services such as Bugfix Priority and Feature Voting was not possible prior to Google handing over the control of GWT to the steering committee. But thanks to Google, we now have all the bells and whistles needed to implement new features and fix bugs in all software layers that Vaadin Framework is built on, be they on the client or server side. Being closely involved in GWT development also boosts the Vaadin support team expertise in GWT even further, which of course benefits our support customers.
Vaadin Pro Add-On alphas
Vaadin 7 compatible versions of all Vaadin Pro Add-ons have been released. You can download the releases from Vaadin Directory and try them out.
Vaadin 7 compatible versions of Timeline, TouchKit, JPAContainer and Calendar are currently in alpha status, primarily targeted for customers evaluating Vaadin 7 including Pro Add-ons. Alpha releases are developed with Vaadin 7 Beta 2 and are not guaranteed to be forward compatible with upcoming Vaadin 7 Beta releases, if the API should change.
The Pro Account Bugfix priority service does not apply for any software of an alpha maturity level, be it the framework or add-ons. As soon as Pro Add-on Betas are out you can start prioritizing bugs and let Vaadin experts take care of them for you. Vaadin Pro Add-on Betas will be available no more than one month after Vaadin 7 is stabilized. In case you want to speed up things you can sponsor the development or use Support Request to assign one of our experts to the task.
You can follow the status of Vaadin 7.0.0 and Pro Add-ons through the Vaadin 7 roadmap.
New looks and improved UX
One of the main targets for Pro Account 2.0 was to improve its overall user experience.
As a side note I need to admit that after the Vaadin site was recently re-designed, Pro Account failed to deliver the level of user experience you would expect to get from a company touting the slogan: "Thinking of U and I". Luckily we have bounced back with Pro Account 2.0.
Next I will mention some of the changes we have made to bring the Pro Account user experience back on par with rest of the vaadin.com site.
New theme and activity notifications
The completely rewritten theme provides Pro Account a new stylish look and makes it much easier to navigate from one service to another. The navigation menu was placed on the left of the new layout in order to be accessible throughout the Pro Account service.
We also wanted to give our customers a more intuitive way to see what has happened in the Pro Account since their last login, or better yet what happens when they are online. Yep, you guessed it, we ended up placing notifications in our menu bar, just like in Facebook. With interactive notifications Pro Account users can intuitively see what's happening.
Service enhancements
The Bugfix Priority and Feature Voting services have been changed to better serve teams instead of individual users. In the past each Pro Account user was eligible for one Bugfix priority at a time, but with Pro Account 2.0 any user can spend the total number of bugfix priorities available to the Pro Account subscription. So, no more need to facilitate each user separately to submit bug fix requests in order to get all bugs reported that your project have found. In a similar manner we have changed the logic of the Feature Voting service: Now single team member can assign all the available feature votes available for the entire team.
Software Center
Accessing commercially supported software components and Pro features is so much easier now when all commercially supported software components are gathered into one single page.
Commercially supported software components includes; Vaadin Framework 6 and 7 (from Beta 2), Commercial Vaadin Add-ons and Official Vaadin Add-ons as listed in Vaadin Directory.
Software Center contains 5 sections:
- Vaadin Framework
- Vaadin Commercial Add-ons
- Vaadin Official Add-ons
- Custom Builds
- Third-party Software
Software Center offers download links and shortcuts to initiate Bugfix Priority or Feature Vote services for all software components listed in the Vaadin Framework, Vaadin Commercial Add-ons and Vaadin Official Add-ons sections.
The Custom Build section lets you access our continuous integration server builds that contain the bug fixes you urgently need in your projects. A Custom Build will be available for download immediately after the CI server has ensured that every single one of the thorough regression tests have passed.
Software Center also hosts license management for any third-party software included in Pro Account offering. So go ahead and pick up your JRebel license from there.
Thank you for reading
Well done, you made it to the end of this blog post! Now you deserve a reward. Whether you have cheated by scrolling straight down or if you actually read the full story, I would like to offer a free test drive of our brand new Pro Account, so go for PRO and upgrade your account today.
Note: you need to enter the TLDRBLOG coupon code in step 2 of the sign-up process to get 1 month free trial. (The code is valid until October, 30th).