In addition to bug fixes, beta 6 contains the following:
Improved support for file downloads
There is a generic problem with file downloads an AJAX applications as browsers will prevent or warn about a file download if it is not initiated directly by a user event (e.g. click). We have included a FileDownloader extension, which immediately starts the download on the click of the component it is attached to (e.g. a Button). This should resolve all Internet Explorer download popup problems and similar in other browsers.
Improved support for popup dialogs
Opening a UI as a popup or in a new browser tab can now be done using the BrowserPopupOpener extensions, which works similarly to FileDownloader. This allows you to easily create dynamic popups in your application without creating a custom UIProvider.
API changes
Property.setValue in now restricted to the type of the property. What previously failed during run time will now fail at compile time (e.g. Textfield.setValue(anInteger)).
For short examples on how to use the new features, check out the Vaadin 7 mini tutorials:
https://vaadin.com/wiki/-/wiki/Main/Vaadin+7
For information on how to migrate from Vaadin 6 to Vaadin 7, see
http://dev.vaadin.com/wiki/Vaadin7/MigrationGuide
This is an beta release so we expect there to be bugs. We will no longer be making large new features but finalization of the current features might still affect API in some places. All your comments on the new features are welcome. Please post all Vaadin 7 related comments in the Vaadin 7 category.