We proudly announce the official release of version 2.5 of the DHTMLX JavaScript widget library. We have been working hard, carefully preparing this update, to make it more comfortable and easy for you to build rich web interfaces with our DHTMLX components.
Version 2.5 introduces lots of significant improvements, including:
Object API
In addition to the existing functional API, all the components now have an object API that provides a familiar way of initialization for those who are used to work with object-oriented model. Instead of writing a large number of commands, you can now define an object within a single command with all the properties set inside of it. This new object-based approach allows you to initialize the components in a more simple and clear manner. The old commands based model is still available as well.
New Skin
With this release, we introduce a new skin for the DHTMLX library, so the components got more slick and polished look and may perfectly match modern applications interface.
Besides, in the near future we plan to introduce the Skin Builder tool which will allow you to modify the skin colors to make your application look the way you need.
The Skin Builder will have a few ready color presets and will provide the possibility to change color shades for different parts of the skin, or even globally change the skin palette.
New Rendering Engines
dhtmlxLayout, dhtmlxWindows, dhtmlxAccordion, and dhtmlxTabbar were updated with new engines to gain better performance. Now these components perform faster and behave more seamlessly on the page. dhtmlxLayout also provides better flexibility, so it became much easier to build custom layout structures of any complexity.
Performance of the components built into such containers as Layout, Windows, Accordion, and Tabbar was also improved significantly due to the new engines. Now even sophisticated interfaces work smoothly and fast.
Unified Container API
All the container components – dhtmlxLayout, dhtmlxWindows, dhtmlxAccordion and dhtmlxTabbar – now have the same API to work with the attached content. The container built into these components provides unified methods to attach/remove objects, so you have to learn how to use it only once.
Docs Explorer Updated
DHTMLX documentation has been totally reviewed and updated, and it now provides the search functionality, at last :) The samples base was also completely updated and became more comfortable to work with. The source code for each sample now can be easily viewed on the sample page.
Improvements for Grid, Tree, TreeGrid
dhtmlxGrid, dhtmlxTreeGrid and dhtmlxTree got lots of small enhancements with this update. These components are mature enough and already have all the required functionality, so we just make some improvements to make them more visually beautiful and perfect in details. All the advanced functionality is still here, though :) In version 2.5 they also provide better cross compatibility with other dhtmlx components.
In general DHTMLX v2.5 introduces more than a hundred enhancements in the whole suite, and provides more polished look and feel with the same powerful functionality and improved performance. The library is available in Standard (GPL licensed) and PRO editions. Each DHTMLX component can be downloaded/purchased and used standalone or within DHTMLX Suite.