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Category: Skipper

Skipper beta with Gedmo support available

After some weeks of hard work we are happy to announce that Skipper now supports also Gedmo extensions. New version with the support is so far available as beta, you can download it from a post about Gedmo extensions on our support forum.

Because Gedmo extensions support needed a lot of changes in the application, we are now looking for beta testers who will try it. So if you have a project with Gedmo extensions you are very welcomed to import them in your Skipper model and let us know, whether everything works as expected. We will be really glad for your help :-)

Gedmo extensions support is now available only for Doctrine 2 framework. But this is only temporary, as soon as the beta will be properly tested, also a support for MongoDB ODM will be added.

Change the way you see your model

One of the main strengths of former ORM Designer and now Skipper is the ability to display project visually in easy-to-orient and easy-to-read form. Although modules and regions help in this regards, with growing number of elements in the model it was sometimes challenging to know which association went where. And some people may prefer not to use the option to split the connectors of associations.

That’s why we added new feature aimed at improving the overall model clarity even further:

Colored entities

Entity Editor

Attentive spectators surely noticed new tab named “Appearance” in entity editor. Here you can change  header entity color, as well as background color. In case you will want to you can also change them back to predefined default colors.

From now you can customize your model so it might look for example like this one.

Colored associations</h4>

Association Editor

As well as you can change the colors of entities, you can also change the color of associations. You can find the option for changing of colors as a second item in General Settings.

So in larger model you can distinguish your associations so you can simply follow connections between entities.

Auto-coloring on import

Skipper_-Import_better

Coloring of the association might be useful also while importing existing project into Skipper.

To turn this option on just check the option to “Use colors for imported associations” in Import wizard. This will automatically color every association, so you can easily orient in your generated model and it saves you from the necessity to do it manually later.

11 Jul 2014

Posted by: Martin Kulhavy

Hints for developers Skipper #features

Native look for OS X and Linux

skipper_press_release2

Hi Everybody,

From time to time we got requests from some of our Mac and Linux users to implement native look for these operating systems. We would like to make happy as many of our users, as we can, so Skipper brings native OS X toolbar and menu look.

By default, Mac and Linux users have their GUI style set to Toolbar style, Windows users have Ribbon style. If you want to change it, open Preferences window and in GUI settings choose your favorite style as your Menu style. Appearance will change after application restart.

In new toolbar style, the most used functions are contained in Toolbar and each of them has its own icon for so it can be found easily. Everything else is in top application menu sorted into 5 bookmarks: File, Edit, Tools, View and Help.

Hopefully this new look will be pleasant for you, however, if you find anything which can be better, let us know!

06 Jul 2014

Posted by: Martin Kulhavy

Skipper #new feature

Skipper: Back and Forth

Hello Everybody,

Today I want to introduce a very small feature, that can do really big things. It can actually be a lifesaver sometimes. Undo/Redo. While you still can’t replace proper versioning and backups, it will make your work significantly more comfortable.

ORM Designer was not ready for this function, but many of you requested it, so we reworked the way the changes in the visual model are handled, and we bring Undo/Redo to you together with Skipper. We have upgraded the inner databases of Skipper, split all operations to transactions and then we have reworked the transactions, so the Skipper can keep track of the changes. And then we tested, and tested, and tested. All of this to ensure you can always seamlessly get back to where you started, or refresh the reverted changes, and to easily fix any mistake before it can become serious.

So now you can finally use those familiar blue arrows to enjoy much more comfort when working with Skipper.

03 Jul 2014

Posted by: Martin "Freki" Stradej

Skipper #new feature

New promo video and video tutorials

Have you ever wanted to explain to somebody what Skipper is about but couldn’t find the right words?  If you did, despair no more. We have created short promo video that provides anyone with very accurate idea about working and usability of Skipper.

You can have a look at it on youtube

But that’s not all. For quite some time we have felt, that our documentation is really awesome place. However it was clearly aimed at providing only visual information. Now it is also audiovisual. We have put together 10 video tutorials that cover every major functionality in Skipper from creating new project to importing project from MySQL Workbench.

You can find the tutorials here, in the thematically matching entry in the documentation and in our new video section on Skipper websites.

Youtube video

Let us know which type of tutorial you like better (plain text or audiovisual) along with your tips on topic you would like to see “filmed” by our crew.

30 Jun 2014

Posted by: Martin Kulhavy

Skipper #video #documentation

Press Release: Skipper

Skipper, successor of ORM Designer visualization tool was released by Inventic on June 30, 2014. Skipper is a powerful visualization tool, schema designer and a code generator for PHP ORM frameworks. It can import schema definition files to visual diagram, and continually export changes from this diagram back to the ORM definitions.

skipper_press_release1

Skipper allows to edit in visual model all ORM elements like entities and relations, but also advanced objects like inheritances and all ORM properties supported by respective framework. You can quickly locate any object in the visual model, perform necessary changes directly in the diagram and see the changes in the model logic straight away. Powerful export function translates all changes to the definition files in a standardized format, quickly and without errors.

skipper_press_release2

As the previous versions, Skipper is intended for ORM developers using frameworks Doctrine, Doctrine2, Propel or CakePHP. The definition files can be formatted as annotations, YAML or XML, based on the framework used. The main improvements over ORM Designer 2 is better and more streamlined GUI, updated ORM definitions for import/export, and better reporting of changes. Several more enhancements like Undo/Redo, Print support or native OS X visuals will also make developers’ work easier.

Skipper is available for all ORM Designer 2 users with active maintenance, and for owners of newer versions, the upgrade can be handled by automatic update system. Projects made in ORM Designer 2 are fully compatible with Skipper.

Feature overview:

  • powerful visualization tool with intuitive controls
  • automatic generation of visual model from imported ORM definition files
  • possibility to edit all elements in the visual model
  • error-less export to schema definition files
  • modules shared among more projects
  • support for annotations, YAML, XML

Supported Platforms:

  • support for Doctrine, Doctrine2, Propel and CakePHP
  • Symfony, Zend Framework and any other MVC framework
  • runs on MacOS, Windows, Linux

Skipper download is available here: www.skipper18.com

Email: [email protected]

30 Jun 2014

Skipper is here

Hello Everybody,

Today is the Day - ORM Designer 3 is here. And with it, everything is new; new name, new brand, new look, new website, and of course, new features which, as we hope, will make your day.

Banner - Skipper is here

New brand: Skipper

Skipper means continuous evolution of ORM Designer 2. But instead of just going for the obvious choice, ORM Designer 3, we decided to use new, strong and memorable name with additional meaning between the lines. Skipper brand is result of many-month hard work and we are very proud on it.

New feature: Undo/Redo

Undo/Redo is the feature for which many users have been calling. It needed quite big changes in the application logic, but from now any modification of the model can be returned back. Change your entities, associations, their position, color or properties, change whatever and anytime you can make a step back or forward as you will need.

New enhancements: Improved GUI

GUI was smoothed out and all the small glitches that appeared from time to time in the visual model are now gone. You will notice new welcome screen, new status bars and completely new look if you are an OS X user. For better orientation in the model now you can highlight also your entities and associations.

Painless upgrade for free

Upgrading to the Skipper is smooth and easy, no need of difficult conversions of your current projects or learning how to work with a new application. And what is even better, everything you need is an active ORM Designer 2 maintenance and you can start using skipper without any limitations.

Upgrade to Skipper now and enjoy all the goodies this next generation of ORM Designer brings you.

30 Jun 2014

Posted by: Martin "Freki" Stradej

Skipper #Skipper #new release

Skipper is coming

skipper is coming

Hello Everybody,

We are working on some big changes. We will release ORM Designer 3 pretty soon, under the new name of Skipper. With the new name new features come, but also new colors and design for all our channels, including websites, twitter and blog.

We think the surprise will be very pleasant when we launch all these changes, but we just wanted to give you heads up to avoid any confusion. Everything will be redirected, so you can reach us as usual.

And what Skipper brings you? Apart from new visuals and more streamlined GUI, Skipper offers several new features like Undo/Redo and printing support. We will of course cover the features in more details during the official launch in the upcoming days, so please take this announce just as a little teaser.

If you are curious, you can see how new ORM Designer looks like, if you download the Skipper Beta from our Support forum. You can try Skipper out with your current ORM Designer 2 license, if your maintenance is still active, or you can try the Skipper trial version.

18 Jun 2014

Posted by: Martin "Freki" Stradej

Skipper #new release