Version 10. What takes so long?

PHP

First of all – we are still working on version 10 and getting closer every day. We are now close enough to publish a date that is more or less accurate. We expect beta version to be available soon.

What takes so long? Apparently we underestimated the scope of work required. Also we have seen lots of potential in new functionality we adding and it didn’t make sense to stop halfway. We originally planned to have Page Designer as an addition that will help design forms like Add, Edit and View. Then we quickly realized that it should be applied to all other pages. Then it become obvious that it should completely replace Visual Editor (we’ll keep it available for old projects). More than that, some screens in wizard like ‘Fields order and totals’ also become obsolete and will be eliminated. We are moving towards a real IDE.

So I want to thank you everyone for being patient! I hope it worth the wait.

A little bit of history. We made lots of mistakes on the way. To be honest I’m surprised we made it that far. Our first product was ASPRunnerPro, then we developed ASP.NET version. PHP was seen as a language that mostly appeals to Linux enthusiasts and there is no money there. PHPRunner was the last one to be released and it quickly became our bestseller.

First versions of Runner family were quite simplistic and didn’t offer much options to modify the visual appearance. The first attempt to change that was template editor. You could modify source files to change the appearance. That wasn’t very useful. If you modify edit.php file, for instance, those changes to be applied to all Edit pages in your app. If you upgrade to a newer version you have to discard all changes made in previous version.

The next step was the separation of server side code and visual templates. This allowed us to introduce a Visual Editor that was powered by Internet Explorer editing engine. It worked fairly well but there issues that were not possible to fix. We tried band-aid solutions like Free-form mode and they brought as many new issues as they fixed.

We certainly hope that Page Designer is a bold step in the right direction. We no longer mess with HTML. Page Designer offers Excel-like grid to position and move page elements. HTML templates are generated on the fly when you build your project. No HTML in Visual Editor – impossible to break the template. Win-win.

In software development sometimes you cannot just keep piling new features on the top of outdated base. Once in a while you need to stop and lay a new foundation. It takes time but benefits all of us on the long run.

Joel Spolsky once said that Good software takes ten years to build. Well, it is easy for a smart guy like Joel. We already spent almost fifteen years building our software and just getting closer. We would not make it that far without your help. Thank you!

44 thoughts on “Version 10. What takes so long?

  1. Thank for the update. Your approach makes perfect sense. We are anticipating a great new version. Take Care

  2. Thanks for this update! Looking forward to it … Since this is a major update – do you have a roadmap / list of all features that will be available? I am anxious to learn about potential support for back-end RESTful APIs.

    Thanks for all your work!

  3. This is so exciting. I cannot wait for the release. Thank you Sergey and team for keeping current with your already awesome software.

  4. Exciting times ahead and respect for the great work done. I love using your products and your vision for a greater product keeps us your buyers and the consumers of our projects excited.

  5. Great to know that you are making solid progress with what promises to be a truly outstanding new version of PHPRunner.

    Clearly many users are very impatient to get hold of it but let’s have it right, and perhaps later than planned, rather than full of gremlins.

    Keep up your great work!

  6. Muchas gracias por su trabajo, estoy muy pendiente de la nueva versión. un gran abrazo para todo el equipo de des-arrolladores

  7. Thank you Sergey and the team. Your project is extraordinary.
    It would be great if future versions would include mobile application generation functions and the posibility for the search page to correct the user if he misspelled a word (something similar with what google search engine does).

    I wish you success in everything you do and I think the 10 version will be a dream.

  8. thanks xlinesoft for the continuous improvements, we are waiting on fire for this release, god bless you all

  9. Excited too. THANKS SERGEY to continue improving your software, AND TO KEEP US INFORMED about your progress. You and your team must be great persons. I hope to meet you personally some day. PHPRunner is the best PHP code generator in the world. Reserving my money to Version 10 !!!

  10. I just loved when you said “in a while you need to stop and lay a new foundation.”

    Best of luck and I am excited as well

  11. Sometimes, it takes a lot of courage to re-engineer our codes without obsessed with features.
    IT will be a great and welcome decision on your part. I am waiting to upgrade.

  12. Thanks for the update Sergey. I’m really looking forward to checking out the new product. Three weeks and counting …

  13. Don’t stress yourself, better do it slow and do a good job.
    I am looking forward to No. 10 and I am excited about the new features.
    The Runner is awesome!

  14. Sergey, thank you for the update, and for being so honest and forthcoming. I think most of us knew you were very ambitious, and I secretly knew you would be going through more challenges than you anticipated from your initial description of how much you proposed to redesign. I’m glad that you decided to take the plunge! I support what you are doing 100%. We are excited to see what you come up with.

  15. Thank you Sergey, I have total confidence in you and I follow you. Then I will wait the time you need to release the version that seems most accomplished. Your righteousness is enough for me to believe in your projects.

  16. Since its a IDE version … would also like to see a git version control mechanism – so that when the software is updated – we can track and keep a version control as well. Thanx and no doubt I am excited as well.

  17. First, i can’t wait to see it, always hated to mess with the design because of his inflexibility. hope that the new generation of the design will solve it.

    secondly, the software allow us to save whole project as desktop app, it will be nice to have the ability generate it as an APK (android) so our users will store and run it from the Smartphone no need of internet and much more faster.

    I’m using “website to apk builder” to do it, it’s working just like charm (one of my phprunner running the project as local android software),just by Click. it’s another step from Being IDE ;-)

  18. We are eager to use version 10, I hope this version contains Localized Date for RTL languages such Persian. Thank you

  19. Hi Sergey
    Are the beta ready? We’ll love to know and start working with another piece of jewel from your team. We are waiting for many years to come working on your platform. thanks.

  20. I am a little surprised there has been no updates since the timeline has passed. I have customers waiting for the new version to be released so I can build some projects and we are still waiting. Its tough to give updated timelines when the service provider isnt.

    Any updates?

  21. Really excited for new version 10. Any ideas on when it will be available for purchase.
    Thanks Sergey

  22. Hi,

    When the beta will be ready. 2 weeks before you confirmed to me for the release. I send you some email but even your are not replying.

  23. As usual, it appears that a great deal of thought and creativity has been put into this new build. Im sure that Im not alone in being anxious to get my hands on the beta build but I completely see that its not right to release until its ready.

    Im delaying the next iteration of our software suite to take advantage of the new version. I think it will further reduce our development time and associated costs. Nice work Sergey.

  24. Are there special requirements of Windows 10 to use PHPRunner version 10? I just fired up the beta version and it is really really slow. After several minutes I get a pop-up saying something to the effect “a web script is taking too long, should it be stopped?”. I have to kill PHPRunner via the task manager.

    I am wondering if I need some additional or updated apps for Windows in order to use PHPRunner version 10? Or must I not also run Apache?

  25. Cannot wait for version 10 to be released any new update on release date so I can purchase? Thank you Jon

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