Moving from Desktop Modeler Version 7 to Studio Pro 8

1 Introduction

When converting your Mendix app from Desktop Modeler version 7 to Studio Pro 8, there is a recommended series of steps you need to take. These are documented in Converting Your App, below.

For information about new features in Mendix 8, see Studio Pro 8 release notes.

2 Making Changes to Your App Before Upgrading to Mendix 8, Studio Pro

There may be changes which you should make to your app before you upgrade it to Mendix 8.

2.1 Java Version, Deprecated and Removed APIs

Mendix 8 runs on Java 11, whereas Mendix 7 runs on Java 8. Make sure that your Java actions are compatible with Java 11. The official Java 8 to 11 migration guide can be found in the Migrating From JDK 8 to Later JDK Releases section of the Oracle JDK Migration Guide.

Deprecated Java actions should be fixed in Mendix 7, before you migrate the app to Mendix 8.

Fix the deprecations in your Java actions by importing your project into your Java IDE (Eclipse, for example) and reviewing and solving all the deprecations.

Details of removed and deprecated APIs will be added to the Breaking Changes section of the Studio Pro 8 release notes.

2.2 Atlas Compatibility

Before moving to Mendix 8, make sure that you are using the latest Mendix 7 compatible Atlas version 1.2.4. By first updating Atlas to this version, you will prevent several errors related to design properties after your Mendix 8 migration.

How to update to Atlas 1.2.4:

1. Check if you customized anything in your Studio Pro Atlas UI Resource module, as updating Atlas will override all of that module’s content. Move your customized content out of the Atlas UI Module before updating.
2. Check if you customized anything in the theme folder inside your Mendix project. If so, rename the theme folder to something else, like theme_oldest.
3. Update Atlas by opening the Marketplace inside Studio Pro, search for Atlas UI Resources, click the All Versions pane, and download Atlas UI Resources v1.2.4.
4. When prompted, choose to replace your existing Atlas module.

3 Converting Your App

The following sub-sections explain the steps to take in converting your app from Mendix 7 to Mendix 8.

3.1 Backup Your Project

Make sure that you have either committed your latest changes to Team Server, or taken a backup of your local project before you start the conversion.

3.2 Upgrade to the Latest Release of Version 7

To upgrade to Mendix 7, follow these steps:

1. Download the latest patch release of Desktop Modeler 7.23.
2. Open your app in Desktop Modeler 7.23.x.
3. Allow it to upgrade the app, if necessary.

3.3 Review Your Mendix 7 Project

Review your app in combination with the sections below and assess if further action needs to be taken before upgrading to Mendix 8.

In particular, it is easier to fix deprecations in Java actions (see Java Version, Deprecated and Removed APIs) in Mendix 7 before upgrading to Mendix 8. However, Float and Currency deprecation errors will be easier to fix in Mendix 8 instead (see the section Elements of Type Float and Currency below for instructions).

3.4 Save Version 7 Project

Your app is now ready to be upgraded to Mendix 8.

It is recommended that you backup/commit your project at this point so that you can return to it if necessary.

You can now close the project in Desktop Modeler version 7.

3.5 Upgrade Your App to Version 8

Mendix will upgrade your app for you.

Open the project in Mendix Studio Pro 8 and allow Studio Pro to update your app to version 8.

3.6 Review Errors, Warnings, and Deprecations in Studio Pro

Review all error messages and messages about deprecated items and make changes where necessary.

If you are using one, or both, of the deprecated data types Currency and Float you will see errors. See the section Elements of Type Float and Currency below for more information.

3.7 Upgrade All Widgets

To minimize the chance of problems, you should update all widgets and other Marketplace models used by your project to the latest version.

Check if there is a newer version of your Marketplace modules available in the Marketplace. Read the version release notes in the Marketplace to see whether you need to perform specific actions when upgrading.

In general you should not remove and reimport modules, unless this is recommended in the release notes. If you do remove and reimport them, you may lose data or configuration related to the module.

3.8 Review and Test Your App

Finally, review the sections below and ensure that you have made all the changes necessary.

Test the app for any unexpected results.

4 Elements of Type Float and Currency

The types Float and Currency were deprecated in Mendix 7, and have now been removed from Mendix 8.

The following elements of type Float or Currency will report errors in version 8:

• Attributes
• Constants
• Create variable actions
• Data set columns and parameters
• Microflow/nanoflow parameters and return types
• Java/JavaScript action parameters and return types
• The functions ‘formatFloat’, ‘parseFloat’ and ’toFloat’

It is possible to fix most of the deprecation errors in one single action. To achieve this, do the following:

1. In Studio Pro 8, find the error message which relates to the support of Currency and Float data types.

   

2. Right-click the error message.

   

3. Click Convert all to Decimal to convert all the attributes automatically.

   

4. Click Convert all to Decimal to perform the conversion.

5 Using REST and Web Service Calls

Mendix 8 introduces two Custom Settings which relate to Call REST Service and Call Web Service activities.

If you use either of these activities, it is recommended that you increase the values of http.client.MaxConnectionsPerRoute and http.client.MaxConnectionsTotal to reduce the possibility of performance issues for concurrent end-users. For more information, see the General Settings of the Custom Settings documentation.

6 64-Bit Studio Pro

Mendix Desktop Modeler version 7 was 64-bit application but could also run on 32-bit.

Mendix Studio Pro is a 64-bit application which will only run on 64-bit versions of Windows. This must be the 64-bit version of Windows 7, Service Pack 1, or above.

7 Java Code Generation

In Mendix Studio Pro 8, we are changing the way we generate Java code for Java actions and datasets.

Mendix Desktop Modeler version 7 sometimes appended a postfix (for example, Parameter1) to the names of parameters of Java actions and datasets. This behavior was necessary to prevent name conflicts in the generated code. In the minor releases of Mendix Desktop Modeler 7, we introduced a number of fixes to prevent those conflicts from happening, making this behavior redundant.

We also noticed that by attempting to prevent those name conflicts, we sometimes caused Java compilation failures, which seemed completely unrelated to what you were working on. Seeing that appending a postfix is now completely unnecessary and introduces quite a few problems on bigger app, we decided to remove it completely.

What does that mean in practice? For most app, nothing changes and everything still works as it used to. But, in a limited number of cases, Mendix Desktop Modeler version 7 will have introduced a postfix for your parameter name. For example, a parameter called Customer might become CustomerParameter1 in the generated Java code. This postfix will be removed when you migrate your app to Mendix Studio Pro 8.

In these few cases you need to make a simple fix before your code will compile again:

• If it is a Java action in a module downloaded from the Marketplace that is causing errors, just download it again, or update it to the latest version
• If it is your own Java action, then the fix is ever easier – just remove those postfixes from your Java code (in the previous example, CustomerParameter1 just becomes Customer again).

7.1 Example of Differences

In this example we have a Java action called LogMessage, which has a parameter called Message. In Mendix Modeler version 7 if you introduced a domain model entity also called Message, we would generate the following Java code for you (please note that some code is omitted for readability):

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        public LogMessage(IContext context, java.lang.String MessageParameter1)
        {
            super(context);
            this.MessageParameter1 = MessageParameter1;
        }
        @java.lang.Override
        public java.lang.Boolean executeAction() throws Exception
        {
            // BEGIN USER CODE
            Core.getLogger("MyLogger").info(this.MessageParameter1);
            // END USER CODE
        }

As you can see, instead of naming the parameter Message now Mendix Modeler version 7 names it MessageParameter1. In the user code of the executeAction() method, this.Message is used to log a message. This means that the code won’t compile.

Studio Pro 8 will generate the following code for you:

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        public LogMessage(IContext context, java.lang.String Message)
        {
            super(context);
            this.Message = Message;
        }
        @java.lang.Override
        public java.lang.Boolean executeAction() throws Exception
        {
            // BEGIN USER CODE
            Core.getLogger("MyLogger").info(this.Message);
            // END USER CODE
        }

This code behaves as expected and works out of the box. However, if you previously changed your user code to comply with the way Mendix Modeler version 7 was generating this code, you just need to update your user code to use the new names of parameters.

8 Troubleshooting

8.1 Cannot Open Project: Layout … has an invalid value …

Very rarely, you may receive a message similar to the one below when opening a project in Mendix Studio Pro 8 which needs to be upgraded from a previous version of Mendix.

This happens when a layout has an invalid value for the Layout type. This will still cause an error, even if the invalid layout has been excluded from the project.

See the image below for an indication of where you might find the error in your project.

To resolve this issue, use the previous version of Mendix to change the invalid Layout type (in the example above, Legacy) to a valid value.

8.2 DOM and Atlas UI Issues

Mendix 8 comes with several improvements to its DOM structure. These DOM changes will affect the Sass styling of app. Because of these updates, Mendix 8 app are designed to be completed using Atlas UI Resources (v2.0.0 or higher). Upgrading your Atlas UI can cause issues with your app’s theming. To troubleshoot either DOM or Atlas UI migration issues, consult the following documents:

• Troubleshooting DOM Changes
• Troubleshooting Atlas UI Changes