Converting the AB Suite Model

You can convert an existing AB Suite Standard mode model to an AB Suite User Experience mode model or an AB Suite Advanced mode model by using the Converter.

An AB Suite project associated to an AB Suite User Experience mode model generates a Client Framework application.

Converting the AB Suite Standard mode model to an AB Suite User Experience mode model creates the following:

A new User Experience mode model database.
A new User Experience mode project.
A clone of the original model database.
The cloned model database is used to
- Extract all the presentation information from the AB Suite model and create matching WPF or ASP.NET MVC client projects.
- Extract all the application model structures and populate the new User Experience mode model database.

To convert an existing AB Suite model to an AB Suite Advanced mode model or an AB Suite User Experience mode model, perform the following:

On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
The New Project dialog box appears.
In the Project Types pane, expand Agile Business Suite, and then click Applications.
In the Templates pane, select Convert An Existing Model.
Note: Select .NET Framework 4.8 from the Target Framework list. You can find the Target Framework list on top of the Templates pane.
From the start window, select Create a new project.
Alternatively, if the Visual Studio is already open, click the File menu, point to New, and then click Project. The Create a new project window appears.
In the Name box, enter the project name.
In the Location box, enter the path or browse to the location where you want to store the new project.
Click OK.
The New Application Wizard appears.
From the Server Name list, select the SQL server.
From the Database Name list, select the database name of the AB Suite model that you want to convert to an AB Suite User Experience mode model.
The model name appears in the Model Name box.
Select Advanced mode to convert the existing AB Suite Standard mode model to an AB Suite Advanced mode model. Select User Experience mode to convert the existing Standard mode model or an existing Advanced mode model to an AB Suite User Experience mode model.
Click Next to create a new database for the AB Suite Advanced mode model or the AB Suite User Experience mode model.
Note: An error appears if you try to convert an AB Suite application with an MCP configuration to an User Experience mode model, as these models do not support MCP.
From the Server Name list, select the SQL server.
In the Database Name box, enter the database name. By default, this field displays the database name of the AB Suite model.
If you have selected the User Experience mode check box, click Next to specify the technology to which you want to convert the AB Suite model. If you have selected the Advanced mode check box, skip to step 17.
Click Next to specify the technology to which you want to convert the AB Suite model.
From the Technology list, select a technology of your choice. You can select more than one technology if you want to convert the AB Suite model to more than one technology in the User Experience mode model.
Note: By default, the WPF and Metadata technology is selected. The Metadata technology must be selected to create an ASP.NET MVC or Web API projects.
In the Folder Name field, enter a folder name for the specified technology.
From the Configuration Name list, select a configuration for the technology folder.
Click Next.
The project creation confirmation page appears.
Click Finish.

Note: When the AB Suite model is converted to an AB Suite User Experience mode model, a log file appears displaying the conversion details.

The Visual Studio development environment starts and displays the project files for the newly created AB Suite User Experience mode model.

You can check if the AB Suite model is converted to an AB Suite User Experience mode model by verifying the following:

In the Class View window of the User Experience mode project, verify if

The Client Packages folder is created under the segment and all other elements appear within the Technology folder.
The following properties are set for the specified Technology folder:
- The Client Technology property is set to the technology specified in the New Application Wizard; for example, WPF.
- The Generate User Experience mode Projects is set to True.
Note: Include ACTMTH and Include Ispec Header Items properties can be set to True depending on the settings in the original AB Suite model.
All elements in the AB Suite model with the Presentation Type set to Graphical or Graphical & Fixed have the IGraphicalInterface node under the elements in the converted AB Suite User Experience mode model.
All members defined for an element in the AB Suite model appear under the IGraphicalInterface node, if the Direction property of the members in the AB Suite model is set to a value other than None.

In the Solution Explorer window of the AB Suite project associated with User Experience mode model, verify if

The converted elements (class or ispec) with an IGraphicalInterface node have the corresponding project files, such as the DataModels, DataViewModels, and Views generated for the WPF Client Technology folder.
The converted screens appear similar to the forms in the AB Suite model.
You can verify this by opening each of the converted screens from the Classes or Stereotyped folder present under the Views folder in the Solution Explorer window. For a class, the XAML file is generated under the Classes folder. For an ispec, an event, a CopyIspec, and a CopyEvent, the XAML file is generated under the Stereotyped folder.
Notes:
- The converted screens generated for the Client Framework displays a warning when you access the designer as the UserControl for the screens does not include a Resource Dictionary reference to the Generic.xaml file. This reference is not intentionally added because of xaml restriction. To view the designer without the warning, you must add the <ResourceDictionary Source="/Themes/Generic.xaml" /> tag within the <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries> tags as shown in the following code snippet:
```
<UserControl.Resources>
   <ResourceDictionary>
          <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
       <ResourceDictionary Source="/Themes/Generic.xaml" />
          </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
    </ResourceDictionary>
</UserControl.Resources>
```
- At design time, the converted screens might not display the background colors applied to the forms in the AB Suite model. However, you can view the background colors in the converted screens at runtime.
The converted CopyFrom screens look different from the CopyFrom forms in the original AB Suite application.
The CopyFrom screens generated for the WPF or the XAML technology in the converted User Experience model might not appear exactly as they appear in the forms present in the AB Suite Standard mode model. This is because a CopyFrom area is converted to a DataGrid after conversion. The copied fields are represented as columns in the DataGrid. Therefore, you generally have to modify the generated DataGrid to suit the requirements of your user interface. For example, you can delete any Copy.From columns as the DataGrid column header provides that information.

You can now run the converted Client Framework application by performing the following:

Configure the properties of the model and the deployment folder.
Refer to Debugger Configuration Properties and Configuration for more information on configuring the properties of the model and the deployment folder.
Build the WPF Client technology projects (DataModels, DataViewModels, and Views projects) from the Solution Explorer window if you want to update the individual project files.
Right-click the deployment folder, and then select Build from the context menu that appears.
The <TechnologyFolderName>_Config.rtxml file is generated in the location where you have saved the project:
For example, C:\Users\<UserName>\Documents\Visual Studio 2017\Projects\<TechnologyFolderName>\Access Layer API Deploy\WpfClient_Config.rtxml
Double-click the <TechnologyFolderName>_Config.rtxml file, if you have associated the “rtxml” extension with the WPFClient executable. Otherwise, set up a shortcut for the WPF Client with the configuration file as a command line option.
Refer to Using the WPF Client Container for Windows Platform for more information on executing the WPF Client application.
The WPF Client Container displays the user interface by using the generated XAML Views that is converted from the forms in the original AB Suite model.

Perform a few transactions in the WPF Client Container to test if the user interfaces in the converted User Experience model work similar to the forms in AB Suite Standard mode model at runtime.

If changes are made to the AB Suite model, you can use the Synchronize Project… option in the File menu to update the AB Suite User Experience model with the changes made to the AB Suite model.

Refer to Developing AB Suite Applications in Mixed Mode for more information on updating the converted model with the changes made to the AB Suite model.