Announcing the release of FenixEdu 2.0
Grettings!
We can say with great certainty the FenixEdu Project is pleased to announce the release of FenixEdu 2.0. We are also releasing a bunch of other software packages related to the FenixEdu project.
To better explain this release, we divide the new main set of changes in two type of features: user features and development features.
User Features
Development Features
- Bootstrap
- Generic host support
- Bennu 2.0
- New file support architecture
- New scheduling architecture
- Simplified user management architecture
- Removed Kerberos Support
- Updated FenixFramework
- Better Support for Modularization
- Debug Page
- Improved support for REST services
Other Software Releases
Login
With the new version of FenixEdu, we decided to give a fresh loook to the default login page.
Better Bookmarks
In previous versions of FenixEdu, it was not possible to bookmark top-level functionalities (the tabs) due to security restrictions of the navigation architecture. In this new version of FenixEdu, we improved that architecture, and you can now bookmark top-level functionalities properly without such constraints, and quicly access your most-used functionalities.
Student Analytics
Students now have access to visualizations that provide information and statistics about their marksheets, courses, and the progress on their degree completion. It is also possible to compare the results of their courses with the other instances in different semesters. In this first version, we are only providing a couple of visualizations, but we intend to provide more insightful ones in the near future.
In Figure 2, you can preview the first version of the global statistics view for a particular student. This view provides information about the student progress in his different registrations.
Another view present in this first version, accessible by the student curriculum page, is the execution course detailed view, where the student can view his and his colleagues grades in that course evaluations. Such information can be visualized through two diagrams: sunburst (Figure 3) and histogram (Figure 4). Additionaly, the student can compare his semester with other semesters of the same curricular course.
Bootstrap
With version 2.0, you can start you own FenixEdu instance without legacy databases. We made avaialable a tutorial to help you make your own installation of FenixEdu.
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](http://fenixedu.github.io/assets/fenixedu-bootstrap.png)
Generic host support
You no longer need to configure your FenixEdu instance for each host you wish to serve it on.
Bennu 2.0
FenixEdu is now built on top of the Bennu Framework. Bennu Framework simplifies the development of web applications providing cross-cutting concerns out-of-the-box. With FenixEdu 2.0, we are also releasing version 2.0 of the Bennu Framework.
New file support architecture
The introduction of Bennu 2.0 allows moving FenixEdu file support from DSpace to a more modern architecture.
New scheduling architecture
Removed the need for an external service to run cron jobs, with the ability to configure and run them directly inside the application.
Simplified user management architecture
We integrated Bennu 2.0 user management with FenixEdu. This allowed us to remove lots of legacy code used to manage users. It is now possible to customize the generation of usernames according to the needs of your institution.
Removed Kerberos support
Kerberos usage is deprecated since version 1.0, and now has been completely removed.
Update Fenix Framework
FenixEdu version 2.0 brings the latest version of the Fenix Framework. In this version, you can now control the slot visibility of your domain classes.
Better Support for Modularization
With the use of the latest version of the Fenix Framework, and the infrastructure provived by the Bennu Framework, it is now easier to create properly isolated modules to extended or customize your FenixEdu installation.
Debug Page
While in debug mode, this version of FenixEdu removes the exception page and shows a debug page to provied more information the exception.
Improved support for REST services
Bennu 2.0 provides a library to ease the development REST-based services including the cumbersome process of serializing and deserializing domain objects.
Other software releases
We are also pleased to announce the imediate availability of the following software packages: