What’s New in Dovetail Agent 6
This week we released Dovetail Agent version 6. Here’s a quick rundown of the major changes.
Faster all around
We’ve improved performance throughout the application, both on the front and back-end.
On the back-end, we’ve upgraded our major infrastructure components (including FUBU MVC, StructureMap, and Dovetail SDK), which improves the application startup time, as well as improves the time to process every request. We’ve also made improvements to the SQL generation module, which improves the performance of many database queries. In addition, queries are no longer executed on items without any relevant filters, which means fewer queries and better overall performance.
On the front-end, Dovetail Agent is now a true SPA (Single Page Application), which means navigating through the application is much faster. There are less requests from the client to the server, and less data (scripts, templates, css, etc.) being transferred. From a user’s standpoint, it definitely feels faster.
Navigation Menu
The Navigation Menu (the left sidebar that shows up on the console pages (My Work, Queues, Queries, Searches, Recent Items)) is now accessible from every page in the app. This allows users to access the Navigation menu from anywhere without having to return to the home page. This makes moving through the application much easier and faster.
In addition, the Navigation Menu can be hidden, and the page content will expand to fill the entire page. The app will automatically remember the menu’s hidden/displayed state, so if you want it hidden, it’ll stay hidden (until you explicitly display it again).
Here’s a short video showing the improved navigation menu:
From the video you can also see how quick the app is.
And don’t forget about the Keyboard Shortcuts, which also allow users to quickly navigate through the app.
Advanced Search
We’ve added a new advanced search page to the app. When you search using an internet search engine such as Google, most people simply type into the standard search box. But there’s also a Google Advanced Search option, which helps guide you through a more, uh, advanced search. We provide a similar option.
From the Search page, simply click the Advanced Search link, and you’ll be able to create more advanced searches easily.
Read more about the power of search in Dovetail apps.
Default Avatars
Previously, the default avatar was the same for everybody:
Now, the default avatar is the user’s initials, which provides more context and makes it easier to visually parse the history.
Of course, it looks even better when user’s have uploaded their own avatar:
Additional Niceties
- The activity spinner and a “Searching…’ heading is now displayed when waiting for search results to appear
- Added a “Case Type” filter for subcases, which filters on the case type of the related case for the subcase
- Empty tabs for My Work now show a better message to the user – especially helpful for new users and the “first-run” experience.
Summary
We’re really excited for this release – the performance improvements are definitely noticeable, and the Navigation Menu improvements really do make it much quicker and easier to navigate throughout the app.
Couple that with the additional enhancements and niceties, and it all adds up to a pretty awesome release.
