Frequently Asked Questions

A: It is a free development environment for creating new LGPL (open source) web applications and porting existing legacy applications to the web using WinForms toolkit and controls, ASP.net integration and wrapping capabilities. The VWG SDK can also serve as open source runtime for Visual WebGui LGPL applications.

A: Visual WebGui Express Studio contains the entire capabilities of the designer within MS Visual Web Developer Express Edition 2008. The entire set of limitations is derived from this environment's Development Environment. For example, Visual Studio integration is not available in this edition therefore, is not available with Visual WebGui Express Studio.
Learn more about the Visual Studio Express Edition features.

A: The Visual WebGui SDK doesn’t include the full Visual WebGui designer and the Technical Support package which are provided with the Professional Studio. The SDK is free and licensed with (open source) LGPL. Therefore, applications developed with it can only be deployed as LGPL projects.
Click here for a full specifications table

A: The main differences between the two versions are in the client layouting and HTML rendering mechanism. WINWEB uses XSLT to generate HTML on the client while .NETHTML5 uses jQuery and renders HTML5 on the client. This makes .NETHTML5 more suitable for scenarios that require web browser as well as cross mobile and tablet accessibility.
Click here for a full specifications table

A: Pre-release is a commercial release which is not a completely finalized version that is offered at a reduced pre-release price. A beta release can be either not a feature complete product or an unstable product which is offered for free until a pre-release or release candidate versions are offered. A release candidate is a version which is released after thorough testing by Gizmox.

A: Any Visual WebGui development environment (SDK or Studio) will enable extending with any server capability. In case the API will be exposed in specific development environment you will be able to upgrade the project seamlessly upon purchasing an advanced product.

A: The free beta version of the Professional Controls Suite that includes the Office & Charting extensions is provided as part of the Visual WebGui development environments (SDK & Express/Pro Studio). Upon release, the Professional Controls Suite will be available for purchase as a separate product and will not be included in the SDK or Studio Suites. However, if you purchase a Professional Studio before the Professional Controls Suite was released seperately, you are entitled to keep developing and deploying with those controls for free.

A: The Visual WebGui Forums are indeed very active and can be enough for some users. It is however, recommended to get the Technical Support Package in cases that a more prompt response is required. The Technical Support Package provides full access to the Commercial Forums and a 24 Hours SLA. Technical Support is also available in differernt durations with Professional Studio licenses.

A: You can purchase a one year Technical Support Package separately on your user account by going to: Gizmox -> Store -> Services -> Support Package
You can also continue using the public forums, that are available free of charge.
Please be aware that by purchasing this type of Support Package, the Technical Support Package will be available to the user account that purchased the Technical Support Package only

A: No. Visual WebGui Express Studio is supported by MS Visual Web Developer Express Edition 2008 only.

A: Yes. However, it should be the same Visual WebGui development environment edition for different Visual Studio editions. For example, one can install Visual WebGui SDK 2.0 & 3.5 side by side on Visual Studio 2005 & 2008 accordingly (The same goes for Professional Studio 2.0 & 3.5).

A: A Visual WebGui project can be upgraded from Express Studio to SDK and from Express Studio or SDK to Professional Studio. However, once the project is upgraded the same project cannot be re-opened with the original version.

A: Yes. The only configuration that has to be done in order to support such development is to select the .NET 2.0 Framework as the target framework within the project's properties.

A: The licensing system is made up of the following:
License: Can hold one or more Seats, and is managed by a single user. The user doesn’t have to be the one the seat is meant for.
Seat: Represents a single developer. Any developer is allowed as many as three activations upon request to .
Activation: Represents a single installation and registration of Visual WebGui Professional Studio on a single development machine.

A: The perpetual license provides unrestricted deployment and minor version updates of a specific major version (6.x, 7.x etc.) of the Visual WebGui SDK for an unlimited time.
The subscription license provides all of what the perpetual license provides, with the addition, that within the availability of the license (one or two years), it also allows version updates of any major version available – not only of a specific one.

The perpetual license provides unlimited time development rights on the specific Major version of the license.
The subscription license provides new and existing products development rights during the subscription period (one or two years) and existing products maintenance rights (development of already deployed applications) for an unlimited amount of time.

The perpetual license comes with several options for a support subscription (commercial forum)– one, four or eight months.
The subscription license provides only one option - a Technical Support Package for one or two years.

A: A major version stands for significant changes such as added functionalities and capabilities and is represented by the left number (6.x, 7.x, etc.). A minor version is a large set of fixes and adjustments which are incorporated within a major version and is represented by the first number after the decimal point (x.3, x.4, etc.). A stabilization version is a revision of the last minor or major version and which fixes the last known issues in the version. It is represented by the number to the right of the second decimal point (x.y.2, x.y.3, etc).

A: Visual WebGui SDK has always been and will always be open source in the parts where the community has customization capabilities. Visual WebGui runtime and design time assemblies have never been open source and will probably remain that way. All of the current available development environments can be downloaded freely with or without sources. In addition, there is a public SVN branch from which the sources can be downloaded at any given time.

A: You may license your application / products to your users under whatever license you choose provided that the Visual WebGui library and code within the combined work are licensed to your end user organization as open source LGPL and that you notify your combined work application end user organization that it contains Visual WebGui Copyrighted open source library and code and you must maintain Visual WebGui copyright LGPL waiver.

A: In case you want to remove the LGPL waiver you would need to buy a commercial design time license or a OEM/SaaS license if your product/service is distributed to more than 5 end user organizations.

A: Very similar to LGPL, only that with GPL license you are required to keep your entire application's source open, and not only the Visual WebGui’s library as in the case with LGPL open source combined work applications.

A: No. LGPL or GPL licensed product do not carry any kind of warranty with them, you may use them at your own risk.

A: Yes. Commercial products have a warranty and also include the Technical Support package as presented on the website see here. Perpetual license provides you with Technical Support for a limited period of time for either 1, 4, or 8 months depends on the Perpetual package (detailed in the store).

A: In order to keep receiving updates and technical support you need to renew your subscription. If you do not need the technical support any more, you might want to buy a perpetual license of the last updated version you got with the subscription, which offers you updates within that major version.

A: Your license will still be valid as detailed in the previous answer. The license’s availability will expire exactly one or two years (according to the purchased subscription) after the Visual WebGui v6.4 Release is launched.
The Technical Support Package expires one or two years (according to the purchased subscription) past the date you purchase the subscription. When the Visual WebGui v6.4 releases, all the previously purchased subscription licenses will get a Technical Support Package of one or two years (according to the purchased subscription), beginning that day. In case you would like to continue getting commercial forum access until v6.4 is released, you can purchase a Technical Support Package separately.

A: Yes, as long as it is customized applications or that the same named application is not deployed on more than 5 end-user organizations. In that case you will need OEM / SaaS license.

A: No. Your license and subscription remain valid until the original expiry date and can be used with the latest Professional Studio.

A: After receiving confirmation for purchasing a Visual WebGui product, you can get the license key from the "My Licenses" section inside the store. The license should be typed in when asked during the installation/activation process of the product.

A: If you use more than 1 computer (A work station and a laptop for example) you are allowed to receive upon request up to 3 activations for the same license, given that they are all used by the same developer and not simultaneously.

A: OEM / SaaS license agreements are required when your application combines the Visual WebGui (VWG) SDK and is distributed to more than 5 end-user organizations or servers, or more than 5 end-user organizations as SaaS. However, if you developed customized applications for customers/organizations (a unique application that is not resold to other customers or offered as a product) even if they have more than 5 end-users in it there is no need for OEM / SaaS license.

A: If you developed an application for a certain customer which will deploy it in their organization and allow access to many users within the organization there is no need for OEM/SaaS license.

A: If your customer distributes the named application to a total amount of more than 5 organizations (no limit on the amount of users within each organization) or offers the named application  as SaaS to more than 5 independent organizations then OEM/SaaS license is required.

A: If you developed a named application for 5 or less customers/end user organizations (which can deploy it each in their organization and allow access to as many users within the organization) there is no need for OEM/SaaS license.

A: If you distribute the named application to a total amount of more than 5 end user organizations (no limit on the amount of users within each organization) or offer it as SaaS to more than 5 independent end users then OEM/SaaS license is required.

A: When you develop custom applications for your customers (a unique applications for each customer/organization) there is no limit on the number of different applications that you can develop and deploy regardless of the number of end users within each organization and therefore there is no need for OEM/SaaS license.

A: If the combined application (your application plus the VWG SDK), for example was sold to 5 organization only, you don’t need an OEM License, however if you sell it to more than 5 different organizations, or if you choose to provide a service using an application that combines the VWG SDK, and you have more than 5 users from different organizations, you will have to distribute it with a Visual WebGui OEM license.

A: Organization is an entity which acts as an end-user of the application, or uses the application as SaaS, whether by an individual or multiple users within the corporation, company, partnership or any other entity.

A: You can choose between two models. Pre-pay a lump sum of $5000 per named application just before you reach deployment to your 5th user/organization for a lifetime royalty free deployment of the specific named application or choose to pay-as-you-go a monthly fee which allows you to create revenue and minimize risks. View Payment Options.

A: No, if the Visual WebGui product you use is licensed with LGPL license, you may embed VWG open source as you got it, leave Visual WebGui LGPL waiver on your UI, and comply with the rest of the LGPL terms. In this case you do not need to pay.

A: You may not pay, but not only that you need to maintain Visual WebGui library and code open source, the entire application must be open source and licensed to your end-user organization as one.

A: In this case you would need to pay for a Visual WebGui OEM license.

A: This is the unique name given to your application as it appears on the license agreement and according to which is identified.

A: The LGPL waiver is presented in the browser's window title and any open dialog window title.

A: One of the unique capabilities of Instant CloudMove Transposition paradigm is an integrated Mapping mechanism within the same Visual Studio environment that is used after the initial conversion to raw .NET. This is usually where other solutions reach the end of their capability and guide you to an external framework for manual rewrite. Instant CloudMove, on the other hand, continues and enables to map any capability in the source code to an equivalent capability in the target code, allowing the migration implementer unlimited control on the code and the outputs of the automatic tools by defining patterns and rules.

A: The TranspositionTool always outputs standard .NET (either VB.NET or C# according to the edition and the customer’s choice) which is then maintained using Visual Studio with extended Visual WebGui tools. The VWG tools extend ASP.NET for rapid data-centric applications development and boosts line of business web applications development by up to ten times comparing to the multilayered development of other rich web platforms. Extending the application can be done by: adding 3rd party ASP.NET/AJAX or Silverlight controls, ASP.NET development, Silverlight development and practically any other web development paradigm.

A: Yes, the application is already >95% ready to run as a standard Windows Forms by changing the namespaces.

A: Relying on Microsoft .NET standards, VWG dramatically boosts the development productivity of data centric applications, the runtime environment is secured-by-design, performance is proven to be at least x5 faster than any other web platform and bandwidth consumption is proven to be the lowest possible at about 1/10 of ASP.NET equivalent.

A: On top of the fact that Gizmox is a well-funded company, it’s always good to know that VWG is actually a very large open-source community which counts at least 40,000 registered .NET developers around the globe and of which many are contributors. The current number of developers who are using VWG at some level is at least 200,000. This community is highly invested in this tool, intensively using it and will continue using it and developing it even without having Gizmox as a commercial owner company.

A: Although VWG is a layer atop ASP.NET and comprehensively using the cross versions .NET Frameworks, VWG and .NET are loosely coupled in a way that changes in .NET versions do not effect VWG but only enhances it. Therefore VWG core pipeline changed only slightly from .NET 1.0 to .NET 4.0.

A: VWG is a standard .NET application, the tools are standard Microsoft Visual Studio tools (2005-2010), using your .NET language of choice (C#, VB.NET or other Visual Studio plug-ins such as Net express Cobol etc). The methodologies and paradigms are equivalent to developing classic visual .NET Client/Server applications. Although ASP.NET and Web development knowledge enable further customization and extension of the framework, this knowledge is not required to build cutting edge business applications. Furthermore, since VWG application is practically an ASP.NET application, it is always an option to choose other development tools like Silverlight or classic ASP.NET/AJAX/MVC to further extend the application.