WebFOCUS 8207.04 Release Notes


The following topic provides all the information that you need to know about this release of WebFOCUS.

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Release and Gen Information

Release Date Gen Information Reporting Server
Friday, February 14, 2020 wf021020a Gen 5 8207.04 Gen 1909

New Features

Creating and Repositioning the Filter Toolbar

When assembling a visualization from existing content, dynamic parameters in the content added to the visualization are identified and can be added immediately to the page by clicking the Quick Filter button. As an alternative, you can choose which filters are created by opening the Quick Filter menu and clicking Choose filters to add to page. You can select the particular filters that you want to create, quickly exclude optional parameters from filter creation, see which filters will be multiselect, and change the type of control that each filter uses. The Add Filter Controls dialog box is shown in the following image.

Creating and Repositioning the Filter Toolbar

Once you have added filters to the page, a filter toolbar is created. If you select the entire page and then click the Settings tab on the Properties panel, you can change the position of the filter toolbar. The default location is below the page heading and page toolbar.

Click Above Header to place the filter toolbar above the page heading and page toolbar. If you have multiple pages in a portal that use the same filters, you can put the filters above the page content to make it appear as if the filters are consistent for the entire portal, and only the page content changes as you navigate the portal. Alternatively, click In Modal to place the filter toolbar in a modal window. To access the modal filter window, click the Show filters button on the page toolbar. This saves space on your page by hiding the filter toolbar until you choose to display it.

To remove the filter toolbar, clear the Include Page Filters check box on the Settings tab. The Quick Filter button and menu return, indicating that the filter controls can be created again. Select the Include Page Filters check box before creating filter controls to create an empty filter toolbar that you can style or reposition, even before filters are added.

Supporting Excel Targets for Upload and Data Flow 

In prior releases, using DataMigrator to create an Excel worksheet required configuring the Adapter for Fixed format files and, on Target Properties, selecting the Adapter for Formatted Files and the format Excel.

Now, when the Adapter for Excel (via Direct Retrieval) is configured, it can be selected as the target adapter. Files are created with the extension .xlsx. Additionally when this option is used, now a synonym is automatically created with the name and location specified, and with the suffix DIREXCEL.

Note that the obsolete format EXL2K that created files with the extension .xlht has been removed as an option.

The following image shows the Load Options dialog box when the Adapter for Excel (via Direct Retrieval) is configured.

Supporting Excel Targets for Upload and Data Flow

The following image shows the flow with the Excel target configured.

Supporting Excel Targets for Upload and Data Flow
 

Using Undo and Redo in Join, Union, and Business View Editors

The Union, Join and Business View editors now have Undo and Redo buttons, as shown in the following image.

Using Undo and Redo in Join, Union, and Business View Editors

By default, 50 undo/redo operations are supported. You can change this limit by clicking the Advanced Options menu and selecting Options, as shown in the following image.

Using Undo and Redo in Join, Union, and Business View Editors

This opens the Advanced Options dialog box. In the Limits section, you can change the number in the Undo/Redo Limit entry field and click OK.

Setting the Maximum Size of Files for Upload 

The setting upload_maxsize has been added to the Application Settings page to limit the size of files that can be uploaded. By default, file size for upload is not limited.

To change this setting, click Manage, then Settings on the Server Console Applications page or, on the Workspace page, click Settings, then Workspace SET, then Application Settings. The Application Settings pane opens, as shown in the following image.

Setting the Maximum Size of Files for Upload

By default, upload_maxsize is zero (0), which supports unlimited file size for upload.

To limit file size for upload, enter a number of kilobytes to be the maximum supported, and click Save and Restart Server.

Once a limit is set, an attempt to upload a file larger than the maximum will generate the following message, and the upload will terminate.

The size of the uploaded file exceeds the limit of nnnn kilobytes

Using Server Variables to Load Third-Party Drivers 

Server environment variables can now be used to add third-party API and Driver DLL locations to the server library path. You can declare them as environment variables before server startup (using applicable operating system syntax and then exporting them, if applicable to your environment), or add them to the server environment variable configuration file (edaenv.cfg, using name=value syntax, with one variable per line).

Normally, only a single directory would need to be assigned to each of these variables. If necessary, you can assign multiple directories. You must separate the directories using the native path directory separator for your platform, with no spaces before or after each separator character. The separator character is a semi-colon (;) for Windows, and a colon (:) for all other platforms.

The following variables are supported:

  • IBI_LOAD_SSL_FROM can be set to an alternate SSL and CRYPTO DLL location.
  • IBI_LOAD_MSSQL_ODBC_DRIVER_FROM can be set to the Microsoft SQL Server and Azure ODBC driver location.
  • IBI_LOAD_ORACLE_CLIENT_FROM can be set to the Oracle Client DLL library location.
  • IBI_LOAD_REDSHIFT_ODBC_DRIVER_FROM can be set to the Redshift ODBC driver location.
  • IBI_LOAD_EXASOL_ODBC_DRIVER_FROM can be set to the EXASolution ODBC driver location.
  • IBI_LOAD_DB2_CLI_CLIENT_FROM can be set to the Db2 CLI Client DLL library location.

Note: In prior releases, the use of the LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LIBPATH or IBI_LIBPATH variable was recommended to specify the library path for loading third-party DLLs, depending on whether system security was in use. While these methods continue to work, they are deprecated in favor of using these new variables.

Adapter for Hive: Optimize Load With Bulk Load Options

In prior releases, when you used DataMigrator or Data Preparation with Optimize Load enabled, the ability to specify Load Options was not available.

Now, when loading data to Hive, options such as "Escape Character" are available when Optimize Load is enabled, as shown in the following image.

Adapter for Hive: Optimize Load With Bulk Load Options

Distinguishing Node Status Using Ports and Connectors

The Data Flow and Join nodes now have ports that indicate if they can have inputs (on the left) or outputs (on the right). The ports also indicate if all required inputs and outputs are configured.

  • An empty node that is not yet considered missing is represented by a hollow circle.
  • A node that is present is represented by a solid blue circle.
  • A required node that is missing is represented by a circle half-filled in red and outlined in red. A node with a menu has an ellipsis (...) at the bottom right.
  • You can click the ellipsis or right-click anywhere in the node to open the menu.
  • The indicator that there are warning messages is now an exclamation point in a red circle, which you can hover over to display the warning messages.

In the following image of a new flow, a source is required, but not present, indicated by the half-filled red circle on the left of the SQL node. No target has been added, so the circle on the right of the SQL node is hollow.

Distinguishing Node Status Using Ports and Connectors

The cross join node has warning messages, identified by an exclamation point in a red circle, which you can hover over to display the warning messages, as shown in the following image.

Distinguishing Node Status Using Ports and Connectors

In the following image, a source has been added, so the circles between the source and the SQL node are solid blue. No target has been added, so the circle on the right of the SQL node is hollow.

Distinguishing Node Status Using Ports and Connectors

In addition, targets are now represented by database-specific icons, as shown in the following image, which has a MySQL target.

Distinguishing Node Status Using Ports and Connectors

If a new target is added, a plus sign displays in the target node. If the target has one or more keys, a key icon displays in the target node, as shown in the following image of a new target with a key.

Distinguishing Node Status Using Ports and Connectors


Fixes

  • The Parent-Response segment does not contain field definitions when a multi-segment JSON Response is returned from the REST adapter Create Synonym process. (200114033)
  • When running an Insight chart with a drill-down inside a page or portal, the Explore with Insight button is visible but not functional. (180807086)
  • When using a logarithmic scale for a chart, custom baselines are always drawn on the bottom of the axis. (190131018)
  • A Reporting Server privilege is not applied to child group if it is applied in the parent group. (191031015)
  • An error occurs in WebFOCUS Designer when a field with a /STRING format is used as a filter. (191118093)
  • DataMigrator returns an error the during the Bulk Load run when loading with SFTP protocol to Hive on Ubuntu from Windows 2016. (200120068)
  • When a user with the AdvancedUser role that has been denied the Data Visualization from Metadata (opVisualization) privilege creates a new InfoAssist report off an existing Reporting Object with the HOLD option and saves it, the Edit option is missing from the shortcut menu for the newly created fex. (190920097)
  • Redirection to the Client trace page (http://<host>:<port>/ibi_apps/WFClientTrace) occurs if there is a JavaScript error when a page reloads. (190815024)
  • Resource Analyzer does not collect some SMRPCNUM values for procedures being executed. (191227007)
  • The Explore with Insight button does not function if the chart contains a drilldown. (191021082)
  • When a Slowly Changing Dimension field Change Flag is set to a Date format, DataMigrator does not assign a value to this field. (190220114)
  • General privileges like NOSYS (disable operating system commands) and NODPT (disable direct pass-thru requests) are not inherited by users of registered groups from Roles registrations. (191031015)
  • You cannot select Get Values, input a value manually or change the Type when using a filter box in InfoAssist with Google Chrome version 80. (200206136, 200205119, 200207011, 200207061, 200207103, 200210009, 200210059, 200211066, 200212069, 200212096, 200211006, 200214010, 200219027, 200220126, 200221064, 200225054, 200226036, 200226015, 200226066, 200303018, 200303024, 200304078, 200309113, 200311042, 200302075, 200326016)
  • Agent crashes when a report is run multiple times in postscript format, with the Lucida Sans Unicode font. (190403174)
  • A report fails when it contains the DB_INFILE function with a field from a folder and DBA in the Master File. (191031065)
  • The Designer tool’s filter returns the following error on a field defined as a string format: FOC32574 HOLD FORMAT BINARY ' IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH STRINGs… (191118093)
  • If split dimensions/measures is disabled, then flat view is selected and show name is used, when split dimensions/measures is re-selected, the field list will be blank. (191216066)
  • FOC003, FOC009 errors occur when running a chart or report with a reporting object containing a JOIN or a DEFINE from within Designer. The errors do not occur when running the saved chart or report outside of Designer. (200107009)
  • The Undo button does not revert the conversion of a Visualization/chart to a Page created by selecting Convert to a page. (191210113)
  • When creating a variable for a text value that starts with comma+tab in a DECODE option, the comma is not shown when you run it when used within an HTMLFORM. (190822086)

Upgrade Notes

This version of WebFOCUS is for new application and development only. 


Known Issues

  • The canvas of WebFOCUS Designer for this release is an interactive canvas based on AHTML. When creating a report, page and row break settings are not supported on this canvas for this release. If you select any other output format, such as HTML, PDF, PPTX, or XLSX, you will see these breaks at runtime. These output format options are available for stand-alone content items only. This will be resolved with the introduction of the non-interactive document canvas in a future release.
  • When an Insight-enabled chart created in the 8207.00 version of WebFOCUS Designer is added to a visualization as external content, the Insight icon does not appear on the chart when the page is run, so Insight features cannot be accessed. Resave the chart in WebFOCUS Designer 8207.01 or later to make Insight available when the chart is added to a visualization.
  • When working with the Cell menu in an interactive report, the filtering functionality does not work as expected.
  • When saving an artifact (from or of and interactive report, chart or dashboard), the output file name is ARsave.html rather than ARhtml.html.
  • If you create a report or chart in ARVERSION=2 (In-Document Analytics) and you set the output format to PDF Analytic Document, an error occurs when you run it. If you change the option in Procedure Settings to Legacy, the report or chart is produced correctly.
  • If you are working with an In-Document Analytics chart in landscape mode on an Android mobile device and you switch to portrait mode, your content displays in fullscreen mode. Your chart displays at the bottom. If you run your content in new window mode, your In- Document Analytics chart does not display in fullscreen mode, displaying the chart on the right.
  • HIDENULLACRS, which hides across columns that have null or zero values in the entire column, is not supported with interactive content using the new Designer style of In- Document Analytics capabilities.
  • If you add an existing ARVERSION=1 report to an AHTML document set to ARVERSION=2, it fails at run time, displaying JSON text on the screen instead of the expected report output.
  • If you are working with a procedure (.fex) and you change the ARVERSION to ARVERSION=2, global filters do not display when you run the procedure.
  • In a scatter plot chart or bubble chart, multiple measure fields on the horizontal and vertical axes generate separate axes, resulting in a grid of scatter plots for each combination of measure fields. In WebFOCUS Designer, if you create a scatter plot chart or bubble chart with multiple measures in the Vertical or Horizontal buckets, only the axis for the first measure in each bucket displays on the canvas. When you run the chart, all measure fields in the Vertical and Horizontal buckets are shown as separate axes, as intended.
  • The Expression Editor has a an area that displays objects that you can add to an expression, which are columns, variables or functions. The selection and display of these was controlled by buttons above the area, but when then size of the area was compressed, some of the buttons were hidden. Now there is a single button with a pull-down menu that allows selecting what objects are displayed.
  • Both the db_collation.sh file and the db_collation.bat file generate the "Main WARN Error while converting string [] to type," error message in the Command Prompt window at the end of their run. This message has no impact on the functionality of this post-installation utility, and it completes the run successfully.
  • The load_repos.sh file generates the "WARNING: sun.reflect.Reflection.getCaller Class is not supported. This will impact performance," error message in the Command Prompt window at the end of its run. In addition, the db_inplace_update.sh, WFReposUtilCMDLine.sh, and update_repos.sh files generate the "Main WARN Error while converting string [ ] to type," error message in the Command Prompt window at the end of their run. These messages have no impact on the functionality of these post installation utilities, and each one completes its run successfully.

Browser Information 

This release is now certified and has been tested with Google Chrome version 79, Firefox Quantum version 71, and Microsoft Edge version 44. For additional browser details, see Browser Information