8206.07 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
Monday, September 30, 2019 wf092519a Gen 91 8206 Gen 1745
as092519a

 

New Features

New Installation Program Option to Enable Collection of Usage Metrics 

A new License Agreement option in the WebFOCUS Installation program gives you the opportunity to confirm your acceptance of the automatic collection of metrics that support the development of usage analytics by a third-party provider. You can obtain copies of the usage analytics created from your metrics by requesting them from Customer_Support@ibi.com.

During the installation, you may opt out of this service by not accepting this option when it is presented to you. After the installation, you may opt out of this service by clearing the Usage Analytics setting check box in the WebFOCUS Administration Console.

For more information, see the WebFOCUS Integrated Installation technical content, the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster Installation and Configuration for Windows technical content, or the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster Installation and Configuration for UNIX technical content.

Enhancement for Aligning a PDF Report Within a Page 

Instead of specifying margin spacing, you can now left-align, center, or right-align an entire PDF report within a page, using the JUSTIFYREPORT StyleSheet attribute.

To left-align, center, or right-align a PDF report, include the following syntax in your procedure, accordingly.

TYPE=REPORT, JUSTIFYREPORT={LEFT|CENTER|RIGHT},$

The following example, shows a PDF report that is centered within a page.

Enhancement for Aligning a PDF Report Within a Page

For more information, see the Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language manual.

Inserting Text Into XLSX Workbook Headers and Footers 

In addition to supporting the insertion of images in XLSX Workbook headers and footers, you can now insert text in XLSX Workbook headers and footers. You can include text in headers and footers on every printed page, on the first page of the report only, or only on all
subsequent pages. You can also specify the justification of placement within the defined area.This functionality is designed to enhance overall usability of the worksheets.

The following request against the GGSALES data source places the ibi_logo.gif image in the left header area and text in the center header area of the worksheet. It also places the webfocus_logo.gif image in the left footer area and text in the center footer area.

Inserting Text Into XLSX Workbook Headers and Footers

For more information, see the Creating Reports With WebFOCUS Language manual.

Fixes

  • In App Studio, the calendar drop-down menu displays the month in Spanish but after selecting the date, the text box displays the month in English. (190724055, 190912003)
  • When creating a double list box on an App Studio HTML page in a Hebrew environment at runtime, the move down arrow displays an error message. (190805021)
  • The push button style radio button does not execute the event in App Studio. (190819056).
  • Invalid credential errors occur when migrating ReportCaster from release 7 to release 8. (190531077)
  • When using a Reporting Server configured with UTF-8 (codepage 65001), and running a PDF report with Courier New as a proportional font using the Chrome Internal Viewer, the report output only shows random characters. (190228043)
  • Updated bootstrap to version 8.4.1, due to vulnerabilities in earlier versions.
  • Axis2 has been updated to the latest version, to eliminate vulnerabilities that allowed forged messages and bypassed authentication as identified in CVE-2012-4418 and CVE-2012-5351. (190611005)
  • When accessing the repository from the WebFOCUS Portal, it can take a long time to open a domain when there is a lot of content. (190703121, 190808125)
  • A RESTful Web Service call to create a new schedule in a My Content folder fails on the initial call if the My Content folder does not exist. (190510031, 190910079)
  • The functions NULLIF, COALESCE, FPRINT, EDIT2, and TO_CHAR when used in an
    expression with LAST will cause the server to abend. (190819045)
  • When the Reporting Server is configured with Data at Rest encryption, agent trace and
    agent output are encrypted preventing the trace and output from being viewed from the
    regular editor. Trace and output can only be viewed from the Web Console by Server
    Administrators.
  • Reporting Server Live Console receives an error when connecting to the Reporting Server
    from the client via the Web Console with AJP connection: error: undefined and server
    disconnected (190527005)
  • An unencoded tilda character within a URL is created by Designer. This is considered
    unsafe by security standards. It is flagged by Siteminder resulting in the request failing
    with an http500 error. (190815135)
  • WebFOCUS 8206.01 installer fails to update the previous 8.2.06 release and removes
    ReportCaster service from Windows Services. (190712034, 190819018, 191031055)

Upgrade Notes

  • In App Studio, the Action, Method, Enctype, and Accept properties have been removed from the Form component in the Properties panel because these properties were not actually being used.
  • In App Studio, an output widget container no longer contains the Autosize options in the Properties panel. Everything inside the widget is now fully CSS3 responsive at run time. Autosize is handled by JavaScript and responsive is handled by CSS3 styles.
  • When upgrading from previous versions of ReportCaster, FTP setting configuration information remains available in existing distribution schedules as long as the default value (Customized FTP) is assigned to the FTP Server Name field.
    • If you replace this value with a predefined FTP setting configuration in an individual schedule, the previous FTP Setting configuration information for that schedule is overwritten automatically.
    • If you limit FTP Setting configurations to a predefined list by selecting the Don’t allow user defined FTP in schedule check box in the (Default Settings) configuration, the previously FTP Setting configuration information for all schedules becomes unavailable, and is replaced by the default FTP Setting configuration or a predefined FTP Setting configuration selected for an individual schedule.
  • After an upgrade to Release 8206, only those users working in roles that include the new Create Shortcuts (opShortcut) privilege, located in the Basic Reporting privilege category, can continue to create shortcuts. Even though this privilege is included in the DomainBasicUser, DomainAdvancedUser, DomainDeveloper, DomainAnalyst, and WebFOCUSManager roles, it is not selected by default. Administrators must either select the Create Shortcuts privilege check box directly, or use the Role Update utility, located on the Configuration tab of the Administration Console, to include this privilege in each of the roles that can continue to use this feature.
  • The Display Esri Configuration Utility (opEsriAdminConsole) privilege, which granted access to the Esri Configuration Utility, was removed from the Application Development privilege category located on the Roles tab of the Security Center. The new ArcGIS API for JavaScript replaces the Esri Configuration Utility and is available to all users. Existing maps created using the ESRI Configuration Utility continue to work with the new ArcGIS API for JavaScript. However, you cannot upgrade them without first recreating them with the new ESRI HTML5 component-based Point Map or Choropleth Map options available from the WebFOCUS Designer or InfoAssist Chart Picker.
  • The following changes appear on the InfoAssist Properties page of the Administration Console Configuration tab. These changes were called for by In-Document Analytics rebranding, and they match changes to the labels of the corresponding format options in the Output File Format list that opens from the Format Group in the InfoAssist Home Page ribbon.
    • In the Format Tab section, the Active PDF option was renamed PDF Analytic Document Format and the Active Report option was renamed HTML Analytic Document Format.
    • In the Report Output Format, Chart Output Format, and Document Output Format lists located in the Tools Options Dialog Defaults section, the Active Report option was renamed HTML Analytic Document and the Active PDF option was renamed PDF Analytic Document.
  • The functions previously categorized as Statistical Python functions have been reclassified as Machine Learning (Python-based) functions. The names of the functions have changed as follows:
    • BLR_CLASSIFY is now named CLASSIFY_BLR.
    • KNN_CLASSIFY is now named CLASSIFY_KNN.
    • KNN_REGRESS is now named REGRESS_KNN.
    • RF_CLASSIFY is now named CLASSIFY_RF.
    • RF_REGRESS is now named REGRESS_RF.
    • POLY_REGRESS is now named REGRESS_POLY.
  • The enhanced In-Document Analytics user interface available is configured by default for new installations. 

    Customers upgrading to 8206 from 8205 or earlier releases will have the Legacy In-Document Analytics user interface configured.

    The new In-Document Analytics setting appears in the Tools Option Dialog Defaults section of the InfoAssist Properties page, which is located on the Configuration tab of the Administration Console. This setting establishes the default value for the In-Document Analytics setting in the Procedure Settings dialog box which opens from the InfoAssist Quick Access toolbar. The value in this setting determines the interface used to display reports, charts, and documents using the HTML Analytic Document format. There are two valid values:
    • Designer Style. Content displayed conforms to the conventions of WebFOCUS Designer and includes the Navigation icons, such as the Chart Format menu and the ellipsis menu.
    • Legacy. Content displayed conforms to the legacy run-time interface and provides options like the legacy column menu.

      Content created in earlier versions is automatically assigned to the Legacy display, which conforms to the conventions of the Active Technologies format, and provides options like the Chart/Rollup and Pivot tools.

      New content is automatically assigned to the WebFOCUS Designer option, which is selected by default.

      To convert content created in earlier versions to the WebFOCUS Designer display, developers must open that content for editing, reset the value in the In-Document Analytics setting to Web FOCUS Designer, and save the revised procedure. As an alternative, developers can use the text editor to add the following commands directly to a procedure.

      -DEFAULTH &WF_ARVERSION=2; SET ARVERSION=&WF_ARVERSION;
  • To prevent unexpected field transformations, when creating a chart in WebFOCUS Designer, the buckets are type sensitive. Certain buckets, such as the Size and Tooltip buckets, only accept measure fields, while others, such as the Horizontal and MultiPage buckets, only accept dimension fields. Additional buckets, such as the Vertical and Color buckets, accept both field types. When you attempt to drag a field into an incompatible bucket, the cursor changes to a cancel sign.

    To add a measure field to a dimension bucket or a dimension field to a measure bucket, right-click a field in the Fields panel and click Add as dimension or Add as measure. The field is added to the default dimension or measure bucket. You can drag the field into another bucket, as needed. As in previous releases, measure fields used as dimensions display as distinct instead of aggregated values, while dimension fields used as measures are aggregated using the Count operation.
  • In Release 8206, the default value assigned to the Account Creation on Sign In (IBI_ALLOW_LOGIN_EXTERNAL_GROUPS) setting, located on the External page of the Administration Console Security tab, changes from All to OFF. If you must continue to use All as the default value in this setting, after upgrading to Release 8206, you must open or create the webfocus.cfg file, type the IBI_ALLOW_LOGIN_EXTERNAL_GROUPS=* setting in it, including the asterisk (*) value, which represents All, and then save the updated file.
  • WebFOCUS page breaks in format XLSX report output are synchronized with Excel page breaks. To revert to the behavior in previous releases in which page breaks were not synchronized, issue the SET XLSXPAGEBRKIGNORE=ON command.

Known Issues

  • Bursting reports by parameter values is not supported with interactive content using the new Designer style of In-Document Analytics capabilities.
  • When clicking a column for a report that has only the Freeze option enabled, and the width of the report container is big enough to display all columns, a blank column menu displays.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • When creating bar charts using the New option on the Ellipsis menu, the Color bucket incorrectly performs a count for a dimension field. It also shows a heat legend. The expected result is a color legend for each unique item.
  • 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.
  • Running the configuration migration from the CMD line or UNIX Shell displays an error message in the log file. This error does not impact migration of the configuration files.
  • After running WFReposUtilCMDLine.bat or WFReposUtilCMDLine.sh, the RPT_DATA, RPT_METADATA, and RPT_USAGE tables are not getting dropped and are still available in the repository.
  • If you attempt to run an ARVERSION=2 (In-Document Analytics) AHTML Fusion chart procedure (.fex), it continuously loads and produces an F12 error. This does not occur with Fusion charts that employ ARVERSION=1.
  • 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. 
  • When you use the WebFOCUS Online Help in Japanese, if you type a search term in the Search box that contains NLS characters and press Enter, the words next to the Search box are corrupted. The workaround is to click the Go button next to the Search box, instead of pressing Enter. 
  • To ensure that Choropleth maps run correctly when working with the sample procedure Sales by Country and Product, you must replace the URL on line 155 with:
    https://services.arcgis.com/P3ePLMYs2RVChkJx/arcgis/rest/services/World_Administrative_Divisions/FeatureServer/0or open the procedure file in the newer version of the software. The previously provided URL is no longer supported by Esri®.
  • When creating reports in WebFOCUS Designer using the Technical Preview feature, the default font may not display all NLS characters correctly. To ensure that these characters display properly in reports, change the values of the FONT attributes, in the report section of the embedded StyleSheet you are using, to a font that supports the required NLS characters. For example: 
    TYPE=REPORT, FONT='Arial Unicode MS',$
  • Kerberos Authentication cannot be completed successfully in installations of WebFOCUS that use Java version 1.8.0_212, which is currently delivered in the WebFOCUS installation. In order to address this issue, replace version 1.8.0_212 with the latest available version of Java, currently 1.8.0_232. Upcoming WebFOCUS installations will include the most recent working version of Java.
  • Field Titles are not displayed properly on HTML charts in installations of WebFOCUS that are configured for the Japanese language and use Java version 1.8.0_212, which is currently delivered in the WebFOCUS installation. In order to address this issue, replace version 1.8.0_212 with the latest available version of Java, currently 1.8.0_232. Upcoming WebFOCUS installations will include the most recent working version of Java.
  • The Export Scenario dialog box does not display Master File Shortcuts in the list of available items under the Resources node. Even though they are not visible, Master File Shortcuts are present in the list and can be included in Export Scenarios. In order to add a Master File Shortcut to a scenario you must right-click the folder that contains it and choose the Select with Sub-tree menu option. The Master File Shortcut will be transferred to the Scenario, along with the rest of the items in the folder.
  • 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  b_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.

System Requirements 

This release is now certified and has been tested with Google Chrome version 77, Firefox version 69, Microsoft Edge version 44 (WebFOCUS only), and Internet Explorer version 11.