Introduction

PhixFlow version 7.5.0 introduces card views in apps, exporting to excel from multiple sources, numerous improvements to support building apps, and improvements in the performance of apps. The are also a number of general usability improvements, and bug fixes, as listed below.

Contents

Installation and Upgrade

To install a new PhixFlow instance, follow the standard installation instructions.

To upgrade an existing PhixFlow instance:

1. First review Compatibility Guide and Upgrade Planning to check any changing requirements for database versions etc.
2. Follow the Standard Upgrade Instructions plus any special instructions for all intermediate releases listed in Compatibility Guide and Upgrade Planning.

Special notes

There are no special notes for upgrading to this release.

Deprecated Features

Graphical User Interface

The current flash-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) is supported in this release, but will be removed in the next major release.

The following features are not supported in the new GUI, and will be removed when the current GUI is removed.

Alarms & Alarm Generators

WorkFlows

We recommend that users do not use these features for new work, and plan to replace them in existing configurations.

Database

We are planning to withdraw support for the following database versions in major releases after 31st March 2018. Please contact the support desk if you are currently using any of these versions and are not planning to change by then. We'll plan continued support if needed with your input.

Oracle 11g

SQL Server 2012

MariaDB 10.0/10.1

Features and Improvements

Card component

You can now add card views to apps. This will display a card for each record of the underlying stream. You can configure the layout of the cards.

You can create a card component by dropping a stream onto a form, then by dragging components (fields, etc.) onto a card.

Export Excel File with data from multiple sources

File exporters now provide a new file type, 'Excel Spreadsheet (Multiple Inputs)', which can export data, from multiple input pipes, to a single excel spreadsheet. The export must still be triggered by a push pipe, but can now read data from other input pipes. The exporter must have an excel template which is annotated to define which pipe data is written to which region of the template.

The excel template field is now an expression with access to the input multiplier value, which allows the exporter to use different templates for different exported files in a single exporter run.

App and app building usability improvements

Flexible button positioning

You can now specify a target on an action - this means that buttons can be separate from the dashboard components they update, giving more flexibility in app layout and design.

The target must be on the same dashboard, and one of:

• Dashboard element
• Card component
• Stream view component - a stream view dropped onto a form or area

Drag action onto stream view header to create menu item

You can now drag an action onto a stream view or a dashboard header to create a button which fires the action.

Drop stream attributes onto grids (not only on grid headers)

You can now drop stream attributes onto a grid (not only onto grid headers) to add columns to the grid.

Drag context parameter onto dashboard to create background filter

You can now drag a context attribute onto dashboard to create a driving background filter. This will automatically configure the filter to match the context parameter to a stream attribute of the same name.

Make standard PhixFlow app non editable

A set of templates (Layout Templates, Styles, Palettes) will be provided with every release. These will be imported during the install/update process.

You can replace your current standard templates with the new ones if you wish, but you don't have to; you can continue to use the old standard templates. Remember that if you have created templates based on standard templates, but edited to get the style settings you want - if you update to use the new standard templates, you will lose your customisations.

Update edited records with action

You can now use a new filter type in update actions, Edited Items. The action will apply only to edited items on forms or card components.

Layout components can be dragged and dropped in the repository browser

You can now drag and drop layout components from one area to another, in the same form, within the repository browser.

Display dashboard panes right after opening the dashboard

Chart panes are displayed sooner after opening a dashboard, with spinners, so that users know the dashboard has successfully opened, and they they need to wait for data retrieval to finish.

In design mode, dashboard layouts locked by default

Dashboards now open locked, by default, even in design mode. Buttons on dashboards will now carry out updates in design mode if the dashboard is locked, allowing users to test the actions without switching to app mode.

The previous locked status is remembered when switching back to design mode from app mode.

Set browser title based on app and instance

The browser tab title is set to a combination of the application name and instance name.

Chart improvements

Multiple charts improvements:

• Allow axes to be hidden
• Padding changes to improve the look and usability of charts
• If a barchart has only one bar, it is set as wide as if there were two bars
• You can now set the date format on dynamic text components

Set default column width for dates

Dates and date times get a default minimum column width, if no specific width is specified. This is big enough to display:

• A date in the format dd/MMM/yyyy
• A date-time in the format dd/MMM/yyyy hh:mm:ss

Set default column width based on label

Flex columns (the default column type) will now be, as a default, at least as wide as the column label.

Add internal variable _grid (equivalent to _form)

In previous versions of PhixFlow, when configuring an action on a form you could use _form, which provided the data from that form. Now you can use _grid as the equivalent for grids - that is, when configuring an action that applies to a grid, _grid will provide the selected records from the grid.

Moving objects between applications

Options and warnings have been added to make moving objects between PhixFlow applications easier:

• If you move a model view from one application to another, if you choose to move the model's related objects, you can choose if you want to move all the model's related objects, or only those which currently belong to the same application as the model view. This is useful when a model view includes objects, e.g. streams, that are included on the model view to illustrate inputs and outputs of the the model, but belong to a different application. The second option allows you to move the main objects of the model to the new application, but leave the other objects in their original applications.
• If you move an object from one application to another, you will first get a warning. In the past it was too easy to do this unintentionally.

Highlight objects from different applications in model views

If your model view includes objects from a different application than the model view, it will be shown with an icon to indicate this.

Performance improvements for apps

Specify all stream updates in a single transaction

It is now possible to specify that all updates to a stream will take place within a single transaction. This will improve the speed of actions because, if this is turned on, it not necessary to check certain reference data. This cannot be used if the number of records written in each run of the stream can be large - typically, more than 2,000 records.

The fields that control this in stream configuration are:

• Write in Single Transaction
• Maximum Records to Write - if this is left blank, the value will be taken from the default value Database Flush Size in system configuration.

Caching objects

A number of objects are now cached to improve the speed of apps:

• Dashboard layouts are now cached after first opening. Opening the dashboard again within the same session of the application will be faster.
• Drop down fields can now be configured to cache. To do this, set the Cache Data checkbox. This will cache the drop down list after the first load. You can only do this if you know that, in all cases, the contents of the drop down will never change for each user for each session within the application.

The cache will be cleared when you switch apps, or log out. Objects will not be cached while you are in design mode.

Client-side expression processing

The basic set of attribute functions can now be calculated within the client (your browser). Client-side activities that require expression processing - running actions that include expressions, opening dashboards that include filters with expressions, etc. - should now be faster.

General usability improvements

Attach external files to emails

File exporters can now be configured to include attachments generated by processes outside of PhixFlow. These are configured in file exporters in the field Future Attachments Expression. This expression must provide a list of paths - each path referring to a file accessible from the PhixFlow server, to be attached to emails.

Queue outbound emails

File exporters now write outbound emails to a queue which is then processed separately - that is, not as part of the task that triggered the email. This means that emails are not lost if the email server is down at the time when the emails are generated.

The list of emails is visible in the console. This serves as both an operational interface and as an audit log of emails sent.

Email records will be deleted by a System Task, if one has been set up. Email records will be kept for the number of days set in Delete Emails after Days in system configuration.

_inputMultiplier can be used anywhere in file exporters

You can now use _inputMultipler (and therefore _inputMultiplier.attributeName) in any file exporter expression.

_suspended in task plan alerts

The internal variable _suspended is now available in task plan email expressions. _suspended indicates whether the task plan will be suspended at the end of the run.

Confirmation before copying objects

It was easy to accidentally copy a large number of objects. You will now be asked to confirm before the copy goes ahead.

Improved error if wrong username / password provided to AS400

Improved error messaging for problems connecting to certain types of datasource, including AS400.

Highlight superceded records

If you set a stream view to show superceded records (Include History Records in the stream view configuration), they are shown with a purplish background.

Include unicode characters in file exporter output

It is now possible to include unicode characters in file exporter output. For example, if you want to include the AS400 new line character in a field, you can use \u0085.

Trim user names

When you set a user's first name, last name or username (for a local user), leading and trailing whitespace will automatically be removed.

Bug Fixes

Show predecessors

Fixed problem with showing predecessors/ successors on a modelling pane.

Multi Input File Exporter numeric values

Fixed issue with Multi Input File Exporter using .xls template with numeric data.

Quick filter status after clearing all filters

When a quick filter had been applied (on a data grid column header), when the grid level filter option to clear the current filter was applied, the filtered icon still showed on the column header - even though the filter itself was cleared. This is now fixed.

Stream attribute order when copying

Copying a number of attributes from one object to another (e.g. between two streams) did not always preserve the attribute order. This is now fixed.

Error on large integer value

Fixed error message when stream attribute integer value is too long for the field size. Previously this gave a classcast exception.

Deleting pipes from datasources

Fixed problem deleting pipes from datasources while other pipes were selected.

Wrong icon for non-enabled users

Corrected the icon for non-enabled users.

Stream/ Stream View names with &

Fixed problem creating stream view attributes when the stream or stream view name contained the character &

Import dashboards with user properties

Configuration import sometimes failed for dashboards with user-specific properties (e.g. width / height). This is now fixed.

Quick filters vs. view filters

Quick filters were not being cleared when a view level filter was selected. This is now fixed.