To upgrade an existing PhixFlow instance: 

1. Check System Requirements and Compatibility for changes to the system requirements or supported database versions. For example, you may need to upgrade your database or Java version.
2. Ensure you have a backup of the database before upgrading PhixFlow.

3. Follow the Upgrading PhixFlow steps. It is important to complete Step 8, in which you apply any Special Upgrade Instructions for all the intermediate releases between your current version and the version to which you are upgrading.

4. This release includes changes that affect the PhixFlow database. After upgrading, remember to republish the PhixFlow data as described in Step 10 of Upgrading PhixFlow.

Features

DEV-7280  Performance for archiving has been improved, especially for self-updating streams.

Bug Fixes

DEV-7143  Adding a drag type to a stream that is not allocated to an application or package, now works correctly.

DEV-7324  The array handling function orderList now correctly sorts arrays of dates.

DEV-7307, DEV-7189   Fixed some issues in the way PhixFlow rebuilds its cached data. As a result the cache is more efficient and includes more types of object.

DEV-6975  Corrected the database indexing scheme for self-updating and audit-enabled streams.

DEV-7336  In the stream view properties, ticking Show records count no longer prevents the freezing columns.

Discontinued Features

Going Out of Support

Please email support@phixflow.com if you are planning to run PhixFlow 8.1.0 on an unsupported database version.

DEV-7135  Removed logging of action context values.

Changes to Privileges

There is a new privilege Download data to file. This privilege is related to the new options to limit data downloads, see DEV-6872, below.

Features and Improvements

Performance

DEV-6923  When you import applications, packages or stream data to another instance, PhixFlow needs to rebuild its database (DTO) caches. For large imports this can take a long time. Whilst the caches are rebuilding, PhixFlow performance is slower. In previous releases, the cache rebuild only started when a user started a PhixFlow process. This meant the user experienced initially slow performance.

From version 8.1.0 onwards, PhixFlow will automatically start to rebuild its caches when the import completes. We recommend that you run large import processes during periods of low system usage, for example overnight. This gives PhixFlow time to complete the import and rebuild the caches without affecting the performance seen by users.

Analysis Models

Datasources, Collectors and Exporters, Email export, Streams and Pipes, Stream Views

DEV-6902, DEV-6896  Sometimes database administrators need to access stream data directly in the PhixFlow database. To support this, you can configure streams to have a view in the PhixFlow database. In the stream properties → Advanced section, set a Database View. When PhixFlow next publishes data to the database, it will create a view for the stream. When the system task runs, it will clear any database views where the stream has been deleted. (See Task for information about the system task.) 

DEV-6872  Within PhixFlow, there are several places where a user can download data using the   Download data to file button.  PhixFlow does not automatically set a limit on the number of data records that a user can download, either as an Excel or CSV file. However, you can use new options to restrict how much data a user can download using the  Download data to file button. You can set:

• a system-wide default, in System Configuration→ System Tuning → Default Stream View Download Limit
• specific limits on the number of stream items (data records) that a user can download, in stream properties → Download Limits → Stream Download Limit
• the user groups whose members are exempt from the limit, in stream properties → Download Limits → Allow Unlimited Downloads
• the privilege Download Unlimited Data for a role that you want to be exempt from any download limits; see Roles and Privileges.

When a user is downloading CSV or Excel data, PhixFlow displays the limit that applies to them as the Maximum Download Limit. If the user selects more records than the limit, PhixFlow downloads records up to the limit and ignores additional records; see Download Data.

Applications

Dashboards, layouts and layout components, styles, palettes, actions and context parameters.

DEV-6966  Sometimes an action requires information that depends on a selection made by the user. To ensure that the action uses the correct information, when an application user clicks a button that will insert, update or delete data, PhixFlow waits for the dashboard to refresh before running the action.  If  your action does not depend on any data or context parameters from the dashboard, untick the action properties → Advanced → Wait for Selection check box; see Action.

DEV-6853  You can now specify a default number format using the  style properties→  Basic Settings → Number Format option. This affects the display of numbers in fields and grid cells that have the style.

DEV-6965  For delete actions, you can use a stream item action → Basic Settings → Attributes to Update → Expression to include information related to the action. For example, you may want users to add a reason for deleting the record.

Administration

Users, permissions, security, configuration, installation

DEV-0009  To improve security for the PhixFlow database, when you install or upgrade to 8.1.0, you must configure a Java keystore. This contains the encrypted username and password for the database; see Configure a Keystore for Database Credentials.

DEV-6925  You can configure user authentication (username and password) and authorisation (rights and privileges to access features, objects and data)

• in PhixFlow - these are known as local users
• in an external system - these are known as external users.

In version 8.1.0, you can configure mixed users, who have their authentication managed by an external authentication system, and their authorisation managed in PhixFlow; see User and Configure Active Directory Integration.

DEV-7051  If a user exceeds the maximum allowed password reset attempts, you can now easily unlock the account by clearing the new User → Basic Settings →  Password Reset Locked check box; see User. Clearing the check box also resets the count of password reset attempts. 

DEV-7031 PhixFlow now logs all user login and logout activity in security.log; see Server Log Files.

DEV-7056  By default, the Tomcat access log (localhost_access_log.<date>.txt) does not include information about the PhixFlow user who is making a request. You can now configure $TOMCAT/conf/server.xml to add the PhixFlow user details to the access log. Specify %{username}s in the log file configuration message pattern; see Server Log Files.

DEV-6899  In addition to having the audit description in an item's properties, and in the console Audit Summary tab, database administrators can extract the audit description directly from the PhixFlow database. The information stored in the:

• audit_summary table
• audit_detail table

now includes a new message_text column. As new audit records are added, the message_text column will be populated with human-readable audit messages. Upgrading will not change the existing tables, so audit records that pre-date the upgrade will have no message_text entry.

Bug Fixes

The following issues have been fixed in this release.

DEV-7015  Debug, warning, information and error messages are now correctly reported on scheduled task plans.

DEV-7027  When loading an Excel spreadsheet that contains a formula or function PhixFlow shows a warning. This is because PhixFlow can only load values. The warning message now explains the problem clearly, so that the user can identify the problem cell.

DEV-7038  Running analysis on a static stream now correctly runs a non-static stream at the end of a push pipe.

DEV-7058  Exporting emails using the Export Selected Records option no longer causes a 404 error in another tab.

DEV-7059  In grid cells that have both a drop-down icon and a background image, the background image is no longer replicated in the drop-down icon.

DEV-7068  When an action completes, its "In Progress" notification now closes correctly.

DEV-7134  Administrators can create, update and reset user accounts that have incomplete security questions. 

DEV-7137  Privileges that allow administrators to change a user account now correctly restrict the fields that can be changed. 

DEV-7135  Information messages about stream actions reported in the console no longer include the initial context parameters.

DEV-6992  System tasks no longer fail to delete temporary files.