Release 7.9.0

Special Instructions 

These are the special upgrade instructions for PhixFlow version 7.9.0.

Discontinued Features

The following items, and their associated privileges have been removed:

DEV-5679  PhixFlow now prevents the browser from autofilling fields based on data entered in other fields. This affects:

• fields in applications, such as forms
• fields in modelling object property tabs.

DEV-5618  The System Configuration → Default New Users to open in Design Mode check box has been removed. Instead, defaults can be set per-user via the external user template.

DEV-5452  For pivot stream views, if any of the coulmns contains pivot data it is no longer possible to use column filters on any columns. It is possible to use advanced filter.

Databases Going Out of Support

Please email support@phixflow.com if you are planning to run PhixFlow 7.9 on an unsupported database version.

Changes to Privileges

DEV-5394  The View Administration Menu privilege has been removed. Instead administrators can configure user access to individual options in the Administration menu, such as Import stream data and Export stream data; see PhixFlow User Administration. You do not need to make any changes to existing user accounts.

Features and Improvements

Analysis Models

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

DEV-5612 The PhixFlow interface for models is more responsive, particularly for large models that contain many objects.

DEV-5586, DEV-5538  PhixFlow models now run more quickly because stream data is now cached. This improvement applies when you run analysis or when an action updates data. 

DEV-4975  If you are running PhixFlow in the Google Chrome browser, you can now zoom out to view a large model. The layout tools in the model toolbar include the new Zoom In and  Zoom Out buttons.

DEV-4925  If you have multiple property tabs open, PhixFlow now highlights the most recently opened tab. This makes it easier to identify the tab for the modelling object you have just clicked.

DEV-5012  The modelling object pop-up toolbar has a new icon: Drag Object. Drag the icon onto the properties for another object to add it, for example as a reference.

DEV-5732  To improve usability, we have revised the names for the following decimal stream attribute properties:

DEV-5625  It is now possible to read email from multiple accounts. Previously, PhixFlow could only read data from one email account.

Applications

Layouts, dashboards, forms, components, styles, templates, actions and context parameters

DEV-5618  If the user accesses PhixFlow without specifying an application in the URL, the default application will load automatically. The option is Basic Settings → Default Application.

DEV-5329  Locking and unlocking application layouts and dashboards is now much quicker.

DEV-5709 Using the stream view attribute properties you can specify a format for the stream action icon. To do this use the stream view attribute → Basic Settings → Action Icon Style, set an action icon style. In the style use Basic Settings → CSS Properties → Value to specify an expression that changes how PhixFlow displays the icon. For example, you can show or hide action icons on grid rows depending on the values in the grid row.

DEV-5603  In previous versions, to make an area of a layout or form read-only, you had to edit each individual field in the area. To simplify this process, when you set an area to be read-only:

• either using a style
• or using a formatting rule,

all fields on that area are now automatically set to read-only. This does not affect any buttons in the area, as they cannot be read-only.

DEV-5656  By default, read-only components are now displayed greyed-out. You can change the appearance of read-only components using the new Read-only option in CSS properties.

DEV-5816  When you drag a stream view onto a dashboard, PhixFlow creates a stream view component with the same name. In PhixFlow version 7.9.0, if the stream view name contains spaces, PhixFlow removes them and capitalises the following letter to create the new name for the stream view component. For example, the stream view name bank sort codes is converted to bankSortCodes for the stream view component.

DEV-5708  PhixFlow will now warn you if the type of a context parameter does not match the field type or stream attribute type.

DEV-5809  Card settings include a new Default Page Size option where you can set the maximum number of records to be retrieved by the card. Limiting the number of records to less than 100 prevents PhixFlow from slowing down due to having many cards.

DEV-5767  You can now delete a form even if you have not selected any specific layout elements.

Common Features

Filters, tasks and task plans, data formats, functions and macros, interface menus and toolbars

DEV-5785, DEV-4784  You can now easily find where an item is used. An item can be a model, modelling object, application or component. Right-click on any item in the repository and select Show Where Used. The report does not include mentions of the item's name, for example in an expression.

DEV-4318  For PhixFlow instances running on Oracle or MariaDB (MySQL), the default behaviour of filters is to match case-sensitively. You can now set whether or not a filter ignores the case when it matches filter conditions to data. You can do this:

• In the attribute properties tab → Advanced → Filter conditions are case-independent by default check box. 
• In the filter window → Ignore Case check box; see  Using Filters. This check box inherits the setting in the attribute properties tab.

For case-insensitive filters, there is no difference if the attribute is also indexed.

DEV-5663  Background filters now include a check box to Include Historic Records. This means the filtered data can include superseded records.

DEV-5452, DEV-5486  There are some places where column filter pickers cannot be used.  Even if you select filter → Enable Filter Picker (on the stream view attribute), the  search icon will not be displayed next to a field:

• in a pivot view
• for data that is aggregated.

DEV-5725  In the repository browser you can drag any type of layout component to re-order them in the list. Previously you could only reorder areas.

DEV-5491  To help you manage the repository, any modelling objects or application components that are not used by a model or application are listed in a new Unallocated category in the repository browser.

Administration

Users, permissions, security, configuration, installation

PhixFlow and its libraries have been updated to maintain security.  (Internal reference numbers: DEV-5669, DEV-5670, DEV-5671, DEV-5714, DEV5720)

DEV-5706  To improve PhixFlow security, logging configuration has changed and no longer uses log4j.properties. During installation you must now configure two new files: phixflow-logging.xml and logback.xml; see Configure logback.xml and phixflow-logging.xml.

DEV-5538  The system task now includes processes that clear the data from incomplete stream sets. For version 7.9.0 and later, it is important to run a system task daily, or at a minimum weekly. We recommend that you add a system task to a task plan that is scheduled to run daily.

DEV-5618  If you have external users who log in to PhixFlow, you can use the new External User Template to set up default locales and applications for specified external user groups.

Publishing to the PhixFlow Database

Any changes to stream attributes must be reflected in the PhixFlow database. This is done by publishing the changes, so that the database has the correct streams and stream attributes.

DEV-5832 The console daily log now lists individual publishing operations.

In previous versions, PhixFlow would publish changes to the database when a user next accessed the stream data. However, this could cause PhixFlow to pause after a large change to its data structure, for example after importing a model or application. There have been several improvements to prevent this pause.

• DEV-5769  You can automatically publish stream changes at the end of an import using the Administration menu → Import Configuration option → Import Configuration window → Publish Streams check box.
• DEV-5772  You can manually publish stream changes using the Administration menu → Publish Streams option.
• DEV-5770  Multiple changes to a stream in a MariaDB (MySQL) PhixFlow database are now published as a single statement. This is quicker and all changes are processed correctly
• DEV-7626  When publishing stream updates to MariaDB (MySQL) PhixFlow databases, PhixFlow will not update integer-type fields if they have not changed.

Bug Fixes

The following issues have been fixed in this release.

Models

DEV-5594  Dragging an aggregate attribute from a pipe with no input to a stream that previously had a pipe with the same name no longer causes an error. 

DEV-5712  You can now drag an attribute into a sort order grid only once, rather than multiple times.

DEV-5705  Using the name 'Field' for a stream attribute no longer causes an error.

Fixed the following issues with the Order/Index attribute settings for a lookup pipe.  To access the attribute settings, open the lookup pipe settings → Order/Index section → in the grid, double-click an attribute to open its settings.

• DEV-5606  In Basic Settings section→ Attribute field, the drop-down list of the stream attributes now loads correctly, rather than displaying a progress indicator.
• DEV-5607  For lookup pipes from a file collector, it is now possible to save changes to the attribute settings.

DEV-5134  Using the pop-up toolbar options  Show Inputs and  Show Outputs now correctly displays all the inputs and outputs for the stream. Previously, objects copied using the Administration menu → Open Configuration Export Pane option were missing.

DEV-5745  HTTP collectors or HTTP exporters no longer request a value for the HTTP request method when you enable them using the pop-up toolbar button.

DEV-5746  Some file exporters create emails with a zip file containing multiple attachments. If attachments have the same name, PhixFlow will append a number to make the names unique before creating the zip file.

DEV-5639  Line and bar charts now display correctly.

DEV-5426  On charts, numeric values on the x-axis are now correctly sorted and displayed, rather than being treated as text strings.

DEV-5461 On bar charts, negative x-axis values now correctly display bars for the data. Previously you had to set an x-axis lower bound with a negative value so that PhixFlow could display all data in the bar chart.

DEV-5526  In graphs and charts, the axis labels now align correctly with the data points.

DEV-5711  Columns in aggregate views now align correctly.

DEV-5783  For stream view attributes, selecting a filter rule from the drop-down list now filters on the correct stream.

DEV-5812  In a grid view, any text that follows the less-than character "<", is now correctly displayed.

DEV-5722  When the stream view attribute property Grid Settings > Changes Row Colour is selected, PhixFlow now correctly shows different coloured grid rows, even if an attribute and its label have different names.

Applications

DEV-5622  When applications are displayed on a small screen, such as a mobile phone, the application footer now wraps correctly.

DEV-4962  For open applications that have not been used for a time, clicking on a context menu no longer changes the URL, so you have to reselect the application. The URL to open an app sometimes gets lost. It now stays in the URL bar, so if you hit refresh you come back to the right place.

DEV-5626  You can add parameters to an application URL to specify the login screen. When you subsequently log out of the application, you are now returned to the specified login screen, rather than the default login screen.

DEV-5588, DEV-5590  During the export of models or applications, PhixFlow no longer incorrectly reports an invalid object relationship between:

• streams and styles

• styles and components.

DEV-5575  When you create a card view or stream view by editing a template, PhixFlow now correctly displays the fields without having to reopen the dashboard.

DEV-5813  For card views, PhixFlow now correctly handles multiple selections from a drop-down list. PhixFlow now treats the multiple selection as a list of values, rather than as a single string.

DEV-5601  In the repository browser, dragging a text component onto a button component correctly adds the text as a button label.

DEV-5483  For context parameters that are lists, list entries containing  an ampersand character &  no longer cause an error.

DEV-5471  Copying formatting rules from one layout component to another longer reports the 'Parent ID: This Static Text could not be found' error.

DEV-5598  Stream actions now correctly recognise when a target view has the same backing stream.

DEV-5781  For stream item actions set to None (no action), PhixFlow will now evaluate any validation expression.

DEV-5596  Actions no longer incorrectly open a dashboard when the stream action settings →  Action Completion section →  Open Post Dashboard option is unticked.

DEV-5673  Action buttons now correctly delete, insert or update, even if the action does not have any actions that update a stream item.

DEV-5656  Clicking a read-only buttons no longer runs the action.

DEV-5609  Applications running in Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge now correctly display icons in narrow grid columns.  The icons are for filter pickers, action and drop-down lists.

DEV-5339  The styling for a form now refreshes correctly after you select records on a grid.

DEV-5737  Form elements that are styled to be hidden do not briefly appear when PhixFlow opens a dashboard.

DEV-5754  In forms, PhixFlow now correctly updates the formatting when you add a value to an empty field.

DEV-5742  HTML fields now correctly display new lines created using string fields.

DEV-5357  PhixFlow no longer incorrectly creates a copy of a layout component when it is dragged onto a new parent.

DEV-5369  Using the CSS property for padding now works correctly on forms.

DEV-5370  Layouts and dashboards now refresh the display correctly after components have been edited. Previously, some changes were not correctly displayed until the dashboard was closed and reopened.

DEV-5373  Adding a tab to the tab area now correctly refreshes a form or dashboard, rather than getting stuck.

DEV-5436  Fields that can be editable have a toolbar to provide HTML formatting options. If the field is formatted as read-only due to a property of the data, the HTML toolbar is now correctly hidden.

DEV-5442  PhixFlow now correctly sizes cards with Style Elements → Auto Size ticked, where the card container has either Align set to Stretch or Justify set to Flex Start.

Common Features

DEV-5694  In the settings tab for an object, the section headings no longer partially hide the colour picker.

DEV-5610  When you drag something into an screen area where it is valid to drop the item, PhixFlow now always displays the drop icon.

DEV-5617  Drop-down lists that are displayed above a field are now the correct size.

DEV-4387 PhixFlow adjusts the position of a drop-down list to ensure it does not go past the bottom of the screen.

DEV-5592  For drop-down lists that have a paging bar, the list is now wide enough to correctly display the paging bar.

DEV-5782  An autosave action now correctly on pivot views.

DEV-5710  Autosave no longer tries to refresh grids when there are no records.

DEV-5752  When you are editing Boolean fields in grids, autosave now works correctly.

DEV-5758  If there are stream item actions from different streams, autosave no longer updates grids with records from the other streams.

DEV-5295  Progress indicators now correctly end when an action completes. If an action times-out, PhixFlow stops the progress indicator and displays an error message.

DEV-5412  If a stream action fails, PhixFlow no longer incorrectly displays a "completed" result message.

DEV-5704, DEV-5570  In the stream action settings → Update Stream Items section → Attributes to Update grid, you can now filter on the Name column without causing an error.

DEV-5533  For new settings tabs, any populated grids now have the correct information in the paging bar.

DEV-5640  For columns or fields created from a stream attribute, when the attribute is set to have an action, PhixFlow no longer shows the Run Action icon in the filter picker.

DEV-5686  Scroll bars no longer appear over the top of action or drop-down icons in the last column of a grid.

DEV-5684  Filters are now correctly applied after using Apply without saving button on the filter editor.

DEV-5654  When you edit a filter, the underlying stream name is now correctly displayed in the Parent Details section.

DEV-5688  Attribute lists for filters no longer include local attributes.

DEV-5740  An average() function with 3 or more parameters now returns the correct average.

DEV-5665  Deleting a task plan now correctly deletes the rules that refer to the task plan and no longer reports "The task plan could not be scheduled...".

DEV-5559  A scheduled task plan will now warn you if you try to save it with no future run times. If an existing scheduled task plan has no future run times, deleting a task no longer reports an error.

DEV-5735  Deleted users can no longer receive email notifications.

DEV-5682  If local and active directory login are both disabled, the login form will not show the login name and password fields.

DEV-5623  PhixFlow now correctly displays the User menu, even if the URL accessing PhixFlow does not include a correct application name.

DEV-5600  Active directory users now have a different user icon:  Active Directory User .

DEV-5510  When users successfully update their password, PhixFlow returns to the login screen. 

DEV-5805, DEV-5677, DEV-5734  Messages during login have been improved for users:

• who have not entered a password
• with active directory credentials who do not have permission to use PhixFlow.

DEV-5702  After a user changes roles, grids now refresh correctly and activity spinners finish.

DEV-5613  We have resolved some outstanding issues around public/private flags, which were removed in a previous release.   

• Analysis models that were marked as private in previous versions are no longer hidden after the installation is upgraded.
• The Public check box has been removed from dashboards.

DEV-5696  Failed web requests no longer display a stack trace to the user.

Administration

DEV-5683  You can now specify the SAML default login form in both upper case "SAML" or lower case "saml".

DEV-5560  The archive log now correctly shows the number of stream sets archived, instead of the number of stream sets saved to file. The Archive File section is now empty if no files were saved.

DEV-5820  When resetting a password, PhixFlow no longer pauses and displays a message about "taking a while to load".