When updating Exago, consult this guide for potential breaking changes. Note that when updating from more than one version behind the current one, information from that section and all sections above it will apply.

Note

Please also review the Updating Recommendations article to ensure a smooth updating process.

If the version is not listed, then a direct update path to the latest version is not supported. Please file a support request for further assistance.

Note

To ensure a smooth upgrade when overwriting a previous installation, ensure that the web server (IIS/Apache/NGINX), the Monitoring Service, and any Scheduling Services are turned off before running the installer.

Updating from v2020.1 or earlier

This section applies when upgrading from any minor version of v2020.1 (e.g. v2020.1.0, v2020.1.5, etc...)

Storage Management Changes

New content.associated_reports Column

A new associated_reports column has been added to the Storage Management content table, containing a comma=separated list of content_ids for each report that is associated with a particular content record.

Reports become associated with others when they are components in a composite report such as Chained Report or Dashboard, or if an Advanced Report contains links to other reports (a.k.a. drilldowns).

The Update Reports function in the Admin Console reads the contents of a Storage Management database, parses the report file contents and generates the comma separated lists of associated_reports where applicable.

Clicking the Update Reports button in the Admin Console is a required part of the upgrade process for all clients when updating to v2021.1. 

Access Flags Active

The access flags built in to the Storage Management system have been made active. In addition, the access flags themselves have been changed from their original definition in the v2020.1 release.

Review the Storage Management: Introduction and Storage Management: Database Schema articles for a definition of the new access flags and their locations in the bitmap.

New Default Access Permission controls in the Admin Console allow an administrator to set the default permissions when new content is created. This value can be changed with the .NET or REST Web Service API or by changing the configuration file.

As some of the access flags bits have changed meaning, some features in the application may inadvertently become unavailable or vice versa. The following SQL statement may be run to upgrade all reports in any existing database to keep full access prior to the upgrade:

UPDATE content_access SET access_flags = 2047 WHERE access_flags = 511

Review the table below for a comparison of the flag bit definitions:

The ContentPermission enum type is also affected by this change.

-o LoadReportsToDb Command Line Parameter Added

A new -o command line parameter has been added to the LoadReportsToDb Storage Management transitioning utility. This allows a user to specify a value for the database driver's CommandTimeout property. Review LoadReportsToDb in the Storage Management: Transitioning from Legacy Storage Methods article.

ExpressView Changes

ExpressView Themes

With the changes to the the ExpressView Designer, all new themes have been created. Legacy ExpressView themes are no longer supported.

The new ExpressView themes will need to be loaded into the Storage Management database. For existing installations, this can be done in the Admin Console > Storage Management by clicking on the Load Themes button. Skipping this step will result in there being no themes available in the ExpressView Designer, even if themes were available before updating.

Creating custom ExpressView themes is possible, by manually editing the JSON theme content. The schema has changed, but is documented in the Create a Custom ExpressView Theme article. It is not possible to create an ExpressView theme from the designer.

To remove the legacy themes from the Storage Management database (not required), execute the following SQL statements:

DELETE FROM content_access WHERE content_id IN (SELECT content_id FROM content WHERE content_attribute = ‘ExpressView’);

and then:

DELETE FROM content WHERE content_attribute = ‘ExpressView’

Formatting

In addition to the theme changes noted above, the content formatting controls (e.g. bold, italic, underline, alignment, etc...) have been re-worked.

Opening an ExpressView in the new designer will reset all formatting to the system defaults, where any customization can be reapplied as desired.

Tutorial Mode and Hints Removed

The Tutorial Mode and ExpressView Hints have been removed from the application, and their Admin Console and configuration file nodes have been eliminated.

Maximum of 7 ExpressView Groups

The ExpressView Designer will now enforce a limit of seven group columns on a single report for performance. The 7th group will need to be demoted to a detail field before it can be replaced with a new one.

ExpressViews created in previous versions with more than 7 groups will still be editable and executable in v2021.1, but no more groups may be added until the number of groups is less than 7.

Default Filter Execution Window Change

The default value for the Admin Console > General > Filter Settings > Default Filter Execution Window has changed from Standard to Simple Without Operator.

In environments where no value had been previously set for this setting, the Simple Without Operator filter execution window will be displayed for all Advanced Reports, Dashboards and Chained Reports with prompting filters after this update.

This setting can be overridden on the report-level (if Admin Console > General > Filter Settings > Allow User to change Filter Window is True) by changing the Filter Execution Window setting in the Report Designer's Advanced > Report Options dialog, or on an application-wide level by changing the aforementioned Admin Console setting.

Learn more in the Filter Settings article.

Advanced Report Changes

Advanced Report Wizard Removed

The Advanced Report Wizard has been removed from the application. Creating a new Advanced Report from the main menu or Getting Started page will directly start the Advanced Report Designer and prompt the user to add Data Objects (formerly Categories) to the report to begin report building.

The helpKeys related to the wizard for creating Custom Context-Sensitive Help have also been removed from the application.

Toolbar Changes

AutoSum Icon Now Hidden by Default

The AutoSum icon from the Advanced Report Designer's toolbar is now disabled by default. A new configuration setting, Admin Console > General > Feature/UI Settings > Show Auto Sum Button allows the button to be enabled on an application-level or session-level basis. The default value is False.

Users are encouraged to use aggregate functions in place of the AutoSum feature if unavailable. For example, these two reports produce the same output:

The AutoSum icon will be deprecated in a future version.

Actionable User Interface Item Changes

Some of the Actionable User Interface Items on the toolbar have either been removed or replaced. Review the Actionable UI Elements article to see all of the changes. Action Events that use these items may break if they reference elements with new names or elements that are no longer available.

Single Series Chart Theme Change

New themes have been introduced for charts. In addition, themee color now corresponds with a series, instead of a value. Bar, Stacked Bar, Column, Stacked Column, Pareto, Spark Column, Scatter, Zoom Scatter and Bubble Charts are affected by this change.

ETL Removed

The ETL feature has been removed.

Review Configuration Changes at the bottom of this article for notes about Scheduler Service and Web Application configuration file nodes that have been removed.

The folder with the ETL Transforms may be safely removed. This code sample can be used to remove the ETL_TRANSFORMS folder and any transforms in it on a Microsoft SQL Server Storage Management database. Run the statements one at a time.

Note

Change both instances of ETL_TRANSFORMS in the WHERE causes below to the name of the actual ETL Transforms directory. This can be found in the Admin Console > General > ETL Settings > ETL Transforms Folder setting.

Change the names of the content and content_access tables in the statements below to the actual names of those tables in the database, where applicable.

-- Add a flag column
ALTER TABLE content ADD ETL_FLAG INT
-- Set the flag for content in the specified folder
UPDATE content
	SET ETL_FLAG=1
	FROM content
	WHERE content.content_id IN
		  (SELECT content_id FROM content_access WHERE parent_id = (SELECT content_id FROM content WHERE name = 'ETL_TRANSFORMS'))
-- List the items we are going to delete
SELECT * FROM content WHERE ETL_FLAG = 1
-- Delete all the content access records for content in the folder
DELETE
	FROM content_access
	WHERE parent_id = (SELECT content_id FROM content WHERE name = 'ETL_TRANSFORMS')
-- Delete the content records for those items flagged which don't have another access record
DELETE
	FROM content
	FROM content
	INNER JOIN content_access ON content.content_id = content_access.content_id
	WHERE ETL_FLAG = 1
		AND content_access.content_id IS NULL
-- and report those items we did not delete
SELECT * FROM content WHERE ETL_FLAG=1

The transform folder can now be removed from the database.

"ReportName": "Parameter Report"

"ReportName": "My Reports\Advanced Reports\Parameters\Parameter Report"

sudo ./installDevartMySql.sh /opt/Exago

sudo ./installOracle.sh /opt/Exago

// Do some stuff
const value = Utilities.AjaxRequest(Utilities.AjaxRequest("web.method.name", data);
// Do some other stuff

// Do some stuff
Utilities.AjaxRequestAsync("web.method.name", data).then((value) => { /* Do some other stuff */ });
//Do some other stuff

// Do some stuff
const value = await Utilities.AjaxRequestAsync("web.method.name", data);
//Do some other stuff

"ReportName": "Parameter Report"

"ReportName": "My Reports\Advanced Reports\Parameters\Parameter Report"

Updating from v2019.1.28 and earlier

The MongoDB CDATA driver has been updated.

Updating from v2019.1.25 and earlier

The Admin Console > General > Culture Settings > Time Zone Name will now be used for all time related features, including DateTime functions such as Now(). Admin Console > General > Culture Settings > Server Time Zone Offset only applies if Time Zone Name is not set.

Updating from v2019.1.14 and earlier

WebReports.Api.Reports.Report.GetExecute Methods Will Use Remote Execution by Default

The GetExecute() methods [GetExecuteHtml(), GetExecuteCsv(), GetExecuteData(), GetExecuteJson()] are now able to use Remote Execution. If a Remote Execution host is configured, calls to these methods will use the Remote Execution servers for report generation by default.

To run a report locally, disable Remote Execution for the session via the API.

Updating from v2019.1.4 and earlier

When updating from v2019.1.4 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

.NET Requirements

A minimum of .NET Framework version 4.6.1 is required, with version 4.7.2 recommended.

.NET Standard 2.0 is required.

Mono

Exago supports the following versions of Mono:

• 4.2.2.30
• 5.10.1.20

Warning

These are the only versions of Mono that are compatible with Exago. In addition, the Exago installer will install a patched version of System.Web.dll. This patch can also be installed manually.

Using Puppeteer with .NET API Integration

v2019.1.5 contains a new set of libraries for image rendering called Puppeteer. These are turned off by default, and can be enabled by setting the useWkHtmlToImage flag in Application Settings to false.

If you are using a .NET API integration, in order to use Puppeteer, the following files must be copied to the host application's bin directory:

js.es5.resource
js.es6.resource
bin\ExagoPuppeteerRasterizer.dll
bin\Microsoft.AspNetCore.WebUtilities.dll
bin\Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection.Abstractions.dll
bin\Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Abstractions.dll
bin\Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.dll
bin\Microsoft.Extensions.Options.dll
bin\Microsoft.Extensions.Primitives.dll
bin\Microsoft.Net.Http.Headers.dll
bin\PuppeteerSharp.dll

If your Exago web server is running Linux, the following X11 libraries are required to be installed in order to use Puppeteer:

gconf-service libasound2 libatk1.0-0 libc6 libcairo2 libcups2 libdbus-1-3 libexpat1 libfontconfig1 libgcc1 libgconf-2-4 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libglib2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libnspr4 libpango-1.0-0 libpangocairo-1.0-0 libstdc++6 libx11-6 libx11-xcb1 libxcb1 libxcomposite1 libxcursor1 libxdamage1 libxext6 libxfixes3 libxi6 libxrandr2 libxrender1 libxss1 libxtst6 ca-certificates fonts-liberation libappindicator1 libnss3 lsb-release xdg-utils wget

In a CentOS environment, the following libraries are required to be installed in order to use Puppeteer:

pango.x86_64 libXcomposite.x86_64 libXcursor.x86_64 libXdamage.x86_64 libXext.x86_64 libXi.x86_64 libXtst.x86_64 cups-libs.x86_64 libXScrnSaver.x86_64 libXrandr.x86_64 GConf2.x86_64 alsa-lib.x86_64 atk.x86_64 gtk3.x86_64 ipa-gothic-fonts xorg-x11-fonts-100dpi xorg-x11-fonts-75dpi xorg-x11-utils xorg-x11-fonts-cyrillic xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 xorg-x11-fonts-misc

Manual Extraction of chromium-win64.zip Required with ZIP Scheduler Service Installation

When installing the Exago Scheduler Service using the Windows ZIP Archive the file chromium-win64.zip must be manually extracted. Extract it to a \chromium folder inside of the Scheduler Service's installation directory (e.g. C:\Exago\ExagoScheduler\chromium). This extraction process happens automatically with the Windows Installer but needs to be done manually when installing from ZIP.

Updating from v2019.1.3 and earlier

When updating from v2019.1.3 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

.NET Framework Version Requirement Raised to 4.6.1

v2019.1.4 contains an upgraded version of the Syncfusion Excel exporter library that requires .NET Framework 4.6.1 or above.

In order to continue to export to Excel via the user interface or API Action, web servers running Exago must have .NET Framework 4.6.1 or above.

If you are using .NET API integration, in order to continue to export to Excel via GetExecute() API methods, web servers running the host application must have .NET Framework 4.6.1 or above. The host application does not need to target this version; it must simply be available on the server. Additionally, the System.ValueTuple.dll binary must be present in the host application's bin directory.

Updating from v2019.1.1 and earlier

When updating from v2019.1.1 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

New method for managing the dbconfigs.json file

The dbconfigs.json file contains database specific syntax related to formulas, data types, primary and foreign key discovery, datetime casting, and row limiting and range selection. This file is overwritten after each new installation of Exago and, as such, any changes made to this file will be lost.

In order to prevent the loss of such information after each update, a dbconfigs.overrides.json file may be created and populated with these changes. For more information on the dbconfigs.json and dbconfigs.overrides.json files, please see the Managing the dbconfigs JSON file article.

Updating from v2018.2 and earlier

When updating from v2018.2 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

• Updated Linux Scheduler Installer
• Unique IDs and aliases are now required for Data Objects
• Time zone enhancements and changes to scheduling
• Changes to Entity creation via the .NET API
• Recommended configuration architectural changes
• New warnings regarding Metadata in the Admin Console
• Changes to Active Role setting in the Admin Console
• Changes to Null Tenant Parameters
• Corrected spelling of REST Folder.Propagate property
• Report Management Caching & Database Aggregation enabled by default

Updated Linux Scheduler Installer

The Linux Scheduler installer has been updated in order to allow systemd compatibility and customization of service names. With these enhancements come a few changes in behavior for Scheduler installation including the replacement of start, stop, restart and status checks with a single new script named exago-scheduler.sh by default.

The behavior of the Linux installer will not change for overwriting existing installs; however, any new installation of the Scheduler will function according to these changes. For more information please see the Installing Exago on Linux article.

Unique IDs and aliases are now required for Data Objects

Data Objects are now required to have unique IDs and aliases (names). These IDs will have automatically been assigned if the Data Objects were created using the Automatic Database Discovery tool. However, Data Objects created manually or via the API (as Entities) will need to be manually assigned IDs and aliases.

When upgrading to v2019.1, it is imperative that each Data Object is assigned a unique ID and alias if they are not already set. Any new Data Objects created without the use of the Automatic Database Discovery tool must now be assigned unique IDs. If they are not assigned a distinct ID value, a warning message will appear preventing these Data Objects from being created.

Furthermore, any existing API code that dynamically creates new Data Objects should be examined to ensure that unique ID and alias values are being assigned.

Time zone enhancements and changes to scheduling

Enhancements have been made to how Exago considers daylight saving time and other non-linear scheduling issues related to geopolitical time zones. In order to implement these enhancements, the Client Time Zone Name setting has been added where the client's geopolitical IANA time zone may be specified. Furthermore, changes have been made to scheduling calculations with the inclusion of the Noda Time library within Exago, allowing the Scheduler tool and Scheduler Queue to accurately consider DST and other time zone related issues.

For detailed information on these enhancements please see the Time Zone Calculation Enhancements in v2019.1 article.

Upon updating, it is recommended that the Next Execute Date of existing Schedules is reviewed for accuracy. If Client Time Zone Name is being utilized, existing schedules may need to be manually edited or recreated in order to reflect these changes.

Furthermore, certain DateTime values may have been assigned different meanings in the Scheduler Job XML following the implementation of Noda Time. Depending on the modifications made to your implementation of the Scheduler Queue, changes may have to be made to its code:

• If you have not implemented the Scheduler Queue, then your v2019.1 upgrading process will not be affected.
  
• If your implementation of the Scheduler Queue utilizes the QueueAPI object from WebReports.Api.Scheduler, then there should be no required for the Scheduler Queue to function properly after upgrading to v2019.1.
• If your implementation of the Scheduler Queue has been modified to directly parse the Job XML, then some DateTime values may have been assigned a different meaning and will need to be adjusted for. It is recommended that you contact our Services team at services@exagoinc.com for help in determining which values will need to be adjusted.

Changes to Entity creation via the .NET API

In the .NET WebReportsAPI class, the NewEntity() function now requires the string parameter entityName. This parameter represents the name (alias) of the data object, functionally replacing the Entity.Name argument, and must be unique. The Entity.Name argument, however, is still writable.

Ex. Entity etlEnt = api.Entities.NewEntity("New Entity");

Furthermore, the Add() function of the Entities class requires the new Boolean parameter addEntityData, which is set to false by default. In order to add the Entity Data to the local collection, its value must be set to true.

Ex. api.Entities.Add(etlEnt, true);

Each instance of the NewEntity() and Add() functions in use in current .NET API code, must be modified to reflect these changes.

Recommended configuration architectural changes

With v2019.1, major architectural changes have been made to the configuration with the intention of optimizing the system. The system has been modified allowing a portion of the configuration to be extracted into a static configuration, which will be loaded into static memory and made available to all sessions. The contents of this parent configuration extend its specified attributes to the child (dynamic) configuration, which will contain the remainder of the configuration information and will be loaded at each user session.

Caution

If using a static configuration with one or more scheduler or remote execution services, all static configuration .xml files must be added to the Config subdirectory of all scheduler instances.

These optimizations will considerably decrease configuration processing time, as well as decrease overhead in storing and executing scheduled reports, and are strongly recommended. However, these changes are entirely optional and do not need to be implemented. The directive for each configuration file will be defaulted to Dynamic status, requiring no additional set up if these changes are not desired.

New warnings regarding Metadata in the Admin Console

The use of full metadata across all data objects is strongly recommended in v2019.1 as it will reduce the frequency in which the databases are queried whenever metadata is required. As such, new warning icons will appear in the Admin Console next to data objects that do not have metadata properly implemented.

Changes to Active Role settings in the Admin Console

The setting in the configuration indicating the currently active role has changed. The Active Role setting under the Main Settings of the Admin Console retains the Id of the role to be made active upon session start. The active role may now be changed manually using the dropdown.

Changes to Null Tenant Parameters

Following changes made to nullable parameters in v2019.1, in order to disable tenancy on a tenant column, the parameter value for each tenant column now must be set to “{disabletenancy}.” Previously, to ignore tenancy, this parameter value could be left as an empty string; however, in v2019.1, any empty tenant parameters currently in use within the system will be identified as empty string tenant filters.

In order to continue disabling tenancy, the value must be set to “{disabletenancy}” across all instances of tenant parameter values set to empty strings.

For more information, please see the Multi-Tenant Environment Integration article.

Corrected spelling of REST Folder.Propagate property

In previous versions of Exago BI, the REST Folder.Propagate property was incorrectly spelled as "Propogate." This spelling has been corrected and as such will affect any REST API code using the previous spelling of the Propagate property. Any instance of the incorrect spelling of the Propagate property should be corrected after updated.

Report Management Caching & Database Aggregation enabled by default

The report management interface caches (GetReportList, GetReportXml, and GetTheme/ExistTheme/GetThemeList) and Aggregate and Group in Database setting have been enabled by default in newer versions of Exago in order to ensure that clients are reaping the performance benefits associated with these options without having to explicitly activate them.

Note

The userId and companyId parameters are used in the generation of the unqiue key created for the report management interface caches of user sessions. In order to take full advantage of report management caching, it is recommended that these parameters are properly set up. For more information, please see the User Identification article.

Updating from v2018.2.5 and earlier

When updating from v2018.2.5 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

• New Required Field Added for Custom Functions
• LoadAssemblyInExternalDomain Moved to AppSettings
• SQLUtils.dll Moved to WebReportsApi.dll

New Required Field Added for Custom Functions

The Return Type field has been added to custom function objects. This field has been added to support the conversion of filter formulas to SQL so that they may be evaluated in the database using the Convert Filter Formulas to SQL flag in the Admin Console.

Note

For more information, please see the Security Precautions for Database Formulas article.

This field is required for all custom functions, and, upon updating, all custom functions will need to be assigned a return value of either String, Integer, Decimal, or Date. Return values for all custom functions already existing before the upgrade will default to String.

LoadAssemblyInExternalDomain Moved to AppSettings

The <loadassemblyinexternaldomain> tag has been moved to the appsettings.config file and has been defaulted to true. This change will rarely affect Exago instances; however, it is important to take note of its new location.

SQLUtils.dll Moved to WebReportsApi.dll

The SQLUtils.dll file has been removed from the base Exago install and has been built into the WebReportsApi.dll file. In order to continue to use its methods, WebReports.Api.SqlUtils will need to be referenced.

Updating from v2018.2.1 and earlier

When updating from v2018.2.1 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

• New Parameters in Conditional Drop Pin Formatting

New Parameters for Conditional Drop Pin Formatting

The @metric_label@ and @metric_value@ parameters within the Conditional Drop Pin Formatting option of the Google Maps wizard are no longer valid. These parameters have been replaced with the serializing parameters @metric_value_<index>@, which automatically receive the values of each map metric in the order of their creation (e.g., @metric_value_1@, @metric_value_2@, and so on).

Any reports containing an interactive map with Conditional Drop Pin Formatting that uses either the @metric_label@ or @metric_value@ will need to be recreated using the new parameters or an error will be thrown upon execution of the report.

Updating from v2018.1 and earlier

When updating from v2018.1 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

• New uses of User Preferences
• New Configuration Settings
• Disable the old Monitoring Service
• Backup settings files
• 'Name' Property of Filter Objects Deprecated

New uses of User Preferences

The new Tutorial Mode feature relies upon User Preferences. Depending on your User Preference Storage Method you may or may not need to take action:

• None: No action needed but Tutorial Mode will be disabled.
• Local Storage: No action will be required.
• External Interface or Server Events: No action required if you are following the sample code provided by Exago. If you have made customizations to the GetUserPreferences() or SetUserPreferences() method, we recommend reviewing that code to make sure it properly handles the new values being passed.

New Configuration Settings

With v2018.2 there are new configuration settings for Exago. Below we’ve listed those that are enabled by default and may warrant consideration or action as you upgrade:

<Showtipsexpressview> and <Showtutorialexpressview>: These settings enable the new Tutorial Mode feature. They are True by default but will have no impact if your User Preference Storage Method is set to None. Be sure to set values for the Parameter userId or disable these features.

See the section Configuration Changes below for a complete list.

Disable the old Monitoring Service

The installer will install the new Monitoring Service as a separate service instead of overwriting the existing one. If installing over an existing installation, the installer will detect and halt any older services running against the monitoring executable.

In order to prevent older services from restarting on system startup, you should remove or disable them. Otherwise there can be multiple services running against the same installation, which will cause duplicate entries to be written to the monitoring database.

This command line command can be used to delete specified monitoring services:

sc delete ExagoMonitoringService.full_version_number

Example

sc delete ExagoMonitoringService.v2017.2.1.117

Back up settings files

Some settings files may be overwritten when updating. Make sure to back up the following files before running the installation:

<WEBAPP>/Config/Other/dbconfigs.json
<WEBAPP>/Config/Other/cdataconfig.json
<WEBAPP>/Config/Other/tagwhitelist.json
<SCHEDULER>/eWebReportsScheduler.exe.config
<WEBSERVICE>/appSettings.config

Application settings files for the web application and monitoring service will not be overwritten.

'Name' Property of Filter Objects Deprecated

The Name property of Filter Objects has been deprecated. This property has been obsoleted by the property FilterText.

This change may affect any references to Filter Objects made within the .NET API. For more information please see .NET API General Reference - Sorts and Filters.

Updating from v2017.3 and earlier

When updating from v2017.3 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

• Cartesian Processing disabled by default
• Vertical Table behavior change
• web.config file
• ReportObjectFactory.SaveToApi()

Cartesian Processing Disabled

Special Cartesian Processing is now disabled by default when creating a new configuration file. This change was made to better support certain database-processing features.

If you are starting a new configuration, please be aware that reports with Cartesian products with Special Cartesian Processing set to Default will now behave differently on execution. To retain the legacy behavior, either set the Admin Console's General > Database Settings > Enable Special Cartesian Processing value back to True, or set each report-level value to True (instead of Default).

Vertical Table behavior change

Vertical Table transformations are now done in the database instead of in application memory. This results in much faster processing as well as the ability to use database-processing features, such as Advanced Joins, with transformed tables.

If you are experiencing issues you can revert to the legacy behavior by setting the configuration file flag <canjointransformobjectsindb> to False.

web.config file

Certain application settings now require editing the <WebApp>\web.config file directly instead of the appSettings.config file. If you use a non-default web.config file, make sure that you are tracking your changes so that future upgrading and scaling can occur without error.

ReportObjectFactory.SaveToApi()

The .NET API method ReportObjectFactory.SaveToApi() has been altered. This method used to return boolean to indicate whether the save succeeded or failed. This method now returns void. If the save failed it throws an exception with the details of the failure.

Ensure that you wrap calls to this method within try-catch blocks and properly handle exceptions.

Updating from v2017.2 and earlier

When updating from v2017.2 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

• REST authorization key field has changed
• Internet Explorer 10 is no longer supported

If you use Application Themes, also see Application Theme Updates for relevant style changes.

REST authorization key field has changed

Upon updating to this version, existing REST web applications will be unauthorized, and most REST calls will fail until action is taken.

The REST web service no longer uses the "Password" field to generate the authorization header key. The new "REST Key" field supplants the Password field for this purpose.

The REST Key field is blank by default upon installation. For security reasons, the Password and REST Key should not be the same key. Either migrate the old "Password" to the new field and choose a different Password, or choose a new REST Key and make sure that the new authorization header is being sent.

In the Admin Console you can click the Generate button in the REST Key field to generate a randomized REST key. This is NOT the encoded version - it must still be encoded according to the authentication method in use.

See REST Authentication for more information.

Internet Explorer 10 is no longer supported

Users will now see an error message when attempting to launch Exago BI in Internet Explorer 10. Please advise your users to upgrade to a supported browser.

Updating from v2017.1 and earlier

When updating from v2017.1 and earlier, the following topics may require your attention.

• Back up your dashboards
  • Verify your dashboard Action Events and update if necessary
• Upgrade from IE9
• Add argument info to your custom functions
  • Customize the MonthName, QuarterName, and QuarterNumber functions if necessary
  • Update the API code if necessary
• (Folder Management) Copy the new themes to your database
• Verify your application themes and update if necessary

Back Up Your Dashboards

Dashboards created or saved in version v2017.2 are not compatible with older versions of Exago BI. Old dashboards will be updated to the new format when they are saved in the Dashboard Designer. Back up your dashboards in case of the need for a rollback.

Action Events

The Dashboard Viewer has undergone significant overhaul. Dashboard action events created for previous versions may no longer work as expected. These should be retested and modified if necessary.

Note: The Resizable Dashboards action event will no longer work in version v2017.2.

When using the OnParameterValueChange action event, the clientInfo.parameterValuesCtrl object will no longer be available in the context of dashboards.

Internet Explorer 9 is no longer supported

Users will now see an error message when attempting to launch Exago BI in Internet Explorer 9. Please advise your users to upgrade to a supported browser.

Function enhancements

Nine new functions were added, including four aggregate functions and five miscellaneous functions. Additionally, the built-in functions have had their descriptions overhauled, and their arguments have also been given names and descriptions.

This has some implications for how custom functions are created in the configuration and/or the API.

If you build functions in the API, please note that the MinArgs and MaxArgs properties of UdfFunction objects are no longer valid. Instead specify argument information in the ArgumentsJson property. See .NET API General Reference and Config File XML Referencefor more information.

The functions MonthName, QuarterName, and QuarterNumber were added as custom functions in the configuration file. This is to provide administrators with the ability to customize how these functions work.

Interface updates

Many icons and CSS have been updated to a new color scheme. If you use the default Basic application theme or any of the default icons and CSS, please be aware that you may have to make changes in your styling to reflect the new look.

Several new ExpressView themes were added to the application, and several miscellaneous themes have been updated as well. If you use folder management, you will have to manually update these files in your database.

Data Fields pane

The data fields pane for ExpressViews, Dashboards, and Advanced/Express/Crosstab Reports has been consolidated into a single pane in the left most application toolbar (underneath the Reports Tree icon). The settings to enable the Data Fields Search Bar for Dashboards and ExpressViews were consolidated into one setting. See Configuration Changes for more information.

Application themes may require some adjustment to match the new layout.

As always, please be aware that you should turn on Column Metadata if you are to enable the Data Fields Search Bar.

Monitoring Schema Change

The Monitoring database schema has been tweaked. The SystemStatistics table has had a new TransactionId column added to associate memory and CPU rows across common transactions. This was done to facilitate a vertical table transform, in order to report off both memory and CPU usage in the same report or chart.

When the monitoring service is restarted after updating, it will assess the schema in the monitoring service's Monitoring.sqlite table and add the TransactionId column. The scheduler and web application local databases will not be altered. The service will henceforth record a TransactionId for scheduler statistics. No existing monitoring data will be modified.

If, for some reason, the table cannot be altered, the monitoring service will abort.

The SystemStatistics table schema should be altered in the configuration file to reflect this change. You can add the TransactionId column to an existing definition, or create a new vertical definition for the table:

<entity>
  <entity_name>SysStats</entity_name>
  <db_name>SystemStatistics</db_name>
  <!--<datasource_id></datasource_id>-->
  <object_type>table</object_type>
  <key>
    <col_name>transactionId</col_name>
  </key>
  <transform>
    <col_name>type</col_name>
    <val_name>value</val_name>
    <non_transform_col>
      <col_name>timestamp</col_name>
      <data_type>8</data_type>
    </non_transform_col>
    <non_transform_col>
      <col_name>hostId</col_name>
      <data_type>0</data_type>
    </non_transform_col>
    <non_transform_col>
      <col_name>transactionId</col_name>
      <data_type>0</data_type>
    </non_transform_col>
  </transform>
</entity>

Configuration Changes

The following section details the changes made to the configuration XML files.

v2018.2.6

Added to <general>

• <evaluateformulasindatabase> If True, Exago will convert formula filters to SQL to be evaluated in the database.
  

Added to <function>

• <filter_return_type> Required field specifying the return type of a function. Can be set to String, Integer, Decimal, or Date.
  

Moved to <appsettings.config>

• <loadassemblyinexternaldomain>

Moved to <webreportsapi.dll>

• SQLUtils.dll

Note

SQLUtils.dll has been removed from the base install. To continue using its methods, it must now be referenced from WebReports.Api.SqlUtils

v2018.2.0

Added to <general>

• <schedulershowreplyto> Allows a user to specify a “Reply To” address when creating Scheduled Reports.
• <showtipsexpressview> Enable or Disable “Tips” in the ExpressView designer.
• <showtutorialexpressview> Enable or Disable the tutorial as a new user enters the ExpressView designer.
• <reportlistcacheenabled> If True, Exago will cache the report list returned by Folder Management’s method GetReportList() to reduce the number of calls being made.
• <filterdropdownobjecttenancy>
• <evaluateformulasindatabase> (HIDDEN FLAG) Currently hard coded to false pending future enhancement.

v2018.1.19

Moved to <appsettings.config>

• <loadassemblyinexternaldomain>

Moved to <webreportsapi.dll>

• SQLUtils.dll

Note

SQLUtils.dll has been removed from the base install. To continue using its methods, it must now be referenced from WebReports.Api.SqlUtils

v2018.1.0

Added to <general>

• <googlemapjsapikey> Specify the Google Maps API key for the JS API, for restricted or unrestricted keys, and optionally the Geocode API for unrestricted keys. Replaces <googlemapkey>.
• <googlemapgeocodeapikey> Specify the Google Maps Geocode API key for restricted keys.
• <expressviewjoinpathalgorithm> Specify the standard or legacy algorithm for finding join paths between fields on ExpressViews.
• <allowreportcustomsqlobjects> Allow Report-Level Custom SQL objects.
• <excludedatasourcesreportcustomsql> Exclude data sources from Report-Level Custom SQL.
• <dbrowlimitparamname> Programmable object parameter name for Database Row Limt.
• <dbrowrangestartparamname> Programmable object parameter name for Row Range Start Index.
• <dbrowrangeendparamname> Programmable object parameter name for Row Range End Index.
• <loadassemblyinexternaldomain> (HIDDEN FLAG) Load assemblies in external domain.
• <canjointransformobjectsindb> (HIDDEN FLAG) Use database to transform vertical tables.
• <cacheconfig> (HIDDEN FLAG) Cache the SetupData in the session.

Removed from <general>

• <googlemapkey> Replaced by <googlemapjsapikey>

Added to <entity>

• <affinity> For entities created in the API, whether they have affinity to the report or the configuration.
• <suppress_sort_filter> Suppress application sorting and filtering for programmable objects.

Added to <join>

• <affinity> For joins created in the API, whether they have affinity to the report or the configuraiton.

Added to <role> • <rolegeneral>

• <allowreportcustomsqlobjects> Allow this role to create, edit, and execute report-level SQL, if it is enabled in the configuration.

Added to <role> • <security>

• <includereportcustomsqlobjects> Allow this role to execute report-level SQL, if it is enabled in the configuration and if <allowreportcustomsqlobjects> is False.

v2017.3.1

Added to <general>

• <showcomplexjoins> Specify whether the report Joins window shows options for creating complex joins.
• <showcategoryalias> Specify whether the report Categories window allows for categories to be aliased.

v2017.3

Added to <general>

• <linkedreportdisplay> Specify the position which linked report drilldowns display when opened. Replaces <linkedreportsinnewtab>
• <restkey> Specify the REST web service authorization key. Supersedes <password> for this purpose (does not replace <password> for Admin Console authentication).
• <allowearlypagebreak> (HIDDEN FLAG) Allow page breaks to be inserted at the beginning of reports.
• <cachevisibilitylevel> Control what visibility permissions users can assign to execution caches. Supersedes <schedulemanagerviewlevel> for this purpose.

Removed from <general>

• <linkedreportsinnewtab> replaced by <linkedreportdisplay>

v2017.2

Added to <general>

• <formulafunctionsloaded> (HIDDEN FLAG) Whether the default functions are loaded in the config
• <aliasallentities> (HIDDEN FLAG) Use all entity IDs as SQL aliases (default: False)
• <safemode> (HIDDEN FLAG) Add additional entity verification at runtime; set True unless otherwise instructed
• <reporttreeshortcut> Default "Run" shortcut button for report tree (default: Run)
• <logginglevel> The severity level at which events are logged (default: INFO); replaces <writelog>
• <showdatafieldssearch> replaces <showdashboarddatafieldssearch> and <showexpressviewdatafieldssearch>

Removed from <general>

• <visualizationdbrowlimit>
• <writelog> replaced by <logginglevel>
• <showdashboarddatafieldssearch> replaced by <showdatafieldssearch>
• <showexpressviewdatafieldssearch> replaced by <showdatafieldssearch>

Added to <function>

• <arguments_json> details about the function arguments; replaces <min_args> and <max_args>
• <variable_arguments> whether the last argument is a list

Removed from <function>

• <min_args> replaced by <arguments_json>
• <max_args> replaced by <arguments_json>

v2017.1

Added to <general>

• <executioncache> Enable or disable execution caching (default: False)
• <showtopn> Enable or disable Top N filters (default: True)
• <showadvancedreports> 'Standard' reports were renamed to 'Advanced' reports. Replaces <showstandardreports>

Removed from <general>

• <showstandardreports> replaced by <showadvancedreports>

v2016.3

Added to <general>

• <showgooglemapwizard> Enable the new Google Maps Wizard.
• <googlemapcolors> Google maps default colors, as hex or html color names, separated by commas.
• <googlemapkey> Google Maps API key for new Google mapping.
• <geochartmapkey> Google Maps API key for Geochart (legacy) mapping.
• <currencydecimalplaces> Number of decimal places for currency-formatted data fields.
• <applygeneralcurrencyrightalignment> Automatically right-align currency-formatted data fields.
• <usesecureremotingchannel> Enable secure channel for scheduler remoting.
• <usesvgforappicons> Enable or disable SVG icons for application themes.
• <showexpressviews> Enable or disable the ExpressView designer.
• <allowexpressviewliveedit> Allow editing ExpressViews in live mode.
• <showexpressviewdatafieldssearch> Enable or disable the ExpressView data field search bar.
• <csstheme> Select application theme.
• <maxjobexecutionminutes> Max time to run an execution job before timing out.
• <aggregateandgroupindatabase> Enable calculating aggregates in the database.
• <allowmd5onfips> Allow a FIPS-compliant server to encrypt PDF files.

Added to Scheduler configuration file

• <secure_channel> Enable secure channel for scheduler remoting.
• <max_job_execution_minutes> Max time to run an execution job before timing out, works in conjunction with the existing <default_job_timeout> setting. Both should be set to the same time value. Note that <default_job_timeout> is in seconds and <max_job_execution_minutes> is in minutes.