Universal Controller 7.6.0.0 Release Notes

Release Notes

Universal Controller release 7.6.0.0 contains the following high-level features. For a complete list of all the included features and fixes, please refer to the Universal Controller 7.6.x Maintenance list.

Customers using Microsoft SQL Server should refer to Microsoft's release notes and pay special attention to a number of Breaking Changes introduced with the updated JDBC driver provided with UC 7.6.0.0. These changes may impact you regardless of which supported version of SQL Server you are using. Specifically If you are using SQL Server without encryption and wish to continue to do so, you will need to set encrypt to false by either:
  • Adding the uc.db.url.append.properties=;encrypt=false startup property to the uc.properties file.
  • Adding ;encrypt=false to the uc.db.url property in the uc.properties file.


Also, any Database Connections for SQL Server may need ;encrypt=false added to the Connection URL.

From Universal Controller 7.6.0.0 forward, MS SQL Server 2014 is no longer supported.

From Universal Controller 7.6.0.0 forward, MySQL 5.7 is no longer supported.

D-12330 requires dropping and recreating new indexes on the ops_audit table, which could take the maintenance update longer depending on the size of your ops_audit table.

Application Integrations

Backlog

Title

Description

E-01893

SAP Task Enhancements

As a follow on to the SAP Task Enhanced View introduced in UC 7.5.0.0 the following additional enhancements have been made.

General Form Enhancements:

  • B-18331 - Target Server Field is now a Dynamic Choice field allowing lookup of available target servers from the SAP system.

Job Steps Tab Form Enhancements:

  • B-18337 & B-18343 - External Program Support

  • B-18338 & B-18342 & B-18339 - External Command Support

Job Steps Tab Form - Type = ABAP Program - Print Parameter Enhancements

  • B-18332 - New Dynamic Field “Format”

  • B-18333 & B-18341 - New Output Content Sub-form

  • B-18334 & B-18341 - New Spool Request Sub-form

  • B-18335 & B-18341 - New Cover Sheets Sub-form

  • B-18336 & B-18341 - New Output Options Sub-form

Architecture

Backlog

Title

Description

E-01874

Optimistic Locking

This enhancement introduces Optimistic Locking for following:

  • From the Workflow Editor.

  • When modifying the base record (form) of a Task definition.

  • When modifying the base record (form) of Any definition.

Optimistic Locking is a strategy where you read a record, take note of a version number (or updated time for records that do not support versioning) and check that the version hasn't changed before you write the record back.

When the client retrieves a record from the server, the record will have either a version number attribute, for artifacts supporting versioning, or an Updated date/time attribute, for those that do not support versioning.

When updating a record from the client, the version number (or Updated date/time) attribute is passed back to the server, and as long as the attribute has not changed, the update operation will proceed normally.

However, in the case where the version number (or Updated date/time) attribute has changed, the operation will not proceed and the user will be presented with the following prompt.

OK will proceed with the update operation, overwriting the modifications.

Cancel will abort the update operation without discarding your changes.

Cancel & Discard will abort the update operation, discard your changes, and load the most recent version of the record.

E-01927

Container Support

The following enhancements have been made to support UC in containerized environments:

  • B-18380 - Configuration for STDOUT as uc.log destination

  • B-18381 - Configuration for Transient Cluster Node

E-01946

Spring Security SAML2 Service Provider

To modernize UC’s SAML Web Browser Single Sign-On integration, it has been migrated to the SAML2 feature set of the Spring Security project.

Additionally we have added support for choosing between a File-based and URL-based Identity Provider Metadata Source.

B-17010

Microsoft SQL Server 2022 Certification

Universal Controller version 7.6.0.0 and higher now supports Microsoft SQL Server 2022.

B-18668

Upgrade Microsoft SQL Server JDBC Driver (mssql-jdbc-12.4.2.jre11.jar).

Customers using Microsoft SQL Server should refer to Microsoft's release notes and pay special attention to a number of Breaking Changes introduced with the updated JDBC driver provided with UC 7.6.0.0. These changes may impact you regardless of which supported version of SQL Server you are using.

Specifically If you are using SQL Server without encryption and wish to continue to do so you will need to set encrypt to false by either:

  • Adding the uc.db.url.append.properties=;encrypt=false startup property to the uc.properties file.

  • Adding ;encrypt=false to the uc.db.url property in the uc.properties file.

Also any Database Connections for SQL Server may need ;encrypt=false added to the Connection URL.

B-20239

Remove MS SQL Server 2014 Support

From Universal Controller 7.6.0.0 MS SQL Server 2014 is no longer supported.

B-18523

Remove MySQL 5.7 Support

From Universal Controller 7.6.0.0 MySQL 5.7 is no longer supported.

B-17884

Add PGP signatures to distribution files for releases

From Universal Controller 7.6.0.0 all UC distribution files will be signed with PGP.

B-18421

Purge Audit in chunks comparable to History and Activity.

The Audit backup and purge routine will use purge by primary key, (comparable to the History, and Activity purge).

The Audit will be purged in chunks determined by property Purge Activity By Primary Key Limit. (This property is used by Activity, History and now Audit purge functions). The default is 500 records for each chunk.

B-17640

Prevent New Workflow Version if No Changes on Save

When clicking “save” in the workflow editor a check is now made to confirm if changes have actually been made. This prevents unwanted versions of the workflow being created. If the Workflow has not changes when save is clicked a “No Changes Were Detected” Message is displayed.

B-17968

Read vs. Write lock for Performance Improvements

This feature implements Read locks to allow more concurrency when updates are not being made to the locked object, but rather it just needs to prevent another thread from updating the object.

This will improve performance for customers who launch or trigger large numbers of the same tasks or workflows concurrently, by allowing parallelization of the launch transaction for the same definition.

Data Pipelines

Backlog

Title

Description

B-17012

UDM Task add Utility Credential Tokens

The following UDM script variables have been added to allow secure access to the UDM File Transfer Task Utility Agent Credential Username and Password.

$(ops_utility_cred_user) and $(ops_utility_cred_pwd)

Example UDM Script usage:

exec ${ops_agent_hostname} cmd="some_cmd" user=$(ops_utility_cred_user) pwd=$(ops_utility_cred_pwd)

Security

Backlog

Title

Description

B-17121

Exclude Permissions for List of Business Services

Provides an option to deny permissions based on a list of business services. i.e. Read permission for All Task Instances except business services A, B, and C.

User Experience

Backlog

Title

Description

B-17722

Global Search - Search by UUID

The Global Search feature now supports searching for a UUID.

B-17880

Dark Mode Tab Selector / Picker Theme Updates

The Tab Selector / Picker theme colors have been updated for the Dark Mode User Interface theme.

B-17881

Workflow Editor / Monitor Background and Text Color Change for Dark Mode

The Workflow Editor / Monitor Background and Text theme colors have been updated for the Dark Mode User Interface theme.

Universal Integration Platform (UIP)

Backlog

Title

Description

B-17967

Universal Event - Task Instance SLA Violations {Late Start, Late Finish, and Early Finish}

This feature introduces a new built-in, global Universal Template Event, for publishing Task Instance SLAs, uac_task_sla

The use case is allow use of the outbound webhook subscription for notifications and 3rd party product (i.e. Jira / Service Now) integrations for SLA violations.

The Attributes are the same as for the global Universal Template Event: UAC - Task Status Changed with the exception of there is no Halt attribute and a new attribute SLA Type has been added.

B-19783

Universal Event - Add Critical Flag to Task Instance Universal Event Payloads

Task Instance Universal Events uac_task_sla and uac_task_status_changed include a new critical attribute to indicate if the Task was “Critical” at the time of the event.

B-17560

Universal Event - Add Agent UUID as attribute "uuid" to uac_agent_changed Universal Events.

The uac_agent_changed Universal Event includes a new uuid attribute containing the Agent's SystemID (UUID).

B-17776

Universal Event - Array-value event attribute type

This feature is to allow for a variety of supported array types for attributes within a Universal Event.

The following array types are supported:

  • Text Array

  • Integer Array

  • Float Array

  • Boolean Array

B-17777

Universal Event - Add Agent Cluster Membership to 'uac_agent_changed' event

Agent cluster memberships have been added to the existing uac_agent_changed Universal Event as two different Text Array fields:

  1. agent_cluster_ids - Agent Cluster Ids: contains all the UUIDs of the Agent Clusters that this Agent is a member of.

  2. agent_clusters - Agent Clusters: contains the Names of the Agent Clusters that this Agent is a member of.

B-18498

Choice Field - Dynamic - Usability Enhancements (+SAP Task and PeopleSoft Task Dynamic Choice)

Dynamic choice fields, including those on the SAP and PeopleSoft Task forms, have been enhanced with the following changes.

  • An inline field hint specifying, "Click the adjacent find icon to load options.", was added. This message will match what appears in the drop-down when no values are available, and is a change from the previous message displayed here.

  • After the user clicks the find icon, the inline field hint is cleared.

  • When the results of the find request are added, the drop-down will automatically open now.  If the find request experiences a failure, the failure will be displayed, and the inline field hint will be restored.

B-06120

Text Field - Regex Validation

Universal Template Text and Large Text fields now support regex validation.

B-14783

Universal Template - Credential Field - Variable Support

Universal Template Credential fields now natively support variables.

B-16984

Universal Template - Support Credential Functions in Text, and Array Fields

Universal Template Text, Large Text, and Array (Value Column) fields now support Embedded Functions (Credential functions, Script functions, SAP Connection functions, Database Connection functions, Task Instance/Sibling Task Instance Output Path, and Variable Path functions).

B-17664

Universal Extension - Provide access to environment variables for dynamic choice / dynamic commands

Universal Extension Dynamic Choice and Dynamic Command fields can now have access to environment variables. A new multi-select Send Environment Variables option has been added to the Universal Template definition Type = Extension.

  • Launch - support Environment Variables when launching a universal task. This option cannot be turn off.

  • Dynamic Choice - support Environment Variables when performing a Dynamic Choice operation.

  • Dynamic Command - support Environment Variables when performing a Dynamic Command operation.

B-18344

Universal Template - Add Script Fields

2 new Universal Template Script fields have been added.

Web Service API

Backlog

Title

Description

B-18643

Add GET http method function for Push API

The Push Universal Event Web Service API now supports the http GET method. When using this API with the GET method a request body is not supported and the payload will need to be specified a query parameter on the URL.

B-15982

Add Operational Memo Field to List Task Instances Request Properties

The Operational Memo has been added to the Task Instance List APIs.

B-18340

SAP Task API Support for New Fields, Job Step Types and Additional Print Parameters

Support for the enhancements delivered with E-01893 have been incorporated into the SAP Task Web Service APIs.

Workload Analytics / Observability

Backlog

Title

Description

B-15920

Add Operational Memo History to Task Instance and History records.

Task Instance and History records contain a new field Operational Memo History to display the history of the Operational Memo. The Operational Memo field will display the current or final setting of the Operational Memo.

Workload Automation

Backlog

Title

Description

B-17779

Allow more than 100% for a Late Finish Percentage Offset

The Late Finnish Percentage Offset field now supports values greater than 100%.

E-01954

Workflow Root Vertices

This feature adds the ability to trigger or launch a workflow with only specific path(s) and/or specific vertices included.

B-17971

Add Task Instance Variable for Credential Name & Credential ID

Two new built-in variables have been made available to access the Credential Name & Credential ID for Task Instances.