Release Notes

Universal Controller release 7.2.0.0 contains the following high-level features. For a complete list of all the included features and fixes, please refer to the Universal Controller 7.2.x Maintenance list.

Architecture

Backlog	Title	Description
B-14318	Upgrade SmartGWT Libraries	The SmartGWT framework has been upgraded to version v12.1p_2022-01-29/Pro Deployment (built 2022-01-29).
B-14859	Replace Log4j 1 library with Reload4j library	Replace Log4j 1 library with Reload4j library.

Automation

Backlog	Title	Description
B-14636	Task Monitor for the most recent prior Instance	A new Time Scope option “Relative / Last Run” has been added to handle requirements where a regularly scheduled task is not scheduled for some reason and a Task Monitor looking for that task is still triggered. In this case depending on the Time Scope options a number of undesirable scenarios may occur. For example, if the Task Monitor looks back for 24 hours and forward for 2 hours, it will not find the non-existent task and wait for 2 hours before showing any indication that the task does not exist. Increasing the from time also has potentially undesirable consequences on days when the monitored task is scheduled as normal but has not yet completed the increased time window may trigger based on a prior run of the task. In order to resolve this, the Time Scope option “Relative / Last Run” has been introduced; this changes the potential match sort order to Created Date/Time (Instead of Changed Date/Time) and as there may be no pre-determined amount of time to look into the past, the From [+/-]hh:mm value can be left unspecified for Relative / Last Run. An unspecified From [+/-]hh:mm value indicates the monitor has no limit on how far back the monitor can look for a match.
B-13942	Time Trigger : Allow Multiple Select for Day Style = Complex Noun and Qualifier	The Time Trigger Day Style = Complex, now allows a multiple selection for the Noun and Qualifier.
B-13976	Time Trigger Restriction : Allow Multiple Select for Complex Noun and Qualifier	The Time Trigger Restriction now allows a multiple selection for its Complex Noun and Qualifier.
B-03694	Date Qualifier of Quarter to Time Trigger and Run Criteria	Both Time Triggers and Run Criteria can now use a date qualifier of Quarter. The dates for the “Quarter” are defined in the associated Calendar definition where the start date for each quarter can be specified.
B-14250	Export Task Output / Results Virtual Script Data	A new function is available to provide the output of a Task to a subsequent Task as a file. This new function returns a token representing the path to task output that you want to embed the Agent will replace the resolved token with a path to a temporary file containing the output. ${_outputPath('`outputType`'[, '`fileExtension`'])} ${_outputPathFromTask('`siblingName`','`outputType`'[, '`fileExtension`'])} For example: TaskA is a SQL task producing the results to an SQL query. TaskB is a Windows task that needs the SQL result in a file in order to pass the results to a program. In TaskB you can embed the SQL results as follows: `mysqlprogram -F ${_outputPathFromTask('TaskA','SQL,'csv')}`
B-14697	Function to Return Total # of Lines for Specific Output Type	A New Function is available to return the number of output lines for a task: ${_outputNumberOfLines('`outputType`')} ${_outputNumberOfLinesFromTask('`siblingName`','`outputType`')}

Data Supply Chain

Backlog	Title	Description
B-12877	Explicit FTPS (FTPES) support to File Transfer Task From	The File Transfer Task now supports the UFTP Explicit FTPS implementation for file transfers.

Lifecycle Management / DevOps Integration

Backlog

Title

Description

B-14143

Download / Upload Definitions

New options are available to download and upload definitions in the JSON API format. These functions are available from the right click menus in the definition lists. Download and uploads are performed to / from the browser’s local filesystem.

This new function offers several advantages over the “export” / “import” functions:

Download / upload does not require administrative access, simply the ability to read a definition for download, and update a definition for upload.
All updates performed by the upload function are fully audited.
Full validation of any updates is performed.

B-14646

Add additional information to Promote... command response message

Exclude on existence information has been added to the Promote response message.

Successfully promoted 1 custom day to promotion target "DEV_RT" with Exclude on Existence {Calendars, Custom Days, Variables, Credentials, Agent Clusters}.

Successfully promoted 1 task and 1 referenced item to promotion target "DEV_RT" with Exclude on Existence {Calendars, Custom Days, Variables, Credentials, Agent Clusters}.

If no Exclude on Existence configuration is specified, the message will remain unchanged.

Platform Support

Backlog	Title	Description
B-14259	Validate Universal Controller Support for Oracle 21c.	Universal Controller versions 7.1.0.0 and higher have been validated with Oracle 21c.

Security

Backlog

Title

Description

B-10374

Local Password Rules - Optionally Disallow Password Reuse

New System Configuration to specify the number of old passwords that will be stored in order to prevent password reuse.

B-14635

Allow users permission to edit their own user details

From the logged in user drop down user’s can now edit their own user details.

Note

Depending on your configuration, some of the editable fields may be overwritten via LDAP or SSO user provisioning / synchronization.

B-15641

Remove the spring-webmvc dependency

This item addresses CVE-2022-22965: Spring Framework RCE via Data Binding on JDK 9+.

Universal Controller is not a "A Spring MVC or Spring WebFlux application"; however, a dependency to spring-webmvc-3.1.2.RELEASE.jar existed, because it came in with our dependency on Spring Security SAML. We have removed the dependency.

Universal Integration Platform

Backlog

Title

Description

E-01641

Universal Events, Universal Monitors and Universal Monitor Triggers

New Universal Events, Monitors, and Monitor Triggers provide the infrastructure to enable “Universal” monitoring of external “events”. Like Universal Templates and Tasks, these can be created by Stonebranch and/or Customers and will be made available via the Stonebranch Integration Hub.

In the same way that Universal Templates, Universal Tasks, and Universal Extensions allow for unlimited outbound integrations to external applications, Universal Events, Universal Monitors, and Universal Triggers allow for unlimited inbound integrations.

Universal Events:

There are 2 flavors of Universal Event.

System Events
These will be provided to record Universal Controller events, this will enable central monitoring and triggering to enhance automation of Universal Controller internal events. For example, updates to system configuration properties.
Universal Events (Global and Local)
These can be defined to allow recording of new event types. Universal Events can be published via Universal Extensions or Web Service API.

Universal Monitors:

Like other Universal Controller monitor types, Universal Monitors are used to detect published Universal Events that match specific attributes. Optionally the Universal Monitor can launch a Universal Extension that will be the event publisher. For example, if you want to monitor an external application’s webservice for a specific response you can create a Universal Extension that access the webservice, parses the output and publishes the result to a Universal Event, the Universal Monitor launches the Universal Extension and monitors the Universal Event. Once the Universal Event matches the monitor criteria the Monitor stops the Universal Extension and ends.

Universal Monitor Triggers:

Again like other Universal Controller Monitor Triggers, Universal Monitor Triggers allow constant monitoring of the required external event and will trigger the associated automation each time the event triggers. The attributes of each event will be passed to the Triggered automation workload.

B-14535

Universal Extension - Allowing Variables Visible on Task Instance to be directly accessible within the Extension

Universal Templates Type=Script always supported resolving variables directly within the template script, this update provides the same functionality for Universal Templates Type=Extension in order that they can resolve global and local scope variables directly within the extension code.

User Experience

Backlog	Title	Description
E-01640	User Experience Refresh	The Universal Controller User Interface has been significantly enhanced. Left-hand navigation pane is now “built” by each user as they work with the product. Access to Universal Controller services is via the new Services Menu, Global Search, or Favorites. Workflow definitions are separated from Tasks to be more obvious as a starting point. Tasks can now be created from the Workflow Editor. Standard Icons (i.e. New, Save, Delete, etc.) no longer have labels, product specific icons (i.e. launch, view parent, etc.) keep their labels. Two themes are provided, Light, and Dark. List / Detail screens are now oriented Left / Right, these were previously Top / Bottom. New Tab Pinning Feature. Tabs can now be pinned to avoid being overwritten when a new Tab is opened. New Auto Tab Feature. Tabs can be selected to be automatically opened when a user logs on. Note It is highly recommended that the user interface updates are reviewed before upgrading to the 7.2.x release.
B-13882	Global Search - Searching the Name, Description, and/or Member of Business Services across multiple record types.	The new Global Search allows access to definition across all record types with a simple search capability. All records matching the search are displayed in a single list from which they can be processed further. The search properties control which definition fields are searched: Name, Description, Member of Business Services. Generic searches require the ‘*' and '?’ characters.
B-14632	View/Edit Predecessors/Successors : Allow window resize to accommodate large task names	When viewing a task’s predecessors / successors in a workflow, the display window can now be resized. This applies to the workflow editor, workflow monitor, and activity list menu options.

Web Service API

Backlog	Title	Description
B-14541	Web Service API - Global Event Template CRUD	API Create, Read, Update, and Delete functions for Global Event Template Definitions.
B-14629	When using Web Services APIs that consume XML and/or JSON or Import Template, disable failing on unknown properties.	Unknown properties will no longer cause failures when using APIs to read XML / JSON or during Import Template operations.

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