OL Connect Release Notes 2024.1

License Update Required for Upgrade to OL Connect 2024.x

From OL Connect 2019.1 onwards, only customers with a current OL Care subscription will be able to update Connect.

Every Connect license now contains an end date that represents the last day of OL Care coverage for each customer. Upgrades and updates of Connect will be freely available up until that end date, but will not be available thereafter, unless the OL Care period is extended.

This licensing model requires anyone upgrading from Connect versions earlier than 2019.1 to first update their OL Connect License. A dialog box appears as part of the Connect upgrade process requesting that you do this.

It is recommended that you first update the OL Update Manager, as newer versions of the Update Manager can update your OL License to the required version.

For further details on how to upgrade the OL Update Manager to the latest version and update your OL Connect License see the Update Manager 1.7 - Upgrade Guide.

If issues arise, or if you need to renew your OL Care subscription, please contact your local Customer Care group.

Backup before Upgrading

It is recommended that you always backup your existing Connect preferences before upgrading to a new version. This will enable you to revert back to the previous version, in a worst case scenario in which the new version introduces issues with your existing production processes. Whilst the probability of such a worst case scenario is remote, it cannot hurt to take some simple precautions, just in case.

For instructions on how to do so, please see Backup existing Connect version.

Overview

This document provides an overview of the new features and enhancements in OL Connect 2024.1 and Workflow 2024.1, as well as some important installation information.

Installing OL Connect 2024.1 and Workflow 2024.1

• OL Connect is released as a 64 bit version only (with the exception of the Workflow, Fax, Search and Imaging modules).
• Full details on installing and licensing OL Connect and Workflow can be found in the online helps.
  OL Connect: Installation and Activation.
  OL Connect Workflow: Workflow Installation.
• Note that both OL Connect and Workflow come with a 30 day trial license by default.
• It is recommended that you install and use OL Connect Designer and Server under the same user account.

Connect and Workflow installers require Administrator rights

Please note that the OL Connect and Workflow installations can only be run by users who have Administrator rights.

Connect Templates Used in Workflow

For improved performance we recommend re-saving any Connect templates used in Workflow to the current version of Connect templates.

Reduced Memory Version (not recommended for production)

It is possible to install OL Connect on a machine with a minimum of 2 GB of RAM. The Connect Designer will automatically detect whether it has been installed on a machine with less than 4 GB of RAM and default to only using one internal Weaver and one internal merge engine on that system. The Server will also run using internal engines.

OL Connect 2024.1 Improvements

Java update

Updated the Java platform which Connect runs on to Adoptium Temurin version 17.0.10.(92408)

Maria DB update

The MariaDB that is packaged with Connect has been updated to 10.11.5. (89879)

Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Platform is now officially supported as a cloud environment to deploy OL Connect, with AWS and Azure. (92104)

Security improvements and library updates

The setup no longer installs Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime 10.0 (x64) as part of the prerequisites. (90229)

OL Connect backend improvements

• Fixed handling of dates under selected Microsoft SQL Server login languages, when using partitioning for the clean up service. (90679)
• Updated validation of Microsoft SQL Server instance names in the database preference pages to match Microsoft requirements. (90683)
• Fixed issue whereby the magic number was not displayed in the activation dialog due to a computer firmware issue. (90914)

REST API improvements

• Added support for running default job creation processes on Content Sets via the REST API, without requiring a job creation preset. (89926)
• The OL Connect REST API now has an endpoint for retrieving statistics and details about jobs created with Job Creation. (91372)

Installer Improvements

• A Use Windows Authentication option was added to the installer when configuring a custom Microsoft SQL Server database. (81421)

• If an error occurs when installing the MariaDB database and the database service is found not to be running, improved error details are now recorded in the installation log. (90627)

OL Connect 2024.1 Designer Improvements

Address Block

A new address block feature has been added in OL Connect Designer to effortlessly insert addresses formatted following the guidelines specified for the selected country. (8795)

Link data to elements that compose the address lines via the Address Block dialog. The feature provides an option to align the address to the bottom of the address block object and empty lines automatically collapse.

For specific countries the feature provides options to render postal barcodes, for example the Dutch KIX code.

With the introduction address block templates are provided for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, and Malaysia. Other regions and postal service specific formats will be added in future versions.

The feature also allows for custom address block templates. This allows you to create custom address block templates, for accommodating missing regions or meeting specific postal service criteria.

Translation improvements

When po files are missing the Plural-Forms header, we now use a default Plural-Froms definition for the language based on Plural Forms - Localization Guide. (90209)

General Designer improvements

• Fixed a bug where resources added to the template (for example images) were not visible in the resources panel. (89309)
• Fixed an issue with fr-CA locale accounting currency formatting incorrectly. (90227)
• Fixed an issue with switching from Preview mode to Design mode, if Translations are used in combination with ‘Evaluate Handlebars expressions’. In order to fix this, Preview mode is now read-only if ‘Evaluate Handlebars expressions’ is turned on. (90420)
• Designer now makes sure to select an entire handlebars expression, when it’s only partially selected, when applying a style. For example setting a text selection to bold. (90597)

• Fixed an issue that could result in inappropriate margins after calling merge.section.paginate from a post pagination script. (90932)

• When attempting to insert an image with a name that already exists in the template, you can now overwrite the existing image with the new one. (90976)

• Updated the default styling for <hr> element to avoid rasterization in AFP output. (91004)
• We now show the proper value for record.index in preview mode when using JSON sample data. (91108)
• Added support for barcodes in detail tables. (91196)
• Fixed display of icons in the Package File dialog when windows display scaling is not set to 100%. (91226)
• In the Word based print template Wizard the margin values are always in print units (the preferred unit) and now all the values are converted to 2 decimals. (91309)
• Fixed errors when renaming files and folders in the Resources panel. (91318)
• Fixed several issues related to forced breaks done through page-break-after and page-break-before. (91365)
• Downgrading Connect templates to 2022.2 (or earlier) now migrates dynamic tables correctly. (91476)
• We no longer show a “selector produced no results” tooltip for a script if its selector had matches on one of the applied master pages. (91478)
• The Set Type menu item in the context menu for the Data Model view is now enabled as long as no data mapper configuration editor is open. (91513)
• Welcome screen improvement. The Designer is no longer unresponsive for 20 seconds on startup when working offline. (91517)
• Pressing an arrow key in an HTML source editor no longer triggers code completion. (91591)
• Improved start up time of Connect Designer when setting up database connection. (91857)

• The Resources panel now highlights the active resource. (92007)
  The text bubbles at the top of each page in the main editor now have a distinct look for sections and master pages.

• The default scale setting for new inserted QR Code and Datamatrix barcodes has been changed to Proportional. (92037)
• Fixed an issue that prevented moving of existing absolute positioned boxes on a master page of templates created in version 2023.1 or older. (92044)
• Improved version labels in File > Save a Copy... Dialog. (92183)

Scripting/Handlebar Improvements

• Handlebar expressions used in hyperlinks now work correctly in output. (90757)
• Added a visual indication when a script folder is disabled. (90759)

• Dynamic media settings can be modified through one or more Control Scripts.
  For example: var section = merge.template.contexts.PRINT.sections["Section 1"] section.sheetConfig.positions.all.media = "Media 1" (90854)

• Moved the import and export scripts options to the ellipsis menu of the Scripts View. (91071)
• Fixed the annotation overview tooltip in the top-right corner of script editors. (91174)
• Fixed an issue where error suggestions for scripts that run on master pages would not always show up. (91483)
• Handlebars: Fixed an issue where certain characters in strings (surrounded by quotes) or escaped content (surrounded by square brackets) would cause an error. (91567)
• Added a ‘concat' helper for Handlebars, which concatenates two or more arguments. (91843)
• Handlebars: Added support for “else if” statements. (91943)
• Handlebars: Added support for hash arguments and Partial Contexts. (91956)
• Handlebars: You can now access runtime parameters through @parameters. (91997)
• Handlebars: You can now access template properties through @properties. (92039)
• Handlebars: Improved behaviour for whitespace control. See Expressions | Whitespace control for more info. (92173)
• Rule trees now initialize faster than before, particularly if there are many rules. (92181)
  Examples of rule trees can be found in the Conditional Content script wizard and in the Dynamic Table wizard. (92181)
• Handlebars: We now ignore raw blocks (those that start with four curly braces). (92343)

OL Connect 2024.1 DataMapper Improvements

General DataMapper Improvements

• Microsoft Excel based DataMapper configurations can now select the sheet name dynamically, based upon runtime/automation properties. (80908)
• DataMapper now retains the last selected state for the “First row contains field names” property for new CSV and Excel data files. (89126)
• Improved version labels in File > Save a Copy... Dialog. (90117)
• Fixed issue with missing last row in some Microsoft Excel data files. (90330)
• Fixed error in step property of JSON emulation of DataMapper after “Validate” action. (90369)
• Datamapper JavaScript Expressions editor now resizable. (90475)
• Fixed a regression issue that impacted the value of the final statement in a script, in the DataMapper script engine. (90715)
• Improved usability of DataMapper CSV importation dialog. (90884)
• Fixed a problem with random wrong interpretation of multibyte character for UTF-8 JSON data files in DataMapper. (91077)
• Datamodel expanded state behavior has been improved and is persisted within configuration file. (91101)
• Improved functionality in Order and rename fields dialog in DataMapper perspective. (91370)
• Fixed an issue that occurred when downgrading a template to Connect version 1.7. (92213)
• Logging statements were added to log which resources were used when a data mapping operation is performed. (92445)

OL Connect 2024.1 Output Improvements

Print Wizard\Preset enhancements

• Fixed issues with loading an existing output preset into the Advanced Print and Output Preset wizards when the imposition sheet size is custom. (82807)
• Fixed issues when creating output presets with a printer model created from a PPD.
  If the PPD does not contain maximum page size dimensions and/or PageSize properties on PageSize elements it was possible for the internal media settings in the created preset to be corrupted resulting in an unusable preset. (90690)
• Fixed color display in the Proof Preview dialog when previewing output via the preview option in the Output Preset wizard and Advanced Print wizard. (91238)
• Change the default Position Method setting for Impositioning. (91999)

  • The initial ‘positioning method’ setting for impositioning is now “Center” instead of “Scale to fit”.

  • The initial target sheet size for impositioning is changed to SRA3 (otherwise it would be invalid with Letter format in combination with the new default positioning method “Center”).

General Output Improvements

• Fixed issue with images not being updated correctly when using a shared folder or local folder for Dynamic Images. (83415)
• Fixed an internal computation for cases where a negative font scale was used. (88553)
• Fix an output creation error for certain input files (for example, those with 0-scaled content) in combination with a license that produces a watermark. Such as when proof print. (90222)
• Use system encoding as fallback when decoding font names that are not UTF-8 or CIDSystemInfo-based. (90935)
• PDF passthrough now retains greater accuracy for matrices, which may be important for character positioning. (90974)
• Fixed a problem with PDF word spacing (Tw) handling when used with CID fonts. (90979)
• The output engine now filters out (invisble) images that are drawn with a scale of zero. (91859)
• Fixed a problem with hyperlink being inserted at an incorrect position. (92128)

Print Output Improvements

• Fixed an issue with content drift in certain cases where a single record would produce more than 30 pages of content. (89354)
• Fixed an error that would occur during proof printing, if a sub-directory was selected in the Job Output Mask and that sub-directory already exists. Such as when proof printing a second time. (90617)
• Improved font handling in AFP for large jobs. (90981)
• Fix “Invalid coordinates” exception that could occur when dithering very small images, in some AFP/IPDS/PCL output. (91093)
• Fixed an issue with images being written in incorrect order into the PCL output. (91782)

Email Output Improvements

• Barcodes no longer produce unnecessary attachments that use the .bin extension. (90946)
• Hidden rasterized barcode elements are no longer added as attachments. (90947)
• Prevent “TypeError: layoutData is null” if a rasterized element is hidden for email output. (90953)

Known Issues

As of OL Connect 2018.1 the Known Issues have moved from the Release Notes to the Connect online Help.

They can be found here Known Issues.