OL Connect Release Notes 2019.1

License Update Required for Upgrade to Connect 2019.1

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

Every Connect license will now contain 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 new licensing model requires anyone upgrading to 2019.1 from earlier Connect versions to first update their OL Connect License.

A dialog box appears as part of the Connect upgrade process requesting you to do this.

It is heavily recommended that you first update the OL Update Client, as version 1.2.40 of the Update Client can update your OL License to the required version, then install Connect 2019.1.

For further details on how to upgrade the Update Client and update your Connect License see the Update Client 1.2.40 Upgrade Guide.

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

Overview

This document provides an overview of the new features and enhancements in OL Connect 2019.1 and Workflow 2024.2, as well as some important installation information.

Installing OL Connect 2024.2 and Workflow 2024.2

• 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 help, which can be accessed from the software and the installer.
• Note that the software comes with a 30 day trial license by default.

Print Only Version

A Print Only license is available with version 2019.1 of OL Connect which allows legacy PlanetPress Suite 7 customers on OL Care to upgrade to OL Connect for a minimal fee. The license allows regular printing via the Print Wizard but runs Email and Web output in demo mode. For more information, please contact your local OL Customer Care or Sales team.

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.

Workflow Installation requires Administrator rights

To reduce potential later problems, please note that the Workflow installation can only be run by users who have Administrator rights.

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 2019.1 Enhancements

Script Debugger

Connect 2019.1 introduces a new Script Debugger. This provides options to step through code (i.e. execute the code line by line) and to add breakpoints to pause execution at strategic points, as well as displaying the current state of variables, both local and global. (SHARED-66671)

The Script Debugger simulates an output run for all sections in the current context, including section clones. The output run is limited to running scripts and pagination for the current record. A print context will not generate actual output, and an email context will not generate attachments or send the email message.

The Scripts pane on the left hand side of the Script Debugger lists all scripts that are enabled to apply to the current context, in the order in which they are expected to be processed.

The Source Code pane shows the source of the suspended or selected script. Scripts based on a script wizard show the source of the expanded script. The current line in the script is highlighted, and the left margin of the source editor has a “pointer” marking the current line position within the greater script. You can ad breakpoints by clicking in the left margin of the source editor. The script will then pause at this line.

The Variables pane shows a hierarchical overview of the state of all local and global variables. It includes the special entry “(this)”, which represents the JavaScript “this” object.

New Connect Project Wizards

OL Connect 2019.1 introduces a new suite of Project Wizards. (SHARED-67314)

These Project Wizards create building blocks to kick-start your projects as well as providing samples that explain Connect concepts and capabilities.

A Project Wizard generates a pre-configured Workflow configuration and associated Connect Templates, Data Mapper configuration, Job Presets and Output Presets. The Project Wizard creates a folder containing all the resources along with a workspace folder that is ready to be modified, tested and deployed.

Connect 2019.1 includes the following Project Wizards:

• Print Promotional Jobs, see how the All In One step is used to create a batch of personalized letters.
  
• Print Transaction Jobs, create print content once and use multiple Create Output tasks to generate various print output variants.
• Serving a basic Webpage, learn how to serve and personalize a simple web page using Workflow.
• Submitting data with Webforms, illustrates how to serve multiple web pages using a single Workflow process. In addition it stores submitted data in the Data Repository.
• Basic email setup, use a Workflow to send email messages. Attachments are added based on a static PDF stored with the template and pre-rendered PDFs stored on disk are attached based on the provided sample data.
• Capture OnTheGo Timesheets, a set of Workflow processes to deploy and serve COTG Timesheet forms. Additional processes capture the submitted data and illustrate how this information can be stored in JSON, XML and PDF formats. The PDF is generated by merging the data with a Connect template.

These new projects are also available from the Welcome screen. (SHARED-68777)

Improved Data Model view

• Grouping/Ungrouping items
  OL Connect 2019.1 introduces the ability to add and modify logical Groups within the Data Model view. This enhancement doesn't impact on the database structure itself, but it does allow you to manipulate the way the data is presented within Connect . Groups are a purely logical construct and can be nested within other groups, and expanded or contracted as desired. This can be very handy for simplifying the display of complex databases within Connect. (SHARED-42643)
  
• Ordering items
  Data Model fields, tables and groups can now be re-ordered to create a fully customized Data Model view. Multiple fields can be selected together and drag & dropped either higher or lower in the Data Model pane, regardless of the order in which the data is actually being extracted. This does not affect the data at all, just the display of the data.
  
• Grouping/ Ordering selections made permanent
  Grouping and Ordering information is saved within the data mapping configuration file. When one opens a configuration file, the Data Model view will display the same Grouping and Ordering information as was last saved.
  
• Filtering the view
  Data Model pane now allows filtering the displayed database items via a new Filter box. This narrows the list of displayed items to just those tables, groups or fields whose name contains the typed string.
  

New Translation feature

A multilingual Connect template can handle content and static text elements in more than one language. Traditionally this was done through creating a separate Template or Section for each of the language variants. A new Translation feature in Connect 2019.1 simplifies this process and introduces options to export translation strings in a standardized file format. (SHARED-21729)

OL Connect Designer lets you import translated string files and applies the translations based upon the current locale. The locale can be explicitly set for the template or dynamically defined by the value of a data field. The Translation feature even handles pluralization of strings.

The new translation workflow in a nutshell:

• Tag page elements for translation (for example paragraphs, headings, table cells, buttons, labels etc.). This adds the respective strings to the Translations view.
• Export the strings to a Portable Object Template (.pot) file. Send this file to translators.
• Translators translate strings and send the results back as a Portable Object (.po) file.
• Add the .po file to the Translations folder located in the Resources panel.
• Set the desired locale for the template either to a specific locale or set it dynamically based upon a data field.

Installer Improvements

• You can now modify your installation choices, when upgrading Connect from an earlier version. (SHARED-67956)
• The Database Connection Check now displays a progress monitor, which is useful when attempting to connect to remote databases. (SHARED-23309)
• Now able to connect to a non-Connect-installed instance of MySQL with an encrypted connection using SSL for main Connect application database interactions. (SHARED-54824)
  

Print Manager Improvements

• Improved paging speeds when viewing/processing large print spool files. (SHARED-67984)
• Fixed issues whereby some IPDS and PCL files not being displayed entirely correctly. (SHARED-54864)

Simplified access to MS SQL Server

Both the Connect Installer and the Designer/Server preference pages now allow selection of MS SQL Server by referencing instances through Database Instance Name. (SHARED-67994)

Connect 2019.1 Designer Updates

Scripting Improvements

• Regular JavaScript resources can now have Defer and Async properties set, as was already the case for remote JavaScript resources. (SHARED-67235)
  
• Scripts created by the Make Conditional option previously just used the ID and class of an element by default for the selector, but this can now be changed as desired from within the Edit Script dialog. (SHARED-68412)
  
• Text script wizards now validate whether fields exist in the active data model, and if they have the same types. The new Refresh Types button in the Edit Script dialog can be used to ensure that field types match the types in the active data model. (SHARED-65371)
  

Barcode Improvements

• Added support for the Japan Post barcode. (SHARED-59708 / 59711)
• Most barcodes except the 4 state barcodes (Australia Post, Japan Post, Kix and Royal Mail 4 State) and One Code now have an option to enable\disable Tilde Processing. (SHARED-68565)
  
  When this option is disabled, notations like "~d009" will no longer add a tab character to the barcode value. Rather the literal value "~d009" will be encoded.
  
  When this option is enabled you can escape a tilde by using another tilde (~~) for those data items which contain tildes that are meant to be used literally.
• The KIX database of the Dutch Postal Service PostNL has been updated to the 2019 version. (SHARED-68210)
• Fixed an issue whereby the barcode properties dialog would not appear for barcodes that didn't have an ID. (SHARED-50762)

General Designer Improvements and Fixes

• Added ability to copy the location of snippets and images, so the locations can be pasted into scripts to simplify using those resources in scripts. (SHARED-33976)
  
• We've added filter options to the Package and Send To Worklow dialogs, to make it easier to locate the correct presets. (SHARED-68033)
  
• The Package and Send To Worklow dialogs now automatically add the last modified Output Creation and Job Creation configurations to the package. (SHARED-68067)
  
• The "Database Connection" password now only needs to be entered once on the preferences page. (SHARED-66660)
• Added a Shared Content Editing option to the View menu with which you can disable/enable the editing of Shared Content in the template. (SHARED-60983)
  
• Default section clone names weren't always made unique when creating multiple clones. This could lead to lost clones, when naming conflicts arose. This issue has now been fixed. (SHARED-64156)

Connect 2019.1 DataMapping Updates

Stepping Improvements

In complex Data Mapping configurations, the Steps pane can contain hundreds of steps. This made the interface sluggish when the navigating from step to step. Accordingly, the interface has been modified to redraw much more quickly than it used to.

Visually speaking, the dotted lines that used to connect each Step have been reworked to now use full lines that are drawn directly onto the display. To match the new look, all Step icons have been redesigned.

In addition to those visual elements, the background processes have also been overhauled to reduce the number of refresh operations occurring while working in the DataMapper.

Find functionality added to Steps

The Steps pane now includes a Find option that fetches a list of steps whose description contains the characters entered in the Find box (case insensitive).

The results are displayed next to the Find box, and one can click on the Next / Previous match buttons to immediately jump to the next/previous step within the list of matches.

XML Performance Improvements

The XML Viewer has been completely overhauled resulting in a much more responsive interface. It is now possible to scroll through extremely large records (i.e. thousands of elements) as easily as one would a text file. But the changes are not limited to the interface. Under the hood, the XML data mapping operation has also been greatly improved, with the result that XML data mapping operations should run significantly faster, especially for larger records.

XML boundaries

XML boundaries now can be split on variable element names. This solution adds the ability to specify an XPATH statement as the boundary, instead of a fixed element name. The XPATH statement supports dynamic values, allowing the boundaries to adjust dynamically to values passed by Workflow. (SHARED-65739)

General DataMapping Improvements

• Improved compatibility with third-party PDF files. (SHARED-68651)
• AFP input now logs a more meaningful error when no proper AFP input license is present. (SHARED-66804)
• Minor interface/behaviour issues fixed. Such as having the focus going missing after dragging and dropping a step. (SHARED-61252)
• Changed XML Datamapper font, to make zero character more easily distinguished from capital “O”. (SHARED-69199)

Connect 2019.1 Output updates

Font handling

• Further improvements have been made to font handling within Connect. This should permanently resolve several of the issues previously experienced with Adobe font formats (Type 1, CFF, OpenType containing CFF). (SHARED-66561)

• Fixed problems with Type 3 font bounding boxes. (SHARED-62893)

Print Output Improvements

• Improved processing of Softmask graphics, to better prevent the flattening of files (which could lead to some images disappearing in printed output). (SHARED-61466)
• Enhanced print job summary in Server logs. A summary of print jobs will now be displayed in the Server logs when either printing to the Server from Designer, using an All-In-One plug-in from Workflow, or by submitting a request to the All-In-One Process. (SHARED-66793)
• Improved page breaking. This might impact upon some existing templates. (SHARED-68453)
• Extended the range of allowable Media weights. Media weight now ranges from 25 to 1000 gsm. (SHARED-69065)
  
• AFP output
  • An AFP Rules Editor has been introduced, to support dynamically created metadata in AFP output. (SHARED-65537)
    
  • Added support for creating and editing NOP and TLE records, in conjunction with the new Rules option. (SHARED-65545/65548)
    
  • Connect now supports the following types of Containers: (SHARED-67629)
    • PDF and PDF Transparent
    • PNG ( RGB only; supports Masks)
    • TIF-AFPC ( supports Masks )
    • TIF- OPAQUE
    • TIF-TRANSPARENT
• AFP and IPDS output - Connect now defaults to "Scale to Fit" for both IPDS and AFP output. (SHARED-68389).
  NOTE: This may have an impact when printing pre-existing Connect jobs on older printer models that do not support "Scale to Fit".
• PCL output - PCL uses a newer RIP mechanism that results in cleaner, sharper and improved alignment of characters at 300 DPI. (SHARED-33148)
• PDF output
  • Added support for e-Invoice PDF (PDF/A-3b) output. (SHARED-68209)
  • Redesigned the Digital Signatures section of the PDF output options to use a tree display which better reflects the structure of digital signatures. (SHARED-68364)
    
  • Added support for internal hyperlinks within a PDF document. (SHARED-52674)
  • XMP data now output in Canonical format for PDF/VT output. (SHARED-68483)
  • It's now possible to control the metadata in PDF output. The values for the fields can be static values or dynamic values (such as values obtained from datamapping). The PDF metadata fields that can be configured are Author, Title, Description and Keywords, which are the metadata entries displayed in the Adobe Reader Document Properties dialog. (SHARED-67501/68369)
    

General Output Improvements

• The PDF Preview function and PDF attachments created for Email messages now have the same producer name as standard Connect PDF output. (SHARED-56002)
• Improved memory footprint of the output engine. (SHARED-67225)
• Several improvements have been made to the output engine to ensure that output creation terminates even in exceptional circumstances. For example when handling faulty input files or in tight memory situations. Further, any exception that occurs in these circumstances will be reported immediately (improving feedback on what caused the error) and output creation will be terminated as soon as possible (fail fast). (SHARED-67401)

Print Wizard and Preset Wizard Improvements

Dynamic Print Control Improvements

Improvements have been made to the creation of Dynamic Print Controls.

• When working with PPD files to dynamically drive PostScript printers, some printers have fragments called JobPatchFile in their PPD, which are required for the printer to function properly. These are now supported and automatically added to the output if the PPD includes such. (SHARED-68025)

• Certain printers require some options to be in very specific locations in order for them to work properly. To support this, the Dynamic PPD rules now has two groups relating specifically to two of these locations: Prolog and Setup. These rather technical features allow us to support more PostScript printers than before. (SHARED-68025)
  
• When adding Media in Dynamic PPD we now validate the user defined Printer Options against the Rule Details. If the rules matches a Media in the template or Presets, it is highlighted in green. (SHARED-68401)
• An option has been added to rotate landscape pages. When this option is selected, any page detected as being in Landscape orientation will be rotated to match the standard PaperSizes (which are always in Portrait). (SHARED-65191)
  

Import multiple Presets

You can now import more than one preset at a time in the Job Preset and Output Preset wizards, as well as in the Print dialog. (SHARED-66727)

Improved Data Filtering Options

The Data Filtering page in the Print Wizard has been totally revamped. It has been enhanced with extra features, and the user interface overhauled. The user interface is now much more consistent with other rule builders available within the Print Wizard.

New functionality includes:

• Filter content items by number of sheets (rather than pages). This is better suited for filtering what fits within an envelope or inserter machine than using the number of pages,
• The use of content item Property Rules. This allows great flexibility because properties can be set during content creation, or from Workflow, or after data mapping has taken place.

General Print Wizard Improvements

• The Additional Content dialog now uses the selected Designer language's decimal and thousand separators in entry boxes. (SHARED-60881)
• Sample size preferences for standard and booklet imposition setups are now saved to the output preset. (SHARED-66484)
• In addition to being able to create multiple print files based on the number of sheets per file ("Sheet Count Splitting"), it's now possible to create multiple print files based on either the number of documents, documents sets or job segments per file. (SHARED-61932)
  
• Replaced the global timeout value (previously available for external sorting with a job preset specific timeout value. (SHARED-67982)
  

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.