OL Connect Release Notes 2020.1

License Update Required for Upgrade to Connect 2020.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 new licensing model requires anyone upgrading to 2020.1 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 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 2020.1.

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.

Backup before Upgrading

It is recommended that you always backup your existing OL 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 OL Connect version.

Overview

This document provides an overview of the new features and enhancements in OL Connect 2020.1 and Workflow 2020.1, 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.

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 2020.1 Enhancements

MySQL update and improvements

The database that comes bundled with OL Connect has been updated to the latest version of MySQL (8.0.18), along with the drivers used to connect to it. (SHARED-63665/74191)

The new packaged database will only be installed with new installations. This is to avoid any chance of issues that might occur in migrating an existing database to the new version. Existing users who want to upgrade their packaged database, will have to start with a fresh database.

Other MySQL improvements

  • Connect now supports connecting to existing MySQL version 8 databases. Both as the Connect back-end database, or for DataMapping purposes. (SHARED-71285)
  • Under certain circumstances, precision was lost when using MySQL databases, causing content on pages to be misplaced. The precision of numbers has been increased. (SHARED-74458)
  • Fixed issue with the Connect cleanup service failing to detect partitioning support on newer MySQL instances (v8.x). (SHARED-74623)

Runtime parameters added to Data Mapping

Runtime parameters have been introduced to DataMapper configurations. The DataMapper engine can now use runtime parameters directly, when running DataMapper configurations. (SHARED-74572)

REST API Improvements

An output file's content/data is now correctly returned for synchronous print operations when the result is a single output file (requested via 'Process All-In-One (Adhoc Data)' method of the All-In-One Service REST API service). (SHARED-75175)

Bypassing Content Creation

Many OL Connect jobs require making simple changes to print-ready batches of documents: adding OMR marks, commingling jobs, postal sorting, and the like. For those types of jobs, no merging of any data is required and yet, after data mapping is done, you must still go through the Content Creation step before moving on to Job Creation.

A new REST API method has now been introduced to allow you to create print content directly from paginated input: DataMiningRestService.processPaginatedDmCc(dataFileID, json)

This adds the ability to use an existing PDF as content, without using a template. Document boundaries are defined using a data mapper configuration. (SHARED-74995)

Security Improvements (and library updates)

  • Connect dependencies have been updated to recent versions, curing a number of smaller security issues. (SHARED-73677)
  • Oracle third party dependencies have been updated. (SHARED-74196)
  • LincPDF has been updated. (SHARED-74370)
  • NodeJS version updated to version 12.13.1. All npm packages were updated to latest versions.
    Vulnerabilities listed by npm audit goes from 54 to 0. (SHARED-73468)
  • A myriad of other libraries have been updated. (SHARED-74605)

Print Manager Improvements/fixes

  • Speed up loading of History table, to avoid issues with cleanup services failing. (SHARED-76485/76676)
  • Fixed issue with Print Manager not removing Finished jobs when the selected language was set to a language other than the default. (SHARED-76922)
  • Added the ability to limit the number of jobs loaded in the job History table. The setting is available in the Print Manager General Preferences page. (SHARED-76949)

General Improvements

  • Several interface translation improvements and fixes have been made. (SHARED-73925)
  • Improved logging of Connect engine activity. Particularly in regards engines (data mapper, merge engine, output engine) running in tight memory conditions. (SHARED-74548)
  • Externally launched engines and HSQLDB database instances will now launch with the language specified in the 'Language' preferences. (SHARED-74807)
  • Fixed issue with the "background.rotation" property having effect on section clones. (SHARED-76744)

Connect 2020.1 Designer Improvements

Improved Table wizard and Nested Tables

The 2020.1 release of OL Connect has a revamped Insert Detail Table wizard to help you build more sophisticated tables. (SHARED-56213)

It simplifies the process of setting up dynamic tables that show complementary information based on nested detail data. In previous Connect releases you had to write complex scripts to achieve this.

The new wizard lets you setup these tables from within the user interface of the application. Advanced users will find new HTML attributes at their disposal to fine tune the behaviour even further. These attributes let you add data to your dynamic table and modify the table structure without writing a single script.

Improved backwards compability

Save a Copy now modifies script wizards in such a way that they will work in Connect versions that pre-date the wizards.. (SHARED-74183)

Scripting Improvements

  • Introduced new translate(string[, context]) script function that can be used to translate a string and optional context. (SHARED-74827)
  • Control script change. Assigning the value "undefined" to masterFront or masterBack should override the master page settings in the Sheet Configuration dialog and ensure that no master page is used. In 2019.2 you needed to pass either "null" or an empty string. (SHARED-74887)
  • Fixed an issue with scripting that could cause statements like query("<tbody>") or query("<tr>") to fail. (SHARED-74898)

General Designer Improvements

  • The underline feature now creates <span> wrappers with text-decoration:underline instead of <u> wrappers. This prevents a preflight warning about the <u> tag not being supported. (SHARED-69181)
  • “Save as” now uses the directory of the original resource as default save location, unless the resources was never saved or was included in external package. (SHARED-70057)
  • CSS can be pretty printed manually by invoking the new "Format" command or through the Ctrl+Shift+F shortcut. (SHARED-71419)
  • Added support for custom properties and the var() keyword in CSS. (SHARED-72634)
    For more info, see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/--*
  • Table columns can now only be re-sized in DESIGN mode. This change was introduced to prevent columns from being unintentionally re-sized in PREVIEW mode. (SHARED-73021)
  • The Styles panel now includes styles for pseudo-elements like ::before and ::after. (SHARED-73327)
  • Fixed a problem with the Align toolbar buttons not always properly aligning the selected elements. (SHARED-73493)
  • Improved the checking of presets, to avoid prompting for unnecessary preset imports. (SHARED-74028)
  • It is now possible to control which email section is processed by enabling or disabling email sections in a control script. (SHARED-74051)
  • Fixed an issue with the Import Resources feature that could cause an UnsupportedOperationException error. (SHARED-74889)
  • Improved the default line settings for the USPS IMb barcode. (SHARED-75097)
  • Fixed an issue that would disallow changing font names in the Edit Font dialog. (SHARED-75525)

Connect 2020.1 DataMapping Improvements

XML data files DataMapper improvements

A new option to show all nodes of XML data file has been added. It is now possible to extract information from nodes that are outside of the record and come after the last record. (SHARED-73728)

General DataMapper Improvements

  • Improved rename option for PDF sub-fields. It is now possible to rename the field directly from DataModel view. (SHARED-73514)
  • Boundaries "On Change" was not triggered with empty data selection. Now the boundaries can evaluate correctly the boundaries split condition based on empty text, which can be selected even beyond the last character in a line of text. (SHARED-73863)
  • DataMapper Wizard now opens database links more quickly. (SHARED-74279)
  • Fixed problem with "Is Empty" operator for Condition step in Text emulation. (SHARED-74434)
  • Improved region selection for Condition/Loop step. (SHARED-74451)
  • Problems were encountered when importing certain PDF files. This was due to issues with a third-party library that have now been resolved. (SHARED-74631)
  • Added the ability to re-order sample data files within the DataMapper. (SHARED-74767)
  • Fixed issues within lower levels of nested tables. (SHARED-74790)
  • Added ability to use an existing PDF as content, without using a template. Document boundaries are defined using a data mapper configuration. (SHARED-71632)

Connect 2020.1 Output Improvements

PDF Digital Signature Improvements

  • The digital signature now includes the signer, the location, the reason for signing and the time of signing (if configured to use a time stamp). (SHARED-73528)
  • Connect used to create digital signatures twice. Once to determine the size of the entire signature (including the timestamp if enabled) in the output file, and once for including the actual signature in the output. As of 2020.1 this "double clicking" of timestamping and digital signing has been removed, and the signature now only created the single time. (SHARED-71872)

New PDF Signature dialog box options.

  • Can now pick an alias from a list of aliases, using new browse button. (SHARED-75183)
  • It is now possible to specify the page of the output file that the signature should appear on. (SHARED-71881)

Print Output Improvements

  • A retry option has been added for when the output file exists but cannot be deleted. (SHARED-74292)
  • Print Output presets now have all non-relevant entries set to default values. (SHARED-74594)
  • When a table was split across more than two pages, some table rows would be missing from the output. This issue has now been fixed. (SHARED-74903)
  • Fixed a bug where in certain specific conditions with templates that generate a lot of pages, content would be missing from the output (detail tables, batched pagination). (SHARED-74940)
  • Improved handling of angled and skewed text in AFPDS , IPDS and PCL outputs. (SHARED-75094)
  • PDF initial view options are now available as settings. These allow you to specify how the PDF output is to be viewed upon opening. (SHARED-75224)
  • Fixed a crash when uncoloured tiling patterns were used with an Indexed colour space. (SHARED-75250)
  • Fixed issue with TTF outline characters appearing squashed in AFPDS and IPDS outputs. (SHARED-75462)
  • Fixed an issue where setting Rasterize Options on a div would cause errors while generating output. (SHARED-75577)
  • In PostScript level 3 output, when a shading refers to a named colorspace resource, Connect now ensures that the colorspace gets written before the shading itself. (SHARED-76342)
  • Fixed a problem with decimal number precision when writing out PDF Type 3 font in PDF pass-through mode. (SHARED-76406)
  • Fixed an issue with Ledger paper size in PCL output. (SHARED-76630)
  • PCL custom page sizes failed to select the correct size, when paper in Landscape mode. This has now been corrected. (SHARED-76634)

Email Output Improvements

  • Added a new CSS inline mode for email. (SHARED-74350)
  • Restored support for email attachment paths containing spaces (which was broken in 2019.2). (SHARED-75050)
  • Fixed a problem with scripted email headers that was introduced in 2019.2, whereby the headers were not reset after each record. (SHARED-75413)

General Output Improvements

  • Fixed an issue where in rare cases the wrong indexToLocFormat could be written in a TrueType font's 'head' table, effectively corrupting the font. (SHARED-74383)
  • Fixed an issue that crashed the output engine when processing some PDF input files that containing lots of resources (such as color spaces). (SHARED-74655)
  • The Dutch Postal Service PostNL KIX database has been updated to the 2020 version. (SHARED-74801)
  • Improved Connect support for Type 1 fonts. (SHARED-74910)

  • Fixed an issue that broke WYSIWYG output when using a resizable table in combination with the rowspan attribute. (SHARED74915)

  • Fixed an issue with text positioning encountered when writing text scaled down to zero. (SHARED-75096)

General Print Wizard Improvements

  • Fixed an issue where occasionally custom OMR size validation code in the Wizard would fail with an unexplained validation error, preventing the Wizard from being finished. (SHARED-74264)
  • Fixed logic with media selection size rules when the media is landscape orientation. (SHARED-74540)

Workflow 2020.1 Improvements

New DocuWare connectors

We are continuing our focus on connectors to integrate with ECM systems, either in the cloud or on-premise. With Connect 2020.1, we are releasing a connector for uploading documents to DocuWare and another for downloading files from DocuWare. (SHARED-72654)
These connectors simplify use cases such as

  • Storing delivery notes in DocuWare when implementing our Proof of Delivery solution
  • Archiving invoices, and downloading attachments to outgoing invoices from DocuWare in our Accounts Receivable solution.

Connect now provides easy integration with the following ECM systems: DocuWare, M-Files and Therefore. Both in the cloud and on-premise.

The new plugins can be found on the Resource Center (help.objectiflune.com) site.

New Microsoft Office 365 connectors

New Office 365 OneDrive and Office 365 Email input/output tasks are now available in Workflow. (SHARED-74333)

   

The OneDrive input/output processes allow retrieval from, and posting to, any OneDrive account in the organization’s Office 365 services.

The Office 365 Email input/output tasks allow processes to access any mailbox in the organization’s Office 365.

Note that in order to achieve this, the organization’s IT department must allow Workflow to access the services by generating an Application ID in the Azure Dashboard. The Application ID must then be provided in each of the tasks that want to access the Office 365 services. Without this Application ID, the services remain unavailable to Workflow and the plugins cannot be used.

In the future these Office 365 connectors will include SharePoint tasks, making Workflow even more cloud-aware.

New File Count option

A new Input/Condition File Count task has been added. (SHARED-75389)

This task checks if a folder contains a specified number of files before processing. This means a process can now be set to be executed only when all required files are available.

Execute Data Mapping plugin improvements

  • A new option to Generate error when validation cannot be performed allows Workflow to continue past a validation error when an invalid data format is detected.
    For example, when erroneously sending a PDF file to a CSV validation Data Mapper. (SHARED-74404)|

    • Improvements made for version control comparisons

    It is now possible to reliably track differences between changes to the Workflow configuration using version control tools. (SHARED-65310)

    Updated Microsoft Access Database Engine

    The Microsoft Access Database Engine has been updated to version 2016 (ACE 16.0) as the previous engine used (2010) is scheduled for end-of-life in 2020.

    Installation of the Access Database Engine 2016 will be skipped if a later version of Access/Access Database Engine is already present on the machine. (SHARED-68863)

    Improved efficiency of Input tasks

    The following Input tasks now react to system events rather than polling for changes:

    • HTTP Server Input
    • LPD Input
    • NodeJS Server Input

    This reduces CPU usage levels, considerably. Especially in cases where the polling interval was set to 0, which means "check constantly". (SHARED-75302)

    JSON files updated to UTF-8 encoding

    The following plugins have been updated to use / expect UTF-8 encoded JSON job data files:

    • Render Email Content
    • Download EML Messages
    • SendGrid
    • Mailjet

    If you intend to use Workflow 2020.1 then you should update to the latest SendGrid and Mailjet plugins. The updated plugins can be found on the Resource Center (help.objectiflune.com) site.

    If you are intend to continue using Workflow 2019.2 then you should not update the SendGrid and Mailjet plugins. (SHARED-75770)

    General Workflow Improvements

    • Custom HTTP headers can now be set in the HTTP Client input. (SHARED-66877)
    • Uploads and Downloads to and from file store plugins can now accept backslashes as part of their name identifier. These are now automatically URL encoded. (SHARED-67632)
    • Log message now displays the correct encoding used in the XML tag attribute when no encoding is found in the input file. (SHARED-70842)
    • Allow the use of JSON arrays notation when Retrieving Items by ID. For example use [189,1057,3002] to retrieve those three specific items. (SHARED-71621)
    • SFTP plugin can now create a folder on FTP server when outputting files. (SHARED-72503)
    • Legacy version 4 configuration files can now be opened in Workflow. (SHARED-73396)
    • SMTP Server ports were previously limited to 9999. This has been increased to allow a maximum port of 65,535. (SHARED-73458)
    • NodeJS Server Input. Customizable constant DEFAULT_MULTIPART_MAXFIELDS added to default.js file. This can be changed to raise the maximum limit of allowed fields in a multipart/form-data post request. Note that the server must be restarted after the change. (SHARED-73613)
    • Secure Email Input/Output plugins are now correctly translated when changing language. (SHARED-74053)
    • Fixed an issue with scripted PDF section backgrounds not scaling correctly through Workflow. (SHARED-74431)
    • Fixed minor GUI issues with custom plugins. These included:
      • Sometimes the plugin would pause and not get past the "Loading UI" screen, requiring rerunning the plugin. (SHARED-74518)
      • It was not possible to click the browse button a second time, as the background was disabled when file browser started. (SHARED-74560)
    • Fixed CreateJob when using the "unselect unused content items in metadata" option. It now works even if only the content item IDs are provided in the metadata. There is no need for record ids to be present. (SHARED-74666)
    • Fixed "respond on error" not working for legacy HTTP server plugin. (SHARED-75608

    OL Connect Send Improvements

    Authorization for printing

    The Send client can be configured with an API key for all communications with the server receiving print jobs. This enables the server to reject any print jobs that are not submitted by an authorized client. By having different API keys for each subscriber, service providers can also use these API keys as an additional identification. API keys are widely used for this purpose in industry. Particularly by email service providers such as SendGrid, MailJet, and Tie Kinetix. (SHARED-74792)

    Driver improvements

    We have reviewed the printer driver’s properties and default settings, so they better fit a virtual printer like OL Connect Send instead of an actual physical printer, and also ensure the driver is better behaved with applications that try to do special tricks. The net result of this is a driver that requires less tweaking of settings, and print output with better quality font information. (SHARED-71266)

    General OLCS improvements

    • Improved document handling in OLCS for documents with embedded elements. (SHARED-67755)
    • The End point URL for interaction can now be different to the transfer point. (SHARED-75197)
    • Fixed issue with printing to OLCS print driver from Adobe Reader, with "Choose paper source by PDF page size" enabled. (SHARED-75408)

    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.