WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05

Transcription

1 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 September 18, 2015

2 Active Technologies, EDA, EDA/SQL, FIDEL, FOCUS, Information Builders, the Information Builders logo, iway, iway Software, Parlay, PC/FOCUS, RStat, Table Talk, Web390, WebFOCUS, WebFOCUS Active Technologies, and WebFOCUS Magnify are registered trademarks, and DataMigrator and Hyperstage are trademarks of Information Builders, Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Adobe Reader, Flash, Adobe Flash Builder, Flex, and PostScript are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Due to the nature of this material, this document refers to numerous hardware and software products by their trademarks. In most, if not all cases, these designations are claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks by their respective companies. It is not this publisher's intent to use any of these names generically. The reader is therefore cautioned to investigate all claimed trademark rights before using any of these names other than to refer to the product described. Copyright 2015, by Information Builders, Inc. and iway Software. All rights reserved. Patent Pending. This manual, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Information Builders, Inc.

3 Contents WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version Tools Consolidation WebFOCUS Installation and Configuration WebFOCUS Client Amper Autoprompt Internal Processing App Studio App Studio Installation InfoAssist Styled Reports Drill Down Parameters and QUOTEDSTRING Enhancements to Output Formats Enabling Visual Discovery AE Enhancements to Object Editing in Document Mode Business Intelligence Portal ReportCaster WebFOCUS Infrastructure and Security Managed Reporting Business Intelligence Dashboard WebFOCUS Quick Data WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Analyst Edition Active Technologies Support for a Floating-Point Value on a WHERE Filter Removal of Export to Option From the Chart Menu Menu Update WebFOCUS Charts and Graphs HTML5 Upgrade WebFOCUS Graph API Upgrade WebFOCUS Language Negative Values for TOPGAP Compound Documents Change in Behavior XLSX Worksheets Strict Enforcement of Rules for Using the.eval Operator Error Messages DST. With NOPRINT WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 3

4 Contents ACRSVRBTITL Parameter Default Value EXL2K and PPT Execution of Compound Reports Web Services Magnify National Language Support Customer Connections WebFOCUS

5 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 These topics provide upgrade considerations and product changes for WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 03 and higher. Before reading this documentation, Information Builders recommends reviewing the upgrade considerations for all intermediate releases you are upgrading from, as well as the WebFOCUS Release Notes, which includes documentation enhancements, known issues, and product limitations. These documents, which are periodically updated as needed, are located at the following URL: In this document: Tools Consolidation WebFOCUS Installation and Configuration App Studio InfoAssist Business Intelligence Portal ReportCaster WebFOCUS Infrastructure and Security Managed Reporting Business Intelligence Dashboard WebFOCUS Quick Data WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Analyst Edition Active Technologies WebFOCUS Charts and Graphs WebFOCUS Language Web Services Magnify National Language Support WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 5

6 Tools Consolidation Tools Consolidation Information Builders continues to enhance its WebFOCUS product line and add new capabilities and tools in order to meet customer requirements. In recent years, this has meant applying new technologies to provide a rich, modern web-based experience for users of WebFOCUS. To this end, in WebFOCUS 8, several legacy tools and interfaces, as well as some stabilized product options, are consolidated. The WebFOCUS 8 Tools Consolidation Statement is available from the Information Builders InfoResponse Online website ( To provide advanced notice of the WebFOCUS 8 Tools Consolidation, a CTSS Advisory notification was distributed on November 30, 2011 to InfoResponse Online subscribers. The legacy web tools consolidation includes the retirement of the Report Assistant, Graph Assistant, Power Painter, and Advanced Graph Assistant tools. Information Builders has a general policy of ensuring that our customers receive upgrades and new features as a standard part of their maintenance contracts. In this case, Information Builders is extending that program. Customers who have licensed Report Assistant and Graph Assistant under the Analytical Reporter or other licensing arrangements, upon upgrading to WebFOCUS 8 are entitled to trade those licenses in for no-cost InfoAssist Basic licenses. InfoAssist Basic, a subset of WebFOCUS InfoAssist, contains the capabilities found in Report Assistant and Graph Assistant. Contact your local Information Builders representative regarding Power Painter and Advanced Graph Assistant capabilities, which require the WebFOCUS InfoAssist license. The web consolidation also includes the retirement of the following Java applet-based interfaces and tools, which will eliminate the requirement to have a specific release of the Java VM present on each end-user machine. Managed Reporting (MR) Applet User Interface Reporting Object Applet Tool Alert Wizard Applet Tool Publish Utility Applet Tool Applet-based graphs, Graph Editor (accessible from applet-based graphs), and Old Graph Engine (GRAPH32) ReportCaster Applet Interface and Scheduling Wizard For Developer Studio, the Graph Assistant and the Managed Reporting Publish Utility are retired. The Developer Studio Graph option will utilize InfoAssist charting. The Developer Studio HTML Composer tool is available to create HTML launch forms for Managed Reporting procedures. Customers who have active licenses for Developer Studio will receive this functionality as part of their standard maintenance contract. 6 WebFOCUS

7 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 WebFOCUS The functionally stabilized product options that have been consolidated and discontinued as of WebFOCUS 8 are: WebFOCUS CGI and ISAPI client communication for WebFOCUS Self-Service applications. Applications using the CGI or ISAPI client should be converted to use the WebFOCUS Servlet. Two-Way product offering is discontinued due to a lack of usage and the availability of the WebFOCUS Mobile Favorites Product offering. ReportCaster Java Bean API is superseded by the ReportCaster Java API available as of Release 5.3. See the ReportCaster API manual for information on the ReportCaster Java API. See the following product notifications for additional information for each of the consolidation areas including functionality available to evaluate in WebFOCUS 7.7.x, which is also available from the WebFOCUS 8 Tools Consolidation Statement. WebFOCUS 8 Managed Reporting Applet-based Tools Consolidation WebFOCUS 8 Applet-based Graphs and Graph Engine Consolidation WebFOCUS 8 ReportCaster Tools and Distribution Options Consolidation WebFOCUS 8 Report and Graph Tools Consolidation WebFOCUS CGI and ISAPI Client Depreciation and Support Statement ReportCaster Two-Way Discontinued as of WebFOCUS 8 ReportCaster Java Bean API Discontinued as of WebFOCUS 8 The following are upgrade considerations for WebFOCUS: As of Release 8.1 Version 05, the syntax for URLs to run procedures and return Repository content has changed. The syntax is: /ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/path_to_item/item_name.ext?parm1=parm1_value&parm2=parm2_value where: path_to_item Is the path to the item. For example, WFC/Repository/Public. item_name.ext Is the item name, including the extension. For example, rpt_2parms.fex. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 7

8 Installation and Configuration parm1=parm1_value, parm2=parm2_value Are the optional parameter names and values, if the procedure accepts parameters. The following is an example of a report procedure (rpt_2parms.fex), which includes multiple parameters: TABLE FILE WF_RETAIL SUM REVENUE_US IF PRODUCT_CATEGORY EQ '&PRODUCT_CATEGORY' WHERE BUSINESS_REGION EQ '&BUSINESS_REGION' END The following is an example of a URL to run the rpt_2parms.fex procedure: /ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/wfc/repository/public/rpt_2parms.fex? PRODUCT_CATEGORY=Accessories&BUSINESS_REGION=North America The following are additional examples of URLs to access content from the Repository: /ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/wfc/repository/public/rpt_2parms.fex /ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/wfc/repository/public/image.png /ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/wfc/repository/public/cascadestyle.css /ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/wfc/repository/public/javascript.js /ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/wfc/repository/public/htmlpage.html Installation and Configuration The following are upgrade considerations for the installation and configuration of WebFOCUS: When upgrading from WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x to WebFOCUS Release 8.1.x, the upgrade process does not update the WF_PARM_REG table. Note: The user ID that accesses the WebFOCUS Repository database when performing an upgrade must have CREATE TABLE access in order for the WF_PARM_REG table to be created. When installing Tomcat 8, the maxpostsize parameter is set to -1 (maxpostsize=-1). This is needed to ensure that POST requests with large amounts of data (for example, when uploading large files or when creating large files using the formats Excel or PPTX) are submitted successfully. This is a change in how Tomcat was configured in version , where maxpostsize was set to zero (maxpostsize=0), indicating that the POST size was unlimited. The reason for this change is that starting with Tomcat version , when maxpostsize is set to 0, it means a limit of zero (0), instead of unlimited. A value of -1 is used for unlimited. 8 WebFOCUS

9 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 Note: When the maxpostsize parameter is missing, the maximum size for POST requests is 2 MB. As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, the default value of the IBI_CM_Retain_Handles parameter is now set to False. When exporting ReportCaster Schedules or content that has been migrated from WebFOCUS Release 7.7, you must change this setting to True, so you can export using handles for this content. As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, the With Rules check box is now selected, by default, in the Change Management Scenario Creation dialog box. If you are upgrading from WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x to WebFOCUS Release 8.1.x, make sure that the following settings in the..\ibi\webfocus80\config securitysettings.xml file are set, as shown below, to ensure that the RESTful web services session ID is created on sign in. <property name="concurrentsessionfilterenabled" value="false"/> <property name="sessionauthenticationstrategy" value=" SessionFixationProtectionStrategy "/> WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 9

10 Installation and Configuration As a result of architecture changes in WebFOCUS Business Intelligence Portals and Favorites between WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x and WebFOCUS Release 8.1.x, conversion of existing WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x Portals and Favorites is required. This conversion may be performed automatically during the upgrade process or manually using conversion utilities after the upgrade is complete. For more information about running the conversion utilities manually, see in Converting WebFOCUS Portals and Favorites When Upgrading in the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster Installation and Configuration manual for your operating system. Important: Before installing WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 03 and higher, it is strongly recommended that you back up your existing WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x Repository database. As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 03, the following WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x files have moved, as indicated below. WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x locations and files: drive:\ibi\webfocus80\ibi_html\package.txt drive:\ibi\webfocus80\ibi_html\javaassist\gen.data WebFOCUS Release 8.1.x locations and files: drive:\ibi\webfocus81\config\package.txt drive:\ibi\webfocus81\config\gen.data 10 WebFOCUS

11 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 When configuring WebFOCUS with WebLogic, you must perform the following post-installation step. You must create a new file called weblogic.xml in the WEB-INF directory for the WebFOCUS web application. It must contain the following information: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <wls:weblogic-web-app xmlns:wls=" xmlns:xsi=" xsi:schemalocation=" <wls:container-descriptor> <wls:prefer-application-packages> <wls:package-name>org.eclipse.persistence</wls:package-name> </wls:prefer-application-packages> </wls:container-descriptor> </wls:weblogic-web-app> Once the file is saved, you must recreate the.war file by adding it to webfocus.war. The.war file can be renamed based on your naming convention, and then redeployed. WebFOCUS is packaged with a newer version of the jackson-all jar file, which includes updated classes. To avoid conflicts with the current version of jackson-all jar that is included and used by IBM WebSphere Application Server Version 8.0 and 8.5, perform the following steps. These steps describe how to define a container-wide shared library that can be used by deployed WebFOCUS applications. 1. In the following directory, locate the jackson-all jar file that is packaged with WebFOCUS: ibi/webfocus81/webapps/webfocus/web-inf/lib 2. Create an empty directory on your system and copy the jackson-all jar file that is packaged with WebFOCUS to this new directory. For example: /appsrv1/ibm/shared 3. Log on to the WebSphere Integrated Solutions Console. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 11

12 Installation and Configuration 4. In the left pane, expand Environment and select Shared libraries, as shown in the following image. The Shared Libraries pane opens, as shown in the following image. 5. Select a scope from the drop-down list, which specifies the level at which the resource definition is visible, and click New. 12 WebFOCUS

13 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 The Shared Libraries > New pane opens, as shown in the following image. 6. In the Name field, enter a name for the new shared library that is being created (for example, IBI Jackson 1.9). 7. Provide a description (optional). 8. In the Classpath field, enter the path to the folder on your system where you copied the updated jackson-all jar file (packaged with WebFOCUS). 9. In the Class Loading area, select the Use an isolated class loader for this shared library check box. 10. Click OK, then click Apply. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 13

14 Installation and Configuration Perform the following steps for each WebFOCUS web application, including when redeployed. 1. In the left pane, expand Applications, and select WebSphere enterprise applications. The Enterprise Applications pane opens, as shown in the following image. 2. Click the name of the webfocus.war file for the WebFOCUS web application (for example, 15215webfocus_war). In the References area, click Shared library references, as shown in the following image. 14 WebFOCUS

15 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 The Shared library references pane opens, as shown in the following image. Note: The WebFOCUS Application being used in this example is called 15215webfocus_war and the Module is called WebFOCUS Select the check box to the left of the WebFOCUS Application and click Reference shared libraries. The Shared Library Mapping pane opens, as shown in the following image. 4. In the Available area, select the IBI Jackson 1.9 shared library, and then click the right arrow icon. The IBI Jackson 1.9 shared library is now listed in the Selected area. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 15

16 Installation and Configuration 5. Click OK. 6. Repeat steps 3 to 4 for the Module (for example, WebFOCUS 8.1) that is listed in the Shared library references pane. Ensure that the IBI Jackson 1.9 shared library for the Module is moved to the Selected area. 7. Click OK. You are returned to the Shared library references pane, as shown in the following image. Notice that the new shared library (IBI Jackson 1.9) is now listed in the Shared Libraries column for the Application and Module. 8. Click OK. 9. Restart your IBM WebSphere Application Server if it is already running. Note: Restarting only the WebFOCUS application will not be sufficient. The following.jar files have been removed from the ibi_html/javaassist directory: IBIGifGraphChart.jar, IBITDGChartApplet.jar, IBINewTDGChartApplet.jar, and IBITDGChartEditorApplet.jar. If a Library report in HTML format was migrated from an earlier release and it contains charts that are rendered through applet tags that reference these files, the charts will no longer display. Contact Customer Support Services to add these files back to your installation. 16 WebFOCUS

17 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 WebFOCUS Client Amper Autoprompt Internal Processing App Studio The performance and security of the WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Amper Autoprompt facility has been improved because the WebFOCUS Client no longer uses XSLT templates to create the JavaScript for the Autoprompt HTML page. As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1, the WebFOCUS Client uses the XML returned by the Reporting Server to create the JavaScript for the Autoprompt HTML page. The autoprompt_top.xslt and autoprompt_top_checked.xslt templates have been converted to the new Release 8.1 implementation. Contact Customer Support Services if, prior to Release 8.1, you created and are using a custom XSLT template or if you have a business need to request conversion for one of the legacy Autoprompt templates: autoprompt.xslt, autoprompt_checked.xslt, or autoprompt_simple.xslt. The following are upgrade considerations for App Studio: As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, the date format in the Open File dialog box and the Environments Detail panel no longer displays day, month, date, year hh:mm:ss AM/PM, by default. The default date format is now the shorter one, and displays mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm AM/PM. You can use the longer format by clearing the Use short Last Modified format check box, in the App Studio Options dialog box. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 17

18 App Studio As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, the Show All Files in Associated Paths option has been removed from the Environments Tree panel. This option is still available in the Environments Detail panel. Additionally, you can now select it in the Open File dialog box, as shown in the following image. As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, the calendar control settings for dynamic date ranges now use a request name, rather than a procedure. The following image shows the section of the Settings panel, where this option appears. If you open an HTML page that contains a calendar control that was created prior to Release 8.1 Version 05, the Select custom request field will contain a request that was automatically generated by the original procedure used in the calendar. 18 WebFOCUS

19 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 App Studio Installation As of Release 8.1 Version 05, the Bold, Italic, and Underline options for formatting font are no longer available from the shortcut menu in the HTML canvas or Document canvas. To access these options, you can highlight the font that you want to style, right-click the text, point to Style, and then click Font. These options are available in the Font dialog box. As of Release 8.1 Version 05, when working with HTML pages, you can no longer add a new ActiveX component. This command, which was available on the ribbon, from the Components tab, in the Objects group, and from the HTML canvas shortcut menu, has been removed. If you have HTML pages with existing ActiveX components, you can edit them, but you cannot add new components. As you add objects to the canvas with the Autosize Children option turned on, the existing objects will temporarily move out of the way so that you can draw the new objects and then the existing objects will return to the correct positioning. Running a report, chart, HTML, or document using Internet Explorer no longer produces the pending screen Waiting for response.... As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, the Refresh View option applies to all nodes within the Configured Environments tree, whether they are visible or not. This is a change in behavior that affects the performance of the system, because the number of items that are being refreshed has increased. However, this change in behavior does not affect the processing speed of the product. As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, the Table and Grid components for HTML pages no longer include the Check for duplicate value and Sort options, which were previously available in the Settings panel. These options were removed because they were incompatible with the data structures for Table and Grid components. The following are upgrade considerations for App Studio installation: App Studio fails to connect to WebFOCUS environments that have been upgraded from Release 8.0.x to Release 8.1.x. When you access an existing environment configured with App Studio or if you try to add a new environment, you will receive the following error message: The environment being connected to is prior to Release and cannot be supported. To correct the issue, update the..\ibi\webfocus80\config securitysettings.xml file as follows: Change <property name="concurrentsessionfilterenabled" value="true"/> <property name="sessionauthenticationstrategy" value="concurrentsessioncontrolstrategy"/> WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 19

20 InfoAssist To <property name="concurrentsessionfilterenabled" value="false"/> <property name="sessionauthenticationstrategy" value=" SessionFixationProtectionStrategy "/> InfoAssist Styled Reports The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for InfoAssist: Within styled reports, the gaps provide spacing around each item of data. Non-zero TOPGAP and BOTTOMGAP are required to appropriately present underlines and borders for each row. All positioned formats are designed to place text and underlines or borders based on the existence of gaps. If the gaps are removed, results may vary across browsers. The ENFlat.sty StyleSheet, which has been packaged with the product as of Release 8.1 Version 03, may expose the behavior where underlines or borders are not appropriately presented, depending on the browser used. Drill Down Parameters and QUOTEDSTRING As of Release 8.1 Version 03, InfoAssist automatically inserts QUOTEDSTRING in the syntax when a user adds a drill down parameter constant value in the form of &COUNTRY. Previously, you had to manually add QUOTEDSTRING as part of the constant value in order to be able to pass the value or values of a field in a parent drill down report to a child report. Enhancements to Output Formats In InfoAssist, varying output formats are supported, depending on the release with which you are working. The following list identifies the differences, by release: In releases prior to Release 8.1 Version 03, the following formats are supported: Microsoft Excel 2000, Microsoft Excel 2007, Microsoft Excel Pivot, Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 (first introduced in Release 8.0 Version 08). However, the default values are set to Microsoft Excel 2000 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2000, and display as Excel and PowerPoint, respectively, in the InfoAssist interface. In Release 8.1 Version 03 and higher, all of the above formats are supported. However, the default values are set to Microsoft Excel 2007 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, and display as Excel (xlsx) and PowerPoint (pptx), respectively, in the InfoAssist interface. 20 WebFOCUS

21 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 Note: If you change the settings in the WebFOCUS Administration Console to include or exclude a Microsoft Excel or Microsoft PowerPoint option, the versions that display in the InfoAssist interface would change based on your selection. In addition, if you are upgrading from an InfoAssist release prior to Release 8.0 Version 08, Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 may remain as the default value after moving to Release 8.1 Version 04, and would display as PowerPoint in the InfoAssist interface, even when both the Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 versions are enabled in the WebFOCUS Administration Console. Enabling Visual Discovery AE In releases prior to Release 8.1 Version 03, you could use Visual Discovery AE as a format option for PCHOLD and HOLD in InfoAssist. In order to enable this functionality in Release 8.1 Version 03 and higher, you must set the IBI_Visual_Discovery_AE variable, located in the Other section of the WebFOCUS Administration Console, to TRUE. When you save this new setting, you must restart your application server in order for the setting to take effect. Enhancements to Object Editing in Document Mode In releases prior to Release 8.1 Version 03, you could edit an object in a document using the Edit option on the right-click menu. As of Release 8.1 Version 03 and higher, editing capability is automatically built into the object. To edit or select a field or component, click on the object to activate the components. Business Intelligence Portal The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for the Business Intelligence Portal: As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 05, advanced users can no longer access the Add To Favorites and Add To Mobile Favorites shortcut menu options, by default, for Reporting Objects. These options can be enabled by an administrator. To enable the Add To Favorites and Add To Mobile Favorites shortcut menu options, right-click a Reporting Object, and then click Properties. In the Reporting Object Properties dialog box, select either the Allow user to Run or Only allow user to Run check boxes. For more information on the Reporting Objects Properties dialog box, see the Business Intelligence Portal manual. The Flat portal theme has been updated to show run-time menus for visualizations. When using a custom portal theme developed prior to WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 04, the Easy Selector Add Content button will not display at design time or run time. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 21

22 Business Intelligence Portal As a workaround, you can perform the following steps. These steps will modify your custom theme so that the Easy Selector Add Content button displays. 1. Navigate to the following directory on your machine: drive:\ibi\webfocus81\webapps\webfocus\bindows\themes. 2. Open your custom theme folder, then open the theme.css file in a text editing program, such as WordPad. 3. Open any built-in theme folder, and then open the theme.css file in a text editing program. 4. In the built-in theme.css file, locate and copy the six Easy Selector CSS classes. 5. Paste the Easy Selector CSS classes into your custom theme.css file, as shown in the following image. 6. Save and close your custom theme.css file. 7. In the same custom theme folder, locate the theme.css.gz file and delete it. Note: If you do not delete the theme.css.gz file, the change to your custom theme will not take effect. 22 WebFOCUS

23 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 As a result of architecture changes in WebFOCUS Business Intelligence (BI) Portals and Favorites between WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x and WebFOCUS Release 8.1.x, conversion of existing WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x Portals and Favorites is required. This conversion may be performed automatically during the upgrade process or manually using conversion utilities after the upgrade is complete. For more information about running the conversion utilities manually, see Converting WebFOCUS Portals and Favorites When Upgrading in the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster Installation and Configuration manual for your operating system. Important: Before installing WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 03, or a later 8.1.x release, it is strongly recommended that you back up your existing WebFOCUS Release 8.0.x Repository database. If you are using WebFOCUS Release 8.1 with the Oracle WebLogic Application Server, you must upgrade to version As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 04, BI Portals no longer use the.bip file extension that was used in WebFOCUS 8.1 Version 03. For more information, see: ReportCaster The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for ReportCaster: It is no longer necessary to specify a format in the scheduling tool when creating a schedule, as ReportCaster will distribute the output of the procedure in whatever format it is coded to produce. To change the output format or guarantee a specific format, even if the procedure is changed, you now check the Override the format specified in the procedure check box and select a specific format from the list. Since producing output in a specialized format requires specific coding in the scheduled procedure, you cannot override the format of a procedure that does not have the required coding in order to produce output in a specialized format. Therefore, the specialized formats have been removed from the format override list. This was not the case in earlier releases, and when a migrated schedule from an earlier release that contains a specialized format is edited, the scheduling tools will uncheck the Override the format specified in the procedure check box and remove the specialized format when the schedule is saved. It is not required that these schedules be edited. They will continue to run and produce the specialized format without modification. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 23

24 ReportCaster In Release 7.7, if the Reporting Server associated with a schedule is configured to use Execution IDs and passwords, the Change Management utility exports the encrypted password for an Execution ID with an exported schedule and updates the Execution ID table during an import. In Release 8.0 and higher, the Change Management export utility does not include the password for an Execution ID with an exported schedule and the Execution ID table is not updated during the import of a schedule. If the Reporting Server associated with a schedule is configured to use Execution IDs and passwords, and an Execution ID does not already exist for that Reporting Server, you must create the Execution ID and password separately in order for a change managed schedule to work. This can be done before or after the import using the ReportCaster Console. When using DSTRUN in WebFOCUS Release 8, as in earlier releases, you can supply either the schedule description or the schedule ID. For a migrated schedule: You can use the description or the schedule ID. For a new schedule: You should use the full IBFS path and file name, instead of the schedule description. Note: The Execution ID must be the owner of the schedule or have access to the schedule. To enable access to the schedule, the owner can Share or Publish the schedule. As of Release 8.1 Version 03, Data Server connection information is stored only in the WebFOCUS Client and not in ReportCaster. ReportCaster now runs scheduled procedures through the WebFOCUS Client which is installed with the Distribution Server. When a ReportCaster job is executed by the WebFOCUS Client, the alternate deferred server is used if an alternate deferred server is defined. For more information about configuring alternate deferred servers see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual. 24 WebFOCUS

25 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 As of Release 8.1 Version 03, the Distribution Server processing uses the IBFS system to submit scheduled jobs to a Reporting Server so that the processing for interactive and scheduled requests is consistent (including support for WebFOCUS group security). This consistency in processing includes the Distribution Server using the Reporting Server (referred to as Data Server in the ReportCaster configuration), host, and port definitions defined in the WebFOCUS Client configuration. All other Data Server definitions required for Distribution Server processing, including the Maximum Threads setting that defines the number of scheduled jobs the Distribution Server can submit to a Reporting Server, remain in the ReportCaster configuration. Select the Data Server option in the tree of the ReportCaster Console Configuration tab to create and maintain the Data Servers defined in the ReportCaster configuration. Due to the integration of Reporting Server (Data Server) definitions, a different host and port cannot be defined for a Data Server in the ReportCaster Configuration tool. Instead, when ReportCaster submits a report to the WebFOCUS Client for execution, the WebFOCUS Client uses the alternate deferred server if an alternate deferred server is configured. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual. Due to the authentication requirements of WebFOCUS 8 security implementation, the redirect solution for the ReportCaster rcaster context root, which was provided with Release 7.7, is discontinued. The redirect solution was provided in Release 7.7 as a result of the merging of the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster web applications. For specific information on the ReportCaster redirect solution, as presented in Release 7.7, see Redirecting Web Applications with the RCASTER Context Root in the Release version of the WebFOCUS and ReportCaster Installation and Configuration manual. Additional information is also available on the Tech Support website under the following topic: ReportCaster and WebFOCUS Web Application combined into one Web Application in Release 7.7. For more information, go to: WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 25

26 ReportCaster In Release 8, application content that contains a hard-coded reference to rcaster or a ReportCaster-specific context root must be modified to reference the WebFOCUS context root. The default WebFOCUS context root value is ibi_apps. Application content includes HTML pages, browser shortcuts, and procedures (FEX) that reference the stabilized ReportCaster subroutines, such as DSTRUN, that make hard-coded calls to rcaster. In addition, if you have an application that uses ReportCaster Web Services, you must re-consume the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file in order for this application to run in WebFOCUS 8. For more information, see the Release version of the WebFOCUS ReportCaster Web Services manual, which is available at: html_wf_77/wf77rcwebserv/wf77rcwebserv.pdf For assistance with upgrading and remediating your legacy applications with ReportCaster rcaster contact root references, as required in Release 8, contact Customer Support. In releases prior to Release 8.1 Version 03, you had the ability to specify a parameter (amper variable) in the Subject field in a schedule. The value of this parameter was obtained from the values stored with the schedule in the ReportCaster parameter table. As of Release 8.1 Version 03 and higher, you can specify amper variables in additional schedule settings and have the run-time values of the amper variables substituted by the distribution server at report distribution time. If you wish to limit the use of amper variables to the subject field only and use the parameter value stored in the schedule, select the Use legacy behavior for parameterized schedule settings check box in the General Preferences of the ReportCaster Configuration tool. As of Release 8.1, the shared indicator icon does not display on the Shared Content folder, which is a virtual folder that displays shared content that was migrated from Release 7.x. The Google Library Search has been desupported. The Magnify replacement is not yet available. Running a schedule with traces is not yet implemented when selecting a schedule from the tree in BI Portal, Dashboard, or the ReportCaster Explorer. A schedule can be run with trace options from within the Basic or Advanced Scheduling tools. 26 WebFOCUS

27 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 The following.jar files have been removed from the ibi_html/javaassist directory: IBIGifGraphChart.jar IBITDGChartApplet.jar IBITDGChartEditorApplet.jar If a Library report in HTML format was migrated from an earlier release and it contains charts that are rendered through applet tags that reference these files, the charts will no longer display. Contact Customer Support Services to add these files back to your installation. WebFOCUS Infrastructure and Security The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for WebFOCUS security: In WebFOCUS Release 8.1, the tcnative-1.dll for Tomcat is disabled due to reported problems with ipv6 support. A new setting determines parameter prompting behavior for Managed Reporting requests. IBIMR_promptingUnset Enables or disables parameter prompting for Managed Reporting procedures (FEXes) when IBIMR_prompting is set to XMLPROMPT or XMLRUN, and the Prompt for Parameters setting is unchecked in the FEX Properties dialog box. Possible values are: XMLRUN. Prompts for parameters (amper variables) that do not have a value. This is the default value. OFF. Turns off parameter prompting. Setting IBIMR_promptingUnset to OFF specifies not to prompt for parameters, enabling the configuration of the default behavior prior to Release 8.0 Version 07. In Kerberos authentication, Kerberos appends the Windows domain of the user to the user ID passed to WebFOCUS, in the format user ID@domain.com. WebFOCUS Release 8.0 leaves the domain information intact when completing the sign-in process. By default, WebFOCUS 8.1 strips the domain from the value, leaving just the user ID. The user ID is then used to complete the sign-in process. For more information, see the Authentication and Authorization chapter in the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 27

28 Managed Reporting Managed Reporting The following is an upgrade consideration and product change for Managed Reporting: As of WebFOCUS Release 8.0 Version 07, if Auto Prompting is enabled when the Prompt for Parameters property is unchecked, you will still be prompted if there are any parameters that do not have a value supplied. This applies to BI Portal and BI Dashboard. For more information on the WebFOCUS IBIMR_promptingUnset setting, which specifies default behavior when the Prompt for Parameters property is not selected and parameter prompting is enabled for Managed Reporting, see WebFOCUS Infrastructure and Security on page 27. Business Intelligence Dashboard The following is an upgrade consideration and product change for Business Intelligence Dashboard: WebFOCUS Quick Data As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 03, the shortcut menu options and other interface components may appear differently due to the changes made in the WebFOCUS Welcome Page. The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for WebFOCUS Quick Data: Due to security enhancements starting with WebFOCUS Release 8.1, anonymous users do not have access to the list of Reporting Servers. This impacts access from the Quick Data Excel Add-In, if Quick Data is configured to use WebFOCUS Reporting Server (WFRS) authentication and the Public anonymous user is enabled. To grant access to the list of Reporting Servers, you must configure permissions for the Anonymous user, as described in the following steps. 1. Sign in to WebFOCUS as an administrator. 2. In the Resource tree, right-click the Content node, point to View, and then click Full View. The Resource tree now shows the available WebFOCUS subsystems. 3. Right-click the EDA folder, point to Security, and then click Rules. The Security Rules - EDA dialog box opens. 4. Clear the Only show Groups with Rules check box. The Anonymous user group now becomes visible. 5. Click the Anonymous group. 6. In the bottom pane, click the ListAndRun rule. 28 WebFOCUS

29 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version In the Access column, change Not Set to Permitted, as shown in the following image. 8. Click Apply, and then click OK. 9. In the Resource tree, right-click the WebFOCUS node, point to View, and then click Repository View. The Resource tree changes to the default state. Note: This issue does not occur when Quick Data is configured to use Managed Reporting /WebFOCUS (MR) authentication. When using Quick Data with WebFOCUS Release 8.1 and higher, after upgrading from an earlier version, you must manually change the WebFOCUS servlet name from WFServlet to WFServlet.ibfs. Perform the following steps to implement the procedure. 1. In Excel, select Create Query from the WebFOCUS menu. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 29

30 WebFOCUS Quick Data The Web Server Connection dialog box opens, as shown in the following image. 2. Select the environment that you want to update, for example 3. Click Advanced. The Advanced Connection Options dialog box opens. 4. Ensure that the servlet name in the Client Path has the.ibfs extension, as shown in the following image, and then click OK. 5. In the Web Server Connection dialog box, click Next to establish connection to the web server, and start creating reports. 6. Repeat steps 1-6 when adding each new WebFOCUS Release 8.1.x environment to Quick Data. Note: These steps are not required when installing Quick Data when using the distribution method. When distributing the wfquickdata.xla add-in file and the wfquickdata.cfg configuration file, which are included in the WebFOCUS Release 8.1 package, the Client Paths with the WFServlet.ibfs servlet name are automatically created. For more information on distributing the Quick Data Add-In file, see Using the WebFOCUS Quick Data Add-In manual. 30 WebFOCUS

31 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Analyst Edition WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Analyst Edition (AE) Version 6.1 is a new track, which requires a fresh installation. As a result, any previous versions of WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE must be completely uninstalled. Note: The WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE installer does not prevent an upgrade existing installation option from being selected. As a result, unsupported issues can occur, since the installer attempts to automatically perform an uninstallation and reinstallation. When uninstalling WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Version 5.9, any files that have been added, modified, or customized since the original installation will be left behind. Nevertheless, it is recommended to create a backup of these files beforehand. Examples of these files include any projects saved in the WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Workbench, projects published to the WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Server, or changes to the web.config properties file. Once the installation of WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Version 6.1 is complete, all of the backed up files can be returned. Files that were modified or customized, such as the web.config properties file, would require any changes to be manually reapplied to the new instance of that file. The following are important considerations: Backup any files that have been added, modified, or customized since the original installation. The following is not an all-inclusive list, but identifies the top three file types to backup: Projects saved in the WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Workbench. Projects published to the WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Server. Refer to the projects folder in the original installation. The web.config properties file for the server. Stop the Microsoft IIS Worker process (w3wp.exe running as a Network Service). Otherwise, the Windows operating system may need to be restarted. Browser cache may need to be cleared, which is typically found to affect single self-contained environments. This is sometimes experienced by viewing the splash screen, followed by a blank screen. Try to reference the server differently to clear the browser cache (for example, by IP Address) or enter the browser debugger and clear the domain cache. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 31

32 Active Technologies On the system where WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Server is installed, navigate to Program and Features from the Control Panel. Click Turn Windows features on or off. The Windows Features dialog box opens, as shown in the following image. Active Technologies Expand Internet Information Services, Web Management Tools, and ensure IIS Management Scripts and Tools is selected. Click OK. If this option is not set, then an error message indicating Could not load file or assembly or a similar error message may be displayed. It is required that all previously deployed projects built in WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Version 5.9 must be republished through WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE Version 6.1. This is a result of specific color enhancements made and version stamp alignment. The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for Active Technologies (WebFOCUS Reporting Server Release 8.1M or Release 7.7 Version 06). 32 WebFOCUS

33 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 Support for a Floating-Point Value on a WHERE Filter You can now use a floating-point single-precision (F) value or a floating-point double-precision (D) value on a WHERE filter for an active report. However, we recommend that you convert a floatingpoint single-precision or floating-point double-precision value to packed decimal (P) for better precision. A WHERE filter using a floating-point value can in some cases produce an imprecise result due to rounding differences unique to each database engine. Removal of Export to Option From the Chart Menu Menu Update If a WebFOCUS StyleSheet for an active report procedure contains the following code to remove the Export option for a report, the Export to option on the chart menu is also removed: TYPE=REPORT, ALLOW-EXPORT=OFF, $ You access the chart menu by running a chart from the active report. In previous releases, the Export to option appeared on the leftmost icon on the chart tool bar. The Enable Transitions option on a column drop-down menu for a tabular active report on an active dashboard has been removed. WebFOCUS Charts and Graphs HTML5 Upgrade The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for WebFOCUS charts and graphs. This following is an upgrade consideration and product change for HTML5: The SET CURRSYMB command, which specifies a currency symbol to be displayed with currency values whose format specifications include the M or N display options, is now supported for all output formats, except AHTML, APDF, and AFLEX. WebFOCUS Graph API Upgrade The following is an upgrade consideration and product change for the Graph API: The API call settextformatpattern(getdatatext(), "formatstring") no longer works to format ToolTips. Instead use settextformatpattern(getseries(0), "formatstring"). WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 33

34 WebFOCUS Language WebFOCUS Language The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for the WebFOCUS reporting language. Negative Values for TOPGAP As of Reporting Server M/8.0.09M gen 177, negative values for TOPGAP are respected in PPTX format, as they are in PDF format. Prior to this release, negative values were always handled as zero (0). To maintain the previous behavior in PPTX, set the top gap values to zero (0), rather than negative values. Compound Documents Change in Behavior XLSX Worksheets As of Release 8.1 Version 05, when a component in a Compound document contains a report that generates an error or attempts to create a HOLD file to be used in other components, but 0 records are produced, error messages will be displayed and processing of the document will be terminated. (FOC351) INPUT FILE NOT ALLOCATED: HOLD1 (FOC009) INCOMPLETE REQUEST STATEMENT (FOC3298) ERROR FOUND IN A COMPOUND REPORT Compound Report is TERMINATING... BYPASSING TO END OF COMMAND In previous releases, when there was not enough space under the BY columns to display the full SUBTOTAL TAG text, SUBTOTAL and RECOMPUTE lines within a report displayed across two rows. As of WebFOCUS Reporting Server Release M Gen 801, these SUBTOTAL rows will show on a single line and any TAG text larger than the BY columns will display only what can fit in this space. The full value can be seen in the formula bar. Strict Enforcement of Rules for Using the.eval Operator A Dialogue Manager variable is a placeholder for a value that will be substituted at run time. In some situations, the value of the variable may not be resolved at the point where the command containing the variable is encountered, unless evaluation is forced by using the.eval operator. As of Release 8.1 Version 03, the rules for using the.eval operator are enforced more stringently, meaning that some procedures that did not require its use in the past may not run as expected without it now. One example where.eval Is now required is in a -IF statement, when the variable is embedded in a label (for example, GOTO AB&label.EVAL). The.EVAL operator is also required any time a variable is included within single quotation marks ('). 34 WebFOCUS

35 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 Error Messages DST. With NOPRINT Some messages that did not have numbers in prior release now have them and will display where no message displayed previously. You can use the SET WARNING command to change the status of selected messages. In prior releases, the NOPRINT option was not respected for fields prefixed with the DST. operator. They appeared on the report output and were propagated to a HOLD file even with SET HOLDLIST=PRINTONLY in effect. This behavior has now changed so that the NOPRINT is respected. ACRSVRBTITL Parameter Default Value EXL2K and PPT As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1, the default value for the ACRSVRBTITL parameter, which controls whether to show the column title for a single ACROSS field, has changed from OFF to HIDEONE. As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1, the WebFOCUS Client Redirect and Save Report Redirection settings (located in the WebFOCUS drive:\client\wfc\etc\mime.wfs file) for EXL2K file extensions (.xhm and.xht) and.ppt are set to yes. In addition, the WebFOCUS Client file extension for the EXL2K file extensions (.xhm and.xht) is set to the.xls file type associated with Excel. The file type of.xls ensures that the file will be opened in Excel from all browsers. Execution of Compound Reports Web Services As of Release 7.7.x, a compound report will not be created when any of its component reports fail. To safeguard against issues caused by components dependent on earlier components that might return zero records, you can use Dialogue Manager to capture the record count of the initial hold file and skip over the dependent component when no file was generated by the earlier component. As of WebFOCUS Release 8, WebFOCUS RESTful web services have been introduced. RESTful web services are developed on the REpresentational State Transfer (REST) architecture. Any applications that have been built in development environments such as Visual Studio.NET and Java should now be using WebFOCUS RESTful web services to integrate with WebFOCUS Release 8. These web services provide comprehensive integration that can be used for tasks such as security maintenance, running WebFOCUS reports, and ReportCaster scheduling. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 35

36 Magnify WebFOCUS SOAP web services are only being supported in WebFOCUS Release 8 for migrated environments. This means that WebFOCUS SOAP web services can only run WebFOCUS reports in WebFOCUS Release 8 against a migrated folder structure. The following image shows an example of the folder structure that is currently supported when using WebFOCUS SOAP web services. As of WebFOCUS Release 8, only the webfocusrunfex operation is being supported to run WebFOCUS reports against a migrated environment. In addition, the MREDeleteDomainfromGroup operation is not supported. The ability to create a WSDL file making a specific WebFOCUS report its own web service operation is no longer supported in WebFOCUS Release 8. Over time, applications built in development environments such as Visual Studio.NET and Java should be modified to use WebFOCUS RESTful web services to integrate with WebFOCUS Release 8. Magnify The following is an upgrade consideration and product change for Magnify: As of WebFOCUS Release 8.1, the public user will no longer have access to the Magnify search page, by default. Only the admin user will continue to have default access to the Magnify search page. To provide access to the Magnify search page for all other users, navigate to the Basic Reporting Role section and enable the Display Magnify Search Page role for the specified user or users. For more information on setting roles, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration documentation. 36 WebFOCUS

37 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 National Language Support The following are upgrade considerations and product changes for National Language Support: The default server code page on Windows has been changed from code page 437 to code page 1252, which conforms to the Microsoft default code page for English and certain Western European languages. The language selection list entries are displayed in the language they describe. This affects the WebFOCUS sign-in page and the Dashboard language drop-down lists. The language selection list entries in the Dynamic Language Switch panel of the WebFOCUS Administration Console are displayed in the session language. For example, if the Administration Console was launched in French, then Dynamic Language Switch panel entries are displayed in French. WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations 37

38 National Language Support 38 WebFOCUS

39 Customer Connections Where users partner with Information Builders to provide feedback and create quality documentation. Partner With Us Information Builders Technical Content Management team is comprised of many talented individuals who work together to design and deliver quality technical documentation products. Your feedback supports our ongoing efforts! You can also join a usability study to get an early look at new documentation products and services. Your participation helps us create documentation products that meet your needs. To send us feedback or make a customer connection, contact Michele Brady, Service Director, Technical Content Management at Michele_Brady@ibi.com. Request Permission to Use Copyright Material To request permission to repurpose copyrighted material, please contact Frances Gambino, Vice President, Technical Content Management at Frances_Gambino@ibi.com. Visit the Information Builders Technical Content Library To visit the Technical Content Library, go to

40 WebFOCUS Upgrade Considerations Release 8.1 Version 05 Information Builders, Inc. Two Penn Plaza New York, NY DN