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CloverDX 5.6 brings new ways of working with nested, tree-like data structures. You can now comfortably process any kind of complex (semi)structured data with the help of the new CTL language enhancements.

We have significantly improved Data Apps introduced in our previous release, focusing on user experience and security.

New features in 5.6

Support for Tree-like Data Structures in CTL

We are introducing new capabilities into CTL, the embedded scripting language, that will help developers effectively parse, manipulate, map and output complex tree-like data structures, with special focus on (but not limited to) JSON, BSON and XML.

The new Variant data type in CTL can be used to represent any data - single values, lists, maps or any combination of those, forming multi-typed trees. This new type allows developers to natively work with JSON, BSON and XML structures - easily accessing nested properties, sub-lists or entire sub-trees.

Optimized (de)serialization from/into BSON makes this new Variant easy to pass between components in a transformation graph. (De)serialization functions for JSON and XML are also natively supported.

Data Apps Usability & Security

Data Apps, a front-end for interacting with data jobs aimed at empowering non-technical users, bring significant usability improvements.

Branding and UI Customization

It is now possible to customize the front-end using JavaScript. You can brand the entire Data Apps interface to your visual style, logo, colors, etc.

Client side validation

There is now client side validation in Data Apps. Predefined validation rules for email addresses, URLs, min and max input length, string/number are available and can be used to guide the user when filling the form. You can also define your own validation rules using regular expressions.

New field types

We’ve added new widget types - Boolean checkbox, Dropdown list and Number.

Data visualization

Data Apps are now capable of displaying the resulting data set - CSV files are shown as a table, JSON has new syntax highlighting. Of course, you can still download the raw output data as a file.

Security

Security is an important aspect of Data Apps. We have added support for Single Sign-on (SSO) by the SAML 2.0 protocol.

Execution Properties

The concept of Execution Properties is the next step towards smooth deployment automation of your data jobs. You can now set Execution Properties directly on a job during design time, instead of having these configured in the Server Console on a sandbox. These properties are now part of the job definition - versioned and carried with the job.

Other changes

  • Warning when attempting to use Derby DB on a production Server instance
  • Dropped support of TLS v1.0 and v1.1 for Data Services HTTPS Connectors

To help you install or upgrade to this version, we've prepared a simple checklist:

Before You Upgrade

  • Be sure to check the "Compatibility" notes for ALL intermediary releases. We mark all changes that can potentially alter the function of your existing transformations with a "Compatibility" label. Typically, you can safely ignore most of them, as we try hard to keep as much backwards compatibility as possible. There's a comprehensive list of all releases that will help you get the information quickly.
  • Upgrade Designer and Server together. We always release Designer and Server together under a single version. It's highly recommended to upgrade Server and all Designers at the same time. Although using different versions of Designer to connect to Server might work, it is not generally supported.
  • There are no incremental patches. We don't release incremental patches. Every upgrade is in fact a full installation that, if installed over the older version, will automatically update whatever is necessary in your workspaces, sandboxes, and Server databases as needed, no user data will get overwritten.
  • Don't forget to backup. Although none of the above upgrade steps requires explicit backup, we recommend you always back up your work. The upgrade will keep all your transformations, jobflows, and configurations safe. However, as a good word of advice, it never hurts to have a backup.

Designer Upgrade

  • Download the latest version by logging into your customer account. If you lost your credentials or no longer have access there, click here to recover your password or contact our CloverCARE Support.
  • Install the new version of Designer. You can install Designer over your existing installation. The process will automatically clean up the old version. Don't worry, you will NOT lose your workspaces, graphs, and transformations. However, if you installed some additional plugins to Designer (Eclipse plugins) you might need to reinstall them. Eclipse should automatically help you do that. When you start the application, point it to your existing workspace directory. With some major releases, we may notify you about upgrading the workspace to the latest version. In such cases, you won't be able to use the workspace with previous versions—be sure to upgrade ALL Designers at once if you're sharing the workspace.
  • Activate the product on first start. You will need a new key as we issue new license keys for every new major version (e.g. from 4.9 to 5.0). If you're on our maintenance program, we automatically renew the keys for you. Just go to the License Keys again and copy/paste the license keys from there. If you can't find the latest keys, please contact us to renew your product maintenance.

Server Upgrade

  • Download the latest version by logging into your customer account. You'll find Server in the same list as Designer downloads. If you no longer have access there, click here to recover your password or contact our CloverCARE Support.
  • Plan for downtime. Upgrading Server requires downtime, so plan your upgrades in advance. If you're running multiple environments, upgrade the non-production installation first and run all your tests there first.
  • Follow our step-by-step Server Upgrade Guide. We've prepared detailed instructions on how to properly shut down Server and install a new one. Server will upgrade its database and sandboxes from any previous version automatically.
  • Activate the product on the login screen of Server Console. Server requires new license keys with every major version (e.g. from 4.9 to 5.0) and we automatically renew the keys for you. Just go to the License Keys again and copy/paste the license key from there.

 

Release Compatibility/Upgrade notes, Features & Fixes Published Download

Fixes

Execution Property UI support for setting graph parameters
CLO-19193 Fix
Backport fix of invalid date and blank charts in monitoring
CLO-19169 Fix
Icons in DMG installer are shifted when hidden files shown
CLO-19055 Fix
June 25, 2020 Documentation Download CloverDX 5.6 5.6.2

Features & Improvements

Installers for Designer and Server bundle
CLO-18851 Improvement
Inform user of Server bundle about URL of Server Console
CLO-18977 Improvement

Fixes

Jobflow cannot be aborted if a component in a child graph gets stuck in free method
CLO-18930 Fix
Data Apps required text file not found
CLO-18923 Fix
DataIntersection component failed on BufferUnderflowException
CLO-18899 Fix
May 19, 2020 Documentation Download CloverDX 5.6 5.6.1

Features & Improvements

Try-catch block
CLO-18039 Improvement
Multi-dimensional lists and maps
CLO-18049 Improvement
List and map initializers
CLO-18040 Improvement
Comparison for List/Map
CLO-18287 Improvement
Disallow variable shadowing
CLO-18168 Improvement Compatibility
Importing metadata into CTL
CLO-18160 Improvement
Variant data type
CLO-18041 Improvement
Constant variable modifier
CLO-18047 Improvement
Variant operators
CLO-18176 Improvement
Type casting functions
CLO-18045 Improvement
Basic container functions for variant
CLO-18505 Improvement
Allow variant reference assignment
CLO-17549 Improvement
Improve handling of large data set on Data App result page
CLO-18689 Improvement
Configurable Data App timeouts
CLO-18368 Improvement
Client side validation of input parameters
CLO-18359 Improvement
Change success message for Data Apps that do not return any data
CLO-18292 Improvement
Rebranding of Data Apps
CLO-18288 Improvement
Show effective job config properties in Server Console
CLO-18166 Improvement
Return job error message in a custom response HTTP header in case of a Data App invocation
CLO-18101 Improvement
Guide user how to parse File input parameters
CLO-18100 Improvement
Number type for Data Service input parameters
CLO-18054 Improvement
Boolean type for Data Service input parameters
CLO-18053 Improvement
Syntax highlighting for XML/JSON on result page
CLO-18052 Improvement
BSON parsing and serialization functions
CLO-18043 Improvement
JSON parsing and serialization functions
CLO-18042 Improvement
Enumeration type for Data Service input parameters
CLO-17849 Improvement
Show CSV response as a HTML table
CLO-17758 Improvement
Allow to inject custom JS code into Data App
CLO-17757 Improvement
Support SAML authentication for Data Apps
CLO-17668 Improvement
Store Execution Properties in job file
CLO-17663 Improvement
Warn from using Derby DB on production
CLO-10567 Improvement
Import/Export sandbox properties
CLO-17999 Improvement
Sandbox configuration - Implicit sandbox
CLO-17998 Improvement
Config properties order should be from A-Z
CLO-17843 Improvement
Drop support of TLS v1.0 and v1.1 for Data Services HTTPS Connectors
CLO-17942 Compatibility

Fixes

Designer doesn't notice that runtime started
CLO-18261
Login page doesn't show incorrect login error if the link for activation is visible
CLO-18475
CloverJMX has unsuitable synchronization
CLO-18448
Hanging JDBC connection prevents any further job from finishing
CLO-18440
"Save Anyway" button in the Setup does not work
CLO-18312
Deleted file event listener leaks mis-configured task event listener
CLO-18155
Upload of Server license file without extension fails
CLO-18139
Returning Statement in Query URL Does not Work Properly in DBExecute
CLO-17995
ParallelPartition causes mispropagation of input mapping from dictionary map
CLO-17952
Misrendered editors in server UI
CLO-17879
Failure to initialize JMS event listener is not indicated in the UI
CLO-17645
Dictionary-related Intermittent Error
CLO-16945 Compatibility
Loop component shows false positive error during condition CTL validation
CLO-16889
date2str does not fail with incorrect timezone, it returns result as GMT instead
CLO-17748
Monitoring shows used heap larger than max heap
CLO-17335
March 26, 2020 Documentation Download CloverDX 5.6 5.6.0
  • For Developers (Improvements most useful for developers bringing new functionality or optimizations in data transformation and orchestration)
  • For Administrators (Improvements or features that will help setup, install, administer and manage the platform)
  • For Support (Helps staff supporting the production environment to identify and escalate potential problems or avoid such)
  • For Security (Improvements and changes relevant to security focused staff – sys admins and developers alike)