Version 10.2 Release Notes

Last Updated January 8, 2010

Introduction

Version 10.2 is a minor release. We now require Java 1.6. Feature enhancements were made over 10.1 in the following areas:

Monitoring & Management

We have added server monitoring capabilities to the Enterprise Manager. You can now see memory, CPU, and disk usage over time. You can also manage user sessions, report execution, cache entries, and more, across all nodes of your cluster. In addition to the enhancements to the EM, we also added support for JMX MBeans through HTML, HTTP, RMI, and SNMP. These features put more power in the hands of the administrator to identify, diagnose, and resolve problems in real time.

Map Charts

The map component in reports and viewsheets has been merged with the new charting engine as a special chart type. As part of this change we optimized the map data, and added extensibility to support custom maps. In addition to binding geopolitical features (e.g. Countries and Cities) you can now also plot latitude and longitude directly. Since maps are now part of the chart engine, you can leverage capabilities for binding different visual aesthetics, and also create a multi-chart (aka trellis graph, or visual crosstab). Note that existing map elements will have to be recreated after you upgrade.

Data Grid Cache

In 9.5 we introduced Embedded Materialized Views which leveraged in-memory technology to make analysis of data mashups as fast as those from a single database. In this release we have enhanced this feature to increase the proportion of queries that can use the pre-aggregated data. We also utilize distributed cloud computing techniques to spread the datasets across multiple nodes in a cluster. This new Data Grid Cache can drastically improve the performance of interactive dashboards, especially when the data volume is large or the worksheet processing is complex.

Enterprise Application Data Sources

The following enterprise application data sources can now be accessed: SAP, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel CRM.

SOAP Framework

We have replaced Axis2 with Metro, the reference implementation of JAX-WS from Sun. This simplifies the deployment of web services, and may also result in significantly improved performance. Existing SOAP data sources will need to be modified to use a JAX-WS conforming client and deployed appropriately. For an example of deploying the services with Metro, please see the server examples included in the distribution.

If you are using our services (SoapRepository or DataService) you will have to make some changes. In the migration to Metro and Java 1.6, we took the opportunity to improve some of the interfaces. The new services are not backward compatible.

Other Enhancements

We have also made the following enhancements:

  • Date grouping may now be pushed into the SQL query, and date parts return as numbers (this is not backward compatible)
  • Freehand tables now support localization, Report Explorer, and Sort On Header in many cases
  • Expressions can be used on the right hand side of worksheet conditions
  • Auto-drill ambiguity can be handled via a subquery prompt
  • Single Sign-On (SSO) has been improved to work in a cluster and for the EM
  • Base worksheet tables can easily be switched without disturbing descendants
  • Toolbar button visibility settings have been added for portlets
  • Enterprise Manager exposes users' My Reports folders to administrators
  • Loading page shows more information, including queue status
  • Excel export has been improved to include sheet-break and 65K splitting
  • Table joins now have a Priority and logical operator setting
  • A query can be used as a "table" in Physical Views, similar to a database view
  • Export format list can be customized per report
  • Users can define their own default bookmark in viewsheets
  • Viewsheet input components can be bound to variables
  • Secure SMTP mail servers are supported
  • Text export has been enhanced to support configurable column sizes
  • Cascading parameter sheet flow is augmented with a back button
  • EJB and CORBA data source types should be considered deprecated and may be removed in the next release
We will help you get started Contact us