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Version: 7.0
note

Translated with DeepL.com

Release Notes

The releases for the major and minor releases show the highlights and incompatible changes. Complete lists of all changes can be found at https://docs.best4automic.de.

note

As of version 7.0.0, the release notes can be found in the news section

Version 6.1.0​

  • General

    • Security fixes

    • Corrections and improvements

    • Update of libraries

      • Automic Application Interface 24.4.0
      • Spring Boot 3.4.4

    • Graphical user interface

      • New option to generate a JSON-formatted output of the set options for use with the b4A RESTful API

  • Package management

    • New module pm.ListFolders for listing the configured base folders

    • Doc Builder (pm.DocBuilder)

      • Significant increase in the performance of the Doc Builder
      • New option to apply the usage search only to objects of the *b4A Package
      • Pre-calculated calendar dates can now be documented

    • New option for the pm.List module for sorting the package list

    • Post-deployment: Schedule entries can now also be defined as XML variables and map significantly more attributes.

    • With the Custom Solution MigrateScheduleVariables, schedule variables can be converted into XML variables

  • RESTful API

    • New user-defined data source for displaying dynamically customizable heading/text fields
    • New user-defined data source for reading the release repository
    • Extension of the custom data source branches for filtering the Git branches to be displayed
    • Configuration of user-defined data sources can now also be saved in a structured documentation of the PromptSet object
    • Improved logging for starting b4A modules
    • When starting b4A modules, a callback URL can be specified that is called when the module is finished

  • Tools

    • The util.web module now also supports DELETE requests

Incompatible changes​

  • General

    • The following modules have been marked as obsolete and will be removed in the next major release.

      • ana.SAPGetVariantContent
      • util.DBChangeViewer

Version 6.0.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Conversion to Java 17

    • Corrections and improvements

    • Updating libraries

      • Automic Application Interface 24.2.0
      • Slf4j 2.0.16
      • JGit 6.9
      • Gherkin 28.0.0
      • Spring Boot 3.3.4
      • Spring Security 6.3.3
      • Nashorn 15.4

    • New design of the graphical user interface

  • RESTful API

    • A standalone version is now available as an alternative to the app for Apache Tomcat
    • Access to historical data of services
    • Restart of already running services
    • Improved monitoring of running services
    • Recognition of input masks on tasks that were started with *activate_uc_object
    • Support for user-defined data sources for checkboxes, combo boxes and radio buttons. The sources can obtain the data from the Automation Engine or external applications
    • Corrections and improvements

Incompatible changes​

  • General

    • Java 17 is required, older Java versions are no longer supported
    • The configuration file modules.conf has been removed
    • The start script option --groovy has been replaced by --custom-solution. The old option can still be used. This will be removed for version 7.0

  • RESTful API

    • New generation V3. The data structures of some requests (below /service) have been changed and are incompatible with V2
    • If the RESTful API continues to be operated in Apache Tomcat, at least version 10 must be used.
    • The CORS settings in api.json now contain a list and must be adapted accordingly

Version 5.5.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Compatibility with Automic Automation V24

      • V21 is still supported

    • Update of libraries

      • Automic Application Interface 24.0.0

    • b4A start scripts use the global certificates under Windows, if available

    • Improvements and corrections

  • Package management

    • New module to manage the repository for package releases

  • Git integration

    • New module for creating an index for Git repository information

  • RESTful API

    • Corrections and improvements
    • Support for services that can only be monitored and not started
    • New websocket events for new or canceled prompts (PromptSets)

Incompatible changes​

  • Package Management

    • If the metadata is read from pm.conf when a package is initialized, the file must be available in the encoding in which the JVM was started.

Version 5.4.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

    • Update of libraries

      • JGit 5.13.2
      • OpenJFX 19.0.2.1
      • Spring Boot 2.7.16

    • The b4A server can now use a global connection for all module calls

    • Enhancements to the Groovy interface in b4A Expressions

  • Package Management

    • Support for customer-specific compliance tests

    • New module for creating index documentation

    • Support for calendar objects as runtime objects

    • Support for a global package index

    • Support for XML result variables for multiple modules

    • Compliance check

      • Extension of the metadata test
      • New test to check for links
      • New test for checking the configuration objects

  • RESTful API

    • Corrections and improvements
    • Resolve system variables in PromptSet default values
    • Support for time and time stamp input fields
    • Department optional at logon
    • Optimization of service monitoring by reducing the number of requests to the Automation Engine

  • Information

    • New module for performing usage searches

  • Mass changes

    • New module for editing privileges of user groups

Incompatible changes​

  • Mass changes

    • mc.UserPrivilegeEdit: The obsolete privilege Runbook-Mode has been removed
    • mc.Delete: At least one folder must be specified for security reasons

  • Package Management

    • There are further configuration settings for the new global package index in pm.conf. These must be checked or added during an update

Version 5.3.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

    • Update of libraries

      • Json Path 2.8.0
      • Spring Boot 2.7.12
      • Springdoc OpenAPI 1.7.0
      • SpringFramework Security Test 5.7.8
      • SQLite JDBC 3.42.0.0
      • JSONWebToken 0.11.5
      • Automic Application Interface 21.0.6

  • RESTful API

    • Endpoints for the administration of the service portal
    • Configuration of the automatic restoration of the b4A connection
    • Optional start time for starting services
    • New endpoint for determining the status of a task
    • New endpoint for setting the status 'inactive' for tasks
    • New endpoint for unblocking a task
    • Sending a message in the event of failed activation of a service
    • Dynamically add services started via scheduler to the execution list
    • Support for input files as option values that are not CSV files

  • Package management

    • Support for XML variables as runtime variables
    • New compliance test for checking keys in static variables

Incompatible changes​

  • Framework

    • The name of the option cvs-file has been corrected to csv-file. Existing calls of b4A modules with this option must be adapted.

Version 5.2.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

    • Support for b4A Groovy Distributions

    • Update of libraries

      • Groovy 4.0.9
      • Apache HTTP Client 5.1.4
      • Spring Boot 2.6.14
      • Gson 2.8.9
      • ControlsFX 11.1.2

  • RESTful API

    • User groups are supported as recipients for CALL objects
    • In the service configuration, it can be specified per service that all executions are returned (including those started via Schedule)
    • Support for ForEach and If workflows as a service
    • Performance improvements
    • The endpoint for emptying the caches now also resets the authentication cache

  • Package management

    • The pm.DocBuilder module can now document SLO objects and supports additional PromptSet details
    • There are two new compliance tests: check SLO objects and check unique object titles.
    • The compliance test 'documentation' can also check the attributes in structured documentation

  • Mass changes

    • There is a module for editing SLO objects

  • Analysis

    • The ana.ReferencesInProcesses module now supports b4A data streams

  • Tools

    • The util.Mail module supports CC and BCC recipients
    • The util.Web module supports the HTTP method *PUT

Incompatible changes​

  • Package Management

    • pm.DependencyDefinitionVerify: If dependencies for a package are specified multiple times, they can be analyzed but are not displayed in the static variable. There is only one line per package. The full details of the analysis can only be found in the XML variable.

Version 5.1.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

    • Update of libraries

      • OpenJFX 18.0.2
      • ControlsFX 11.1.1
      • Groovy 4.0.2
      • JGit 5.13.1
      • Automic Application Interface 21.0.4
      • Spring Boot 2.6.10

    • Extension of the (internal) b4A Groovy interface

    • Improvement of the script analyzer: More references to objects are recognized. Modules from the categories Analysis and Package Management benefit from this

  • Package Management

    • In the pm.DocBuilder module, the objects to be documented can now be restricted using object name patterns and subfolders.
    • The pm.Init module now checks whether the specified package name is valid
    • Objects in a package no longer have to be named according to the package naming scheme. Instead, there is an option to recognize the package affiliation based on the folder.
    • The compliance test agent now recognizes all agent types

  • Test Automation

    • Extension of the documentation for test steps with examples
    • New test step to search messages

Incompatible changes​

  • Analysis

    • The parameters of the ana.Compare module have changed. To get the old behavior back, the option input-mode must also be set to the value file.

  • Test Automation

    • The ta.Execute module can write the test results to an XML variable and to the structured documentation of an object. If an XML variable is now specified and the results are to be written to the structured documentation of an object at the same time, this must be specified explicitly. This applies if the source for the test specification is a documentation object.

  • Git integration

    • The short identifier n for the package option has been removed, as this does not correspond to the standard of all other package management modules

Version 5.0.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • The function XML2ATTR from the b4A Expressions now supports an option PREFIX to arrange the generated attributes below this prefix
    • Corrections and improvements

  • Package Management

    • The 'task-alias' test of the pm.Compliance module can also check for user-defined attributes on the tasks as an additional filter for the object type
    • The sample templates in BPMN format for the Documentation Builder have been improved

  • Tools

    • The module util.Web additionally supports the HTTP method PUT and the encoding of the message body can be set more option
    • The sample template for sending test reports for the util.Mail module has been improved

  • RESTful API

    • The group rest.auth.groups.execute has been replaced by rest.auth.groups.module. This group is no longer authorized for delete requests.
    • The group rest.auth.groups.read has been replaced by rest.auth.groups.info.
    • The configurations rest.auth.connection and rest.service.connection have been merged into the former.
    • The /connections endpoint now does not directly return a list of connections, but a JSON object containing the list of connections.
    • The option to use the RESTful API without authentication has been removed.
    • Due to structural changes in the database, it is necessary to delete the database when updating from v1 to v2. It is recreated when the b4A RESTful API is started.

  • Git integration

    • The vcs.pull module no longer asks when it finds running tasks, but aborts directly if the force option is not set.

  • Tools

    • The default value for the variable option of the util.ConnectionsSaveTo module has been changed to B4A.BASE.VARA.CONNECTIONS
    • The default value for the variable option of the util.ModulesSaveTo module has been changed to B4A.BASE.VARA.MODULES

Incompatible changes​

  • General

    • The 5th generation of best4Automic cannot be used for versions of Automic Automation older than version 21

Version 4.9.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

  • RESTful API

    • Version v2 has been backported. This means that the b4A Service Portal can now be used with Automic Automation 12.3
    • User groups are supported as recipients for CALL objects (put_att)
    • In the service configuration, it can be specified for each service that all executions are returned (including those started via Schedule)
    • Support of ForEach and If workflows as a service
    • Performance improvements

  • Package management

    • The pm.DocBuilder module can now document SLO objects
    • There are two new compliance tests: check SLO objects and check unique object titles.
    • The compliance test 'documentation' can also check the attributes in structured documentation

  • Mass changes

    • There is a module for editing SLO objects

  • Tools

    • The util.Mail module supports CC and BCC recipients
    • The util.Web module supports the HTTP method PUT.

Version 4.8.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

    • Update of libraries

      • OpenJFX 18.0.1
      • ControlsFX 11.1.1
      • Groovy 4.0.2
      • Automic Application Interface 12.3.9

    • Extension of the (internal) b4A Groovy interface

    • Improvement of the script analyzer: More references to objects are recognized. Modules from the categories Analysis and Package Management benefit from this

  • Documentation

    • Several examples have been added for each test step

  • Analysis

    • The ana.Compare module now supports not only b4A object lists, but also all other object search methods from the b4A Framework.

  • Package Management

    • The pm.StorageCredentialAdd module now supports user names consisting of less than 3 characters
    • In the pm.DocBuilder module, the objects to be documented can now be restricted using object name patterns and subfolders.

  • Test Automation

    • A new step for the Then phase has been added which allows the global messages to be searched for numbers and text patterns

Incompatible changes​

  • Analysis

    • The parameters of the ana.Compare module have changed. To get the old behavior back, the option input-mode must also be set to the value file.

  • Test Automation

    • The ta.Execute module can write the test results to an XML variable and to the structured documentation of an object. If an XML variable is now specified and the results are to be written to the structured documentation of an object at the same time, this must be specified explicitly. This applies if the source for the test specification is a documentation object.

Version 4.7.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

  • Test automation

    • A new option allows scenarios from a feature to be excluded from execution

Version 4.6.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements and corrections

  • Package management

    • Objects in a package no longer have to start with the package name. This can be contained anywhere in the object name.

  • Tools

    • The util.Mail module can now also send mail via connections without encryption
    • New module util.Web for sending HTTP(S) POST requests with token authentication - the token can be transferred in encrypted form.

Incompatible changes​

  • Package Management

    • The setting pm-packagename-regex from the configuration file pm.conf has been replaced by the two settings pm-package-name-regex and pm-object-name-regex. The details can be found here.

Version 4.5.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • There are new icons for the module categories

    • The Automic Application Interface has been updated to version 12.3.5

    • best4Automic is now released as Core Edition and as Rest Edition

      • The Core Edition corresponds to the previously known release format
      • The Rest Edition contains the new RESTful API of the best4Automic solution

    • b4A Expressions have been extended with new functions for integrating XML data structures and Groovy scripts

    • The temporary directory used by different modules can now be defined via Java system property

  • Documentation

    • Descriptions of the new bundles and license types have been added to the documentation
    • b4A expressions, scripts and data streams have been moved to their own chapters

  • Mass changes

    • The mc.ObjectVariableEdit module now has a new function for setting values

  • Tools

    • The new module util.Mail sends mails and can use SSL and TLS encryption. The content is composed of three templates that can use b4A Expressions. Any number of files can be attached to the mail or the reports for a RunId.

  • Test Automation

    • The then-variable-contains step can now optionally check the variable in another connection

  • Package Management

    • Documentation Builder

      • New templates in BPMNv2 format
      • Support for the new b4A expressions function *XML2ATTR
      • The title of the objects is now available for the index template
      • New option for setting user-defined attributes directly via option value
      • A new attribute containing all tasks is available for If and ForEach workflows

    • The pm.Install module now marks agent groups according to a separate schema

    • The pm.RequiredBy module can now use the package index if it is available

    • Additional metadata can optionally be transferred to the pm.Install and pm.Build modules, which are added to the package metadata variable

  • Git integration

    • Module *vcs.Diff

      • A branch or a marker can now also be compared with the version in a client of the Automation Engine
      • The result can be output in an XML variable

Incompatible changes​

  • Module *pm.DocBuilder

    • The custom-attributes option has been renamed to custom-attributes-file. The option custom-attributes still exists, but is not passed a file but the list of user-defined attributes

Version 4.4.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • The graphical user interface has been revised and adapted to the corporate design of best-blu consulting with energy GmbH
    • Documentation enhancements: The description of output file formats has been added to many modules

  • Information

    • The info.VersionManagement module now has an output in an XML variable that is based on a standard for b4A modules
    • The info.UserRead module now outputs the title of the user object as an additional column

  • Mass changes

    • New module for editing the options for the maximum runtime of objects has been added

  • Tools

    • The util.PasswordCrypt module can now also output the decrypted password in the report if a corresponding option is set

  • Test Automation

    • For test steps that contain an object name in the record, agent and user objects can now also be specified

  • Package Management

    • Several modules have been adapted to standards that are already adhered to by the other modules
    • Detection and logging of errors during processing has been improved
    • The package index can now also contain an entry for all valid base folders for packages
    • The modules pm.ReportInstallation and pm.ReportModifications now have an output in an XML variable that is based on a standard for b4A modules
    • The SVG template for the Documentation Builder has been extended with improved connecting lines between the tasks and symbols that represent the type of task
    • A new template for the Documentation Builder in BPMNv2 format has been added

Incompatible changes​

  • The format of the output in an XML variable has changed for the pm.ReportInstallation module. This has been adapted to the new standard
  • The gui-connections option from defaults.conf has been removed
  • The info.UserRead module now contains an additional column at the end with the title of the user object
  • The pm.ImportBPMN module now requires an existing valid package
  • The 'base-folder' option has been removed from the pm.ImportBPMN module
  • The pm.Build module now returns an exit code 2 instead of 99 if the package was not found or is invalid

Version 4.3.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Improvements in b4A Setup
    • Extension of the documentation with descriptions of the CSV files for many modules
    • b4A Server allows modules to be started via a central Java process

  • Classic modules

    • New module for deleting objects
    • mc.WorkflowTaskAdd: New option to specify the branch for IF workflows
    • Improvements and corrections

  • Test Automation

    • Various improvements and corrections to the given-workflow test step
    • Update of the test scenarios in the examples and documentation

  • Package management

    • A new flexible compliance check specifically for packages with 8 compliance tests, all configurable

    • *b4A Documentation Builder

      • New templates for Markdown
      • Improved HTML templates
      • New option to specify the name of the index file

Version 4.2.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • The documentation has been revised and restructured. The search function has also been improved.
    • Corrections and improvements

  • Classic modules

    • util.Activate can now set an alias for execution.
    • te.WorkflowMonitorEdit offers two new functions to start tasks immediately.

  • Test Automation

    • A new test step has been added to be able to search the XML exports of objects.
    • ta.Execute can be used to pass additional custom attributes that can be used in the templates.
    • pm.DependencyDefinitionCreate has a new mode to extend existing dependency definitions.
    • pm.Install now offers the possibility to overwrite connection objects even if they already exist.

  • Package Management

    • The new package index can optionally be used to save all metadata of all installed packages in an XML variable.
    • Improvements in error handling
    • Dependency definitions can now be separated not only by semicolons but also by commas.
    • pm.Init can now optionally be passed a package title, which is set as the title of the package folder.

Incompatible changes​

  • License

    • As of version 4.2.0, a license is required for the use of best4Automic. This can be obtained from the best4Automic sales department.

Version 4.1.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Update of the Automic Application Interface to version 12.3.2

  • Test Automation

    • The test step then-check-report can now also read the reports of workflows that were terminated with FAULT_OTHER
    • b4A expressions can now be used in all test steps that support tables
    • A new test step (when-create-temp-file) can now be used to create temporary files whose content is defined in a table.
    • A number of predefined b4A expression attributes are now available for all test steps. Among them is the currently used b4A connection
    • Further small improvements

  • Package management

    • The b4A modules for listing the branches and markers can now filter the list with an option
    • The DocBuilder now has an additional option to specify the character encoding of the output

Version 4.0.0​

Highlights​

  • General

    • Java has been updated to version 11 and higher. Both Oracle Java and OpenJDK are supported.
    • As of this version, Automic Automation must be installed in version 12.3 or higher.
    • A Powershell script is now also available for starting b4A modules under Windows
    • Corrections and improvements

  • Package management

    • pm.Install: The handling of connection and login objects during installation has been adapted so that existing objects of these types are only adapted if access data is available.

  • b4A Packages

    • PCK.BEST4AUTOMIC_BASE

      • Conversion to the new start mechanism for b4A modules

Incompatible changes​

  • Framework

    • Java version 11 or higher must be installed. Older versions are no longer supported
    • The settings java.executable.unix and java.executable.windows are no longer supported
    • The configuration file Dashboard.conf has been renamed modules.conf and its content has been changed.

  • Mass changes

    • mc.Rename: The module now also renames folders. If this is not desired, the object type Folder must be explicitly excluded

  • b4A Packages

    • Only the b4A package PCK.BEST4AUTOMIC_BASE is still delivered with the release (separate file).
    • The settings JAVA_BINARY and JAVA_OPTIONS from the variable PCK.BEST4AUTOMIC_BASE.VARA.SETTINGS are obsolete and are no longer used
    • The setting START_SCRIPT in the variable PCK.BEST4AUTOMIC_BASE.VARA.SETTINGS is new and must be set

  • Distribution

    • The base directory now contains the name of the operating system family (e.g. best4automic-4.0.0-unix or best4automic-4.0.0-win)