InVision 2.2.2 Released!

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“From all of us, to all of you, a merrInVision christmas!” The December release is here with some new features and improvements. Some key features this time is Export to Excel, improved rendering of filters based on jagged dimensions, and that new members can be added to Workflow State Context Objects during a Workflow without requiring a restart.

Heads up!
If you are upgrading from an earlier version, you need to download a new version of the Profitbase Installation Manager first!

NEW Features

  • REST API against InVision tables (Setting Tables, Data Stores and Views).
    The REST API currenly lets you read values from a database table in the InVision database, either by specifying the Solution Object name or the database table name and the column that the value should be read from. The q parameter lets you specify the (filter) WHERE clause using Eaze syntax.

    [BaseAddress]/api/objects/[MySolutionTableObjectName]/[ColumnName]/q={ItemID == "Something" && Num < 100}

or 

[BaseAddress]/api/tables/[db table name]/[ColumnName]/q={ItemID == "Something" && Num < 100}
  • Support for Image Workbook component
    Call the SetSrc(…) function in the Load Data action of the component to specify the image source url.
    With the new db REST API, you can use InVision as an asset repository and dynamically load images from there.

    // AssetLib is a table in a Solution, having an ID and FileName column.
// Use the asFile query string param to specify that you want the contents of
// the FileName column to be returned as a File Stream and not a string

SetSrc(ApiBase() + "/api/db/objects/AssetLib/FileName?q={ID=="WarningImg"}&asFile=true");
  • Support for iFrame Workbook component. Like the Image component, call the SetSrc(…) function in the Load Data action of the component to specify the iFrame content source.
    With support for iframe, you can now embed external content, such as InFront(using InFront Card Mode) or Power BI reports (using Power BI Embedded) in InVision Workbooks.

    iframe_2_2_2
    (I    nFront, Profitbase web site and Power BI Embedded in a Workbook)

  • Users are now prompted for confirmation if they close a Workbook having unsaved spreadsheets or Form Elements. This behavior can be turned off in the Properties section of the Workbook Designer.
  • Export to Excel support for spreadsheets (Worksheets, Setting tables and Reports). Export to Excel can be invoked from the context menu of a spreadsheet. The export will contain
    • All headers (including nested headers)
    • All rows in the data set, including custom rows and summary rows. The export contains the actual data in the underlying data set, not the rendered values.
    • All visible columns. Collapsed columns are exported.
    • Numeric formatting. Formulas and cell styles (borders, font weights, colors etc) are not exported.
  • Using wide dimensions with hierarchies having duplicate members (where a member can have more than one parent) is now supported by hierarchical filters. In order to achieve this, InVision maintains a shadow dimension table with a parent-child like data structure for every wide dimension in the Solution. The shadow dimension is automatically updated whenever a dimension is (re)loaded or updated using the standard system data flows. If you are manually modifying the contents of a dimension, for example using custom scripts, you need to explictly tell InVision to update the shadow table by running one of the new Data Flow Item Dimension Tasks
    • Generate Shadow Dimension Tree Table
    • Generate All Shadow Dimension Tree Tables in Database
  • The contents of Workflow State Context Object data structures are now automatically synchronized with the source dimensions when the source dimensions are (re)loaded or updated using the standard system data flows. This makes it possible to remove or add new dimension members during a Workflow Iteration without having to restart it.
    The state (pr Flow Control Object) of the newly added items from the source dimension will be set to the first activity state in the Workflow, or the first activity state specified as the Default State for new State Context Object Members.
    In order for the automatic synchronization to work, you need to make sure that the Solution Object Graph has been compiled so that it’s up-to-date.
    If you manually modify the contents of a dimension, you need to explicitly tell InVision to synchronize the State Context Object by running one or more of the following Data Flow Item Tasks

    • Dimension Tasks Synchronize Contents of Referencing Workflow State Context Object
    • Workflow Tasks Synchronize Contents of All State Context Objects

Note that changing the hierarchy structure of the source dimension will break the Workflow State, so you can only add or remove dimension members, not move or in any way change the dimension structure without having to restart the Workflow Iteration.

CHANGES and ENHANCEMENTS

  • You can now set arguments using SetParamValue(…) in the LoadData action of Search Box Filters, and they will be automatically applied to subsequent requests. This enables you to use use custom parameters in Slice Expressions for Search Box filters.
  • New IsNumeric(value) and IsNumber(value) Eaze functions.
    • IsNumeric(...) checks whether value is numeric-ish, meaning that both IsNumeric(“1”) IsNumeric(1) will return true.
    • IsNumber(...) will check whether the data type of value is numeric, so IsNumber(“1”) will return false, while IsNumber(1) will return true.

FIXED Issues

  • Cell Validation failure messages are now displayed when the mouse cursor hovers the cell with the validation error.

GETTING the bits
InVision 2.2.2 Installation Manager can be downloaded from \pbsndfile\Installs\D – Software\ProfitBase\Profitbase InVision\2.2.2 or using the command prompt.

DMT can be downloaded from \pbsndfile\Installs\D – Software\ProfitBase\Profitbase InVision\2.2.2\Tools

INSTALLING InVision 2.2.2

  1. Download and install Profitbase Installation Manager,
  2. Run Profitbase Installation Manager and install a new instance of InVision.
  3. If you’re developing a Finance or Loan Portofolio Manager Solution, go the Installed Instances tab, select the instance you installed and click “Add Engine” to install the required function library.

UPGRADING to InVision 2.2.2 from 2.1.x or above
When upgrading to 2.2.2 from 2.1.x, you need to:

  1. Download and install a new version of the Profitbase Installation Manager from the location above.
    Note! You should not uninstall the previous version, it will automatically upgrade itself when you run the .exe.
  2. Run Installation Manager, select the installed instance you want to upgrade and hit ‘Upgrade’.

UPGRADING to InVision 2.2.2 from versions prior to 2.1.0
All versions starting from 2.1.0 share the same upgrade routines.
The release notes for version 2.1 contains detalis on how to upgrade from 1.0 and 2.0 to 2.1.x.

Enjoy!

– The InVision Team