January 2022 Dashboard Release Notes
Release Name - pi.2022-01-27
Release Date - Jan 27, 2022
We are pleased to present our latest offering of pi - our January 2022 release! This page helps summarise and familiarise you with the changes we have made, and is supported (where applicable) with useful videos to help explain the changes we have delivered.
Before upgrading, we recommend taking a backup. You can find more information here.
We are aware of an issue with the January release when using an external database for the dashboard configuration where the schema isn’t called ‘dashboard’.
Here’s what we’ll cover;
- 1 Added
- 1.1 Multi-dimensional map with legend (Zendesk#10776)
- 1.2 Added empty custom_jdbc_drivers folder to dashboard deployment on Linux (Zendesk#13157)
- 1.3 Athena Data Connection (Zendesk#11696)
- 1.4 Display error in chart editor with ‘Can View Chart Debugging info’ user permission (Zendesk#16743)
- 1.5 New Syntax supported for Date Range Category filter text replacement (Zendesk#13581)
- 1.6 Value labels show by default on multiple chart types (Zendesk#16833)
- 2 Changed
- 3 Fixed
- 3.1 Screen flickering when using the peek button in Chart Editor
- 3.2 Object replacement with single quote (Zendesk#14067,18451)
- 3.3 User can no longer use the same password chosen by admin when resetting the users password (Zendesk#14112)
- 3.4 Logo now works on production using internal images & external internet URLs (Zendesk#13807,14278,18985,19207)
- 3.5 Combined chart - zero line from 2nd Y axis (Zendesk#13214,13215)
- 3.6 Chart editor table pagination settings (Zendesk#12102)
- 3.7 Smaller browser window to show scheduling screen (Zendesk#10473)
- 3.8 Maps without data (Zendesk#10181)
- 3.9 Fix grid line color to work across all chart types (Zendesk#9358)
- 3.10 Formatting negative values with prefixes and suffixes (Zendesk#8301,9034)
- 3.11 Odd behaviour when clicking on active drill level (Zendesk#12445)
- 3.12 Report header image input field error indication (Zendesk#8709)
- 3.13 Formatting rules on data connection objects visible when testing data result (Zendesk#8280)
- 3.14 New Admin User - missing debug permission automatically added (Zendesk#11865)
- 3.15 Error message displayed when a category doesn’t have a default layout for the logged in user (Zendesk#12935,14024)
- 3.16 Data connection pre-query input field (Zendesk#14978)
- 3.17 Pagination values carried over to charts in Chart Editor (Zendesk#14047)
- 3.18 Horizontal scroll bar displayed unnecessarily on tables in Chrome (Zendesk#15493)
- 3.19 Target line overlapping data values on stacked bar and column charts (Zendesk#15256)
- 3.20 Targets no longer disappear when selecting legend items & chart re-draws to correct size when selecting back (Zendesk#11863,15253,9502)
- 3.21 Fixed charts with dots, so that a dot is displayed when then there is only one value on the chart (Zendesk#15229)
- 3.22 Data connection export preserves password if it’s a variable (Zendesk#15680)
- 3.23 Error handling for merged charts and merged tables (Zendesk#15796)
- 3.24 Sankey chart with numeric Dimensions as Node or State (Zendesk#16244)
- 3.25 Table alias not being added to the WHERE clause on data tables (Zendesk#8654)
- 3.26 Editing a user’s theme as Admin when user does not have ‘Can Change Own Theme’ privilege (Zendesk#12628)
- 3.27 Formatting options for number dimension are not correctly reflected in a Crosstab header (Zendesk#11181)
- 3.28 X Axis attributes on Merged Charts (Zendesk#16397)
- 3.29 API - updating user account details (Zendesk#16288)
- 3.30 Assigning a User to a Role (Zendesk#14376)
- 3.31 Word export - table body overlapping chart logo (Zendesk#16808,17173,18463)
- 3.32 Infinite loop of errors when refreshing a category with custom map parent filters (Zendesk#16879)
- 3.33 Custom Maps zoom not working on Firefox (Zendesk#16878)
- 3.34 Errors in console when creating a custom map (Zendesk#16877)
- 3.35 Custom Maps ability to handle null values (Zendesk#17247)
- 3.36 Pagination row number for tables and crosstabs (Zendesk#17189)
- 3.37 Fixed table colour definition, so that rules can be defined to format blank values (Zendesk#17175,18737)
- 3.38 Full-screen Table scroll position resets to the top when selecting a row (Zendesk#17610,18190,18342,19060)
- 3.39 !important is no longer required on theme button colours (Zendesk#13911,17663)
- 3.40 Images inside a table cell are cut (Zendesk#17403)
- 3.41 X Axis top/bottom filter for single dimensional chart
- 3.42 Security Centre - only shows users and roles managed by the logged in admin who have ‘Can Edit Chart SQL’ privilege (Zendesk#11270)
- 3.43 Data connection exporting - broken chart colours are excluded
- 3.44 Export to Excel, Ppt and Word - ampersand code (& ;) showing in the field instead of the actual & symbol (Zendesk#14152,18194)
- 3.45 Performance issues when changing category objects to use date type (Zendesk#17927)
- 3.46 Internal performance fixes for authentication & permission handling
- 3.47 Elasticsearch data connector - data not working in charts (Zendesk#11780)
- 3.48 Multi Dimensional parent filter highlighting (Zendesk#13274)
- 3.49 pi Report text editing - links can be inserted into new lines
- 3.50 Editing pi reports - only displays one page for editing
- 3.51 Funnel & pyramid chart cutting off data labels at certain screen resolution (Zendesk#18514)
- 3.52 Display disabled chart button (Zendesk#18359)
- 3.53 Active state buttons will not be displayed as blue (Zendesk#18489)
- 3.54 Chrome mini scroll bar issue (Zendesk#15889,18568)
- 3.55 Show Total Value - Merged Charts (Zendesk#18655)
- 3.56 Subtitles on Word export (Zendesk#18664)
- 3.57 Data connection table name selection (Zendesk#18660)
- 3.58 Default Colour on Map Charts (Zendesk#18663)
- 3.59 Dashboard now shows correct error when using an invalid licence (Zendesk#18524)
- 3.60 Amendment to pop up message for ‘Cleanse Repository’ option (Zendesk#18642)
- 3.61 Creating a database backup in the Configuration Tool (Zendesk#18593)
- 3.62 Categories created during a data connection import are assigned to the admin user that does the import (Zendesk#18626)
- 3.63 Data Connection Import - Objects updated correctly
- 3.64 Dependencies & versions on the ‘About’ page (Zendesk#16756)
- 3.65 Cascade deletion for roles
- 3.66 Export issue for tables with values that contain line breaks (Zendesk#18940)
- 3.67 Frame ancestors setting remains unconfigured in old api (Zendesk#18980,19015)
- 3.68 Measures defined as a condition in dynamic drill charts (Zendesk#18959)
- 3.69 pi Reports - text editing spacing issue (Zendesk#19046)
- 3.70 pi Reports - scheduler screen error message
- 3.71 Suspend a schedule doesn't cancel all the active jobs related to it
- 3.72 Missing database index added to improve performance (Zendesk#19166)
- 3.73 Renderer stops working after upgrading from last version
- 3.74 SQL Server Windows Authentication does not work
- 3.75 MariaDB Repository will not start up when Dashboard in root
- 3.76 When using a scheduler, error message is unclear when user has no access to the chart (Zendesk#19103,19702,8271)
- 3.77 Unable to schedule if App Port has changed after the dashboard has already been configured
- 4 Keeping An Eye On pi
Added
Multi-dimensional map with legend (Zendesk#10776)
Chart Types
Multi-dimensional maps are now available on the map chart type. To add a legend to your map, add the relevant dimension to the legend field on the Data tab.
Similar to multi-dimensional charts, the legend will appear on the side of the map and colours of the data points changed accordingly.
Please refer to this section in pi Documentation for more information.
Added empty custom_jdbc_drivers folder to dashboard deployment on Linux (Zendesk#13157)
JDBC drivers
The deployment project now has an empty custom_jdbc_drivers folder on Linux for customers to use, this also fixes an issue with tomcat not configuring properly when the file was missing.
Athena Data Connection (Zendesk#11696)
Data Connections
We now ship the Athena JDBC driver so an Athena data connection can be created rather than having to set this up via the Freeform JDBC.
To create an Athena connection, select Athena from the data source type. You will need to specify the AWS Region, S3 Output Location (the s3 location where you want to store the query results), Access Key and Secret Key.
You can also add Options which must be in the format [Property1]=[Value1];[Property2]=[Value2].
Display error in chart editor with ‘Can View Chart Debugging info’ user permission (Zendesk#16743)
Chart Editor
The Chart Editor screen has been updated and will now display errors in the preview area if the chart has errors. This information will only be displayed to users who have the ‘Can View Chart Debugging Info’ permission.
New Syntax supported for Date Range Category filter text replacement (Zendesk#13581)
Category Objects
Date Range type category objects can now provide text replacement to separate the From Date and the To Date.
For example,
if a user selects 01/01/2022 and 03/01/2022 from a date range category object
the chart in this category has a title with ‘From {{Sales Date[0]}} to {{Sales Date[1]}}’
this chart title is converted into ‘From 01/01/2022 to 03/01/2022’
Value labels show by default on multiple chart types (Zendesk#16833)
Chart Types
When any of the following chart types are created, ‘Show Data Values’ on the Attributes screen will be selected as default:
Chord Diagram
Horizontal Sankey
Vertical Sankey
Network Graph
Pie
Doughnut
Pie Variable Radius
Doughnut Variable Radius
Sunburst
Doughnut Sunburst
Traffic Light
Lightbulb
If required, users can still deselect this option on the Attributes screen.
If a user changes from one of the above mentioned charts to a chart not included in this list for example, switching from a Pie chart to a Bar chart the ‘Show Data Values’ label will be deselected but this can be added on the Attributes screen if required.
Changed
Switching the order of measures on combined charts (Zendesk#11168)
Chart Types
When users swap the order of the Y Axis items on the Data screen for a Combined Chart this will be reflected correctly in the chart. In the following example, the ‘Employee Count’ measure is displayed first in the list of Measures on the Data screen and on the left-hand Y Axis of the chart.
When the order of the Measures is changed on the Data screen, the relevant Y Axis will be updated accordingly.
Library Upgrades (Zendesk#19083)
Dashboard
Several library upgrades have been included to ensure customers benefit from the latest security fixes
Docker container health check
Docker
Additional attributes have been added to a Docker container health check functionality and the number of checks that are being carried out in order to improve the assessment of the state & health of the container have been increased.
Upgrade Tomcat (Zendesk#18785)
Dashboard
Tomcat has been updated to 8.5.73 to resolve a recently discovered vulnerability in Tomcat.
Internal Port Changes (Zendesk#19082)
Dashboard
When HTTPS is turned on, you might need to configure the dashboard URL so that other services (such as Scheduler, Renderer etc) know the correct way to reach the dashboard.
If you attempt to upgrade to this version without updating the configuration below prior to use, you could find that your schedules, exports and reports may no longer operate
This is especially true when a non public certificate is used.
You can configure the dashboard URL (e.g. https://your.dashboard.com/pi) in 3 ways (see below):
Note that /pi is important in https://your.dashboard.com/pi
The Dashboard URL setting in the configuration tool
The dashboard.json configuration file
Edit "dashboardUrl" in dashboard.json for the "renderer" and the "scheduler" items:
{
//...
"renderer": {
//...
"dashboardUrl": "https://your.dashboard.com/pi",
//...
},
"scheduler": {
//...
"dashboardUrl": "https://your.dashboard.com/pi"
},
//...
}The environment variables
If you’re using a docker environment or an AMI, you will want to add the following environment variables:
RENDERER_DASHBOARD_URL="https://your.dashboard.com/pi"SCHEDULER_DASHBOARD_URL="https://your.dashboard.com/pi"
Updated IDs for Human Torso Muscle Map
Custom Maps
The IDs on the human muscle map svg images have been updated to something that makes a bit more sense. See tables below.
For human-muscles-front.svg:
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Fixed
Screen flickering when using the peek button in Chart Editor
Chart Editor
When users had the Category list, on the left-hand side of the screen, pinned in place and used the ‘Peek’ button in the Chart Editor screen the screen would occasionally flicker.
Object replacement with single quote (Zendesk#14067,18451)
Text Replacement
When using category objects to replace text using the {{Object Name}} syntax, and the text contained a single quote, the quote was converted into 4 single quotes (incorrect sql escaping) for SQL generation. This resulted in no data being returned. Now only 2 single quotes are used to escape a single quote in SQL
User can no longer use the same password chosen by admin when resetting the users password (Zendesk#14112)
Login
When a users password was reset by an Administrator and the ‘Password Expires’ box was ticked, the user would be asked to select a new password but would be able to use the same password set by the administrator. The password entered by the administrator will now become part of the users password history, preventing them from reusing the same password.
Administrators will still be able to use the same password multiple times when resetting users passwords, this password will be added to each individual user’s password history.
Logo now works on production using internal images & external internet URLs (Zendesk#13807,14278,18985,19207)
Chart Downloads
When downloading PDFs:
The File path has been corrected so that internal image files can be used as the logo when downloading a PDF of a chart
It also recognises and works with external internet URLs
Combined chart - zero line from 2nd Y axis (Zendesk#13214,13215)
Charts
Previously, if a user created a combined chart and assigned both Y axis to use the same Y axis in the ‘Attributes’ section for example, both set as Bar, the chart would draw an unnecessary line with 0 value through the centre of the chart to display the Y axis which was empty. A change has been made that will ensure that if a user chooses to assign both Y axis to the same axis the data is displayed correctly with no zero value being shown.
In this example, both Y Axis have been set as Bar.
The data in the chart is displayed correctly.
Chart editor table pagination settings (Zendesk#12102)
Chart Editor
When using the ‘Pagination’ setting in Chart Editor, the table displayed in the Preview section will be updated to reflect the chosen setting.
For example, if 6 is selected in the ‘Pagination’ field the table preview will show 6 rows. If the ‘Pagination’ number is changed to 10, the table in the preview section will also be updated to show 10 rows.
Smaller browser window to show scheduling screen (Zendesk#10473)
Scheduling screen
When displaying the scheduling screen in a small browser window, everything was overlapping. The screen now creates a horizontal scroll bar so that content is displayed correctly.
Maps without data (Zendesk#10181)
Chart Types
Maps (and Heatmaps) without data will now display a ‘No Data’ message rather than displaying with blank content.
Fix grid line color to work across all chart types (Zendesk#9358)
Themes
The Grid Line Color option under Dashboard Configuration>Themes>Configuration didn’t work for the 'X' axis on web charts (spider, radar, wind rose) or merged and combined charts. If a grid line color is specified, it will now work as intended across all chart types.
Formatting negative values with prefixes and suffixes (Zendesk#8301,9034)
Chart Display
Text & number formatting has been updated so that when adding a prefix to a negative value in a measure the prefix will appear after the minus sign (or the opening bracket if you have chosen to show brackets for negative values in a table). Values will now be displayed as -£50 or (£50).
Odd behaviour when clicking on active drill level (Zendesk#12445)
Chart Editor
Clicking on an active drill level hierarchy in the chart editor screen would occasionally cause problems when the system tried to redraw the chart, this no longer happens.
Report header image input field error indication (Zendesk#8709)
pi Reports
The Report, Header image section has been updated to show help text and indicate any errors when unsupported image paths have been used. When users hover over the Image Path field, help text will now be displayed.
Formatting rules on data connection objects visible when testing data result (Zendesk#8280)
Data Connections
If you’ve added formatting options, such as a thousand separator, prefix or suffix, to a data object in Data Connections the relevant formatting will be displayed when you test the object using the ‘Display Sample data’ icon.
New Admin User - missing debug permission automatically added (Zendesk#11865)
User Permissions
When changing a standard user to an admin user, the ‘Can View Chart Debugging Info’ privilege will be automatically selected.
Error message displayed when a category doesn’t have a default layout for the logged in user (Zendesk#12935,14024)
User Permissions
When a user, who doesn’t have the ‘Can Modify Layouts’ privilege, views a Category that doesn’t have a default layout they will see the following error message.
Data connection pre-query input field (Zendesk#14978)
Data Connections
In Data Connections>Connection, the Pre Query input field is now only available for SQL Server and Free Format jdbc connections.
Pagination values carried over to charts in Chart Editor (Zendesk#14047)
Chart Editor
If a table had been created that used Pagination and the table was then changed to a Bar Chart the pagination values were being retained and the chart was only displaying the number of bars that matched the pagination setting. For example, if you set pagination to 2 on a table and then converted the table to a Bar Chart only 2 bars would be displayed in the Chart Editor screen. This no longer happens and the Bar Chart will now show all values in Chart Editor when converted from a table with pagination.