Oracle® Agile Engineering Data Management
Release Notes
Release e6.2.1.0
E88550-01
August 2017
This document outlines the enhancements and additions to the core product.
A detailed list of supported platforms can be found in the document Release Notes Platform Support for Agile Release e6.2.1.0.
A detailed list of all bug fixes which have been rolled up in Agile Release e6.2.1.0 can be found in the document Release Notes - Bug Fixes for Agile Release e6.2.1.0. This document also contains a list of Known Issues which will be fixed in the first hot fix.
Platform Support
Please see Platform Release Notes for a complete and detailed list of platforms.
Major Platform Changes in Agile e6.2.1 are:
Operation Systems
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Added support of Microsoft Windows 10 (Client)
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Added support of Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (Server & Client)
System Customization Management (SCM)
System Customization Management (SCM) is a tool for Agile e6 administrators and consultants that provides a sophisticated method to manage customization code in Agile e6. The SCM tool provides a controlled method for transferring customization code from one source environment to another target environment
In the system customization process, you must identify the modifications in one environment and transport them to a different environment. SCM provides capabilities that enable you to:
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Select/identify modifications
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Assign modifications to so-called change packages or bundles
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Manage the existing bundles within an environment
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Export the bundles into a set of files
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Import the set of files and activate the modifications in another environment.
Usage of SCM
The following figure illustrates the general flow of actions, when working with SCM tool. This is an iterative process where the user will repeat the process as many times as needed to thoroughly define, export, and test the system customization.
Description of the illustration ''image001.png''
In order to follow best practices, you will use two different Agile e6 environments:
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A separate test environment, which includes a test source application and a test target application. Develop, test, analyze, and verify the customization code in the test environment.
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The production environment. Only after the customization code has been fully tested and verified in the test environment, then transfer the customization code to the production environment.
Main objects and features of SCM
SCM is based on the following main objects and features:
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Bundles
Bundles are the basic ”envelope” to organize and manage modifications.
Description of the illustration ''image002.png''
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Patches/Modules
In addition to bundles, SCM provides the concepts of Patches and Modules. Patches and Modules are a set of bundles. For example, you might create a patch for a rollout which includes several independent bundles from different application areas such as document management, item management, or project management.
Description of the illustration ''image003.png''
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Data Analysis Tools
SCM also provides data analysis tools. The "where-used" for a specific object, shows whether the object is part of any other bundle. Consultants and administrators use this feature to assure that the correct, consolidated modification makes it into the bundle. The "Check Structure" feature reviews the structure of the current object and adds the subordinate objects to the current bundle. In addition to adding objects to a bundle, you can enhance the bundle with objects of type INF. INF objects can be used to structure the content of the bundle or they can be used to include further instructions for handling the bundle. -
Check Structure
The "Check Structure" feature reviews the structure of the current object and adds the subordinate objects to the current bundle. Check Structure will consider, for example:-
Menus
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(Sub-) Forms
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Tables
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Logiview procedures
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Messages
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Import Opens a dialog to specify the loader file name and the path to import the loader file
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All Modifications Opens a list of all modifications which allows you to run where-used queries across all bundles in the current environment.
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Loader Imports Opens the list of Loader Imports and shows which packages have been imported in the current environment.
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Configuration Opens the SCM configuration list.
Java Client and WAN Performance
More and more customers are using Agile e6 in a global deployment, where users from all over the world connect to the application with the Java Client.
A couple of actions have been taken in Agile e6.2.1, to improve the performance of the Java Client in a Wide Area network (WAN) infrastructure. These actions target to
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Reduce the number of roundtrips between client and server. Taking into account the latency between client site and server site, the number of roundtrips becomes a critical factor for the overall performance and responsiveness of the Java Client.
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Minimize the amount of data to be transferred between client and server. For a given fixed bandwidth of a network connection, a reduced amount of data is transferred faster between client and server.
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For the implementation consultant additional information is available in the Java Client to count the number of round trips and measure the payload for a given usecase.
Environment variable handling
Additional Environment Variables will be cached in Agile e6.2.1. This includes environment variables requested via the Logiview function client_env as well as environments variables requested by the C-code.
During startup of the system, the server of Agile e6.2.1 uses bulk read to request the values of a set of environment variables in one call.
Field menu Caching
A field menu/button version handling has been implemented which allows to detect if a menu/button has been changed via men_res_men/but_res_but. In this case, the menu/button version gets incremented.
On top of this mechanism, a field menu/button cache has been implemented. Thanks to this, Java Client will read menus/buttons only initially or if the menu s/buttons have been modified.
BLOB Handling
The performance of handling BLOBs has been improved significantly in Agile e6.2.1. The performance improvement have been achieved by
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Binary transfer of BLOB data over ECI: Data is no longer Base64 encoded, so the payload is reduced (round about 25%).
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On-demand loading of BLOB data: If activated, the client will load BLOBs from the server on-demand when the UI needs to render the image. If Calculated Row Height is active, the client still needs all BLOBs immediately to render the list, but at least the images will be loaded in the background.
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In-memory caching of BLOB data: The cache can be activated to store BLOBs per session. Cache is cleaned up when the session is closed or on request using jcl_blb_clr userexit. The cache also requires the on-demand loading of BLOB data to be active, otherwise the cached data is not used when a query is executed.
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Maximum icon height for list view and preview panel: To prevent out-of-memory errors, the image resolution in the list and preview panel can be reduced to a certain height.
Reduction of Roundtrips between Client and Server during startup
The number of roundtrips between Java Client and Agile e6 Server has been reduced in various areas. This leads to a faster startup of the Java Client and better overall system performance. Improvements have been achieved in the following areas
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Java Client startup with and without Office Suite being installed
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Java Client Browser Initialization
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Repository Initialization
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Toolbar initialization
AutoVue
Automatic metafile checkin when viewing a document
The Autovue integration will come with an improved metafile handling. AutoVue uses metafiles for some of the file formats to create an internal representation of the graphical data. If a document is viewed repeatedly, the re-use of the metafile will allow rendering the graphical information much faster in the viewer. The viewer in this case tries to retrieve the metafile from the cache on the AutoVue server. If this fails AutoVue tries to retrieve it from Agile e6 fileserver.
Starting with Agile e6.2.1 release, the AutoVue integration allows to checkin the metafile as part of the viewing of a document. In previous releases of Agile e6 a batch process was needed to calculate and checkin of metafile to Agile e6.
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To activate this function, the value for field T_DOC_DAT.USE_METAFILE needs to be set to "y".
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To activate this support for already existing documents, update the value via SQL*Plus:
UPDATE T_DOC_DAT SET USE_METAFILE='y'
"AV_VIEWER" configuration in file usage table
To view a file with AutoVue Viewer, you need to setup additional configuration in the file usage table. This is necessary to distinguish which file types are needed for viewing and which one are needed e.g. for replication or modification (quickload).
Each File Format / Creation System combination, which should be viewed, must have an entry with Function "AV_VIEWER".
Java Client
Define background color for BLOB fields
For BLOB fields, the field specific video attribute defines the background color, when drawing the image in forms, lists and the full size preview popup (opened when the user clicks on the image in the form).
However, in the special Preview Panel - accessible from lists with BLOB fields - the icon is always drawn on a white background.
In order to get a transparent background color (behavior in older releases), the user has to define any foreground color in the video attribute.
In DataView, the video mode is defined as follows:
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Video mode 0..5 : The color defined for this index is used as background color (see client preferences for the color definition).
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Video mode < 0 or >= 10 : Transparent drawing mode is used, so a transparent icon will blend in with the mask background.
So, to activate transparent drawing mode, use "10" as video mode for a BLOB field.
Locale Definition
To solve number format problems in the Java client, the Java client reads the locale to use for number formatting from the local name in the Windows regional settings. The user can choose if this Windows format locale should be used in Agile e6 floating point fields, or if the Agile e6 user language should define the number format
Description of the illustration ''image006.png''
Date formats are still based on the e6 DATEFORMAT_..., there is no change here.
The time format in the Java client message window will match the time format of the Windows regional settings.
Drag and Drop operations will convert the date and number formats to/from the Windows regional settings locale
Document Management
Heterogeneous structure supports two new use cases
Heterogeneous Structure (System > Structure Browser > Heterogeneous Structures) supports the following additional use cases:
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MULTILEVEL-EDB-DOCUMENT-STR Show only document structure using standard stored procedure epq.explode_generic.
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MULTILEVEL-CAD-EDB-DOCUMENT-STR Show only document structure using CAD specific stored procedure EDB_ASE.explode_cad.
Item/BOM Management
New configuration parameter EDB-BOM-QUA-CNV
The new configuration parameter EDB-BOM-QUA-CNV allows to switch on/off the functionality of BOM specific units in the context of quantity BOM feature.
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Value "ON" [default]: For the BOM record you can choose a different unit (e.g. MB - Megabyte) than the unit which is defined in the child item record (e.g. GB - Gigabyte). The BOM specific unit is stored in field T_MASTER_STR.EDB_UNIT and the quantity based on this BOM specific unit is stored in field T_MASTER_STR.QUANTITY_BOM. The quantity based on the child record unit (field T_MASTER_DAT.UNIT [invisible or read access]) is automatically converted and stored in T_MASTER_STR.QUANTITY [invisible or read access]).
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Value "OFF": For the BOM record you cannot choose another unit than the one which is defined in the child item record. The child item unit field T_MASTER_DAT.UNIT must have 'r'ead access, the T_MASTER_STR.QUANTITY field must have 'w'rite or 'm'andatory. The quantity BOM fields (T_MASTER_STR.QUANTITY_BOM, T_MASTER_STR.EDB_UNIT) must have 'r'ead access or invisible. The values of T_MASTER_STR.QUANTITY will be copied into T_MASTER_STR.QUANTITY_BOM to keep both quantity fields consistent.
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Note: Modification of the unit of measure may lead to inconsistent quantities in the BOM. If you switch from value = OFF to value = ON, you have to check the values in fields T_MASTER_DAT.UNIT and T_MASTER_STR.EDB_UNIT for consistency.) |
Change and Release management
xstate_nxt_sta stores the group GIC in widget buffer
Using userexit xstate_nxt_sta creates the widget buffer NXTSTA at the corresponding object widget. This widget buffer includes now the added param /EXG=<executed group gic>.
The value of this parameter is
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the selected group, in case of user picked the group interactively in the UI
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the declared group in case of using userexit xstate_nxt_sta with param /GROUP.
Office Suite
The following changes have been implemented to the Office Suite in this release
FileServer
UTF-8 Support for Public Vault
Starting with e6.2.1, file names in public vaults are by default in Unicode. This causes an upgrade issue for existing public vaults with non-ASCII file names on Unix platforms.
This Fileserver configuration (fileserver.cfg) provides a new section named [Vaults\Encodings]. This section allows the file server administrator to define the file name encoding for each public vault. The standard encoding is still UTF-8, which works on all supported platforms.
An example is shown here:
.. [Vaults] FMS=fms/ EIF=area/ PUB=pub/ [Vaults\Encodings] PUB=ISO-8859-15
The key for the vault must be the same as in the "Allowed vault path" section above. If the entry is missing, UTF-8 will be used.
Improved Fileserver Log File handling
Better handling of the file server log file. The following parameter can be defined in the file server configuration file (fileserver.cfg):
| Name | Default Value | Possible Values | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MaxFileSize | 10000 | 1000-100000 | The max file size for the fms.log in KB |
| MaxBackupIndex | 10 | 1-9999 | The maximal number of backup files like fms.log_0001 |
| OverwriteOldLogs | yes | yes or no | This setting controls if the file server overwrites old backup files. |
| StopOnError | no | yes or no | This setting controls if the file servr stops to work when no new log can be created. |
The file server always writes into the fms.log so the fms.log is the current log file.
If the file server reaches the maximum number of backup files a warning will be written into the Windows Event Log or into the UNIX syslog.
When the file server overwrites a backup log, a warning is posted into system logs.
If the file server is configured to stop in case no new log file can be created, the clients receive an error message and an error message is posted into the system log files.
Other Enhancements
New parameter /REFRESH={on|off} for userexit iwf_brw_ent
The parameter defines, if the browser can refresh the existing structure or whether it is required to reload the structure from scratch.
New default EDB-ASE-SHW-STR-QRY for heterogeneous structure explosion
The new defaults EDB-ASE-SHW-STR-QRY defines if the heterogeneous structure is shown as flat list or with tree control elements , which allow to expand/collapse substructures. Potential values for EDB-ASE-SHW-STR-QRY are:
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n - data will be shown in flat list
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y - data will be shown with tree controls allowing to expand/collapse the substructures
New widget buffer key ECI-WDG-PRF-ID
A new ECI specific widget buffer entry ECI-WDG-PRF-ID was added to allow the server to control the Store List Layout feature of the Java client on a per-widget base.
By setting this widget buffer entry during the pre-mask trigger, the server can either disable the Store List Layout feature, set a use-case specific sub key or use the standard mechanism.
In the standard code, the variant list and classification group list now disable the feature in the respective pre-mask trigger.
| Value of widget buffer key ECI-WDG-PFR-ID | Java-Client behavior |
| Not set or empty string | No modification, the client uses the feature as before (as set in the preferences UI). The mask name is used as the key in the list properties file. |
| "-" | Disables the feature for the widget. The client does not read, modify or store settings in the list properties file. Existing entries in this file are not modified or deleted. |
| Any other value | The specified value is used as a sub-key in addition to the mask name. This allows to store use-case specific list layouts depending on e.g. the Class Code in the classification group list or the item ID in the variant list. This is useful if each user only works with a handful of classification entries and wants to persist UI changes for these classes. Existing list entries without the sub-key are ignored and are not modified or deleted. |
As there have been issues with disappearing fields in variant list and classification group list, those lists will disable the Store List Layout feature in the respective pre-mask trigger.
Log files supporting UTF-8
All log file configurations based on the Third Party Tool Log4j have been switched to UTF-8 encoding. All the respective log files will contain UTF-8 content.
New parameter PLMConnectionRetry
A new application parameter PlmConnectionRetry has been added to the Core Service application.properties file:
A configurable number of connection attempts is made, if a timeout occurs during a server startup. Default retry number is one.
For each retry, the timeout increases by factor two
The default values are:
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PlmTimeout = 60000
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PlmConnectionRetry = 1
In order to change the default behavior, the PlmTimeout and PlmConnection retry values can be configured in the application.properties in the respective custom staging directory. The Web Services must be redeployed to activate the changes.
WebService Interface
New webservice GetObjectStructure
The new webservice GetObjectStructure allows to retrieve the data of a multilevel structure. It is supporting homogenous as well as heterogeneous structures. It uses the database stored procedure to walkthrough the multilevel structure most efficiently.
New webservice InternalFileObject
The web service method createUpdateFileObject from DocumentManagement Service was moved to the new service InternalFileObject Service.
This was necessary, because it allows to define a security policy for the internally used webservice, which is independent from the security policy used for the externally used web services
No code modifications on customer side are necessary, as this web method createUpdateFileObject will only be used internally by the other existing web services.
The web method was moved to the new InternalFileObject service
Logiview
New function array_length()
The new function array_length returns the length of an array. If the variable is not an array result will be 0.
New Profile EDB-LOGIVIEW-PROFILE
A new DataView profile called EDB-LOGIVIEW-PROFIL was added to the standard dump to give access to LogiView customizing also for non-manager users.
To use the new profile, customers can do one of the following approaches:
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Set the profile for each affected user. This requires that the user does not yet have a profile set.
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Set the profile for an existing group and assign the affected users to this group. This requires that the group does not yet have a profile set.
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Create a new group, set the profile for this group and assign the affected users to this new group
Batch Client
Configure to use HTTP FMS Client
The Batchclient supports a new parameter, which allows using the HTTP FMS Client instead of the native FMS client. The new parameter is varenv. HTTP_FMS_MODE. It is defined in the corresponding configuration files of the BatchClient. The parameter can be set to true or false.
Security
Login fail count
The login fail count distinguishes between ticket based failed logins and password based logins. Both events are tracked with separate counters in the user table.
The new counter C_FAI_TIC_CNT will count the failed ticket logins, while the existing counter C_FAI_CNT will continue to count failed password based logins.
A new session login with a valid password will fail if any of the counters is greater than the configured retry count. A ticket login with a valid ticket however will only fail if the ticket fail count is greater than the configured retry count, it will ignore the password fail count.
If a login was successful, only the respective fail count - password or ticket - is reset to 0.
Userexit pwd_chk supports LDAP users
The userexit pwd_chk allows to check passwords of LDAP users. For Agile e6 users, the userexit implements the Enhanced Security. For LDAP users the LDAP server has to take account for security features like locking an account.
The input parameter is always the Agile e6 user name.
Be aware: Kerberos users are not supported. However, if a Kerberos user has an additional LDAP mapping, this LDAP account can be used alternatively.
Dataview Repository
User C_IC and G_IC enhanced
The datatype for the fields T_USER.C_IC and T_GROUP.C_IC changed (increased) from I5 to I10 with value range 2 - 1999999999
Database Sequence Support
The Dataview Repository has been enhanced to support the definition of database sequences. Database sequences are often used to autofill unique object Identifiers.
PLM-API
HTTP no longer supported in PLM-API
PLM-API is enforced to run with HTTPS. Therefore, please make your infrastructure is configured accordingly. This includes
Java Client is configured to use HTTPS.
In the Preferences dialog in section General -> Login the protocol of the URL in field Server URL must be https (for example https://exampleserver.com:7104). In addition the HTTPS port must be used. Nevertheless if the protocol is http it will be automatically transferred into https before execution of a plm-api call from Java Client to Weblogic. The Weblogic server must also be configured to use HTTPS. For more information see the Architecture Guide, Administration Guide and the Online Help.
Enterprise Integration Platform (EIP)
HTTPS support for PLM Connector
The PLM Connector has been enhanced to connect to the EDM system via PLM-API with HTTPS optionally. For details of how to enable the https support please see Enterprise Integration Platform Administration Guide and Security Guide.
HTTPS support for http Connector
The http connector has been changed to work with https only. The implementation of the embedded Tomcat webserver was changed that it runs only in HTTPS mode. The webserver must be configured with additional parameters to define the keystore location which contains the certificate. For more information see the Enterprise Integration Platform Administration Guide and the Security Guide.
wsdl4j replaced by orawsdl
EIP customers do not need download third-party library wsdl4j.jar anymore. Lib orawsdl.jar will be used instead. In addition, the customers who want to use Web Service Connector (ws) as well as synchronous Web Service connector (ws-sync), have to copy WebLogic library com.oracle.webservices.wls.jaxws-wlswss-client.jar from WebLogic location ORACLE_HOME/wlserver/modules/clients/. This lib supports basic JAX-WS client-side functionality.
Replaced Jetty with Jasper
EIP WebService Connectors use Jasper (Apache Tomcat technology) instead of Jetty web server now.
Support for Secure Mailing
EIP supports the secure protocols SSL/TLS and STARTTLS, plain mailing is not supported any longer in EIP, the default is STARTTLS.
64-Bit Support for EIP
With Agile e6.2.1 EIP runs in a 64-Bit infrastructure only, as the JCO library is available for 64 Bit only on some of the platforms.
For file operations such as check-in or check-out, the following plm connector properties in configuration file eai_ini.xml need to be defined:
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fms-daemon-host : FMS Java Daemon host name
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fms-daemon-port : FMS Java Daemon port number
These new parameters for FMS Java Daemon should be set for file operations such as check-in or check-out.
Installer
DB Template modifications
The Database Templates for the manual installation as well as for the GUI based installation have been updated. The max number of processes is set to
max number = 2 x # of concurrent user + 50 (# of system processes)
Furthermore a 3rd redo log group has been added and the redo logfile sizes have been adapted.
Upgrade
The upgrade tool allows direct dump upgrade to Agile e6.2.1 from the following releases:
Agile e6.1.2.2
Agile e6.1.3
Agile e6.2.0
Additionally the Upgrade tool supports the migration of new standard and existing customer database sequences.
Upgrade of old non standard SCM Tool (consulting) is not supported. However loader files generated with old SCM package can still be loaded
De-Supported/Deprecate
Create Dump
Due to the deprecation of the DTV Client, the function Create Dump, to create a dumpfile of the DTV form definition on the client system deprecated.
Run PDF Generator as a service
The install of PDF Generator as Windows Service feature has been deprecated, because Microsoft Office hangs or crashes if running as Windows Service.
For details see the note from Microsoft:
Microsoft does not currently recommend, and does not support, Automation of Microsoft Office applications from any unattended, non-interactive client application or component (including ASP, ASP.NET, DCOM, and NT Services), because Office may exhibit unstable behavior and/or deadlock when Office is run in this environment.https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/257757
Documentation Accessibility
For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website athttp://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc.
Documentation Accessibility
For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc.
Access to Oracle Support
Oracle customers have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.
Oracle Agile Engineering Data Management/Release Notes Release e6.2.1.0
E52566-02
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