What's New in Oracle Visual Builder Add-in for Excel
This page provides an overview of changes in recent releases of Oracle Visual Builder Add-in for Excel. It highlights the latest release updates first, then links to prior release summaries.
The sections below summarize what changed in the latest release.
New and Changed Features in Release 4.8
Table 1-1 New and Changed Features
| Area | Feature | Impact | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search | Support for searching on descendant fields | Developer: include eligible child/descendant fields directly in search conditions. | Use Child Business Object Fields in Search Conditions |
| Custom Action | Allow row status actions that return simple string results to support Gen-AI custom actions | Developer: row-status responses can use either structured items or a simple string message. | Row Status Custom Actions |
| Custom Action | Support for object-based fields with subfields | Developer: helps with map-based parameters by allowing you to configure/select subfields as individual payload inputs. | Custom Action Configuration |
| Layout Setup | Allow developers to specify parent columns during layout setup to facilitate create in dependent layouts | Developer: enable create-ready dependent layouts directly in the setup wizard. | Choose Parent Columns for Dependent Layouts During Layout Setup |
| Ancestor Columns | Support using transient row variables as parent columns to facilitate row creation in dependent layouts | Developer: improves parent matching when no suitable unique set of parent columns is available. | Use Row Variables as Ancestor Columns |
| Ancestor Columns | Allow for case-insensitive matching when connecting child rows to parent rows via parent columns | User: fewer row-matching failures due to case differences in parent-column values. | Add Ancestor Columns to Dependent Layouts |
| Download | Download selected rows | User: refresh only selected rows instead of re-downloading the full table. | Download Selected Rows in a Table |
| Download | Improve reporting of Bad Request errors on download | User: 400 download failures are surfaced as failed downloads in Status Viewer with clearer troubleshooting guidance. | How Do I Resolve Errors From the Service? |
| Lists of Values | In popup windows, improved the message when depends-on field value is missing | User: clearer correction path for missing/invalid depends-on values. | How Do I Resolve List of Values Errors? |
| Workbook Parameters | Enhanced UI to clarify intended usage of the Test Workbook Parameters dialog | Developer: clearer test-only intent and iterative-testing workflow for workbook-parameter-driven download behavior. | Use Workbook Parameters for Download |
| REST | Support “Other” REST services without Oracle REST Standard media types | Developer: catalogs can integrate additional REST services that use application/json without ORDS media types. |
Other Services |
| Third-party | Microsoft.OpenApi upgraded to version 3.4.0 | N/A | Third Party Licenses |
| Third-party | Json.NET upgraded to version 13.0.4 | N/A | Third Party Licenses |
| Third-party | Removed SharpYaml dependency | N/A | Third Party Licenses |
Fixed Issues in Release 4.8
These issues in prior releases have been fixed in version 4.8:
- Invalid dependent LOV filters are now flagged immediately so users can see bad defaults without waiting for later validation (VBAFE-2726)
- BOSS SelfLink handling now guards against URLs that are missing the expected locale segment so link normalization no longer breaks in those cases (VBAFE-2743)
- The attachment popup no longer replaces other primary panels in the Excel popup, so opening attachments does not unexpectedly dismiss other active UI content (VBAFE-2778)
- Designer field lists are now refreshed each time the designer is shown, fixing stale field-picker content after metadata changes (VBAFE-2791)
- Custom action columns in a table now show the required indicator (*) when columns are grouped (VBAFE-2758)
- Fixed NRE when deleting field used by Create-Rows-from-Data-Source (VBAFE-2727)
- Fixed issue with incorrect encoding of space characters in path parameter values, which could cause 404 responses for child table download (VBAFE-2800)