FlexDeploy 4.0 Fixpack 2 (4.0.2)

These release notes provide a high-level summary of the changes between FlexDeploy 4.0.1 and 4.0.2, and describe any changes that impact existing implementations.

General Defect Fixes / Enhancements

• Added integration with Perforce Source Control Managment System
• Fixed issue with overriding properties on a project for a named instance and environment
• Added ProjectName groovy variable to to FlexField validation script
• Added PrivateKey groovy variable to Endpoint Defaults script
• Added encrypted flag for plugin user inputs, which should allow for passing encrypted Workflow inputs to plugins as user input.

Plugin Fixes / Enhancements

• WebLogic
  • Fixed issue where connection to Admin Server or Node Manager was failing if using SSL and the DemoTrust key store
  • Fixed issue where Admin Server stop operation failed if it was started manually using WebLogic scripts 
  • Added support for properties and system properties on Datasources
  • Added support for migratable targets on JMS Queues
• JDBC - Better handling of SQL/PLSQL comments
• File - Added operation for performing string replacement within files.
• Oracle Business Intelligence -  Added support for sourcing RPD and WebCatalog from an SCM
• Git - Updated version validation check to support versions with alpha-numeric characters
• Oracle SOA - Added support for SOA 12.2.1.2
• Oracle B2B - Fixed issue with 11g classpath configuration
• Oracle E-Business Suite
  
  • EBS Program Files deploy command is now generated without .prog extension in symbolic link
  • Fixed issue where SQL file executions were failing if the script contained an exit statment
  • Fixed issue where SQL Loader source property was ignored
  • Added EBS as a source type for building OAF personalization files

New Plugins

• REST - Execute external REST services (e.g. GET, POST)
• XPath - Extract data elements from XML and JSON messages
• utPLSQL - Execute utPLSQL tests and test suites using FlexDeploy's test automation framework
• Perforce - Perform basic SCM operations, such as checkout, export, and label
• Oracle Managed File Transfer - Build and deploy MFT artifacts

FlexDeploy 4.0 Fixpack 1 (4.0.1)

These release notes provide a high-level summary of the changes between FlexDeploy 4.0 and 4.0.1, and describe any changes that impact existing implementations.

Defect Fixes

• Plugin step editor in workflow was displaying incorrect plugin name periodically.
• Workflow variables of type Double cause NullPointerException

Plugin Updates

• Oracle Data Integrator - now supports 12.2.x
• Oracle Database - Synonyms, Materialized Views and Materialized View Logs now work with partial deployment
• Oracle Database - Removed "Force Create Baseline" input on synchronize operation
• Oracle JDeveloper - Plugin input description changes
• Oracle WebLogic - Added Failed status check to server start operation
• Microsoft TFVC - Fixed issue where files were read-only on checkout

FlexDeploy 4.0

These release notes provide a high-level summary of the changes between FlexDeploy 3.7.1 and 4.0, and describe any changes that impact existing implementations.

Extended Platform Support

• FlexDeploy can now be installed on Apache Tomcat (version 8.55)

General/Usability

• Override Project properties (Project or Environment-Instance scope) by combination of Environment, Instance or Environment/Instance. For example, you can now configure different WebLogic server name for each Environment.
• Properties and Plugin inputs are now displayed using friendly display name, with "copy code to clipboard" icon for use in various Groovy scripts.
• Workflow editor provides options to lookup variables/codes for use in Workflow Groovy scripts. 
• View running/completed tests within dashboard.
• Define security to control who can submit deployments to which environments.
• Run workflows on an out-of-the-box endpoint (localhost) representing the FlexDeploy server.
• Abort running workflows.
• Stop deployment of dependent package(s) when executing deployment fails (partial deployment).
• Type ahead search mechanism on build request form (partial deployment).
• Multi-select to move project files to another type (partial deployment).
• Multi-select to inactivate project files (partial deployment).
• Multi-select to regenerate build/deploy commands (partial deployment).
• Show new project files after populate (partial deployment).
• Build package with changed files since last build (partial deployment).
• Additional sample workflows provided.
• Filtering of properties on Project and Environment Instance properties screen.
• Requested By, Package Name and Project Version is now available as filter criteria on Project current activity table.
• Project files filter button now works with press of Enter key. It also supports more complex filtering where you can type in multiple words separated by space and system will try to find best match files. 
• Submit build or deployment request form will only list Environments that are mapped to project build or deployment Instance(s) respectively. 
• Deployment submitter can now cancel associated Scheduled Task, even if they do not have Update permission to Scheduled Task. This is not true for Approval Tasks, which can only be cancelled by member of Group that has Approval Task.

Extensibility

• Enhanced metadata around properties, workflow inputs & plugin inputs to drive enhance user experience and drive richer workflow capabilities. For example, 
  • Workflow inputs now support user friendly Display Name, List (single or multiple selection), Secure value (encrypted), Required/Length/Min/Max validations, custom Groovy script based initialization and validations.
  • Plugin developers can now configure Plugin inputs and properties with user friendly Display Name, List (single or multiple selection), Secure value (encrypted), Required/Length/Min/Max validations, custom Groovy script based validations.
  • Workflow developers can now configure custom properties with user friendly Display Name, List (single or multiple selection), Secure value (encrypted), Required/Length/Min/Max validations, custom Groovy script based initialization and validations.
  • Properties now has default value (literal or Groovy script based).
  • Users can now specify value of Property (Project or Environment/Instance) as Literal or Groovy script. 
• New Plugin SDK, allowing customers and 3^rd parties to create their own FlexDeploy plugins to integrate with virtually any middleware platform or technology.
• New REST APIs for external integration into FlexDeploy. New APIs include updating properties, approving/rejecting tasks, running/cancelling scheduled tasks, and submitting build/deploy requests for partial deployments.
• Approve FlexDeploy tasks based on Jira status changes.

Extended Support for Oracle EBS

• Deployment support for Functional Setups
• Download XML publisher and Workflows from EBS development instance during build
• Extended XML Publisher deployment support for Bursting files, Data templates, Template sources
• XML Publisher object types now support Custom Mode. 
• Generate and sign custom production JAR files for OAF
• Override database user and password used to load XML Definition Files.

New Plugins

• Oracle APEX
• Oracle BI
• Oracle Database
• Oracle Forms
• Docker
• Puppet

Plugin Updates

• Support for SOA Suite 12.2.x long running processes
• Extended support for WebLogic configuration management
  • JMS Servers, Persistent Stores
  • Multi Data Sources
• Added timeout property for WebLogic undeploy and libraryUndeploy operations

Incompatible Changes

• Workflow variable codes and input codes must be unique.  Prior to 4.0 it was possible to have an input and variable with the same name, which caused conflicts during execution.  If you have existing workflows with these naming conflicts you will need to resolve them prior to execution.

Known Issues

Oracle Database Plugin

• Synonyms, Materialized Views and Materialized View Logs do not work with partial deployment

• The synchronize operation does not honor the "Force Create Baseline" option on the request, and always creates a new baseline on deploy.