Please notify Gerard of any changes to this page

This table lists the most recent releases of Texpress 8.3 for each platform.
Select the Number in the Version column for Release Notes.

Top

Release Notes

8.3.011 - 12 May 2013

• Adjusted texload so that new records are placed into existing segments before being added to the overflow file. The change only effects fast insertions, while slow insertions continue to use existing segments where possible.

• The characters Æ, R and ~ are not matched when searching via texql or texserver. The characters can now be used matched when part of a search.

• The Texpress error messages are now distributed in both UTF-8 and ISO 8859-1 character sets. The change means that texserver can now provide error messages matching the clients character set as defined by the langcode Texpress option.
• Two new Texpress options have been added. The first, langlist, is a semi-colon separated list of languages supported by Texpress, while the second, langorder, defines the order in which the languages are to be displayed. The two options are used by the Texpress sorting and reporting API calls (TexCursSummary() and TexCursExport()).

8.3.010 - 20 Aug 2012

• Corrected problem resulting in error message from texserver "User is not registered to access the server". This was caused by occasional errors with the Diffie-Hellman (2048 bit) key exchange.

• Corrected error when SSL was enabled between client API (TexAPI or TexJDBC) and texserver the connection could hang at random times while the SSL handshake was being negotiated.

• Corrected problem with texserver where XML auditing of a "login" operation was attempted before the table security profile had been loaded.
• Corrected problem where texserver was not closing open cursors on program exit and often leaving temporary files (typically in /tmp/texpress).

8.3.009 - 17 Jul 2012

• If a unique value column is changed to the empty string then an attempt at incrementation will not be performed (i.e. the value will remain the empty string). Avoids issue where use of %Y format specifier will always generate a value.

• Extension added to matchverify option, matchverify=no, to delay all exact matching until a record is actually retrieved. This option should be only used in special situations. The new option means that a high number of "false" matches may be found, which are filtered out as records are read. This option should NOT be used where the number of matches is required via hits() as the count can be occasionally out by a large amount. The option is for use where after a search is performed every record is read sequentially. The option allows the search to complete very quickly and then have "false" matches removed as records are retrieved. The option allows for the faster retrieval of records allowing faster feedback to the calling process.

• Empty Latitude or Longitude values are now interpreted and printed as a NULL value, rather than the incorrect empty string.

8.3.008 - 30 May 2012

• Increased level of encryption used between client and server. A Diffie-Hellman (2048 bit) key exchange is used to seed a SHA-256 (256 bit) hash. The hash is used as the key to an AES-256-CBC cipher to encrypt all username and password information.
• Added support for named pipe based connections to texserver. The -pdir option specifies a directory in which two named pipes are created for communication between the client and server.
• Updated texlicstatus to display the directory of the named pipes when listing connections.

8.3.007 - 16 May 2012

• Username and password are now encrypted when transmitted from the client to the server. Requires at least TexAPI 6.0.007 or TexJDBC 0.9.8 for client side support

8.3.006 - 22 Mar 2012

• For Record Level Security added support for column updates on record save.
• Added support for updates of Record Level Security fields based on values in the current record when the record is saved.
• Add new TexRowPerms() call to provide efficient lookup of Record Level Security settings.
• XML auditing extended to include the "level" (that is the Group) used when the record was changed.
• The texreadonly program corrected to wait indefinitely for all table write locks to be released (previously it was exiting after a maximum timeout period).

8.3.005 - 02 Feb 2012

• A new option has been added to Texpress allowing the update of automatic values to be disabled when records are edited. A yes value for the new autos option forces automatic values to be updated on edits, while a no value disables the updates.
• A core file may be generated when a pipe based connection to texserver is terminated. Pipe based connections now terminate texserver without producing a core file.
• A Column accessed before row operation error may be generated if the TexSummary() TexAPI call is aborted via TexInterrupt(). The error no longer occurs.
• Using Insertion form validation code to change the value in a unique column may produce an error indicating the new value is not unique, even though it is unique. The error occurs only if the record fails validation when first saved. The error no longer occurs.
• The XML generated by the Texpress XML audit facility is not XML 1.0 compliant. Control characters are not legal data in XML 1.0. The audit facility has been changed to remove control characters from the generated XML.
• texql.pm does not handle Unicode, that is utf-8, data correctly. The data returned encodes utf-8 data twice, resulting is incorrect values. Unicode based data is now handled correctly.

8.3.004 - 20 Oct 2011

• An error message may be displayed when logging in using the administrator account and record level security is disabled. The error indicates that the administrator's group does not exist. The error is no longer displayed.
• The timeout feature in texserver (-t flag) does not work correctly on Solaris based systems. The feature now works correctly when a timeout value is specified.
• If the timeout feature is enabled and SSL connections are used, the connection may disconnect when a timeout ping is sent. SSL based connections now function correctly with the timeout feature enabled.
• The Unique attribute for a table column may now be set for systems with a runtime licence only.

8.3.003 - 06 Sep 2011

• TexQL may generate a segmentation fault (core dump) if the TERM environment variable is set to a non-supported value. TexQL has been modified to no longer require any user interface screen routines. The TERM environment variable is no longer consulted.
• Support for password expiry has been added. The support is provided for PAM, Interix and Traditional password databases. The TexAPI TexSessConnect() call now throws an TEEXPIREDPASSWD error if the current password has expired and a new one needs to be set. See the Password Management documentation for full details.

8.3.002 - 30 Jun 2011

• Support for the automatic conversion of literal values to the type required for TexQL operations has been added. The conversion allows literals to be a different type to the one required by the column on which they are operating. For example, the query:
  SELECT irn FROM table WHERE irn = '12'
  will now execute by converting the string value '12' into the integer value 12.
• If an UPDATE statement contains an operation in its WHERE clause that causes the optimiser to not add the operation to the table search (e.g. the IN keyword), then record level security (RLS) will not allow the record to be updated. RLS has been altered to allow the record to be modified if the user has the correct edit permissions for the record.
• The conversion of some TIME values may result in loss of precision due to rounding errors. These errors may lead to invalid TIME values. For example, the statement TIME '23.2' would result in a bad time value being produced (rather than the correct value of 23:12:00). The rounding error has been corrected.
• When performing a texreindex of a table, the reindex may go into an infinite loop, forcing the administrator to terminate the process. Changing the table configuration does not fix the issue. The indexing mechanism changes introduced in 8.3.001 caused this issue to arise. Further refinements to the indexing mechanism have been made to eliminate this issue. Installation of 8.3.002 requires all tables to be reindexed.
• Implementation of a new technique has significantly improved the speed of the texcompact program. All tables will now be compacted faster with the greatest relative speed improvements obtained for tables where the schema (tablename/ins file) is large. Compaction using the older technique can be forced via the -f command lne argument to texcompact.

8.3.001 - 03 May 2011

• Support of SSL/TLS based connections to texserver has been added. Client programs may now request an encrypted connection to the server. Support of hostname verification via X509 based certificates is also available. For a complete description of the new functionality see the Encrypted Connections documentation.
• Support for multiple security levels has been added to texserver. Client programs may switch security levels on a per cursor basis. For a complete description of the new functionality see the chapter on Security profile extensions in the Multi-group Supportdocumentation.
• The expat parser used to read XML files has been upgraded to version 2.0.1. The upgrade fixes an issue with the previous version when used on high end SPARC machines.
• The indexing mechanism has been improved to reduce the number of false matches at the index level. (Internal index level false matches are always discarded before record results are returned.)
• The utf8 langcode option has been renamed to utf-8 to bring it into line with the IANA Character Set naming convention.
• Fixed an issue with the getfldaddr() function where the first field in the form order is returned if an invalid field name is supplied as an argument. The last field in the form is now returned.
• Fixed an issue where the refkeyevaloption setting stored in a form is reset when texinit is run.

Upgrade Notes

The upgrade from Texpress 8.2 to Texpress 8.3 involves running a database reindex. Please follow the instructions below carefully:

1. Install Texpress 8.3.001 or greater.
   The following steps need to be performed for all installed databases.
   Please ensure that no-one is using the database while the upgrade is underway.
2. Log in as the database administrator.
3. Enter texadmin dbname
   where dbname is the name of the database.
4. Select Maintenance>Rebuild/load/progress from the Admin menu.
5. Enter Y to the Do you wish to continue? question.
6. Select Function>Forward until the cursor is next to the Index Rebuild option.
7. Select Function>Toggle to turn on the rebuild option.
8. Select Function>Perform to start the rebuild.
9. Press the space bar at the Preparation for rebuild completed message.
10. Press the space bar at the Completed rebuilding the database message.
11. Select Function>Exit from the Admin menu.
12. Return to step 3 to commence upgrading the next database.

The database may be accessed once the upgrade is complete. The new indexing mechanism should provide improved performance by lowering the number of false matches at the index level.

Top