Technical Notes

Release Notes: Verastream Integration Broker, Version 10.0
Technical Note 10089
Last Reviewed 21-Aug-2009
Applies To
Verastream Integration Broker version 10.0
Summary

This document describes new features and other important information about version 10.0 of Verastream Integration Broker (VIB), which released in March 2009.

New Features and Known Issues

Support for Windows 64-bit Platform

Verastream Integration Broker 10.0 now supports a Windows 64-bit platform on XP, Server 2003, Vista, and Server 2008 with the following limitations:

• COM is not supported on this platform.
• If you install a 64-bit JRE, JNI works, however the VIB documentation will not. This is because 64-bit Java does not support Internet Explorer, which is a requirement of the VIB documentation. To view the documentation, install 32-bit Java. You can find more information on this issue on the Sun web site.

User Account Control (UAC) Support

VIB now supports UAC on Microsoft Vista and 2008 Server.

UAC is the security and administrative infrastructure introduced by Microsoft in the Vista operating system.

In VIB there are certain things to remember when using UAC:

• VIB does not write in C:\Program Files. The programs that you may have written with VIB may be affected by UAC. If your program reads or writes a file in a subfolder of C:\Program Files, it will have to be changed. Writing a file in C:\Program Files will fail and will not be redirected elsewhere.
• Microsoft provides a compatibility mechanism called Virtualization. VIB does not use virtualization.
• To start or stop the Verastream Network Service or Administrative Webstation using a menu option, you must run as an administrator. Right-click on the menu option and select "Run as administrator". A User Account Control dialog box displays, select Continue.
• To execute the menu option, Administrative Tools/Edit Fonts and Colors without error, you must run as an administrator. Right-click on the menu option and select "Run as administrator". A User Account Control dialog box displays, select Continue.

New Location for PARDIR Directory

Due to the UAC funtionality, the PARDIR directory has moved. In VIB 10.0 the PARDIR directory is now installed in the common application data folder. The location of this directory is dependent on the version of Windows that you are using.

• Vista and 2008 Server:

• XP and 2003 Server:

• UNIX: The location did not change.

Second sn.ini File Added

The UAC functionality also required changes to the sn.ini file, located in <install location>/bin. This file is now read-only. A second sn.ini file has been provided for editing. This editable sn.ini file is located in the PARDIR directory.

An sn.ini file in the current directory has precedence over the sn.ini file located in the PARDIR directory and this sn.ini file (PARDIR) has precedence over the original sn.ini file (C:\Program Files).

Samples May Have to be Moved

You may have to move the sample files to a writable directory for them to continue to function.

New Install Program and Configuration Program

The new install program is an MSI package with an Attachmate installer interface. To configure VIB after installation, there is a new configuration program. This program, which runs automatically after installation, installs your license file and lets you select the correct version of your adapters. The configuration program is accessible from a shortcut in the Start menu so you can rerun the configuration program without reinstalling VIB.

Configuration Program

The configuration program steps you through the licensing and adapter selection process. The license and adapter configuration completes the install program.

To complete the license and configuration program:

• Specify and install the license file. An evaluation license is available for limited product availability.
• Select the adapters you are using in the product. The version of the adapter you choose must match the installed software.
  • Adapters that are not licensed are not shown in the selection list.
  • Adapters that do not require a choice to be made are not shown in the selection list.
  • For each adapter in the tree view, select a version from the selection list. Click Next to select the next adapter. You can go back by selecting an adapter in the tree view.
  • When you select an adapter a parameter is added the sn.ini file in the PARDIR directory. For example if you choose the Informix Client SDK 3.50, ESQL/C 3.50 adapter, the following will be added to the sn.ini file: SNINFORMIX=%VSADAPTERDIR%\snsfx35_256.dll

After you have configured all adapters, the program prompts you to save the configuration in sn.ini in the PARDIR directory.

DLL Indicated by Parameters in sn.ini File

Previously the adapter DLLs were copied into the bin directory. This is no longer the case. The correct DLL is indicated by parameters in the sn.ini file. On UNIX systems symbolic links are used and have not changed.

Support for .NET 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5

The .NET VCP library was introduced in VIB 9.9. This library also works with .NET 3.0 and 3.5.

Register Demo VCP components

In previous versions, demo VCP components were already registered when the product was installed. Starting with VIB 10, this is no longer the case. To use the components, you must first register them. This applies to the "TransferData" component located in the "Verastream Component Library" repository.

There are two ways to register components: on the command line (all platforms) or on Windows platforms, right-click the .fle file. You can find instructions for registering components in the VIB Training Manual (vib95.pdf), Registering Components for a Composite Application.

Example

To register TransferData:

• Command line: Change to the directory <install location>/demo/components, then run command "nova -eregister trdata"
• Windows: Browse to folder <install location>/demo/components, right-click the file trdata.fle, then select "Register Component (-eregister)"

Specify Time of File Creation with Millisecond Precision

A "filecreationdatetime" field has been added to the FILES object. This field tells the last time a file was modified or saved. While the File properties in Windows Explorer contains the time a file was created, you can now use the FILES object to determine a file's created time.

VIB now supports millisecond precision in time and datetime fields. To use milliseconds, you must change the definition of FIELD declarations in your code. For example, you can declare a field of type and datetime as follows:

Processing existing time and datetime fields, without specifying milliseconds in the format, is not affected. If you assign a value with millisecond precision to a field that does not contain millisecond support, the milisecond values will be truncated.

There is adapter-specific information regarding the support of milliseconds:

Adapter	Type of support
ASCII ("cat") C-ISAM Informix DB/2 JNI (Java) DBase IV FoxPro Clipper PostgreSQL ODBC XML	Fully supports millisecond precision time values
ROA/WOA	Supports new time and datetime format options: MSTIMEFORMAT, MSTF, MSDATETIMEFORMAT and MSDTF.These options control the parsing and formatting of milliseconds.New time and datetime environment variables: MWOAMSTF and MWOAMSDTF.
SQL Server (supports 1/300 sec) Sybase (supports 1/300 sec) Rdb (supports 1/100 sec)	Supports values smaller than a second but not exact milliseconds. In this case, the adapter must round the millisecond values.
Oracle Raw Data Files ("raw") Cobol, MicroFocus Cobol VHI COM Siebel MQ/Series.	Does not support millisecond precision, thus the adapter cannot use the millisecond values. The milliseconds are truncated.
SQL Server type DATETIME2	Not supported
Oracle type TIMESTAMP	Not supported
VCP	Supports milliseconds when you specify the new formats "xsdtime", "xsddate", or "xsddatetime". On the wire, the format used is an ISO 8601 string without timezone, for example "1965-02-03T04:05:06.007". The existing "time", "date" and "datetime" formats are still fully supported but they will cause the milliseconds to be rounded.

Changes have been made to the expression functions that work with time and datetime. As follows:

Expression Function	Decription
time(h,m,s,t)	optional 4th argument: construct time value including milliseconds
datetime(y,mo,d,h,mi,s,t)	optional 7th argument: construct datetime value including milliseconds
period(h,m,s,t)	optional 4th argument: construct time value including milliseconds
period(y,mo,d,h,mi,s,t)	optional 7th argument: construct period including milliseconds
format(...)	"TTT" and "ttt" can be used to format millisecond values.
time()	returns current time including milliseconds
datetime()	returns current datetime including milliseconds
milliseconds(t)	returns milliseconds in t, an integer value between 0 and 1000.
t1 - t2	(subtracting two time values) now results in a floating point value, being the number of seconds difference, with milliseconds as fraction
dt1 - dt2	(subtracting two datetime values) now results in a floating point value, being the number of seconds difference, with milliseconds as fraction

Additional information:

• The function SLEEP/BASE now accepts a floating point value as argument, for example, SLEEP BASE 2.5. The accuracy of this delay is dependent on the operating system and hardware, and cannot be guaranteed.
• If all parties are VIB 10.0, partitioning and data server support milliseconds. If an older server or client is used, the milliseconds are truncated.
• Repositories in Process Integrator now include metadata about millisecond precision.
• Importing table and component definitions will generate time and datetime fields with millisecond formats, if applicable.

Executing Update Table from Repository in Process Integrator

When ‘Update Table from Repository’ is executed in Process Integrator, the metadata value is used, instead of the global variable VSREPOSCOLUMNTOLOWER. This is done, because the value of this variable might not be the same as it was when the updated table was imported.

FRENAME Available in SQL Server ODBC Interface

The SQL Server interface is transparent for all basic functions when using ODBC or the db-library as an API. FRENAME was present in the db-library version of the backend and has been added for ODBC. Although ODBC does not support rename, SQL Server has this function available using the stored procedure sp_rename.

Siebel Gateway Requires Separate C Runtime Installation

After upgrading the Siebel Gateway (vssblgw.dll) to version 10.0, Siebel VBC or IO invocation may generate an error message beginning with the following:

To resolve this issue, download and install the Microsoft Visual C/C++ Runtime libraries (msvcr80.dll, etc.) on the Siebel system. The download is available from Microsoft at the following address:

New License Files

When upgrading to version 10.0, a new snlicens.txt file must be obtained and copied to your PARDIR folder to activate the software. To obtain your unique license file(s), contact VIBLicenseKey@attachmate.com with your VPA number. Response is normally provided within one business day.

Related Technical Notes

0200	Using the Attachmate Download Library (FAQ)
10071	Release Notes: Verastream Integration Broker, Version 9.9
10999	Verastream Integration Broker Technical Notes