August 2023
New Features
New 'Quarantine' State for Lionbridge Translations
A new ‘Quarantine’ state for translation jobs sent through the Lionbridge asynchronous translation component has been added. Now, when translation jobs are received from Lionbridge, they will remain in the ‘Quarantine’ state for 5 days before they are completed and archived.
This interim period gives customers time to review the job and approve it before it is archived. Previously, translation jobs received from Lionbridge would be completed and archived immediately, requiring customers to open a new job if rework was required. For more information on this, refer to the Configuring an Asynchronous Translation Service topic in the Translations documentation here.
LFSC Announcement
Customer Action Required for Harmful Lock-free Schema Change (LFSC) Bug
The LFSC (Lock Free Scheme Change) feature replaced SUM (Single Update Mode) when Stibo Systems introduced Cassandra as a database. Cassandra database does not have a concept of locks like Oracle does.
After a recent unplanned outage / restart, we uncovered a bug in the Lock-free Schema Change (LFSC) feature. If an LFSC process was running at the time of the outage, and if the system was brought back online without the bugfix (outlined below), there was risk of data corruption.
To prevent the loss of data, users should apply the hotfix outlined below to their systems. It is applicable to the last maintenance patch version of each baseline version. For example, 11.1 systems should be on 11.1-MP4 to apply the hotfix. Those customers installing the newly released 11.2 (2023.2) do not need this hotfix since the fix is included in the baseline code.
to:hotfix/621/issue-621425-HOTFIX-6544.spr
Because you may not know what database your system is using, this hotfix is safe for Cassandra systems and non-Cassandra systems. For SaaS systems, the hotfix will be applied by Stibo Systems when it is time to do any additional hotfixing, upgrading, and restarts. Open an issue (i.e., ticket) in the Stibo Systems Service Portal if you would like to have this hotfix applied immediately. If you do not proactively open a new issue in the next few days, we will begin to reach out to each Stibo Systems SaaS customer individually (through a ticket) to schedule.
For all customers: we stand ready to move forward with updating your systems or helping you update your systems with the fix.
Additionally, we recommend the following:
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Do not engage the LFSC feature on your systems until step 2 (below) is accomplished. (i.e., do not attempt any of the actions that would have engaged a SUM process in Oracle).
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Update your systems to the latest maintenance patch for your STEP baseline version. Apply the hotfix. Your non-production systems (QA, DEV, and pre-prod) should also be hotfixed.
For more information about LFSC, refer to the Lock-free Schema Change documentation. Contact Stibo Systems Support with any questions.
PDX Announcement
STEP to PDX Integration
The new integration approach to integrating STEP and PDX moves the responsibility of converting multi-context STEPXML to PDX-native JSON from the STEP application to the PDX application. This change has been done to improve the overall throughput of product records transferred from STEP to PDX.
Currently, when the PDX component is added to STEP versions 10.1 – 11.2 (2023.2), the old JSON outbound integration is used. However, the new STEPXML outbound integration also works with these STEP versions. Starting with the STEP 2023.3 release in September 2023, ONLY the new STEPXML outbound integration will be supported, and the old JSON outbound integration will no longer be supported.
Users of PDX, regardless of their STEP version, will be required to set up the new STEPXML outbound integration and disable the old JSON outbound integration by the time 2023.3 is released. Existing customers on the JSON outbound integration must contact their Stibo Systems account manager or partner manager to discuss migration to the STEPXML outbound integration approach.
The documentation has been updated to reflect the upcoming changes. For more information, refer to the Product Data Exchange section of the Data Integration documentation here.
New PDX Syndication customers should only use the STEPXML outbound integration.
Bugfixes
ISSUE-506586 - Fix for STEP InDesign plugin - after Database Update applied paragraph style is not correct
Fixed a problem with the InDesign client plugin. Previously, after a Database Update was applied, the paragraph style was lost when using a STEPCOND tag.
ISSUE-543647 - Fix for localization of inline references
Now, inline references in Web UI have localized decimal separators according to the current Web UI context.
ISSUE-567276 - Fix for inability to get the French name heading in the Export Report
Headings in XLS exports will now be exported in the correct language.
ISSUE-576341 - Fix for asynchronous translation service: translation status not updated - was: Reimport of the translated file fails
Translation import now considers Excluded Attributes while calculating the status of the translation. Before, only the 'Always Excluded Attributes' configuration in User & Groups tab was taken into account. This patch fixes the issue with Excluded Attributes in Translation Configuration Setup Node. Several hotfix solutions are also available for this solution that applies to various baselines and the async-translation-7.0.23 component.
ISSUE-580302 - Fix for Delete Reference showing in Web UI for References Properties
Fixed a problem occurring when Delete Reference action was available for a user without the privilege to delete the reference on a Web UI Node Editor's References component.
ISSUE-590403 - Fix for Advanced Merge issue when the 'Read Only' option on the Attribute Value Group header component is not working
Fixed a problem when attributes in the Merge Preview column on an Advanced Merge screen were editable despite being configured as 'Read Only.'
ISSUE-592267 - Fix for getting a fatal 'Unexpected error in Discontinue Item' - total screen message is shown
Fixed a NullPointerException occurring in the Web UI Task List when a user performed any toolbar action after choosing a Total state on the Status Selector with only one state configured.
ISSUE-593825 - Fix for java.lang.NullPointerException experienced during reference setting
Fixed NullPointerException encountered if one of the typeahead requests in the Reference Target cell in workbench was terminated concurrently.
ISSUE-596599 - Fix for issue approving object after update on data container
Now, 'Add Data Container' and 'Delete Data Container' toolbar actions on a Global Data Container Multi Editor will correctly reflect the Approve action enabled state on Web UI Node Editor screen where the Multi Editor is configured. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to step-11.0-mp4 and mp5.
ISSUE-603849 - Fix for displaying thousands of separators in attribute values on the Web UI
Introduced a possibility to show the thousands of separators on the Web UI Node Editor and Web UI Node List when displaying the Attribute Value components of numeric-based validation base types. To toggle this possibility, contact Stibo Systems Support. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, saas-11.2, as well as step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, step-11.1-mp6, and step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-604201 - Fix for symbol for inheriting the master context disappearing in the child context if there are any style tags included
Code changes were done to set the red arrow symbol indicating 'Inherited from other context' to display even if there are style tags in the attribute value.
ISSUE-608903 - Fix for when there were no context inheritance on references
Dimension inheritance triangles were added for references in the workbench. When multiple references are shown in the Web UI, the dimension inheritance triangles are now shown for each individual reference.
ISSUE-610810 - Fix for HTML tags in the Web UI
Now, attributes are imported properly from STEPXML when the validation type is written in uppercase. Also, fixed the problem with values containing tags not displaying in the Web UI for already badly imported attributes. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, step-11.1-mp4 / mp5, and included in step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-615742 - Fix for when a de-activated user is able to access the STEP Workbench
If single sign on is used and a user without STEP Workbench privileges attempts to start the workbench after login, then an error message 'You do not have privileges to access STEP workbench' is shown and the workbench is terminated. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, saas-11.2, as well as step-11.1-mp3, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, step-11.1-mp6, and step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-617651 - Fix for when production is stuck
A better error message has been added for display, if an error occurs. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to step-11.0-mp4 and 11.0-mp5.
ISSUE-618009 - Fix for STEP QA environment being slow in processing all the events
Suppressed unnecessary logs when doing a Link Golden Record matching, which caused a message 'WARNING: Unsupported dummy value type' to fill out the application server logs. This hotfix for this solution is also available and is included in step-11.1-mp6 and applicable to step-11.1-mp4 / mp5 and saas-11.1.
ISSUE-618063 - Fix for SaaS project: customer reference target search results do not come up in the Web UI
Fixed a problem when the Node Picker dialog in the Web UI could not be resized correctly. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and 11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-619435 - Fix for when CIF format: 'Do not replace with something' does not work
Now, in export mappings other than CSV and XLS (JSON, CIF), it is possible to set a transformation that replaces an empty value with a provided value. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.0, as well as step-11.0-mp4 / mp5.
ISSUE-622644 - Additional logging for errors when creating new OE numbers
Added additional logging to investigate the exception. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.0, step-11.0-mp4, and step-11.0-mp5
ISSUE-623883 - Fix for when a key attribute value is suddenly empty for all sales items
Lock-free Schema Change improvements have been made for error handling for Lock-free Schema Change, including cases where data could be lost.
ISSUE-623891 - Fix for SaaS - conditional validity feature with an undocumented limit
Introduced a possibility to configure the limit of conditional validity elements, previously hardcoded to 100. To change the limit, contact Stibo Systems Support. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, step-11.1-mp4 / mp5, and included in step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-626662 - Fix for PIM - insert references
Now, it is possible to export the name of ReferenceTypes and References applied in the Insert References export mapping. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, step-11.1-mp3, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-626816 - Fix for 11.1 migration problem with asset push
Keep the connection alive if asset push takes a long time. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and 11.0-mp6.
ISSUE-626870 - Fix for Project Team: STEP Migration and Upgrade Project
Import of commercial terms could fail with an exception if the import configuration contained multiple commercial-term mappings and the system was configured to run In-Memory. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.2 and step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-627811 - Fix for when the table attribute filter selection displays 0/-1
Now, the table attribute filter displays 0/0 as an attribute counter for an empty list. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1 as well as step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-627865 - Fix for the Web UI LOV Filter no longer working in List View after the version upgrade
This is a bugfix for a table cell dropdown (in LOVs) that was not working while using business conditions in the Web UI. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1 as well as step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-628610 - Fix for special tags in the UI not showing as expected
Now, the tags formatting will be correctly displayed for the Web UI Node Editor Attribute Value component configured to display an LOV attribute with a checkbox or radio button override control type. There is a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to step-10.3-mp4 / mp5, and saas-10.3.
ISSUE-628801 - Fix for when multi-context exports multiple values for a reference
STEP exporter improvement for non-stepXML formats: inherited depth, context, and qualifiers are considered on reference while applying mapping rules. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1 as well as step-11.1-mp3, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-628844 - Fix for cannot subtract from 'All' 202 workspace
Implemented an In-Memory version of two existing healthchecks: Unrevised values should be revised, and Revised values should be unrevised.
ISSUE-628897 - Fix for event processor handling issue - triggering twice
Fixed a problem that occurred when changing an empty value to a non-empty value for an LOV externally maintained single-valued attribute in the workbench causing an event for an EP to be generated twice. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.0, step-11.0-mp4, and step-11.0-mp5.
ISSUE-628987 - Fix for when downloading large files takes a long time
Now, the link for Asset Download will be opened in a new window when the download is preparing to start. It affects the 'Download Asset' action for Asset Representations on the Web UI Node Editor screen with the 'Direct download' option enabled in design mode. This fix improves the user experience by letting the user know that the download started, even if it takes some time to start the download due to the connection to external DAM location.
ISSUE-629963 - Fix for Lock-free Schema Change
Improved the performance of the auto-delete mechanism of files in hotfolders for inbound endpoints. Previously, its performance would be severely affected if the hotfolder contained many files as it accessed each file multiple times. Now, it only accesses each file once, increasing the speed. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, saas-11.2, step-11.1-mp3, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.0-mp5, step-11.1-mp6, and step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-630480 - Fix for issue in images import
An existing fix to keep the Workbench connection alive has been backported to step-10.2-mp3. The issue occurred when a user was trying to import around 6000 images from their local machine to STEP, and the process was getting struck after a certain period. The import process was failing.
ISSUE-630540 - Fix for PIM - Fatal error while opening product
Querying references for a specific reference-type on a product with many references could trigger a fatal internal error ('Required inMemory-Index not found for PQL expression'). This has been fixed. There is a hotfix also available for this solution that is applicable to step-11.1-mp4 through mp6 and saas-11.1.
ISSUE-630593 - Fix for exception 'Critical – STEP not usable'
Fixed a sporadic issue with testing business rules in the workbench with 'Attempt stop after X seconds' checkbox enabled. Due to caching problems, this functionality was sometimes throwing an unexpected exception when a user tried to test the business rule. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-630773 - Fix for inconsistent number of confirmed non duplicates
Multiple Web UI improvements were made to the Advanced Merge dialog to clarify how the UI should be used:
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Disabled all bottom buttons except 'Cancel' when a record is selected.
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Added a hover tooltip when buttons are disabled that says 'Use toolbar to exclude or include records.'
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Updated button labels and ordering as follows:
Toolbar: Exclude from task / Include in task / Set as Survivor
Bottom bar: Cancel / Reassign task / Submit to 'On Hold' [ if present ] / Reject included records / Merge included records.
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Updated confirmation dialog styling (warning icon instead of info) and text.
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Color scheme changed for dark / light / default Web UI style for Advanced Merge dialog title.
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Grey background color implemented for excluded record cells.
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New icon added for enabled / disabled 'Merge included records' button.
There is also a hotfix for this issue that is applicable to saas-11.0, step-11.0-mp4 / mp5.
ISSUE-631357 - Fix for supplier portal user / group security risk
Fixed a problem when the Table Header User Group, configured on a User List screen in the Web UI, allowed vendor users to add a user outside of their supplier group. There is also a hotfix for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1 and step-11.1-mp3 through mp6.
ISSUE-631541 - Fix for when an issue with a deadline escalates in a workflow
If a StateflowDeadline background process was running for a long time, a new process could be started while the old one was still running, causing conflicts. If transition logs were missing for an object in a workflow, trying to remove the object from the workflow would cause an exception to be thrown. These issues have been fixed.
ISSUE-632104 - Fix for a random display of attribute groups in the Task List
Fixed a problem when valid attribute headers under the Table Header Value Group with 'Show Only Valid Attributes' and 'Show Empty Group Headers' configured were disappearing when the user switched the Node List direction.
ISSUE-632156 - Fix for an error when a new Workflow is created
Fixed a NullPointerException which appeared when saving a newly created Workflow in the workbench.
ISSUE-632571 - Fix for Change Package Handling Column update not working
The handling of multiple cells for copy and paste in a Change Package system setup has been fixed. Previously, the 'ignore' setting could not be copied and pasted into multiple cells.
ISSUE-633051 - Fix for when converting an attribute to use an LOV caused data errors
Fixed a problem where changing an externally maintained attribute to use an LOV could cause data inconsistencies on Cassandra (or on Oracle systems where Lock-free Schema Change is enabled). There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, saas-11.2, as well as step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, step-11.1-mp6, and step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-633162 - Fix for icons not visible in Web UI
Fixed problem with encoding of ObjectTypeId containing special characters when trying to fetch the ObjectType Icon in the tree view.
ISSUE-633880 - Fix for a PMDM upgrade paste issue in the workbench
The fix increases the maximum number of LOV values that are preloaded to the LOV from the server to 6000. Those values are used to preliminary validate if the pasted value exists in that LOV. If the value was not found and the LOV has more values than those preloaded, an attribute tries to set the value anyway. Then, if the server finds the value, it is set properly, and if not, a message that the value does not belong to the LOV is returned. Previously, if the pasted value was not found among the preloaded values, the error message appeared. This has been fixed. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1 as well as step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-634073 - Fix for opening an attribute in the workbench leading to a stack trace
Attributes there were migrated to STEP 11.2 from an older STEP release could not be opened in the workbench if they had a language + country dimension. This has now been fixed.
ISSUE-634545 - Fix for when inherited references do not show in GraphQL Query
Fixed the issue with adding inherited Product Classification links in a GraphQL response in a 'graphqlv2' endpoint. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-10.3, as well as step-10.3-mp4 and 10.3-mp5.
ISSUE-634896 - Fix for a setback - ClassCastException received when trying to open a Golden Record Advanced Merge dialog
Fixed a ClassCastException on the Advanced Merge screen when rendering multi-value data container values. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.2, step-11.2, and 11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-635139 - Fix for bulk update configuration issue
Fixed a problem when an operations step in the Bulk Update Wizard in STEP Workbench was not showing the correct Set Single Value operation that was restored from the existing Bulk Update configuration. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.1, step-11.1-mp3, step-11.1-mp4, step-11.1-mp5, and step-11.1-mp6.
ISSUE-635349 - Fix for diagnostic report generating twice
Diagnostics snapshots created via the admin portal were performing two uploads, leading to wasted time and confusion. This has now been rectified, so that only one upload is performed.
ISSUE-635526 - Fix for a STEP upgrade issue (library / JavaScript)
Fixed a problem when custom Script Object Providers were not identified when performing a bulk update with a business rule that is referring to the custom Script Object Provider. Custom scripts are now identified. There is also a hotfix for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.2 and step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-635757 - Fix for when a product create and clone feature fails after the upgrade to 11.2-mp1
Fixed a NullPointerException on an Initiate Item screen with a configured LOV-validation business condition. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.2 as well as step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-636059 - Fix for when the price with a comma does not work in the supplier portal
A bugfix was implemented to allow copy and paste of values with commas as decimal separators for numeric attributes in the Web UI for languages that use that format. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.0 as well as step-11.0-mp4 and 11.0-mp5.
ISSUE-636401 - Fix for the Export Current View component is not working as expected
Fixed a NullPointerException in Export Current View action related to retrieving a 'stibo dot' object type.
ISSUE-636663 - Fix for a 'Fatal Error' message when entering a value for an attribute in a data container
Fixed a problem when typeahead components did not work in the Add Data Container dialog and in a Multi Editor Data Container in the Web UI. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.2 as well as step-11.2-mp1.
ISSUE-636810 - Fix for experiencing slowness while working with Web UIs after system upgrade
Fixed a performance problem on a Web UI Node Editor with a huge amount of Attribute Value / Value Group components configured. The system was checking if there was a global Typeahead configuration for every sub component, instead of retrieving the global typeahead information once per Node Editor.
ISSUE-638892 - Fix for severe data error after a database refresh
Attributes there were migrated to STEP 11.2 from an older STEP release could not be opened in the workbench if they had a language + country dimension. This has now been fixed.
Fix for ECLASS Advanced: class name is not displayed in the Web UI
Fixed a problem where the commodity title was not displayed on the ECLASS Advanced screen in the Web UI if the root node's ID looked like eClassAdv_10 (contains of 2 tokens split by underscore instead of 3 tokens).
Fix for when the set of transformations are not loaded: throws NullPointer
Fixed the NPE occurring when retrieving a list of transformations for onboarding mappings if any plugins have a null prompt. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to saas-11.2 and onboarding-mapper-7.0.1.
Fix for a MongoDB Connector data inconsistency
Fixed the way deleted references are handled in the MongoDB Connector. There was an issue previously where it was not possible to export deleted references with the domain exporter and have them removed in MongoDB. There is also a hotfix available for this solution that is applicable to mongodbadapter-7.0.64 as well as saas-11.1 and saas-11.2.
Fix for Faceted Search: Elasticsearch Indexer stops with' java.lang.IllegalArgumentException'
Fixed an issue that caused the 'java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Provided event cannot be consumed by any Elasticsearch operation processor' exception to appear if Asset Push events appeared in the Elasticsearch event queue. Also, after the fix, when such an error occurs, the re-indexing will not stop. It will display a related warning in the event processor logs but will continue processing.
Fix for inconsistent results from the Address matcher
Party Data Matching: Address is no longer penalized for having no text if addresses are identical. The penalty for no text in a street field is applied only if the addresses are not identical while using matching.
Fix for STEP being unavailable
Fixed a problem occurring when JMS IIEP was filling the execution log with unnecessary information about the established connection.
Patch Recipe
The 11.2-MP2 baseline patch can be installed with the following recipes:
./spot --apply=to:step/platform/step-11.2-mp2.spr
—OR—
./spot --upgrade=step:11.2*
*Before installing the recipe provided by the SPOT --upgrade functionality, review the baseline and component versions that the system will be upgraded to before applying. Verify that the baseline and/or components are the correct versions to be applied (i.e., the versions you did testing on—and not a higher, untested version).
For on-premises systems, refer to the SPOT Program documentation for more information, including how to use the SPOT --upgrade command to also find compatible components that can be added at the same time as the baseline patch (--upgrade=all) in the SPOT Program topic of the System Administration Guide found in Downloadable Documentation. For assistance, contact Stibo Systems Technical Services. For SaaS systems, contact Stibo Systems.
Note: Customers may want to search the Stibo Systems Service Portal for their Maintenance Patch Issue Numbers. To do so, while in the Service Portal, navigate to Issues (in the header bar) and then select 'Search for Issues.' Click on the 'Advanced' option on the filtering bar, and then type in 'issue=' and the Issue number from the Maintenance Patch Notes. Press Enter or click the magnifying glass icon to run the query. Users will only be able to view Service Portal issues for Maintenance Patch Issue Numbers that they have privileges to access. If the issue is not applicable to the user searching, then a 'No issues were found to match your search' message will be displayed.