195 - Easter Party

Last modified by Carlijn Kokkeler on 2024/04/18 13:17

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Hi there, eMagiz developers! In the last few weeks, we have focused on wrapping up the previous quarter and starting the new one. When this happens, we go silent for a few weeks to plan for the upcoming quarter during our PI rituals. This time we added the famous "Hackathon" to the end of the PI week so we could start the Easter break with excellent spirit after solving several smaller feedback items and bugs reported by you. Several of those stories will be included in this and the upcoming release. On top of that, we introduce various improvements to our API Gateway pattern and our 3rd generation runtime architecture. Subsequently, we will release a new runtime image supporting the multiple improvements.

Release Properties

With this release we bring an improved version of the release properties functionality. With the introduction of the 3rd generation runtime the way properties can be updated and when they need to be available for the solution to start up has changed compared to the current runtime architecture. More on that can be found here.

As of now you can not only view all property values related to a specific release by pressing the wrench icon. You can also create what we call a "property release" on each of the three environment that allows you to quickly change one or more property values and deploy the changes to your environment. When deploying such a release eMagiz will check on which runtimes the properties are used and only execute the deploy actions for the machines to which said runtime(s) belong(s).

The following considerations need to be taken into account when using this functionality:

  • This functionality works from the moment one runtime is running on the 3rd generation runtime architecture
  • This functionality can only change property values. Functional changes need a seperate release that needs to be promoted
  • In comparison to standard releases a property release can be created on each environment (as the property value is linked to a specific environment).
  • While changing a property in a ‘property’ release, users also have the option to alter the value in the Deploy-Properties list. By default, this is set to Yes, because when a new release is created, the values of Deploy-Properties will be used and not properties of an earlier release. When a user closes the screen for editing a property, the change will immediately be implemented.
  • The auto-clean release functionality is unaffected by this change, ‘property’ releases will not be counted as a release.
  • There is a maximum of twenty-six ‘property’ releases. (twenty-six letters of the alphabet)
  • Only the latest release can be edited. This can be identified by checking the suffix. The suffix with the latest letter of the alphabet is editable.

API Improvements

Improved auto-generated error handling
When you create a new operation in your API gateway, eMagiz will now automatically generate the correct schemas, HTTP codes, and examples for this operation based on industry standards.

Switch default message format
We have improved the logic when you switch the message format of your gateway message from XML to JSON or vice versa. As a result, the Swagger file will be changed accordingly. Once you update the relevant flow in Create and deploy the solution, the Swagger UI will automatically match the expected result.

Re-using elements in gateway message
This release improves how the examples and schemas in Swagger and the Flow Testing functionality are generated when certain elements repeatedly appear in different places within one specific gateway message.

Improved naming of API operations when adding integrations to Create
Previously when you added API operations to the Create phase, the HTTP operation (i.e., POST, PUT, GET) was not visible to a user. As a result, it became tough for a user to discern between specific operations once multiple of them were used on one resource (i.e., Order, Invoice, Lead). To clarify this for the user, the display name defined in Design (instead of Capture) is now used within this overview for these operations.

3rd Generation Improvements

Update of the static alerting engine
In this release, we have updated the static alerting engine that determines when one of the static alerts, as defined by eMagiz, should be triggered (or not). This change will improve the performance of the solution and will ensure that the alerts are activated correctly.

Add "Data pipeline" functionality
This release introduces the "data pipeline" functionality to the 3rd generation runtime. This removes another blockage for models waiting on this before migrating to the 3rd generation runtime.

Fix related to the debugger
This release introduces a fix that allows users to debug a flow once the toggle "Send error messages to eMagiz" is activated.

To make use of this bug fix, you need to be on the latest runtime image

Improved migration process
This release introduced a fix that allows a user to migrate event processors with custom error handling without manual intervention.

Deployment plan change
In this release, the prepare release step will not start automatically anymore. This prevents the user from waiting for this action to be finished before they can continue deploying the solution to their environment.

Should you be interested in migrating your model to our new 3rd generation architecture, don't hesitate to contact us at productmanagement@emagiz.com or read our documentation on the subject.

Feedback Items 

License Tracker improvements
With this release, we have added several new features available to purchase. On top of that, additional information on the license, such as adding notes and seeing the data sink packets, is now available.

Ability to view the message definition for a topic
Currently, you can easily navigate to the message definition of a topic via the context menu in Design, even if there is no event processor linked to the topic.

Restricted access for uploading custom certificates to endpoints
To improve our cloud offerings' general security and prevent users from uploading the wrong certificates, we have now restricted access to this view to ensure that only the administrator can execute this change. This allows for a discussion between the team implementing the solution and eMagiz before actions are taken.

Bug Fixes 

Improved deletion behavior for enumerations
To prevent that eMagiz will incorrectly delete enumeration lists when you press a "Cancel" button, we have improved the deletion behavior when viewing enumerations in the Create phase of eMagiz.

Prevent "async" api operations
With this release, we have removed the ability to select the "async" option when the default message format is API Management.

Importing a response definition broke the request definition
Currently, importing a response definition breaks the request definition. With this release, we have changed this behavior, ensuring that only the response definition is changed when importing and not the request definition.

Removing a flow does not update the API "all-entry" anymore
When you removed a flow from Create, the API Gateway all-entry received a new version of the flow. With this release, we have changed this behavior so that this only happens when the flow you remove is an API-related flow and not when it is a messaging or event streaming flow.

Stop deployment plan when a property is missing
Currently, the execution of your deployment plan continues when eMagiz notices a missing property. As this is confusing for a user and not desirable, we have updated the logic to ensure that when this happens, the execution stops. This allows you to fill in the properties, and once filled in, you can continue with the remainder of the deployment plan.

Cap stack trace of error messages and log entries
To prevent that enormous stack traces of error messages and log entries need to be processed by various systems, we have now limited what is kept so only the relevant information is shown to the user.

Fancy Forum Answers

As always, this is a gentle reminder to ask questions via the Q&A forum. The Q&A forum is available in the eMagiz iPaaS portal, so we can all benefit from the knowledge within the community. For some inspiration, take a look at these forum answers:

Key Takeaways

Thanks to all that helped build and those who tested and gave feedback to improve the product. To end this post, here are some key takeaways for you:

  • If you have questions surrounding our Program Increment Planning, please get in touch with productmanagement@emagiz.com
  • If you have feedback or ideas for us, talk to the Platypus
  • Please inform us of new additions to the store (productmanagement@emagiz.com) so we can all benefit from these. 
  • Clear your browser cache (Ctrl + Shift + Del)
  • Check out the release notes here
  • Start thinking about how the license tracker can aid your development
  • Start thinking about major, minor, and patch
  • Upgrade to the latest build number
  • Keep making great integrations

Let's stay in touch and till next time!

* Indicates a Beta feature. If you would like to get access to this beta feature, please contact productmanagement@emagiz.com

** Indicates a GEN3-only feature.