Release Notes 4.11.X

Release 4.11.0

New Features

  • API to Trigger Table Extraction We have added a new way for external tools to integrate with Alation. External tools can trigger Alation to sync a particular table from a data source into the Alation catalog, thereby creating or updating the catalog page for a table. The catalog is now up-to-date without needing to schedule frequent and expensive metadata extraction runs. ** **

  • Compose Query Import External tools can now trigger a browser window to open Alation Compose with a new query pre-filled with SQL text. ** **

Improvements

  • Ability to Search Columns Where Fields are Blank In Advanced Search, we’ve added support for faceting to objects where a field is blank (or their value not set). ** **

  • Compose Performance Compose is now more responsive rendering the results while executing a query.

  • Compose Text Highlighting Error highlighting in Compose is more specific in more cases.

  • Multiple Databases in Netezza For the Netezza data source type, we have added support in order to sync multiple databases into the catalog.

  • Reduced License Warnings Now license expiration warnings can be dismissed until the next day or renewal.

Bug Fixes

  • Lockout Access If a user with a valid license tries to visit the /lockout/ screen, they will be redirected to the home screen. ** **

  • Hive Log Polling after User Restarts Browser When using separate Compose connections per session, it is now possible to refresh Compose in the middle of a query run and receive results, as well as continue to stream the Hive progress log (if it exists). This has always worked for shared connections, but now works for separate connections as well (previously, refreshing would cause Compose to start a new connection, so it would not use the old connection where the query execution was running). ** **

  • Retain Hive Progress Log after Execution Errors - Previously, the Hive progress log was saved and shown after refresh only if the query ended successfully. Now, the log for a Compose query execution is available after refreshing Compose, even if the execution ends in an error. ** **

  • Hive Progress Log On Execution Results Catalog Page - The Hive progress log is now shown on the Catalog page for execution results so that it is visible when a result is shared with a colleague. ** **

  • Changes to Custom Template Fields In Search - Now, removing a custom field from a Template updates Advanced Search to not show the field anymore, although it may take some time to update - at least ten minutes or longer. ** **

  • Navigating Filtered BI Reports On some BI catalog pages, it was possible to click “next” and go beyond the last page of reports. Now, the “next” button is disabled when there are no more reports. ** **

  • Respecting Article Permissions when Editing Custom Fields In 4.0, we released a feature to choose what permission to give a user when sharing an article with them. However, users who received only view permission could still edit custom fields if the field permission permitted it. Now, users must have both edit permission on the article and the individual field to edit it. ** **

  • Article Text Indentation Previously, text indenting was lost upon page refresh on our articles. Now, text indenting is saved. ** **

  • Removing Article Attachments Fixed a bug where users with ‘Edit’ access could not remove attachments from an article. Now, they can remove them. ** **

  • Deleting an Article as a Non-Admin User Fixed a bug where some non-admin users could not delete articles, posts, and conversations for which they have edit access. Now, users can delete if they have permission to edit. ** **

  • Copy-pasted @-mentions Copy-and-pasting a @-mention properly updates all references to it; for example, changing the title of the referenced object will properly update the @-mention.  Previously, @-mentions entered with copy-and-paste were not updated. ** **

  • SAML Login for Usernames Longer than 30 Characters Users can now log in to Alation with SAML usernames greater than 30 characters.

  • Lineage Error We now correctly count number of nodes displayed in Lineage, and add the node to view unseen tables or BI objects. ** **

Admin Release Notes

New Feature

  • Users can now upload Usage Data through Customer Portal.

Improvements

  • Customer-Provided JDBC Driver for Presto on Alation Server - Added support now enables customers to install additional custom JDBC drivers for Presto beyond what we ship in-product. ** **

Bug Fixes

  • Using IE with License Files in Installation Wizard - It is now possible to drag and drop a license file on the Installation Wizard screen using Internet Explorer. ** **

  • Tableau Access Control Configuration Customers can now disable Tableau access control.  This may be necessary if a customer uses different usernames for Tableau and Alation. ** **

  • Tableau Account Password Entry- Fixed a bug where the Tableau settings page dropped the first character in user passwords. ** **

  • Non-English Language Characters Interfering with LDAP integration - LDAP configuration now supports all unicode characters. ** **

Release 4.11.1

Bug fixes

You can now once again upload images into rich text fields, including the bodies of articles. There was a regression in some earlier versions where this became impossible.