Applix 9.4 FP2

[rfielden]

Does anyone have any experience or comments on this release? Thanks, Rick.

[Steve Vincent]

Genius. wasn't even mentioned on the page that the Cognos Support pages links you to (http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/cog ... mercenter/) and never even got an email to say it had been released. I'm guessing from the MI5-esq convert way they "communicate" these things on that mess of a website that most people had no idea it was out. I'm grabbing it now as i need to test 9.4 in a few months time, but will have a gander at the release notes to see what it sorts out.

[David Usherwood]

We were told it would cure the performance degradation where a fully calculated view would take a silly amount of time to refresh compared to earlier versions. It didn't.

[Steve Vincent]

Fix List (cos its that sodding hard to find)

IBM Cognos TM1 9.4.1 FP2
The TM1 9.4.1 FP2 release includes all of the fixes listed in this document, including the issues
that were addressed in the 9.4.1 FP1 release.
Issues corrected in version 9.4.1 FP2
June, 2009

- Performance improvements with TM1 client applications in a WAN
environment, especially when there is considerable network latency and
bandwidth constraints. These improvements included:
• Recalculating classic slices in TM1 Perspectives.
• Navigating and working with elements in the Subset Editor,
including opening the Subset Editor and retrieving, scrolling,
expanding, collapsing, and sorting elements.

11-75754471
TM-5952
Not able to shut down and immediately re-start a TM1 server running as a
service where TM1 data included a large amount of groups (more than
several thousand).

11-87565491
TM-6477
The TM1 9.4 Client installation is not displaying TM1 Ribbon Bar in
Excel 2007.

11-104780793
TM-7515
TM1 9.4 server for Solaris - Users unable to open views and browse data
while a SaveDataAll() operation is being executed.

11-106785651
TM-7695
Feeder statement in TM1 rule causing a server crash.

11-107409421
TM-7727
TM1 performance degradation compared to earlier versions when
refreshing reports in Excel.

11-107660021
11-111477871
TM-8134
TM-8260
Subset Editor errors/issues for newly created elements using TI.

11-107830651
TM-7770
The TI ProcessBreak function throws an error when contained in a TI
process that is called by another process.

11-108444351
TM-7831
Formula #NAME error when inserting an Active Form in Dutch edition of
Excel 2003 and 2007.

11-108489053
TM-7924
Some TM1 Excel functions are incorrectly space sensitive when
evaluating element names.

11-108609911
TM-7884
The ViewZeroOut function is not working properly in TM1 9.4 MR1.
1
1-108683434
TM-7897
Problem connecting to a TM1 server if Admin server is running on
another machine.

11-110673681
TM-8227
When attempting to do a spread across and down in a websheet, TM1
Web logs user out

11-111091751
11-109455731
11-109445730
TM-7988
TM-8085
TM-8167
TM-7962
Server crash related to rule evaluation that caused a stack overflow
memory issue.

11-111228761
TM-8197
Double clicking on a SUBNM function in TM1 Perspectives/Excel
displays the error message "Macro EvaluateArg cannot be found".

11-111271141
TM-8232
Typo in the confirmation dialog box of the Rules Editor when doing a
search and replace operation.

11-111344393
TM-8223
Data source error when running TI process - “Error: Prolog procedure line
(0): Unable to open data source”.

11-111643795
TM-8269
Server crash and rep/sync error after editing element attributes, editing
dimension structure and performing rep/sync operation.

11-112291631
11-105119855
TM-8341
TM-7696
TM-7872
TM1Top log file displays extra spaces and corrupt multi-byte characters.

11-112390349
TM-8389
Zeroing out string values via TI is no longer working.

11-112832471
TM-8443
Running multiple TI processes prevents a commit from taking place when
one of the processes includes a long running, processing loop in the
prolog.

11-113292841
TM-8554
Dynamic subset not retaining the selected alias that was defined for it.

11-114995562
TM-8685
Multi-user concurrency performance issues related to Excel worksheet
containing a large number of DBRW formulas.

11-115917323
TM-8808
Selecting an element alias and then slicing to Excel causes the selected
alias to change back to the default alias if you open the Subset Editor by
double-clicking on the related SUBNM cell for that element.

TM-2360 TM1 SAP Connector for SAP does not show or support interval
hierarchies.

TM-4876 Sometimes a TurboIntegrator process does not zero out a view.

TM-5601
Horizontal scrolling causes title and column misalignment in the security
assignment grid of the Clients/Groups dialog box in TM1 Architect.

TM-5950
Help for TM1 Active Forms in Excel should provide better information to
the user for the new Active Form functions and their arguments.

TM-7251 Attribute-based formatting is ignored when zero suppression is applied to
rows.

TM-7441
Excel is reverting to Manual calculation mode from Automatic mode
when doing a Rebuild (Alt F-9) action on a TM1 Active Form.

TM-7710 TM1 9.4 MR1 installation not continuing if Microsoft Excel is not
installed on target system.

Issues corrected in version 9.4.1 FP1 (9.4 MR1 FP1)
February 27, 2009

11-69979723
TM-7466
New SSL client transferring more data packets compared to the older
nonSSL clients.

11-75226817
TM-5059
Display problems in TM1 Web with Websheets that use freeze panes
caused by element names wrapping when the column is not set to wrap.

11-79962751
TM-5943
Function SUBSTITUTE returns "#Value" in TM1 Web if the new text
value is not the same size as the text you are replacing.

11-90267803
TM-6465
Logging in with certain passwords fails and displays error message
"invalid client password".

11-95119451
TM-6971
Exporting/printing to PDF from TM1 Web does not work for Websheets
that contain Active forms with a lot of conditional formatting.

11-100047063
TM-7095
The TM1 API function, TM1ViewArrayConstruct, is not correctly
applying element security when filtering dynamic subsets.

11-100127581
TM-7159
Error occurs in TM1 Web Subset Editor using Active Forms for user with
security restrictions.

11-101320594
TM-7220
TM1 server crash on startup with 64-bit version of TM1 9.4.

11-101491657
TM-7265
Server crashes or does not load when a rule contains a circular reference.

11-102263331
TM-7305
TM1 9.4 is opening and resaving rule .rux files on startup causing them to
be marked as changed.

11-102799741
TM-7363
TM1 server crash on x64 system when invalid Java API call made.

11-103062431
TM-7104
Error message displays in TM1 Web when using validation and a number
or list member is entered that is outside the acceptable range or not part of
the list.

11-103062433
TM-7353
Non-absolute reference in a data validation list does not work in TM1
Web.

11-103062751
TM-7397
Manually entering a value into a Data Validation list in a TM1 Websheet
causes an error, even if the entered value is valid.

11-103241661
TM-6271
Using arrow keys to scroll the display in the TM1 Architect
Clients/Groups window causes mis-alignment of column headers and
data.

11-104072645
TM-7502
Both the true and false statements of an If statement in a TI process are
being executed if an error is encountered.

11-106035175
TM-7081
Excel workbook file saved as manual calculation mode does not open in
TM1 Web in manual calculation mode even though the TM1 Web
UseBookRecalcSetting parameter is set to true.

11-106202216
11-103819911
TM-7602
Feeder/rule causing TM1 server to crash.

11-106211842
TM-7581
TM1 Connector for SAP: Loading data records which have an overall
field length of more than 255 characters fails

11-106738521
TM-7622
Active Form function fails when any Title dimension and Row dimension
of a view contain partial string matches.

TM-5995 Exporting from TM1 Web is not working correctly with conditional
format long range references.

TM-6179 Row element is not set to wrap in Excel but wraps when the Active Form
is viewed in TM1 Web.

TM-6291 Action Button TM1 server property does not work with a cell or named
range reference.

TM-6292 If a TM1 SUBNM function uses formulas or cell references in any of its
parameters, the value evaluates properly, but when double-clicked it will
not open the subset editor.

TM-6876 Can't save a view on a cube in a TM1 database if the DatabaseDirectory
parameter in the tm1s.cfg has many paths in it.

TM-6907 If using conditional formatting on an Active Form format row and
indenting, the indenting is lost in TM1 Web.

TM-7173 If you try to use a "reference" cell in a TM1 Active Form for the Expand
Above, Indentation, and ConsolidationDrilling flags, the settings do not
apply properly.

TM-7199 Need to manually register TM1Dasrv.dll after installing x64-bit version of
TM1.

TM-7551 TM1 Connector for SAP: The restriction options "[ ]" and "] [" are not
working when using TM1 TurboIntegrator to import an SAP InfoCube
into a TM1 cube.

TM-7552 TM1 Connector for SAP: TI function AddInfoCubeRestriction does not
work.

TM-7634 TM1 performance differences from 9.0 version on initial load of views
containing dimensions with a large number of consolidations and deep
hierarchies.

[Jessy]

sounds well

[Martin Erlmoser]

Does anyone have any experience or comments on this release? Thanks, Rick.

excel 2007 SP2 freezes very often when pressing F9
(or if you try to open a view)

[rfielden]

Yuck! Thanks all, great input and feedback!

[belair22]

Does anyone have any experience or comments on this release? Thanks, Rick.

excel 2007 SP2 freezes very often when pressing F9
(or if you try to open a view)

Martin - try swtiching the 'Enable Multi-Threading Calculation' off in your Excel 2007 Options before connecting to TM1. This setting is workbook specific - TM1 appears to automatically set this to 'on' when it loads as an Excel Addin.

[garry cook]

Wow, just Wow!

My top three there are -

11-106785651
TM-7695
Feeder statement in TM1 rule causing a server crash.

&

11-106202216
11-103819911
TM-7602
Feeder/rule causing TM1 server to crash.

They've magically fixed bad system design in this service patch!

11-111344393
TM-8223
Data source error when running TI process - “Error: Prolog procedure line
(0): Unable to open data source”.

They've magically managed to get TM1 to open files that are locked in this patch - hurrah!

They must have hired Harry Potter to the dev team there (although I thought he was a bit busy, guess he's moonlighting between films).

11-108609911
TM-7884
The ViewZeroOut function is not working properly in TM1 9.4 MR1.

Wow, REALLY glad we've not upgraded to that version then!


However, one bit did catch my eye there Steve -

- Performance improvements with TM1 client applications in a WAN
environment, especially when there is considerable network latency and
bandwidth constraints. These improvements included:
• Recalculating classic slices in TM1 Perspectives.
• Navigating and working with elements in the Subset Editor,
including opening the Subset Editor and retrieving, scrolling,
expanding, collapsing, and sorting elements.

Now, WAN improvements I'm DEFINETLY interested in. We live nine miles from the server and I often think it'd be quicker to pop the packets of information into a briefcase, drive across in the car to the server and drop it off then do a return journey with the info I need than wait on the WAN to sort me out. And we've got folk far further afield than us. Terminal Servers available have limited licences, are damn annoying to work on and don't like dealing with the volume of data we shove about so that option is a bit too painful to go long term with and don't get me started on the Web performace in our setup. To quote today's Guardian, it's about as much use as the morning after pill is to Anne Widdecombe (http://www.annwiddecombe.com/text.aspx?id=1)

So...

Anyone able to actually confirm if the claims of better WAN performance are true? Technically a a 0.000004% increase in WAN performance is still an increase and I wouldn't put it past them to make the claim above based on this. Since we're upgrading soon, would like an independent view of this from anyone who's doing testing on the new patch.

And by the way, some staggering sounding regression bugs they've sorted in that list also

TIA

[Alan Kirk]

Genius. wasn't even mentioned on the page that the Cognos Support pages links you to (http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/cog ... mercenter/) and never even got an email to say it had been released. I'm guessing from the MI5-esq convert way they "communicate" these things on that mess of a website that most people had no idea it was out. I'm grabbing it now as i need to test 9.4 in a few months time, but will have a gander at the release notes to see what it sorts out.

Please visualise me in a state of gently simmering rage as I type this.

Although I should know better by now, I have once again attempted to get into the IBM SR site to ask the question of whether they changed the behaviour of SubNm in 9.4.1 FP2 without telling us.

I am already logged in. It says so at the top of the screen. And yet the site in question (https://www-946.ibm.com/xsrAuth/authenticate) tells me that "You must sign into this application, even if you have already signed into IBM on the masthead."

I log in. I click [Submit]. I am confronted by a page which reads:

Request access
Step 1: select the type of access you need

Waiddaminute... I'm the primary technical contact, why would I be REQUESTING access?

Nonetheless, I select the stupid little radio button telling the site that I want site technical contact access, because there's nothing else remotely similar on there, and what's the result?

Same thing as it's been since Insight was shut down. It sends an e-mail to me (as the primary technical support contact), telling me that I've requested access as a support contact. Oh, and telling me how to give myself that access, which is to follow the link above to log in.

This is the same endless loop of insanity that I've been encountering from IBM support from day 1 which is why I previously gave up on attempting to use the SR system until I had enough time to bash my head against that asinine brick wall of a site. And this, THIS is what we pay huge great bags of cash each naffing year for.

OK. Breathing deeply now...

Ah yes, the reason for this post. While I was having my time wasted by the IBM site I encountered a survey asking us to tell it how great it is.

I took a rather contrary view.

However one of the questions (and you're gonna love this Steve, which is why I'm posting it here), asked us to rate how important certain things were to us including:

Ability to subscribe to notifications for applicable software and/or hardware upgrades

Well gee, lemmie think; I have "3-guys-and-a-desk" shareware producers who e-mail me when there's an upgrade of their software available, but it's a question that IBM needs to ask its users. Almost as if the expression "transparently obvious" doesn't exist. But then, the three guys have a website that wasn't designed by M C Escher.

{Deep breath, in, out, calm, relax...} Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the gym.

Believe me when I tell you that you don't want to be the punching bag in the boxercise area this afternoon.

Edit: OH YAAAAY, I'M FINALLY IN TO THE IBM WEB SITE!!! I've logged the apparent change of functionality in SubNm as PMR number 83724 999 616, and will post when I have a response from IBM.

[Steve Vincent]

Ahh, the smell of progress

[highlnder8]

This list of (fairly MAJOR) fixes almost makes Microsoft products seem bug-free by comparison.

*shrug*

Anyhow, I love how they mix together FP1 and FP2 issues in the list so you don't know exactly what you are getting by going from FP1 to FP2 unless you sit down with the lists side by side and scratch off the items on the FP2 that are already on the FP1 sheet. It's a great way to give your eyes a rest from staring at the computer screen and ruining your eyesight.

[Alan Kirk]

Anyhow, I love how they mix together FP1 and FP2 issues in the list so you don't know exactly what you are getting by going from FP1 to FP2 unless you sit down with the lists side by side and scratch off the items on the FP2 that are already on the FP1 sheet. It's a great way to give your eyes a rest from staring at the computer screen and ruining your eyesight.

To be fair, they do separate them; the top part of the list relates to FP2, while the FP1 fixes start from about half way down Steve's post where you'll see the heading "Issues corrected in version 9.4.1 FP1 (9.4 MR1 FP1) February 27, 2009". In the document itself you'll see them as two separate tables. This continues an Applix tradition where they used to have all of the fixes for the current major release in the one document under separate headings. (Albeit with descriptions which were so truncated it was all but impossible to work out what was being fixed; I have to admit that the post-Applix descriptions are an improvement on that point.)

I feel a bit guilty about this since I knew about (and had installed) FP2 and could have sworn that I posted something about it at the time, but can't find any indication that I actually did so.

On the other hand, TM1 customers shouldn't need to rely on other Forumers to let them know when a new version is out. Guess IBM'll figure that one out after the survey.

Or not.

[bihints.com]

On the other hand, TM1 customers shouldn't need to rely on other Forumers to let them know when a new version is out. Guess IBM'll figure that one out after the survey.
Or not.

They sort of did already. There's an RSS feed at http://www-01.ibm.com/software/support/ ... &ca=rssdb2
and FP2 was announced in that feed on the 2009-07-09

Of course, none of the regular IBM spam newsletters that you have been autosubscribed "to make the best out of your IBM product" will tell you about that feed.
You just need to browse the IBM website to find it..oh wait..

[Steve Vincent]

...and my company does not allow you to install / use feed aggrigators so RSS tends to just get ignored anyway

[Lukas Meyer]

...and my company does not allow you to install / use feed aggrigators so RSS tends to just get ignored anyway

lame excuse
If you use firefox, you can rss-bookmark it and have a look at it when you get bored
Or you use http://www.google.com/ig and configure the rss-reader, again you would have to check manually if something changed.

It is just fine if you don't want to look at a bookmark (which would be boring indeed if you take me here literally) - but don't blame your security policy

[Alan Kirk]

...and my company does not allow you to install / use feed aggrigators so RSS tends to just get ignored anyway

lame excuse
If you use firefox, you can rss-bookmark it and have a look at it when you get bored

Let me count on the fingers of zero hands the reasons why anyone should have to add that into their day as "one more thing to remember to do". I can think of far better uses of one's time than stuffing around with RSS feeds, like maybe having targeted e-mails which will tell you when there are upgrades to software that you actually use and pay for delivered straight to your inbox.

Now having said that, I did notice something interesting on one of the support pages today (http://www-01.ibm.com/software/support/):

Stay informed

Subscribe to receive support notifications

Whether this existed before (or was just hiding in the IBM site labyrinth) I'm not sure... but it's there now.

If you go via that link (you'll need to log on with your IBM Web ID) and then select the Information Management software link from the subscriptions page, there's the option of selecting from any of the Cognos products including TM1. Once you've selected the product(s) you have the option of:

Notify me by
e-mail
daily e-mail
weekly e-mail
plain text e-mail
html e-mail

You can also specify what types of notifications you want to get (such as Downloads and drivers (including Tools/Utilities, Updates, and Drivers), Flashes, Forums/discussion groups, News, Parts information, Product information and publications, etc).

I've subscribed to the daily feed; it'll be interesting to see what it consists of.

[Steve Vincent]

...and my company does not allow you to install / use feed aggrigators so RSS tends to just get ignored anyway

lame excuse
If you use firefox, you can rss-bookmark it and have a look at it when you get bored
Or you use http://www.google.com/ig and configure the rss-reader, again you would have to check manually if something changed.

It is just fine if you don't want to look at a bookmark (which would be boring indeed if you take me here literally) - but don't blame your security policy

You forget most companies rule IT with an iron fist. I can't install aggregators because i can't install software full stop. Our environment is locked up tighter than a mermaid brassier. So that means no Firefox and I'm stuck in IE6 hell. It also means most of the web is inaccessible from work including all the external mail type sites, so google IG is also a non-option.

That's why I find IBM's lack of "traditional" communication frustrating. I'll try signing up for that mail shot too and see what happens, but I'm guessing it'll be a lot of flannel rather than anything really useful

[jed]

We were on 9.4 FP2 but have moved to HF16 in the last 2 weeks. ViewZeroOut in TI is not working on string values - I'm pretty sure if was working in 9.4FP2 (as per the fix list)....can anyone confirm similar experience with HF16?