Changelog

Warning: important changes have been made in TIBCO Spotfire® release 10.3 and later on how authorized users trust data functions. We strongly recommend that you read the official documentation and follow the Spotfire guidelines if you are concerned.

New in 5.2

Available from TIBCO Spotfire® version 10.2, the Library REST API lets external applications upload Spotfire Binary Data Format (SBDF) files to the Spotfire library. In this new version 5.2 of the Connector we have integrated the use of this REST API into the Pipeline Pilot collection. In this way, you can now write SBDF files from your Pipeline Pilot protocol directly to the TIBCO Spotfire® library:

Library Upload REST API

You will find in our installation guide all the necessary information to configure the use of this REST API. The official documentation is available here.

Until this new version of the Connector, the only solution to execute Automation Services Jobs from a Pipeline Pilot protocol was to use the Client Job Sender tool provided by TIBCO Spotfire®. The main disadvantage of this solution is that the Client Job Sender tool can only be used by a Pipeline Pilot hosted on a Windows server.

From TIBCO Spotfire® version 7.13 a REST API is available to trigger Automation Services jobs from an external application. We have therefore integrated the use of this REST API into the Pipeline Pilot collection of the Connector 5.2, creating the new component "Automation Services/Run Job with REST API":

Automation Services REST API

The protocols developed with this component are therefore compatible with Pipeline Pilot servers other than Windows, another significant advantage of this new solution is that it is easier to configure and more secure.

You will find in our installation guide all the necessary information to configure the use of this REST API. The official documentation is available here.

A new section "Shortcut link" is now available in the SWAPP when running a protocol. From there you can generate a link to the current protocol that will allow you to reload the form with the exact same parameters you have when clicking the "Get Shortcut Link" button. This can be useful if you have a protocol that you always want to use with the same parameters, or if you want to share the filled form with a colleague. Furthermore, ticking the "Auto Submit" option will trigger the submit of the form as soon as the page loads from the link.

SWAPP Protocol shortcut link

A new input type has been added which allows you to give the user the ability to upload file to Pipeline Pilot. The uploaded file(s) will be placed in $(JobDir)/temp/$(FileName). Optionally you can define a list of allowed extensions.

SWAPP File input

Real-time Synchronisation (see below) has been implemented in the SWAPP and can be toggled on/off to match your needs.

A template is a TIBCO Spotfire® document (DXP file) from which we have removed the records of all the data tables. We provide in this new version two components allowing you to manipulate the templates: "Client Automation/Save Template" and "Client Automation/Apply Template".

Template components

With the "Save Template" component, you can save a DXP from your current analysis. The DXP will be identical to your analysis, except that the data tables are empty.

With the "Apply Template" component, you can apply a saved template on your current analysis. In this way, the data tables of this analysis are exported and re-injected into the template, and you will have your data with all the parameters of the template (pages, visualizations, ...).

In order to better distinguish the difference between the components coming from Connector 4.1 and those coming from Connector 5+, we have added new Pipeline Pilot icons in 5.2.

New icons in 5.2

Once the new collection is installed, all your protocols will contain components that display the Component 4.1 icon. We therefore also provide in the collection a protocol to update the icons in your protocols already developed with the Connector 5+. This protocol is available here: Utilities/Change warning icons to v5 icons.

In the JavaScript API and the Pipeline Pilot collection:

  • Pie Chart: size by properties added.
  • Heat Map: creation of the visualization, x-axis, y-axis, cell values and trellis properties added.
  • SpotfireDocument.markRowsAsync: now exposes the operation to use when combining this selection with previously set selections.
  • SpotfireDocument.openDocument: can now open a document from a local file; only available if you use the TIBCO Spotfire® Analyst client.
  • "Web Panel" properties and preferences are renamed by "Client Automation".
  • Fix the versionning of TIBCO Spotfire® extensions (.dll files) in order to keep the backward compatibility with saved DXP files after the upgrade of the Connector.
  • Include correct permissions for the Pipeline Pilot collection provided in the package (for Linux servers).

New in 5.1

We now provide with the Pipeline Pilot collection a protocol that generates a home page for the Client Automation. It will give you access to the SWAPP, as well as to the examples and tutorials available.

This home page also lists the protocols saved on the Pipeline Pilot server in the folder Protocols/Discngine/TIBCO Spotfire Enabled Protocols/Client Automation/, so feel free to add your development protocols to test them in the Web Player or Analyst.

Client Automation home page

When developing Pipeline Pilot workflows for TIBCO Spotfire®, developers can now activate the "Real Time Synchronization". Thanks to this feature, it is easier to share data tables between Pipeline Pilot and TIBCO Spotfire®: the upload and persistence processes are automated, and you can focus on the required data without sending data back and forth when they already have been sent.

On a technical note, the Real Time Synchronization takes care of tracking changes in your Data Tables and updates the caches on Pipeline Pilot based on your settings (whether you use a manual trigger or the form submission). The caches are scoped to the user and the session.

Real Time Synchronization

This feature is available on demand through the Real Time Synchronization parameter of the HTML TIBCO Spotfire Viewer component. A tutorial is available at the following location: Protocols/TIBCO Spotfire Enabled Protocols/Client Automation/Real Time Synchronization/Real Time Synchronization Examples Home.

The Real Time Synchronization has also been implemented on the SWAPP and can be toggled in the menu bar. Note that it is active by default.

Real Time Synchronization Collection

Previously, to have multiple data tables generated by data functions in your TIBCO document, you had to store as many data functions as data tables and call them separately. This required a lot of manual intervention. Moreover, it was far from optimal in terms of performance because the "Pipeline Pilot Data Function" tool was called as many times as there were data tables to load, while some steps could be shared.

There is now a way to define the expected results files in the protocol and therefore to have a data function with multiple data tables as results.

Here is an example of how to configure a protocol with 3 output data tables:

Multi file results in a protocol

As you can see, you just need to add the file name as the output property. The file name (without the extension) will be used to name the data table in TIBCO Spotfire®.

You can now use the Pipeline Pilot components from the Reporting collection that redirect to another protocol. This allows you for example to develop a sequence of protocols, each redirecting to the next, and execute them via the SWAPP.

The existing components have been improved. In addition, the Box Plot and the Pie Chart components have been added.

Pipeline Pilot Visualization components

New in 5.0.1

This minor new version offers some minor bug fixes, improves the components of the Pipeline Pilot collection, and provides a quick start protocol to easily start with the collection.

New in 5.0 - Release Candidate

The Connector 5.0 is a major new version. The Client Automation, new name of the Discngine Web Panel, has been completely redesigned. The Pipeline Pilot Data Functions and the Automation Services Tasks have been improved in a minor way.

The very big change for this version is that the Connector 5.0 is compatible with TIBCO Spotfire® Analyst and TIBCO Spotfire® Web Player. Thus, the same Pipeline Pilot protocol can be executed either in the Analyst or in the Web Player.

Architecture overview

This huge advantage requires modifying existing Pipeline Pilot protocols to replace Connector 4.1 components with Connector 5.0 components. Indeed, the Pipeline Pilot collection has also been entirely redesigned, and the collection 4.1 is now deprecated (components and example protocols) although backwards compatibility with the Connector 4.1 is ensured. Protocols developed in 4.1 will continue to work using Web Panel 4.1 embedded into the 5.0, but they will not be compatible with both Analyst and Web Player.

All is new for this product in the Connector 5.0: new TIBCO Spotfire® extensions, new JavaScript API, new Pipeline Pilot collections, and even new name!
All is new, but as said before, the Connector 4.1 is included into the Connector 5.0, so the backwards compatibility is ensured.

We provide also with this new version 5.0 the SWAPP, a standalone web application designed to be used in the Web Panel and developped in collaboration with one of the top Pharmaceutical Companies. This application allows you to register Pipeline Pilot protocols and run them seamlessly as web forms from TIBCO Spotfire® Analyst or Web Player.

SWAPP Form

The connection with the Pipeline Pilot server is now manageable in the "Register Data Function" view. A status bar on the bottom of the screen informs you about your connection status. Also, "Login" and "Logout" buttons have been added in the screen, and the registering is not available until you are logged in.

Register Pipeline Pilot Data Functions

For this new release, efforts regarding Automation Services tasks have been focused on improving visualization tasks. Indeed, label properties have been added for Scatter Plots and Bar Charts, and you can now also add Pie Charts, Line Charts, Box Plots and Heat Maps.

Here is the list of all Pipeline Pilot tasks now available:

Automation Services Tasks