What's new in IBM HACP Extended Edition v1.10

This document contains a brief description of the new and updated features in the IBM HACP Extended Edition v1.10 release.
To enhance the user experience HACP Extended Edition (HACP EE) v1.10 was made with some additional features for a terminal screen. The new features are listed below:
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1.      Connection Parameter Support
2.      Search on canvas
3.      Crosshair
4.      Confirm on Exit
5.      Control status bar from HOD session properties
6.      Mouse wheel
7.      Tomcat and Liberty support
8.      One Server
9.      Auto Update of CSS and JS files
10.  Reduced Download content size
11.  UX improvements
12.  Quick-Connect
13.  Reset Option for Color Remap
 
Connection Parameter Support:

• From version 1.10, HACP EE supports more connection-related properties like TN3270E, keep-alive, backup servers, etc.
• End users can enable/disable the properties (from the Connection tab in Property Panel) by locking/unlocking while creating a session.
• For Config-based model, changes made at client side will be updated on server side.
• For HTML-based model and Combined-based model, the modified properties will be stored into the browser cache

 
Search on Canvas:
The Search on Canvas feature allows Users to search for specific keywords/text in the green screen and will appear at the top of the presentation screen on the client side. If the feature is unlocked by the Admin, Users can opt to enable/disable the Search option by navigating to Settings --> Preferences. 

• If the parameter is locked by the Admin, the option will be disabled and cannot be modified by Users at the client side. 
• If the parameter is unlocked by the Admin, the option will be enabled and can be modified by Users at the client side. 

Crosshair Ruler Support:
The previous version of HACP EE (1.9) supported only underline cursor, but from version 1.10 onwards, HACP EE supports Block, Underline, Crosshair and Blinking cursors.

• The type of cursor can be selected from the Settings panel under cursor property. 
• Based on the selected option, the respective cursor type will be shown on the terminal screen.
• If it is locked by the admin, the cursor defined by the admin will be set.
• If it is unlocked by the admin, it can be changed by the User, and changes will reflect on the green screen when the cursor is set.

Confirm on Exit:

• If the feature is unlocked by an Admin, the Confirm on Exit feature can be enabled from the Settings panel under Preferences section, to activate a pop-up window for confirmation while closing a session.
• If the Confirm on Exit option is disabled, the pop-up window will not appear while closing the session.
• In the pop-up window that appears, click on 'OK' to terminate the session, or on 'Cancel' to remain on the presentation window. 

Control Status bar from HOD session Properties:
Unlike previous versions of HACP EE, where the Status Bar was editable for all Users by default, from version 1.10 onwards, the Administrator can control the Status Bar for clients by setting a global value for the Control Status Bar. The Admin can                                                         use isStatusBarEditableByAdmin and enableStatusBarForAll parameters in                         the web.properties file to set the global value. Valid values for these parameters are True/False.

• If this parameter is not set by the Administrator, by default, the Status Bar will be editable for all Users.
• Path for web.properties file: HOD publish directory 
• For example :    isStatusBarEditableByAdmin = True

                                      enableStatusBarForAll = false

• If the parameter 'isStatusBarEditableByAdmin' is set to True by the Admin, the value assigned to enableStatusBarForAll parameter in the web.properties file will be disabled, and cannot be modified by Users at client side. 
• If the parameter 'isStatusBarEditableByAdmin' is set to False by the Admin, the value assigned to enableStatusBarForAll parameter in the web.properties file will be enabled, and can be modified by Users at client side. 
• For config-based model, the modified values will be saved in the config file.
• For HTML-based and combined-based models, the changes are saved to the browser cache.
• Modified values will remain only until the browser history is cleared for all the users.

Mouse Wheel Support:
From HACP EE version 1.10, a Mouse Wheel feature is available that can be mapped to key functions with mouse wheel rotation (up/down).

• Users can enable/disable the mouse wheel feature from the Settings panel, and can specify the function key which is to be triggered, when the mouse wheel is rotated up or down.
• The Settings in this feature include the following:

                o   Page Up - The function key that can be assigned to Page Up depends on the type                         of session run by the user, and includes the following:

• 3270 Session: PF1-PF24, PA1-PA3, and Enter.
• 5250 Session: Page Up, Page Down, PF1-PF24, PA1-PA3, and Enter.

 
              o   Page Down - The function key that can be assigned to Page Down depends on the                       type of session run by the user, and includes the following:

• 3270 Session: PF1-PF24, PA1-PA3, and Enter.
• 5250 Session: Page Up, Page Down, PF1-PF24, PA1-PA3, and Enter.

-          For HTML and Combined-based models, the changes are saved to the browser cache.
-          For Configuration-based model, the changes are saved to the config server.

Tomcat and Liberty Support:
Unlike previous versions of HACP EE which supported only IBM WebSphere Application server (WAS) as the runtime environment, from HACP EE version 1.10 onwards, the                                  following application servers are also supported as runtime environments:

1. IBM WebSphere Liberty, which is a highly composable, fast to start, dynamic application server at runtime environment.
2. Tomcat, which is used as application server for web-based application.

These servers were based on Java 2 platform and Enterprise Edition (J2EE) which adopted a multitier distributed model, and also support multiple applications running simultaneously.

One Server:
An Embedded server is provided as part of the deployable application, which provides all functionalities of HACP EE including a standalone server. The advantage is that it is not necessary to pre-install a web server in the deployment environment.

Auto-Update of JS and CSS Files:
With the Auto-Update feature added in HACP EE 1.10, Users need not manually change the context root or clear the browser history after every build deployment, in order to run the application. When a new build is deployed, the application automatically updates the client-side java script files and CSS files.

Reduced Download content size:
The JSON data in HACP EE client has all the field attributes, because of which the download content size is huge. HACP EE version 1.10 allows Users to reduce the download size & screen traversal time, thereby also resulting in improved performance, by removing the false attributes from JSON array. 

UX Improvements:
To enhance the User experience, several UI changes have been included in HACP Extended Edition (HACP EE) v1.10 that makes it more responsive and user-friendly. Below are some of the UX updates: 

• For config-based model, the Login page includes a 'Remember me' option and displays appropriate error message for invalid login attempts.
• The Dashboard shows a list of available and active sessions.
• A Search bar has been added to the Settings panel.
• A ribbon bar is available in the Full screen mode.
• The Property panel includes a Search bar and Help link.

Quick-Connect Support:
From version 1.10 onwards, Users without credentials and configured page, can connect to sessions and use the product as a trial version, by using the Quick-Connect feature in HACP EE.

• By default, the Quick-Connect feature is enabled for all Users. An Administrator can enable/disable this feature for Users by setting the QuickConnectByAdmin parameter to True/False, in the web.properties file.
• For Config-based model, Users can navigate to Quick-Connect, by clicking on ‘Continue as Guest’ option in the Login Page.
• For HTML model, the Quick-Connect page will be displayed if a User attempts to launch an unconfigured page.
• Depending on the session parameters (like session type, host address, etc.) set by Users in the Quick-Connect page, the respective session gets launched by clicking on the Connect button.

Reset option for Color remap:
From version 1.10 onwards, a Reset option is available for Color remap feature, in the Settings panel under Color remap for each category.

• By clicking reset button, the terminal screen color can be reverted back to the default colors, based on the session type.
• For Config-based model, the changes made at the client-side will be updated on the server side.
• For HTML-based model and Combined based model, the modified properties will be stored into the browser cache. 

​Author:
Muthunayagi Sangan
Developer, HACP EE