Automic Web Interface

The Automic Web Interface has seen many useful new features and enhancements in this release:

New Default Dashboard at First Login

When you first log in to the Automic Web Interface (AWI), a new default dashboard is displayed. It contains four videos that walk you through some of the major features that have been introduced with this version. It also provides links to useful product documentation topics. Whether you are completely new to Automic Automation or upgrading from a previous version, the content of the default dashboard will help you get acquainted with version 12.3.

New Navigation Paradigm

This version introduces a new navigation paradigm that is all about user experience. Working with the Automic Web Interface is much more intuitive now, since you can rely on your experience with web browsers to navigate though it.

As of this version, you can make use of all the navigation features that you are used to from your web browser. The new navigation paradigm lets you do the following:

Sharing Links and Bookmarking Filtered Views

One of the key improvements of the new navigation is the new URL structure. The URL fragments in AWI contain detailed information about the content of the view. In consequence, you can share links and bookmark filtered and unfiltered views now.

For more information, see:

Intuitive Handling of Multiple Connections

If you have access permissions to more than one Client, you can now open several connections simultaneously. To distinguish each connection and see at a glance which browser window belongs to which Client, you can assign a different color to each connection.

For more information, see:

Enhanced Configuration Options for Connection Colors

As of this version, system administrators can specify as many connection colors as your company needs. The connection color is used in the in the horizontal bar at the top of the page and in the icon in the browser tab. For more information, see colors.properties.

Workflow Enhancements

The Workflow editor and the Workflow monitor have been completely revamped. The following enhancements and improvements have been implemented:

Better performance

Large installations can contain Workflows with thousands of tasks. The performance of the Workflow editor and of the Workflow monitor has been greatly improved. Opening and working with such huge Workflows is now faster than ever.

Extended drag & drop functionality

In the Workflow editor you can use the drag and drop functionality to add and to replace tasks (also external dependencies). For more information see:

Canvas toolbar

A new floating canvas toolbar provides easy access to the graphic tools you need to create, configure and work with Workflows. For more information, see:

Infinite zoom

The zoom has been completely reworked too. With the new zoom, you can see the complete structure of very big Workflows, as it zooms out at one pixel level. Zooming in and out is smooth and fast. Four buttons in the canvas toolbar and new keyboard shortcuts let you work quickly and comfortably with the new zoom. For more information, see Zooming in the Workflow.

Bulk operations

Both the Workflow editor and the Workflow monitor support bulk operations now.

In the Workflow editor, you can select multiple tasks and perform many operations on those tasks simultaneously. You can move and connect them in bulk. You can also remove or execute them. Right-click the selected tasks and the context-menu displays the options that are available for them. The same applies to the Workflow monitor. You can perform the same actions in bulk that you are allowed to perform on individual tasks.

Default task status for Workflow dependencies

A new user setting lets you globally specify the status with which a task must end so that the next task in the Workflow can start. For more information, see Default Task Status for Workflow Dependencies .

Color coding for predecessor / successor tasks in the Workflow

Visual hints make working with Workflows easier. Identifying predecessor and successor tasks is easier through the different colors of the connection lines. Incoming lines (lines that connect a task with its predecessor) are blue. Outgoing lines (lines that connect a task with its successor) are yellow.

Undo / Redo options

Two new buttons in the canvas toolbar let you undo and redo your changes. For more information, see Undo/Redo buttons.

Direct navigation to referenced tasks

The Search for Use has been improved. When you double-click an object in the list or results, if that object is used in a Workflow or in a Schedule, the Workflow or Schedule opens to exactly that object, which is highlighted.

The same behavior has been implemented in the Replace and Rename functions. When you replace or rename an object that is used in a Workflow, in a Schedule, or in a Script, a dialog is displayed. The dialog lists the objects that reference the object you want to replace or rename. When you double click them, they open to exactly the referenced object.

For more information, see:

Keyboard Shortcuts

This version introduces many shortcuts that will speed up your work with the system. For a complete list of the keyboard shortcuts, see Keyboard Shortcuts.

Redesigned User Settings Dialog with More Configuration Options

With this version you have more configuration options that make your daily work easier and more comfortable:

Time zone

The Time Settings have been enhanced and you can now select the time zone that should be considered to display the time in your system, see Time Settings

Confirmation dialogs

You can now decide the operations for which you want the system to display a confirmation dialog before actually performing them. For example, you may want to confirm that you want to delete an object before actually deleting it. The confirmation settings are saved per Client and User, so you can define different configurations in different environments. See Customized Confirmation Dialogs.

Default number of executions to be displayed in Executions lists

Now you can also configure the number of executions that the Executions list should display by default, see Displayed Executions.

Activate and deactivate keyboard shortcuts

A new user setting lets you activate or deactivate the keyboard shortcuts, see Enabling Keyboard Shortcuts.

Redesigned Requests View

The Requests view has been completely redesigned. The old Requests dialog has been replaced by a separate view that opens in a dedicated browser tab. This new design has many advantages:

For more information, see Requests.

Web Notifications

AWI notifies you of new requests in a much clearer and user-friendlier way. Either a pop up at the top of your screen or a web notification is displayed. Both provide a link to the Requests view. For more information, see Web notifications.

Inline Notifications

New inline notifications that are displayed below the title bar provide relevant information if you are configuring or working with objects. These notifications indicate if the object is stored in Client 0, or if the Client to which you are logged in is inactive. For more information, see User Interface.

Improved Performance in the Search for Use Function

With this version, the Search for Use functionality has been moved to Lucene. Instead of querying the database, the system searches for object dependencies using the Lucene index, which results in a significant increase in performance.

Improved Performance when Deleting and Renaming Objects

Deleting and renaming objects is much faster too. When you use these functions, a search for use is triggered in the background to check for object dependencies.

Improvements in the Context-Sensitive Online Help

Accessing the context-sensitive product documentation is much easier now. Click the question mark icon in the menu bar to open the topic in the documentation that deals with the view that is currently opened.

Script Editor Enhancements

Developing and debugging scripts is much faster and user-friendlier. With these enhancements, you can view the entire script in one screen. Inserting variables is much easier too. And you can also easily identify all occurrences of script variables, functions, statements, and so forth.

These are the new script editor features:

For more information see Working with the Script Editor.

New Filter Options

In the Processes and Utilization view

System administrators can work faster and more efficiently in the Processes and Utilization view now. A new filter pane lets you easily find processes. You can filter them by Name, Status, Type, Version, IP Address, Host, and many more criteria. For more information see Filtering the Processes List.

In STATIC VARA objects

Finding entries in large STATIC VARA objects is now much easier thanks to the new filter function. For more information, see Filtering Entries.

In the Schedule editor and monitor

The same applies to Schedule objects with many tasks. If you have Schedule objects with hundreds of tasks, you can now easily and quickly adapt those tasks to new business requirements using the new filter, see Filtering Tasks in the Schedule.

Enhancements to the Schedule Object (JSCH)

In addition to the new task filter, the Schedule object has useful new functions that will make your work with it much more comfortable:

For more information, see Defining Schedule Objects.

New Feature to Export Table Contents to CSV

The tables in your system can contain thousands of entries. With the new Export to CSV function, you can export their contents. All entries, and not only the visible ones, can be exported. This function is available for the following tables:

For more information, see Exporting Tables to CSV.

Easy Variable Selection

Inserting variables and VARA objects is much easier now. With this version, the variable picker is available everywhere where using a variable or a VARA object is possible. Click it to open a dialog where you can search and select the variable or VARA objects that you need. For more information, see Inserting Variables/VARA Objects in Objects and Scripts.

User-Friendlier Details Pane with more Information

The Details pane that opens when you right-click an object or a task and select Details is now expandable, so that long names and titles can be easily read. In addition, double-clicking selects a word in the pane, triple-clicking selects the entire string.

Consolidation of Function Buttons in the Toolbar

The function buttons in the toolbars have been consolidated. They provide exactly the same functions that you can access through the context-menu that opens when you right-click an item in a list.

Next Generation Forecasting: New Feature to Find Agent Slots

You can search for a time frame in which certain Agents are idle and then use that information, for example, to plan or carry out and Agent upgrade.

The Agent Slots page is located in the Forecasts tab in the Process Monitoring perspective. You can use various filter options, such as the Agent name, type, and/or version, or a specific time frame. You can also define the minimum duration required for that time slot, apply the search only to certain tasks, and/or limit the search results to a maximum number of agents to be displayed.

To calculate Agent slots you must have autoforecast data available. If there is none, you must recalculate the forecast cache.

For more information, see:

Documentation Enhancements

The product documentation has seen some major improvements in this release too.