Checking for Incompatibilities between Version 10.0 and 11.1

As a system administrator, you need to check incompatibilities between consecutive versions before upgrading your system.

The tables below lists new features that might lead to compatibility issues or should be taken care of when upgrading; they do not list all new features of this AE version. New features are described in full in the Release Highlights and Release Notes.

More information:

To provide a better overview, the tables are categorized by the severity of the issue. There are three different categories:

Critical: Issues that must be addressed, otherwise the system will not work
Behavior change: Functionality changes in existing features that might have an impact on your system
Advisory: Different issues you should be aware of but might not have an impact on your system

The columns display the following information:

Topic: Name of the general topic or new feature
Changed behavior: What has been changed
Possible incompatibilities: Impact the change may have
Actions/Countermeasures: What can be done to identify and/or remove possible incompatibilities

Compatibility Issues

Critical

There are no critical issues when upgrading from version 10 to version 11.1.

Behavior Change

Topic	Changed behavior	Possible incompatibilities	Actions/Countermeasures
Text variable values	1024 character limit for text based fields/variables has been removed Data type of DB fields has been changed from VARCHAR (1024) to CLOB (unlimited)	Oracle DBMS_LOB Package must be installed to handle CLOB Results on string based operations can exceed 1024 characters instead of string truncation or output error messages Queries of SQL/SQLI objects might operate on tables with text fields of changed data types	Check queries on tables with changed fields (VARCHAR -> CLOB) such as search for "OVW_Value1": SELECT OH_Name FROM OH WHERE OH_Idnr IN (SELECT OVD_OH_Idnr FROM OVD WHERE OVD_SQL like '%OVW_Value1%' OR OVD_SQLOra like '%OVW_Value1%' OR OVD_SQLDB2 like '%OVW_Value1%')
Script function GET_OH_IDNR	The second parameter client was removed from this Automation Engine scripting language function due to security reasons.	Objects using this script function with a specified parameter client that is different than the current client will write a warning to the message window, and return an invalid OH_IDNR.	Check all script tabs for this function and remove the parameter / correct the function call.
Login Objects required for file events on Windows, Unix	The new privilege File event: Start without Login object specified has been introduced for User objects	New privilege is checked and used per default after Automation Engine version upgrade but the file event still requires a Login object.	To remain compatible to previous releases, set ANONYMOUS_FE=Y in the system variable UC_HOSTCHAR_DEFAULT, see ANONYMOUS_FE, ANONYMOUS_FT, ANONYMOUS_JOB If user objects are loaded via Transport Case or XML data is imported for example, this privilege may not be set. It must be set manually, if necessary.
zOS: Replacing Job line in JCL	The value of attribute MVS_JOBTYPE has been deprecated.	Currently no incompatibility, the old value is still compatible.	No checks/adaptions needed
XML Variables (VARA.XML)	The "Oracle Instant Client" is no longer supported. "Oracle XML DB Package" has to be installed.	The "Oracle Full Client" must be installed (instead of "Oracle Instant Client"). The "Oracle XML DB Package" must be installed.	No checks/adaptions needed, part of the AE DB installation
FAULT_OTHER tasks	Deactivation behavior of tasks with status FAULT_OTHER has been changed.	In previous AE versions, tasks have been deactivated in activities list by default. As of v11 their deactivation is bound to the deactivation options of the task. Consequently more tasks will remain in Process Monitoring, than in previous AE versions.	Check deactivation options accordingly. (If needed, they can be set to archive the behavior of previous AE version)
Script functions GET_ATT and GET_ATT_SUBSTR(call_text)	In previous AE versions, at least a blank was returned. As of v11, no value in case of missing call text is returned.	Error occurs on empty call text.	N/A
GET_VAR (Upgrade from versions between v9 SP4 and v10)	GET_VAR does not resolve recursively anymore.	From v9 SP4 to v10 SP4, GET_VAR resolves recursively. This means, if a value contains an "&", the script processor tries to resolve this. This has been changed. Example: Static variable 'MYVAR', Key = 1 Value = 'Schmidt&Partners' Script :set &partners = 'no' :set &value# = get_var('MYVAR','1') The variable &value# will contain therefore: v9 SP4 to v10: Schmidtno V11 : Schmidt&Partners With v10 SP4 HF1 the behavior was configurable (key RESOLVE_GET_VAR in UC_SYSTEM_SETTINGS). In v11 the configuration option was removed. As a conclusion all variable values, that should be resolved recursively, must use the Script function RESOLVE_VAR.	Potentially all scripts that use GET_VAR and a variable value that contains "&" characters, are affected. Affected scripts/variables are not easy to determine, especially with dynamic variables. It is recommended to apply comprehensive tests. To determine affected Variable objects, you may use this SQL query: select oh_client, oh_name from oh where oh_idnr in (select ovw_oh_idnr from ovw where ovw_value1 like '%&%' or OVW_Value2 like '%&%' or ovw_value3 like '%&%' or ovw_value4 like '%&%' or ovw_value5 like '%&%' ) order by OH_Client, OH_Name asc The Script function RESOLVE_VAR may be used to recursively resolve a static Variable object, see RESOLVE_VAR.

Advisory

Topic	Changed behavior	Possible incompatibilities	Actions/Countermeasures
Message numbers (For detailed information on individual possible impact, see Message Number Changes.)	Message numbers are now eight digits long, instead of seven. Old format: Unnnnnn New format Unnnnnnn	Filtering on Unnnnnn numbers won't work with PREP_PROCESS_REPORT PREP_PROCESS_FILE Output scan filter Log scan scripts or custom tools Job reports of old java-based agents contain 7 and 8 digit messages Agents of older versions send/log 7 digit message numbers	Find out script functions PREP_PROCESS_REPORT and PREP_PROCESS_FILE in scripts via search function such as change PREP_PROCESS_REPORT(,,’ACT’,’U1234567’) to PREP_PROCESS_REPORT(,,’ACT’,’U01234567’) Check filter objects manually or use a SQL statement such as SELECT OH_Name FROM OH,OFC WHERE OH_Idnr=OFC_OH_Idnr AND OFC_Filtertext LIKE 'U001%' AND OH_DeleteFlag = 0
Rapid Automation (RA) agents	Shared third party libraries were removed from the RA agent core.	You have to obtain all needed shared third party libraries and ensure that they are installed properly.	Download Oracle JDBC driver and copy it to the lib directory of the RA core. Note: This is only required for an RA agent that needs an Oracle DB connection (via JDBC) - such as RA Banner Agent, RA Oracle E-Business Suite Agent, RA JD Edwards Agent, or RA Oracle Retail Agent.

Topic

Changed behavior

Possible incompatibilities

Actions/Countermeasures

Message numbers

(For detailed information on individual possible impact, see Message Number Changes.)

Message numbers are now eight digits long, instead of seven.

Old format: Unnnnnn
New format Unnnnnnn

Filtering on Unnnnnn numbers won't work with

PREP_PROCESS_REPORT
PREP_PROCESS_FILE
Output scan filter
Log scan scripts or custom tools
Job reports of old java-based agents contain 7 and 8 digit messages
Agents of older versions send/log 7 digit message numbers

Find out script functions PREP_PROCESS_REPORT and PREP_PROCESS_FILE in scripts via search function such as change PREP_PROCESS_REPORT(,,’ACT’,’*U1234567*’) to PREP_PROCESS_REPORT(,,’ACT’,’*U01234567*’)
Check filter objects manually or use a SQL statement such as SELECT OH_Name FROM OH,OFC WHERE OH_Idnr=OFC_OH_Idnr AND OFC_Filtertext LIKE 'U001%' AND OH_DeleteFlag = 0

Rapid Automation (RA) agents

Shared third party libraries were removed from the RA agent core.

You have to obtain all needed shared third party libraries and ensure that they are installed properly.

Download Oracle JDBC driver and copy it to the lib directory of the RA core.

Note: This is only required for an RA agent that needs an Oracle DB connection (via JDBC) - such as RA Banner Agent, RA Oracle E-Business Suite Agent, RA JD Edwards Agent, or RA Oracle Retail Agent.