RELEASE DATE: 10.07.2021

New features, improvements and bug fixes done for version 4.3.0

Table of Contents

User related changes

Drag and drop icons to drawing

Issue [HDC-3895]

Icon list can now be used in two ways:

1. Open and select an icon that will be assigned to a "stamp" button. Each use of the button will insert the same icon.
2. Open and keep the icon picker list on the side. Now hold down a mouse key to initiate a drag operation. Drop the icon on the desired location in the drawing.

Drop function will insert icon into currently selected layer. It can be a redline or other editable layer. 

A green "check" icon will be shown when a drop is possible. 

Search in subtree for multiple parent objects

Issue [HDC-3568] - Search in subtree for multiple parent objects

Now search in sub-tree function also supports multiple root objects to search under. 

To activate this function, select several objects in the Tree View and right click one of them.
A menu option Search subtree will have a numerical indication how much objects were selected.

Also a title of the search window will indicate if user is searching:

• under single object - a name of the object will be shown
• under multiple objects - a "selected #" will be shown, where # will be a number of elements selected.

Custom reports

Issue [HDC-3543]

A new framework was developed to generate more advanced and complex reports with various aggregate functions. 

These reports cannot be configured by the user but can be quickly developed and added to the system based on custom order.

A custom report can be run for selected objects like building. The report can aggregate and group selected values from database. 

The report UI can also provide feedback for further selection, e.g. when a building is selected, we might be prompted to select one of the tenants in that building. 

A further on the report will include spaces occupied by selected tenant. 

A spreadsheet or PDF can be obtained for any given report. Both can be based on templates with advanced formatting.

Full description of functionality is on Data Reports page.

Object Activity Log

Some operations will not be visible in standard Audit Trail. Examples include assigning a security scheme or using a Secure Erase function on object metadata. 

In such case object related operations can be investigated in a dedicated object activity log. To access this log, please use right click context menu and Object Info function.

On Version Information view, please select Object Activity tab: 

Log contains usual information about:

• function used
• date / time
• user that triggered the action
• IP. geolocation (for external IP addresses) and user agent (browser used)

Handling Void areas

Issue [HDC-3749] Manual: Working with Void areas (cut outs)

Introduction

Up until now so called Void areas (cut outs in bigger shape) were handled by creating a complex with some shapes marked as "negative areas".

This has cause many problems like inability to properly select shape, selecting smaller shape inside a bigger shape, color and visibility issues. 

The new solution introduced in this version supports import of void areas from various formats like IFC or Fi2. The contour will be processed and represented as a "hole" in the primary shape. 

As a result, we can address problems described earlier:

• a shape with a void area or cutout will exist and be possible to select only in area actually covered by this shape
• there will be no overlapping colors / shades in normal view and when the presentation is applied
• we will be able to accurately detect smaller shape within a bigger shape, e.g. for purpose of move management (moving objects from one room to another)

A sample 3D representation of a "room within a room":

A 2D representation of room polygons:

Note that with support for Void areas, the inner shape is independent and its not covered by the bigger outer shape.

Handling Void areas during import

Various formats have their own representation of void areas. 

Currently import of the following formats supports void areas:

• IFC 
• FI2 v 1.22 (IFC based)
• FI2 v 1.3 (FI2 proprietary geometries)

Adding Void areas manually

In cases where object overlay is added manually and void areas must be added the process can be controlled manually.

This process has several limitations:

• A shape with void (empty) area is a single combined shape so the void areas can be edited but can;t be moved as independent shape. 
• Merging several shapes together to create a void area is non-reversible process. All original shapes will be converted to single Path element. 
  What does it mean? When we combine a room polygon with a round pillar represented by circle element, both shapes will be converted into single path element.
  Should you need to extract these shapes, they will remain as individual shapes but as paths and not the original type. This might have implications how the extracted shapes can be edited. 
• Only simple shapes can be combined - it's not possible to combine groups of elements.
• If two shapes are combined, and they only partially overlap or don't overlap at all, only the part where they overlap will create a void area representation. 
  Overlapping part (void) is indicated by the arrow:
  

Creating room with voids

First, draw a shape of the room, polygon or rectangle:

Then, draw shapes covering areas that should be used as voids. Use regular shapes that best suite void areas: rectangle, polygon, circle or ellipse.

Note: the order in which the shapes are drawn is not relevant.

Select all shapes - room and pillars, then right click on main shape and select Combine contours function:

This will process your shapes by converting them into single path element. Overlapping parts will create void areas.

 Important: From the selection, the shape that is right clicked will be used as a primary shape:

• Primary shape will have "positive" area value
• All secondary shapes will have a "negative" area value, regardless if they overlap with primary shape or not.

Sample shape is colored in light blue with red outline to illustrate where the void areas are located:

 Now one can add additional shapes by drawing new void area and using Combine contours function or Extract contours split shapes back to individual entities:

 Conversion of drawings with existing shapes marked with "Negative areas" will be performed automatically when upgrading to this system version.

Limitations for upgrade procedure:

• Single shapes that do not belong to any group will not be converted as they cannot create a "void"
• Shapes that are grouped will be converted, e.g. when a primary polygon and one or more additional polygons marked as "negative area" are in one group. 
• Please note that Void areas will no longer have a specific styling assigned to Negative Areas. Void area is simply a "hole" in the primary shape. 

Change Requests related changes

Multi-parent search of Change Requests

Issue [HDC-3910]

In Dashboard user can now select multiple parent object for searching Change Requests.

Select the tree icon in top left corner of Manage Change Request dashboard and in Perspective Tree preview, choose as many objects as you need filling the checkboxes on the left.

After selection, click on Select button. List of Change Requests will be narrowed only to those located under selected objects.

Create XLS report from Change Request list

Issue [HDC-3798] - Report function from Change Request list under Dashboard

Change request list from Dashboard can now be exported to XLS file.
Function should respect filter settings made so that only viewed rows in list are reported.

New button Export was added to Manage Change Request window in Dashboard.

This is a task that will be listed under Server task window as Change Request Export and the report can be downloaded after clicking on icon in Get Result column.

Rich text editing for change requests comments

Issue [HDC-3820]

Change request comments, now supports rich text editing capabilities for improved communication.

Due to limited space we only provide basic editing options like:

• bulleted or numbered list
• links support
• text color and highlight
• basic formatting (italic, bold etc)

Data Exchange related changes

FI2 import - handling of "usage" attribute

Issue [HDC-2912]

In FI2 import, an element with the @usage attribute can result in a property with a name containing the value of that attribute.
For example:

<fi2prop_name usage = "Common"> 00201 </fi2prop_name>

will result in property

fi2prop_name|Common

To achieve this a new field must be added called (following example) fi2prop_name|Common to used class in External Domain Configuration used for import.

Please, note that there are no spaces in: fi2prop_name|Common.

FI2 import - new mapping feature

Issue [HDC-3785]

When there is one fi2space_area element, we import the following room properties:

• fi2space_area_code - name of the area type (e.g. BRA)
• fi2space_area_value - area value in square meters.
  
  

If we want to use new import feature we need to add to External Domain (for fi2space object) following properties: fi2space_area_code and fi2space_area_value.

If there is more than one fi2space_area element in input XML, everything will work as before.

Administrative related changes

Secure Erase objects and metadata

Issue [HDC-3777]

Introduction 

System can be used with strict or relaxed versioning. In both cases multiple version of objects can be stored in the system and accessed through version manager.
So when object like building or room is deleted, this will be done using versioning system so that object is still available for historical access.

Some use cases require that specific object or part of it's metadata is completely wiped out from the system. This should affect all system versions.
For this purpose we introduce a Secure Erase function. 

Secure erase of object metadata

Right Click on object and select to chosee Erase Object Metadata function.

Confirm that you want to activate the function (select Yes or select No to quit):

Erase metadata form is shown:

Use Clear button to select fields to be erased. Confirm the operation by selecting Erase function in the bottom toolbar.

Confirm once more that you want to permanently erase these metadata across all system versions (Master archive, drafts etc)

Once confirmed, the metadata is erased.

Secure erase objects

Select object and right click on open context menu. Select  and then  Erase "<object name>"  option to start the erase process.

Confirm that you want to start erase function and understand the consequences (select Yes or No to abort):

Erase confirmation list is shown:

Use the  icon to preview related objects that will be erased as well if Subtree option in turned ON. Those objects are selected based on system "context perspective" - same as with standard delete.
If subtree option is not chosen, only selected object will be securely removed.

If you are sure this is a correct set of objects to erase, select the Erase button.

Another confirmation will be shown:

Select Yes to proceed with the erase or No to cancel the operation. 

Display and manage Security Scheme in main interface

Issue [HDC-3795] 

Security Scheme preview can be enabled by toggle button located on the top toolbar. 

When activated, a security scheme column will be added in several places: main Tree View, Grid View, Object Set and Advanced Search results window.
Schemes can be color coded for easier identification. 

Manage Security Schemes from main interface

Security Administrators can now manage security schemes for objects directly from main interface.

This function might be used with Security Scheme preview, but it's not required.
Select one or more objects from Tree View or Grid View (Use check boxes in GridView for multiple selection). Right click on one of the objects within selection to edit selection, or object outside of selection to edit single object.

Use Object Security menu option to open up a new security panel:

For single selection, current scheme will be shown in the info bar. 

Please select a new scheme and use one of the available functions:

• Assign - assign scheme to selected object only. 
• Assign with sub-tree - assign scheme to selected object and all linked objects according to system context perspective.

Without selecting a new scheme, one can also use reset functions:

• Reset - reset scheme for selected object. Object will acquire default scheme or scheme assigned by class if available.
• Reset with sub-tree - same as reset function but with all linked objects in context perspective.
  
  

Assign colors to Security Schemes

Administrative Panel → Security → Security Schemes

Color can be assigned when adding new Security Scheme, or it can be changed for existing Security Scheme with a help of Edit function.

User can select color using Color picker tool. 

Colors that are currently set can be previewed on the Security Schemes list:

Batch editing of security schemes

Issue [HDC-3780] 

Security scheme can now be assigned to multiple objects at once. In Object Security view select all desired objects and use available functions to assign or reset scheme for selection. 

Live preview of assigned scheme in the tree view is also available in the admin mode. 

Anonymize user data function for GDPR compliance

Issue [HDC-3933] 

User data written in database as text - can be removed using new Anonymize function added to User Panel.

By using this button, in places like Login logs, Activity logs, Redline or Toolsets names if they include users's username, e-mail or fullname will be removed and specific string that can be set in System Settings/Security/GDPR will put into such place.

Chosen string will used instead of user details:

Access to administrator's functions based on admin role

Issue [HDC-1148] 

Distinction between Administrators roles has been improved so that Administrator panel is different for each type of administrators.
Current state of roles and their possibilities are noted in the table below:

HQL Query language support for field names

Issue [HDC-3757] 

So far query language (HQL) used for filters, presentations or object search only accepted specific values.

These values could be given as string, number or date. Example: 

space_diff_bra_bta >= 1.02 and space_diff_bra_bta <= 1.05
space_diff_bra_bta >= 1.02 and space_diff_bra_bta <= 1.05
fi2space_name starts-with "test"

Now the language was extended to support also comparing values from other fields. For now numerical and string only.  Example:

space_diff_bra_bta > 1.05 and space_bra > space_bta
(space_diff_bra_bta > 1.05) and (space_bra > space_bta)

Examples

• Automatic presentation filter example with HQL comparing two numerical fields:
  
  
  
  
• Manual Presentation filter example with HQL comparing two text fields:
  
  
  
  
• Auto Sum plugin with HQL condition
  
  
  
  

New parameter for controlling macro decimals precision

Issue [HDC-3932] 

New parameter Macro display precision was added to System Setting in section Field adjustments.

Administrators can set number of decimals that macros will follow when resolving values from Float fields.

Bugs fixed and other improvements for this version

• [HDC-1149] - Proper Layout panel behavior when user do not have system admin role
• [HDC-3094] - Invalid date format for date fields sent from client
• [HDC-3886] - Filtering Boolean
• [HDC-3911] - Import deletes spots with changed layer assignment
• [HDC-3914] - Message when HOPA does not work
• [HDC-3922] - Bug in Change Request function: added files in notice can not be viewed
• [HDC-3924] - Infoscope mode only highlights one part of a grouped object
• [HDC-3935] - Return existing children when required object not found in perspective metada call
• [HDC-3945] - During raster edit functions, raster is not refreshed after zooming out
• [HDC-3952] - "Verion sealed" errors when working in draft, VGR on prem
• [HDC-3960] - Macros are lost when you click on Edit Text button
• [HDC-3850] - Enable all unchecked filters in grid
• [HDC-3943] - HDC Export improvements for Fi2
• [HDC-3944] - Adaptive GridViewToolbar to fit smaller screens
  
  

API Changes

(check /apidocs for more details about new/changed webservices)

• Issue [HDC-3568] - Search in subtree for multiple parent objects

  New Web-service allows searching within many parent objects

  POST /api/search/advanced/objects/<classId>

  with correct payload:

  {"hqlCriteria": "hqlCriteria","parents":[[classId, objectId], [classId, objectId]]}

  Old GET Web-service will still be working.