L2024.1 Release Notes

For a list of release dates and Sisense's end of support schedule, see Sisense Version Release and Support Schedule.

Release Overview

Release L2024.1 provides a number of new improvements to Sisense for Linux.

This release also includes a service update for L2024.1. See the L2024.1 Service Update 1 section below for details.

What's New

This release contains the following new app. The following table lists the high-level impact (or potential impact, if any) of this new app, and how to handle it if upgrading to this version. Continue reading the Release Notes below the table for a detailed explanation of each feature.

Sisense for Mobile v3.0

• Based on the new platform, the mobile app has been completely revamped with new native functionalities, such as swipe support, and much more.

• Widget interaction can now be done directly from the main widgets' list view, without the need to separately open a widget. Therefore, actions such as Jump to Dashboard (JTD) can be done from the main widgets' list. Important Note: When JTD is currently available only via link or button, such as in BloX, the JTD button appears only in the detailed Widget view. All other interactions, such as pagination, legend, etc. work as expected.

• Widgets such as Blox and Table are now automatically resized based on their context in the main widgets' list for better viewing on mobile.

• The existing detailed view has been improved.

• Biometric authentication with fingerprints and FaceID is now available.

• Many more minor improvements have been made.

What's Improved

Dashboards

The republish operation performance has been improved by optimizing the flow of removing redundant viewers' copies of the dashboards. This is useful for large-scale instances where republishing is done for thousands of users.

Embedding

When embedding Sisense, administrators can now filter the available embedded domains in the server response based on the ‘Referer’ or ‘Origin’ headers in the client app requests. To limit the domains listed in the server response to the current domain only, enable the Hide list of allowed domains toggle located in Admin > Security Settings > General.

Exploration Paths

Exploration path suggestions are now calculated from all dashboards with enabled 'Exploration path' that is based on the same data model that your dashboard is connected to.

Installation

• Enabled direct Sisense Helm chart installation, without the use of the sisense.sh script, and without the use of the Provisioner Helm chart. This requires some manual operations; see the documentation:

  • Manually Installing Sisense Helm Chart - Single Node

  • Manually Installing Sisense Helm Chart - Multinode/Cloud

• Enabled direct Helm chart installation of the Internal Monitoring (Prometheus) and logging Helm charts.

Notebooks

Notebook's payload (only the content in cells of SQL queries, code, and text without the data preview) size is increased to 50 MB. This will reduce the amount of related errors.

Pulse Alerts

An additional option for Data Alerts is now available: 'Notify only when value changes'. When selected, the alert will only be triggered if it meets the condition and the data value is different from the last evaluation. This option can be used for any alert condition (Threshold/Automatic/Always) and in combination with other additional options.

Pulse page loading is optimized for better performance: the Pulse tiles are now loaded as the user scrolls down the page.

Users can now search the Pulses in the Pulse page by title of alert, by cube, or by dimension used for the alert.

Security Bearer Tokens

The Security Bearer Token has been in Sisense since the product inception. However, in order to ensure high security standards, setting an expiration date is now enforced as part of the Bearer Authentication feature. The default setting (enabled/disabled) depends on the type of installation/upgrade performed; see Default Setting Per Installation/Upgrade Type. After upgrading to version L2024.1 or newer of Sisense, if this feature is enabled, all tokens that are currently in use and do not have an expiration date set will expire immediately. This means that custom integrations with your apps (such as embedding) which use tokens with no expiration, after upgrading Sisense, will no longer work until new tokens are created or the existing tokens are renewed. Post-upgrade, if this feature is enabled, the expirations will depend on cookie or session settings in Session Management. If a security bearer token is expired / not valid / not provided, then requests will not be authorized in Sisense and permissions/access will not be granted.

Default Setting Per Installation/Upgrade Type

The default setting for the expiration date feature depends on the type of installation/upgrade performed:

• Fresh install of L2024.1+: The expiration date feature is enabled by default.

• In-place upgrade:

  • From a pre-L2024 release to an L2024.1+ release: The expiration date feature is disabled - bearers are processed as they were processed before the upgrade.

  • From an L2024.1+ release to a newer release: The expiration date feature remains in the same state as it was before the upgrade.

• Side by Side upgrade:

  • From a pre-L2024 release to a new L2024.1+ release: The expiration date feature is enabled;

  • From an L2024.1+ release to a newer release: The expiration date feature remains in the same state as it was before the upgrade (i.e., as in the backed-up instance).

If an upgrade to the enabled feature state causes any issues with your implementation, you can run the following command to temporarily disable it until the necessary adjustments are made (as explained below):

NAMESPACE=$(kubectl get all -A -l=sisense-version --no-headers | awk '{print $1}' | uniq)

zookeeperPod=$(kubectl -n "${NAMESPACE}" get pods -l app=zookeeper -o name | head -n 1)

kubectl exec -n "${NAMESPACE}" ${zookeeperPod} -- /opt/bitnami/zookeeper/bin/zkCli.sh set /Sisense/S1/configuration/production/base/authentication.apiTokenExpiration "false"

Single Sign On (SSO)

The ability to configure the list of allowed target URLs is now available out-of-the-box for NEW deployments. Administrators can specify the whitelisted domains for redirect that can be passed in the query string parameters during the SSO flow (such as "return_to") by adding them to the 'Allowed Target URLs' field located in Admin > Security Settings (make sure to include the Sisense URL).

What's Fixed

Add-ons

• Advanced Formula - Shared formulas can now be saved even when the Advanced Formula add-on is installed, as expected. This relates to Advanced Formula version 1.3.8 or newer.

• Interactive Pivot - The issue with incorrect columns being hidden by the Interactive Pivot add-on based on field id is now resolved.

• Jump To Dashboard (JTD) -

  • JTD config styling is now correctly applied before applying Pivot styling.

  • When JTD is configured to jump from values on Pivot, it is no longer required to refresh the page in order to enable the jump after restoring a dashboard.

  • A query error appearing when adding a new value to JTD while there is a custom widget filter is now fixed.

• Print To Printer - The issue with the Print To Printer add-on causing a blank screen on dashboard loading is now fixed.

• Query Plan Analyzer - The Query Plan Analyzer (QPA) is now fully compatible and working as expected in the environments with metadata translations configured.

BloX

• Some values were previously corrupted or misaligned in BloX widgets in the Safari and Firefox browsers. Now, the values are displayed as expected in all supported browsers.

Connection Management

• Fixed converting tables to custom when enabling the Connection Management beta feature.

Custom Code

• Custom code transformation now renders emojis correctly. Previously, they were displayed as "??".

Dashboard Co-Authoring

• Text widgets can now be created and saved as expected in co-owned dashboards.

• The issue with previous co-owners seeing the empty version of a dashboard after disabling Dashboard Co-Authoring is now fixed.

• Deleting widgets from Private mode no longer affects widgets in Shared mode, as expected.

• The inability to republish specific dashboards caused by an incorrect widget OID format is now fixed.

• Dashboards are now republished successfully when sharing to new users invited via dashboard sharing.

• Jump to Dashboard now successfully loads the tab under the widget edit view when Dashboard Co-Authoring is enabled.

• Co-owners are now able to save widget scripts as expected in Shared mode. Therefore, add-ons based on widget scripts referencing widget OIDs (such as Tabber or BloX) can now be created successfully and work correctly on co-authored dashboards.

Data Calculations

• The weeks level filter now returns the correct result when fiscal year is enabled.

Data Modeling and Perspectives

• The size on disk of the data model that was built with changes only now displays the correct size.

Drilling

• Drilling in date type fields now works as expected when months, weeks, or days granularity is selected.

File Manager

• Infra - The File Manager, in the instances with the proxy URL configured, is now accessible and works as expected.

Filters

• Top, Bottom, and Between now work as expected with formulas based on PREV and all DIFF functions.

• Fiscal year indication is now displayed correctly for filter values when the datasource fiscal year settings are different than the system-level settings.

Git

• Git integration is now fully functional in the environments with the proxy URL configured.

Infusion Apps

• Until now, the Infusion App Viewpoint Management tab inconsistently failed to load in some cases. Now, the page is rendered only after the viewpoints have been loaded, ensuring the results are properly displayed.

Installation

• Bug fixes and stabilization for Sisense installation over Openshift.

• Bug fixes and stabilization for Sisense installation without cluster visibility (Namespace restricted installation).

Look and Feel

• The button color configured in the Look and Feel theme is now applied to all of the buttons, including pop-up windows, as expected.

Perspectives

• Perspectives that have tables with non-direct relationships (connected through a third table) now work as expected. Previously, widgets failed with the error "The widget is trying to use fields from two tables that aren't connected in the data model", even though they worked correctly in the identical root model.

• The new column name of a perspective is now displayed as expected in the data browser of the widget's wizard. Previously, the original name was displayed, even if the column name that was part of the perspective was renamed.

Notebooks

• ElastiCubes with names containing special characters, such as "&", can now be successfully added as datasources to Notebooks.

• SQL queries with the LIKE condition in WHERE clauses now run successfully against ElastiCube connections.

PDFs

• Scripts added to assets such as dashboards or widgets are now applied when exporting to PDF.

Pulse

• Pulse alerts are now created and work correctly when they are based on values that include the ">" symbol.

Reports

• Dashboard reports no longer get stuck when a shared user with their own subscription schedule defined has been deleted.

Single Sign On (SSO)

• SSO groups association when using JWT now considers tenants.

• Previously, users with the role Data Designer created upon authentication over SSO SAML did not explicitly have access to the data models shared with Everyone (the access would be granted after re-saving a user in the User Management page). This has now been fixed so that Data Designers first signing in via SSO SAML immediately receive access to the data sources shared with Everyone, which is now the same as with the other authentication methods.

Web Access Token

• There is a new Sisense.js method, 'setWAT', which enables initiation of a new connection with another web access token without refreshing the page.

• Previously, the WAT authorization flow failed in some cases when accessed via Sisense.js. This lead to an error in getting global settings and, as a result, failing to load a dashboard. This has now been fixed.

Widgets

• Widget styles are now applied correctly when creating or editing a calendar heatmap widget. Additionally, period selection by click now works as expected.

• The pivot table is now rendered as expected after moving a sorted date-time field from Values to Columns.

• Sorting on formula-based columns in table widgets now works as expected.

• Previously, adding a new row to a Pivot table with sorting applied would result in changing the sorting rule to sort a column by the newly added row.
  The behavior has now been changed to the following: when adding new rows/values or reordering existing rows/values results in changing the position of sorted columns, the sorting is removed and must be re-added to respect the new Pivot structure. When adding the new rows/values does not change the position of sorted columns, the sorting rules will remain as they were.

Deprecations

• The Limit Autocomplete add-on has been deprecated since L2021.9, but was still included by default in new deployments. It has now been removed from the list of pre-deployed add-ons in new deployments. A productized solution, Limit Users Sharing to Their Own Groups, is an officially supported and recommended option for controlling sharing limitations.

• New deployments no longer include the Jaqline add-on (which can still be downloaded if needed), which has been replaced by the Query Plan Analyzer.

L2024.1 Service Update 1

For a list of release dates and Sisense's end of support schedule, see Sisense Version Release and Support Schedule.

The content below describes the new features, improvements, and bug fixes included in the June 2024, L2024.1 Service Update 1 release.

What's New

The following table lists the high-level impact (or potential impact, if any) of an upcoming new feature, and how to handle it if upgrading to version L2024.2 or newer. Continue reading the Release Notes below the table for a detailed explanation of each feature.

Upcoming in L2024.2 - Conversational Analytics with Generative AI (Beta)

At Sisense, we harness the capabilities of advanced Large Language Models (LLMs), like the GPT family, to transform business intelligence and analytics. Our Generative AI (GenAI) features enable users to engage with their data using natural language, making valuable insights accessible without the need for extensive technical knowledge.

These capabilities are available through the Compose SDK as visual components and hooks for creating conversational analytics experiences embedded in your application.

Key Capabilities

• Analytics Assistant: With the Chatbot component, business users can easily uncover data insights by asking questions in a conversational interface.

• Query Recommendations: Encourage exploration of the data landscape with AI-generated recommended queries via the Chatbot or the useGetQueryRecommendations() hook.

• NLG insights: Enhance data literacy with natural language generated (NLG) insights using the GetNlgQueryResult component or the useGetNlgQueryResult() hook.

These features streamline data interaction, making sophisticated analysis approachable and intuitive for all users​​.

See Conversational Analytics with Generative AI (Beta) for instructions to enable GenAI and configure your LLM.

For complete Compose SDK GenAI documentation, see the Sisense developer website.

What's Improved

Embedding

Sisense now supports Cookies Having Independent Partitioned State (CHIPS) for IFrame-based embedding methods (IFrame and Embed SDK). CHIPS allows developers to opt a cookie into partitioned storage, with separate cookie jars per top-level site, improving user privacy and security. Using partitioned cookies in cross-site contexts, such as IFrames, ensures that Sisense cookies will not be blocked by browsers blocking unpartitioned third-party cookies, and therefore the embedded assets can be accessed and loaded correctly.

For more information, see Third-Party Cookies.

To enable CHIPS, open Admin > Security Settings > General and toggle on Enable CHIPS for IFrame-based Embedding.

Compatibility with Sisense Embedding Methods

What’s Fixed

Add-ons

• Previously, when Metadata Translation add-on was active, the filter values would become case-sensitive. This has now been fixed, such that the search inside the filter dialogue is case-insensitive.

Connection Management

• Creating a new connection with the Connection Management feature enabled now works as expected. Previously there was an error in the GUI validation when the inserted text was replaced with "[object Object]" and blocked creating or editing a connection.

Dashboards

• Previously, some dashboards based on data models with NLQ enabled were unable to open a dashboard menu. This has now been fixed.

Dashboard Co-Authoring

• Previously, after editing a background filter, the dashboard republish flow would cause the Republish window and Pending changes indicator to remain on-screen after clicking the Republish button. This has now been fixed such that co-owners can now edit and republish dashboards with background filters, as expected.

Data Models

• Preview in the data model now displays seconds granularity of the date fields. Previously, seconds were not returned in the preview, even though they exist in the target data source.

• Live Data Models - Refreshing the scheme in tables from different schemes of the Live data model now works as expected. Previously, it failed with the error "The table probably no longer exists. Please use the change connection flow".

• Previously, dynamic import query parameters were not resolved when the cache of dynamic parameters was invalidated resulting in the dashboard not loading. This has been fixed and dynamic import query parameters now work as expected.

• Importing a data model with the overwrite option now works as expected. Previously, in some cases, it resulted in a BulkWriteError "Cannot read property of undefined (reading 'datasets')".

Data Security Rules

• You can now create Data Security Rules on Hidden columns. This is currently only available for Data Admin and Admin roles. Fields will be visible in the Data Browser when the user creates a rule.

Data Tab

• The blank display when switching to the Data tab of the application, which happened in a random way without any clear preconditions, has been fixed.

Filters

• Ranking filters , i.e., 'TOP N', now work as expected. Until now, when a TOP N filter was applied based on a measured formula, this filter was ignored and more values were displayed.

• Applying widget filters based on the formula now works as expected. Previously, the widget failed loading and returned the following error: "SqlNode filtered column is instance of class org.apache.calcite.sql.SqlNumericLiteral but expected SqlIdentifier or EC-RSum SqlBasicCall".

Folders

• Previously, users were able to bypass the owner permissions and move dashboards to folders not owned by them via the PATCH /dashboards/{id} API, resulting in inconsistent behavior. Now, this action is forbidden and the respective error is returned by the API.

Notebooks

• Previously, some SQL queries in Notebooks timed-out and failed to execute, with existing users (as opposed to new users) more prone to get this error. The issue was caused by the token parameter in the query being too long. The key generation mechanism has now been re-worked, and the token length significantly reduced, to ensure that queries' executions are not blocked.

Perspectives

• Renaming column names of a parent ElastiCube is now reflected when creating assets based on the child's perspectives. Previously, when creating new widgets on perspectives, the old names of the columns were returned in the data browser.

Pivot Tables

• The Rank function in Pivots with Grand Total enabled now works as expected. Previously, it returned the error "UNION: column counts (2 and 3) do not match".