Upgrade Info
Advantages of upgrading to PathFinder 4.1 for existing users
This document gives a brief outline of the major changes between the 4.0 and 4.1 releases of PathFinder – in which a large number of both major and minor changes have been made. For more details on each issue, please check the release notes that accompany PathFinder 4.1. If you are not an existing PathFinder user, you may find more information in the main PathFinder brochure, which can be viewed using the link on the right hand side of this page.
Major enhancements
The most obvious change is the way in which PathFinder is configured to process its files. Before, we had a number of options available on the processing tab on the message profile, each of which could only be used once in a predefined order. We now have a totally flexible processing section where any number of processing stages of various types can be added, their order changed, and individual stages disabled and enabled. This makes even the simplest processing stages clearer, but gives far more options for setting up and managing complex sequences of operations. We have also added compression and decompression in both Windows zip and Unix gzip format as processing stages.
Script management for scripts used in processing stages is now handled through the mapper. As well as avoiding the user needing direct operating system access to the server, this also adds the same security, version control and change history into scripts as already exists for the maps. In addition, changes now have an audit trail and there is also the option to revert back to a previous version of the script in the event of a problem with a change, in the same way as you would for a map.
To improve the security of remote PathFinder clients, we've also rewritten the service manager to use HTTP rather than FTP. Since this only requires a single port to be open, it makes it far easier to firewall. We've also added the option of encrypting the connection using SSL for added security.
We have also taken a further step towards unicode compatibility - Western European character sets are now handled correctly within PathFinder, but we have not yet enabled the full unicode handling built into the translator. Due to the magnitude of the changes to the translator required for full unicode, and the potential impact of any problems, we wish to take a little longer in the testing phase of this. We already have a test suite with over 200 maps that is used to test any released version of the translator, but we are extending this with maps from a number of customers and specifically created maps to fully test the new unicode functionality. Once this has been completed, we expect the full unicode translator to arrive in a service pack in the near future. We'll keep you updated on Linked In.
Minor list
There have been a large number of other smaller changes, particularly with making the client easier to use and more logical to get to where you need to.
- Client – the option to jump straight from the archive to the message profile configuration for the selected file.
- Copy and Paste between environments – the user can now copy profiles, trading partners, maps and other PathFinder configuration directly between PathFinder environments using simple copy and paste options in the client. This makes moving configuration from test to production much easier.
- Secure Email – PathFinder now supports POP3 and SMTP over SSL.
In addition to these enhancements, a large number of minor improvements have been made, and all reported product bugs have been fixed. Many of these changes have been suggested by our customers, so please keep your suggestions coming in - we do listen to them!
Upgrade
All existing PathFinder users are, as usual, entitled to the 4.1 upgrade software free of charge. This being a major version, we recommend the use of Orion Consulting Services for this particular upgrade, as there are a large number of changes to the product. For more information, or to organise your upgrade, please contact Orion.
