Bold BI Enterprise and Embedded-September 2021 Release

Today we are excited to announce our latest product update, Bold BI v4.2. It’s a huge release, since it delivers many much-awaited features, enhancements, and improvements. These major changes provide you a great experience in creating elegant dashboards with Bold BI. We’ll look at each of them in this post.

You can download the latest version of Bold BI from your account page. If you are new to Bold BI Embedded, you can schedule a free 30-minute demo with our experts and they will walk you through the process.

Features summary

Data source enhancements

• Now, you can connect Square, Origami, Fitbit, Nutshell, and Gravity Forms with Bold BI using new, built-in connectors.

New Data source connections

• SQL data sources have an option to limit records for extract mode connections.
• Now, you can use the code view mode in the SQL Server Analysis Service data source.
• We have provided support for Open Distro connection type in the Elasticsearch data source.
• We have added data-sampling support to limit the data source records fetched for dashboard design mode.

Data sampling option to limit the data source records fetched

• We have added support to connect to the Amazon Redshift data source in extraction mode.

Widget enhancements

• We have provided Allow Paging to enable or disable pagination in grids.

Allow Paging feature in grids

• You can show or hide tooltips for all applicable widgets.
• Now, the card widget has support for vertical alignment.
• You can trim axis labels in heat maps.

Pivot grid enhancements

• Customize content row heights and column widths in pivot grids.

Customize content row heights and column widths in a pivot grid.

• You can now hide empty headers in pivot grids.
• Customize the values of empty cells in pivot grids.

Cartesian chart enhancements

• You can now customize value label positions in Cartesian charts with the following positions: Top, Middle, and Bottom.

Customize value label position in Cartesian charts

• Customize empty points in Cartesian charts with following options: Gap, Zero, and Average.

Customize empty points in Cartesian charts

Server enhancements

• Now you can set an export-to-FTP location.

Set export-to-FTP location

• You can now customize the file format for dashboard export.
• We have added more permission options to share permissions for the following modules: Create a group, Manage specific groups, Create and manage all users, Manage specific settings, and Manage permission for specific resources.
• Now, you can set Windows AD and Azure AD as default authentication providers.
• We have added additional connection parameters in the data store configuration.
• We have provided comments support for multitabbed dashboards and their widgets.

Comments support for multitabbed dashboards

• You can now set the time zone and format of the date-time based on the client’s browser settings.
• You can create categories from the navigation menu.

Create categories from the navigation menu

Bold ID enhancements

• REST API is now supported for the following operations: List sites, Get site details, Update site, Delete site, Add/update isolation code, List users, Update user password, and Delete user.

Improvements summary

Widget improvements

• In radial gauges, change the color of the values and axis labels based on range colors.
• Disable mouse zooming and panning in Bing Maps.
• In heat maps, sort both the x-axis and y-axis at the same time.

Sort both x-axis and y-axis at the same time

• Customize the legend title in map widgets.
• Adjust individual padding in image widgets.

Chart improvements

• Limit initial data fetching count (i.e., page size) in chart widgets.
• Customize font sizes for all visual elements of chart widgets from the property panel: Value labels, Axis labels, Axis titles, Legend items, and Legend title.
• Reach the last record using a single scroll in a chart.
• Customize the legend position for accumulation charts.
• Customize legend overflow mode in chart widgets.
• Customize the line width for chart trendlines.
• Customize the x-axis intervals in chart widgets.

Grid improvements

• Limit the initial data fetching count (i.e., page size) in grids.
• Disable virtual loading for grids in pagination-enabled cases.

Disable virtual loading for a grid in pagination-enabled cases

Pivot grid improvements

• Customize font sizes for the following pivot grid elements from the property panel: Headers and Content.
• We’ve provided average aggregation support for pivot grid.
• Now, the direct aggregated expression column bound in pivot grids will be considered a pivot calculated field.

Custom widget improvements

• Provided custom widget exporting support.
• Provided custom widget support in Kubernetes.
• Fixed the unwanted update call for custom widgets.
• Provided support to create a custom category for custom widgets.
• Fixed draft-loading issue for custom widgets.
• Fixed the filter-setting issue for custom widgets.

Breaking changes

• The custom widget folder placement has been changed in the v4.2 build. We provided a utility to migrate custom widgets created in the lower version of v4.2 , as we have made some API changes in them. Kindly refer to the custom widget UG documentation for more information.

Data source improvements

• You can filter data based on Top N records in the SSAS data source.
• We have removed the unwanted DB client connections for the PostgreSQL and MSSQL connections.
• We have provided support for data sources that include Hebrew and other languages in the table schema.
• You can connect to extract data sources that have longer column names.
• You can now connect to late binding views in the Amazon Redshift connector.
• The MongoDB data source supports SSH.
• We have improved the user interface for the following data sources: Freshworks CRM, Copper, and Chargebee.

Designer improvements

• Fixed the console errors that occurred while destroying a Bold BI object during embedding.
• Fixed the issue with widgets collapsing in full screen when maximizing.
• Cleared console error when loading properties tab.
• No data is displayed in the schedule export when using the custom attribute in code view.
• Fixed the exception that occurred while using the dashboard parameter in a stored procedure.
• Fixed the issue of no data being displayed when drilling down the pie chart when using the column in the Filters section.
• Fixed the preview data page display issue while changing the browser zoom size.
• Fixed the issue while using the date type dashboard parameter in a stored procedure.
• Fixed the combine widget schedule export issue.
• Fixed the URL linking not working issue when selecting the Escape Special Characters option.
• Fixed the data issue in widgets when using the data sources API.
• Fixed auto-refresh issue in the text widget control.
• Included space between date filter localization text.
• Fixed the issue “Error throwing in widgets when the null value passed as a filter in impersonating preview.”
• Fixed the issue “RTE error container is shown in scheduled export.”
• Fixed the issue “Unhide columns are hidden while editing the data source.”
• Fixed the issue “URL parameter value is not applied in Excel export.”
• Fixed the issue “Edit connection not working properly when token is expired for Web API data source.”
• Fixed the issue “Export PDF and image not working when the dashboard contains a chart with an SSAS connection.”
• Fixed the issue with stored procedure parameters not being maintained in the UI when editing the data source.
• Fixed the data source edit issue from the server page that contains cross-data source parameters.
• Fixed the “expression was removed” issue while updating the dashboard parameter values.
• Fixed the issue “Downloaded data is different in CSV and Excel file.”
• Fixed all column values showing issues while enabling Show all columns in view data.
• Fixed the issue “Assign data tab retains focus when moving to another widget instance of ‘properties’ tab.”
• The issue with “Autosave filter is misbehaving when dashboard is updated” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Changing the column name has no effect in exporting Excel and CSV” has been fixed.
• Fixed the advanced setting formatting issue in SSAS connection.
• The issue with “Joining two different tables with the same name in a shared table” has been fixed.
• Fixed the export issue in the live Web API data source.
• Fixed the sorting issue in SSAS combo box values.
• Fixed the issue in saving the Oracle expressions in code view mode.
• Fixed the stored procedure extraction issue in the MSSQL data source.
• The issue with “The stored procedure connection issue while using date input parameter in the time zone UTC -05:00” has been fixed.
• Fixed the UUID data-type issue in PostgreSQL.
• Fixed the widgets’ data-cleared issue when editing the same data source.
• Fixed the Edit Connection unresponsive issue in the data source.
• Fixed the expression-cleared issue when clicking the Run button.
• The issue with “Breadcrumb label on renaming the column for Map widget” has been fixed.
• The issue with “The text widget maintaining its content even after removing the content” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Date picker data values are unable to select outside the min and max dates, even limit date property is not set” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Line chart axis format settings not visible in the property panel” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Chart axis label cropping when configuring the chart in small size” has been fixed.
• Fixed chart legend cropping issue.
• The issue with “Chart labels are showing in drilled view even if it is unchecked” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Underlying data for drilled levels in Bing Maps” has been fixed.
• Fixed the issue in Bing Maps zoom level when the drilled view contains a single data point.
• The issue with “Pivot grid linking not working when enabling values as rows” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Custom image/icon in a grid is not working when Allow Text wrap is enabled” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Values formatting in gauge while using different language cultures” has been fixed.
• The “Chart tooltip issue when customizing the table element in embed site” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Grid linking if we perform sorting on virtual scroll enabled” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Grid section style customization using the theme file” has been fixed.
• Fixed pivot grid exporting not working issue.
• Fixed the problem with height consistency in combo box and date-picker widgets.
• Fixed the console errors when resizing the browser in design mode before layout rendered.
• The bug with the range slider’s min and max values for fractional values was fixed.
• The issue with “Filter pop-up rendering in pivot, if the data contains special characters” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Conditional formatting for map widget” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Scrolling in Mac OS” has been fixed.
• The problem with “Maximizing in card” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Color palette state maintenance in the chart” has been fixed.
• Fixed console errors when hovering over the grid header that contains special characters.
• Fixed alignment issue in combo box widget if we place widget in two rows.
• Fixed the UI glitch issues in the pivot when enabling the Text Wrap/Column Resize/Fit to Content features.
• Compressed the size of the image used in the dashboard widgets for the overall dashboard’s performance improvement.
• Removed the duplicate data sent from service to client on initial loading of the dashboard, to enhance performance.
• Provided search support for categories dropdown in Publish dialog box.
• Provided the option to enable the Export PDF/Image option in the dashboard properties panel.
• Fixed the comment option issue for widgets.
• The issue with “The widget description pop-up not being positioned well on mobile view” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Drill-down chart rendering issue in schedule export” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Save view icon alignment issue in the multi-tab dashboard” has been fixed.
• The issue with “NOTIN condition not working issue in URL parameter” has been fixed.
• The “Multiple label parameters not working issue in RTE control” has been fixed.
• Fixed the issue with SSAS connected data not allowing for advanced settings formatting.
• The “The console error while editing the data alert pop-up” has been fixed.
• The issue with “The condition gets reset when reopening the data alert window” has been fixed.
• Removed the filter widgets from the widget list drop-down in the data alert window.
• The issue with “Data is getting duplicated when searching on allow filter dialog box” has been fixed.
• Fixed the unwanted alert showing issues while switching to code view if we do not have any changes in it.
• The issue with “filter widget description icon alignment” has been fixed.
• The issue with “The maximized widget collapsed while resizing it to full screen” has been fixed.
• The issue with “Widget description pop-up is not positioned well on pinboard embedding” has been fixed.
• Fixed the issue “Error occurs on ‘view underlying data’ if two date columns have the same date.”
• The Assign Data tab retains focus when moving to another widget instance of the Properties tab.

Server improvements

• Validate external sites while adding them.
• See site URLs in the tooltip for sites’ dropdown in the publishing dashboard dialog.
• Publish the dashboards with the same dashboard and data source name.
• Make the dashboard public while publishing and adding deployment dashboard.
• We have added an info dialog box for data sources, slideshows, and schedules, and exposed the item ID.
• We have improved the performance of the multitab dashboard by rendering without iframe.
• We have provided support for logging out of third-party providers while logging out of Bold BI.

Breaking changes

• Removed the clone option from the dashboard listing. Now, you can use the copy dashboard option instead of clone dashboard.
• The default vertical alignment of card widgets has been changed to middle.

Embedded BI enhancements

• Now, you can embed the data source designer in JS-based embedding.
• We have added an API to enable or disable the delete widget option in the pinboard.
• An NPM package for the Bold BI Embedded SDK has been published in the NPM portal for JavaScript-based frameworks.
• You can now get the iframe URL of dashboards through the REST API.
• UI customization has been enabled for the following elements in the iframe-based embedding: Hide/show theme, Hide/show dashboard parameters, Hide/show filter overview, Hide/show dashboard and widget full screen icon, Hide/show refresh option, Hide/show dashboard and widget options menu, and Hide/show widget filters.

Embedded BI improvements

• We have enabled jQuery no-conflict support to use multiple jQuery versions in the dashboard embedded page.
• We have provided the support to use the SyncfusionJS 2 controls or Bold Reports and Bold BI in a single-page application.
• We provided the API support to customize widget and dashboard margins.
• We provided the support to add preconfigured widgets in the dashboard designer.
• We enclosed the pinboard styles within the Bold BI scope to avoid style overwriting issues in an embedded application.

Bug fixes

• The issue with “when applying the filters using the applyFilters method to multi-tab dashboards” has been fixed.
• Fixed the user validation issue when the username has the + symbol.
• Fixed the drag-and-drop issue in pinboards when the server-side filters are applied.
• Fixed the multitab dashboard rendering issue when the user does not have permission for the subdashboards under the multitab dashboard.

Important note: You need to use the updated embed JS version, hosted in CDN.

Conclusion

We hope this post was helpful to you in learning about the new features and improvements in Bold BI Enterprise and Embedded v4.2. You can get a free 30-minute demo with our experts about creating dashboards and any other features you would like to learn more about in Bold BI. You can also contact us by submitting your questions through the Bold BI website or, if you already have an account, you can log in.

Originally published at https://www.boldbi.com on September 22, 2021.