Bold BI v5.3 Release Highlights for Self-Hosting and Embedding

We are delighted to inform you that we have rolled out our latest product update, Bold BI v5.3, which includes releases on Windows, Docker, Linux, Kubernetes, and Azure. It is a mega release of the most awaited features, enhancements, improvements, and breaking changes. These major changes provide you a great visual experience in creating beautiful dashboards with Bold BI.

To get the latest version of Bold BI, you can download it from your account page. If you are new to Bold BI, sign up for a free trial on our website.

In this blog post, we’ll look at the key enhancements of this release:

• Data source enhancements
• Server enhancements
• Designer enhancements
• ID enhancements
• Embedded BI enhancements
• Widget Improvements

Data source enhancements

New data connections

Now, you can connect Xero WorkflowMax, Zoho Books, and Alma with Bold BI using new, built-in connectors.

New Data Connections

Create or edit SQL data sources in live mode programmatically using a REST API

We have provided support to create or edit SQL live-mode data sources programmatically using a REST API.

REST API to Programmatically Create SQL in Live-Mode Data Source

REST API to Programmatically Edit SQL in Live-Mode Data Source

Extract mode support

Now, we have added extract mode support for the Elasticsearch connector.

Extract Mode for Elasticsearch Connector

Incremental refresh

• You can now use an incremental refresh for BoldDesk data source.
• We have provided incremental refresh support for views.

Incremental Refresh for Views

Copy data source support

You can now copy the data source for SQL Extract and Web based data sources.

Copy Data Source Support

Data source improvements

• Dynamic connection string support has been provided for the following data sources: SQL Server Analysis Services, ClickHouse, Spark SQL, Elasticsearch, ODBC, Amazon Athena, and Presto.
• The issue with the dashboard designer becoming empty in design mode when using a stored procedure or a Google BigQuery data source has been resolved.
• 2x Performance improved for initial chart rendering.
• After publishing a Google BigQuery data source to a different site in Bold BI, widgets are no longer cleared.
• Support is provided for AWS OpenSearch version 1.0.
• Commented lines are no longer restricted in custom query.
• Stored procedures can be reconnected in SQL server data source.
• Columns values and headers are no longer swapped while creating web API data sources.
• Sorting based on a column now works properly.
• Viewing underlying data with a date column now works properly.
• Divide by zero issue in total percentage expressions has been fixed.
• Data Refresh now works for Snowflake data sources with large data.
• The issue with Operations getting cancelled when refreshing large data has been fixed.
• The issue with widgets returning no data during a refresh failure has been fixed.
• Impersonation now works when a username contains a domain name.
• 2x performance improved for dashboards with multiple live web data sources.
• Tables are no longer deleted during data refresh when errors occur.
• A refresh no longer fails due to a mismatch in the schema with newer data.
• Fixed the data source that cannot be created without superuser privilege on MYSQL as IMDB during the upgrade.
• Fixed the issue that the database field cleared on editing the MongoDB connection.
• Fixed the issue that was making the Web API data source load for a long time at extreme scenarios.
• CSV input no longer has empty first row.
• Data is now properly imported for all Excel files.
• An error message is now returned while creating a MongoDB data source using a REST API.

Server enhancements

Font and theme customization

Users can now customize their servers’ font and theme for each site.

Content Security Policy

We have added support for configuring the content security policy. By enabling this option, you can restrict the destination of sources such as style, script, font, image, linking URLs, and frames from other domains. This safeguards the content on your domain page.

X-Frame-Option

We have provided support to configure an X-Frame-Options to avoid loading the BI site inside the frame. You can enable or disable X-Frame-Options on the setting page. By enabling this option, your page will be only displayed if all frame ancestors and the page origin are the same.

X-Frame-Option support

Server improvements

• An option to check the application database version.
• An option to hide the sample dashboard and release banner.
• An option to configure data cache settings.
• An option to edit multi-tab dashboard tab names.
• An option to copy a data source created in extract mode.
• An option to add and edit an external site from the My Profile page.
• Support to update a pinboard using a REST API.
• Support to customize a scheduler email subject and body using a REST API.
• Support to customize a scheduler email subject while creating and editing a scheduler from a UI.
• Provided support to include dashboard in get dashboard REST API when it is published from site with edit restricted options.
• We improved the responsiveness in database user directory configuration when a database has more tables.
• Dashboards now export correctly when an SFTP location is set as a destination.
• Dashboard names show correctly with Unicode characters in Bold BI mobile applications.
• The copy dashboard functionality has been improved.
• Now custom attributes will list correctly on all server with different region date time format.
• Pinned widgets display correctly for non-admin users.

Server Breaking Changes

• Updated the REST API endpoint for create data source to follow API naming standard, which followed for other API in Bold BI.

Designer enhancements

Font style customization using theme variables

• Provided the support to customize the dashboard theme using CSS3 variables.
• Support for customizing widget styles using theme variables:
• Font style: title, subtitle, legend, axis title, and label.
• Color: title, subtitle, Iicon, legend, axis title, and label.
• Widget data color palette.
• Widget selection background color.

Customizing Font Style Using Theme Variables

Data cache configuration

Now you can configure the data cache under the dashboard data process setting in the server.

Configure Data Cache under Dashboard Data Process Settings in the Server

Designer Improvements

• Improved UI for Radio, Checkbox, and Toggle buttons using theme variables.
• Localization won’t work based on language for dashboard rendering.
• Column selection support for viewing underlying data.
• Exporting Dashboard to PDF with each widget in individual Page.
• Rendering problems when using filters with the tab widget have been fixed.
• Widget names with the & symbol now export to Excel files.
• Widget names now display when exporting a dialog for a card widget.
• The issue with the data source list was hidden in a combined data source connection for a different zoom resolution in a browser has been fixed.
• The data source index is now correct when assigning data after publishing a dashboard.
• Hidden field columns now display in a view’s underlying data.
• URL linking now works in a multi-tab dashboard for ampersand (&) or (&&) symbols.
• When clicking the refresh option in a dashboard, the dashboard loads correctly.
• Data source selection now correct in connectors.
• The URL filter now works for encrypted string type parameter values.
• The export option is now hidden after disabling exporting options.
• The aggregation field now works in data alerts.

Designer Breaking Changes

• PDF and image export support won’t work in Azure ARM template deployment since PhantomJS doesn’t support CSS3 variables.

ID enhancements

Major enhancement

Azure Active Directory B2C SSO

We have provided support for Azure Active Directory B2C SSO.

Support for Azure Active Directory B2C SSO

Two Factor Authentication

We provided two-factor authentication support for logging in. This enables an extra layer of security for your account. This support provides stronger protection against unauthorized access to user accounts. Once enabled for each login, this option will prompt you to enter a verification code that is generated by your smart phone.

Two-Factor Authentication

Font and theme customization

We added support to customize fonts and themes for applications and dashboards.

Font and theme customization

Minor improvements

Now you can use a UI to upload and manage localization files.

Manage Localization Files

ID Improvements

• An option to enable or disable user account creation in OAuth and OpenID logins.
• Support to change a master site.
• Support to configure content security policy headers.
• A UI option has been added to enable or disable an x-frame option header.

Note: The startup API v1.0 is obsolete in the Bold BI v5.3 release, and its usage isn’t recommended. This API will be removed in the upcoming release; we recommend using the startup API v2.0 instead.

Embedded BI enhancements

We have provided an option to hide the dashboard and widgets’ Get Embed Code option.

Option to Hide the Get Embed Code for Dashboards and Widgets

• An API to get widget information.
• Support for dashboard and widget comments in JS-based embedding.
• Support for same-site cookie in iframe embedding to avoid logging in the iframe page if you already logged in to the server page.
• Option to customize the data source designer toolbar buttons.
• An event to catch up the designer toolbar button click.
• An event to customize/splice default widgets from the widget panel list.
• Support for widget filters API with date columns and column name specifications.

Embedded BI Improvements

• Events to customize the designer and data source toolbar icons.
• Option to customize the theming in an embedded dashboard.
• An event to customize the data source configuration option.
• Data tables now render the second time during data source embedding.
• The misaligned multi-selection window for dimension filtering on designer embedding has been fixed.

Note: You need to use the updated embed JS version, hosted in https://cdn.boldbi.com/embedded-sdk/v5.3.53/boldbi-embed.js.

Embedded BI Breaking Changes

• We have introduced a new property, embed_server_timestamp, in our embed/authorize rest API to avoid token expiration time zone-related issues. And it will be deprecated in our client-side property in the future.
• We have provided support to download the embedded SDK dependent files from our embedded SDK file. So, no need to refer to the embedded dependent files while referring to the embedded SDK file. Please use the following latest embedded SDK file: https://cdn.boldbi.com/embedded-sdk/v5.3.53/boldbi-embed.js.

Widget Improvements

• Font size customization support for gauge elements.
• Automatic font size support for number and KPI cards.
• Index or data-based color customization for proportion charts.
• Chart inverse axis support.
• The console error in grid rendering has been fixed.
• The issue with maintaining the KPI card font size has been fixed.
• The issue with KPI column Excel exporting in the grid has been fixed.
• The issue with a chart displaying a “0” label at the top has been fixed.
• The issue with a grid view’s underlying data in a multitab dashboard has been fixed.
• The combobox multi-selection issue on clicking outside has been fixed.
• Combining widget exporting has been fixed.
• Chart row sorting issue has been fixed.
• The issue with the currency symbol in number card formatting has been fixed.
• Grid summary row measures formatting has been fixed.
• The drilldown issue when clicking an axis label has been fixed.
• The grid icon now renders correctly in IOS.
• The grid scrollbar issue in the grid summary row dialog has been fixed.
• The fixed-line widget is now visible in mobile mode.
• HeatMap conditional formatting has been corrected.
• The value label no longer disappears when scrolling a virtual chart.
• Text filter widget filtering has been corrected.
• Pivot grid rendering in the tab widget has been fixed.

Conclusion

This post explained the new features and enhancements in the Bold BI v5.3 release. To learn more, refer to our release page.

For questions, you can contact us through the Bold BI website, or if you already have an account, you can log in.

Originally published at https://www.boldbi.com on November 24, 2022.