What’s New

BMC Remedy Action Request System

Version 7.5.00
January 16, 2009

This document summarizes the main features added to the 7.5.00 version of BMC
Remedy Action Request System (AR System).
The following topics are provided:
! Installer (page 4)
! BMC Remedy Developer Studio
! Searching for objects (page 4)
! Exploring object relationships (page 5)
! Analyzing server objects (page 5)
! User experience
! Auto-completion in menus (page 5)
! Tooltips (page 6)
! File system browsers for character fields (page 7)
! Cell-based tables (page 7)
! Tree-view sorting enhancement (page 7)
! Drop-down list character field enhancements (page 8)
! Panels (page 8)
! Text formatting template and rich text formatting (page 10)
! Buttons and URLs in tables (page 11)
! Transparent images (page 11)
! Field effects for state transition and highlight focus (page 11)
! Quick reports in a browser (page 13)
! Right-to-left form views (page 13)
! Flagging fields and views for translation (page 13)
! Adobe Flash technology used in flashboards (page 14)

98415
98415
*98415*
 ! Enterprise capability
! Pure Java API (page 14)
! 64-bit servers (UNIX and Linux platforms) (page 14)
! Image server object (page 16)
! Querying multiple forms at run time (page 17)
! Integration with BMC Atrium Orchestrator (page 17)
! Registering a web service with the BMC Atrium Web Services Registry
(page 18)
! Enhanced behavior of deployable application objects (page 18)
! New SQL Server isolation level (page 18)
! Management of CLOB storage (page 18)
! Auditing only when field values change (page 18)
! Run Process command-line limit increment (page 19)
! Workflow import enhancement (page 19)
! ARGetCacheEvent API (page 19)
! New BMC Remedy Data Import tool (page 19)
! Java data import command-line interface (page 19)
! Row-level security for Flashboards (page 20)
! Business time enhancements (page 20)
! Virtual URL mapping of cached resources (page 20)
! Optimizing bulk operations (page 20)
! Faster server initialization (page 21)
! DSO enhancements (page 21)
! FIPS compliance (page 23)
! Encryption user interface (page 24)
! Support for cert8.db certificates (page 24)
! Server improvements
! Version control (page 25)
! Workflow debugger (page 25)
! Java plug-in server updates (page 25)
! Server group signaling performance improvement (page 27)
! C plug-in server enhancement (page 27)
! Two application forms implemented as System forms (page 27)
! Including view forms in join forms (page 27)
! Active-link firing condition on table refresh (page 27)

2 What’s New January 16, 2009

! Server improvements (continued)
! Character counts for character fields (page 28)
! Service action added to filters and escalations (page 28)
! Improved default form view selection (page 28)
! Support for multiple mail servers in Email Engine (page 29)
! New keywords (page 29)
! Updated third-party libraries (page 29)
! Driver return code enhancement (page 29)
! Exporting views based on locale selection (page 29)
! License management
! Current and historical license usage (page 30)
! Licenses released when closing browser or navigating away from the mid tier
(page 30)
! Session timeout clock in browsers (page 31)
! Accessibility
! Identifying rows selected in a table field to non-vision users (page 31)
! Supportability
! Database consistency checker (page 31)
! Logging to a form (page 32)
! Updates to log files (page 32)
! New log for mid-tier performance (page 32)
! BMC Remedy Approval Server changes
! New approval console (page 33)
! Field mapping for application forms (page 35)
! Full name in the signature line (page 35)
! Role-aware signature (page 35)
! Configurable reassignment through process definition (page 35)
! BMC Remedy Migrator changes
! Enhancements to Differences, Dependency, and Results reports (page 35)
! Data migration with field mapping (page 36)
! Ability to disable related workflow during a migration (page 36)
! Use of Fast and List threads for data migration (page 36)
! Reassignment of forms during migrations (page 36)
! Command-line interface (page 36)

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 3

Installer

! New online help systems

! Online help for BMC Remedy Developer Studio (page 37)
! Online help for browser users (page 37)

Installer
Installing AR System components is simpler with a new suite installer that enables
you to install some or all of the components at the same time.
See the Installation Guide.

BMC Remedy Developer Studio

BMC Remedy Developer Studio is a new integrated development environment
(IDE) for AR System applications. It provides all the application development
functions of the previous BMC Remedy Administrator tool with a modern,
powerful, easy-to-use interface. (The AR System Administration Console provides
the server administration functions that BMC Remedy Administrator provided
before release 7.1.)
See the Introduction to Application Development with BMC Remedy Developer Studio
guide for an introduction to BMC Remedy Developer Studio.

NOTE
BMC Remedy Developer Studio replaces the previous BMC Remedy
Administrator tool. See the Introduction to Application Development with BMC
Remedy Developer Studio guide for information about the differences between BMC
Remedy Administrator and BMC Remedy Developer Studio.

Searching for objects

The BMC Remedy Developer Studio Search command lists in the Search Results
tab those forms whose fields or those objects whose attributes, properties, and field
references match a text string or field ID that you specify. For example, use search
to find the following:
! All forms that have fields whose names equal, begin with, or contain the search
string.
! All objects of a given type whose names equal, begin with, or contain the search
string.
! All workflow objects of a given type that have an associated form whose name
begins with or contains the search string.
! All workflow objects of a given type that reference a field with a specified name.
For more information about the Search command, see “Searching for objects” in
the Introduction to Application Development with BMC Remedy Developer Studio guide.

4 What’s New January 16, 2009

 User experience

Exploring object relationships

The BMC Remedy Developer Studio Show Relationships command lists in the
Relationships tab all fields and objects related to a selected field or object. For
example, use relationships to find the following:
! All workflow objects that have a given form as an associated form.
! All Open Window actions that open a given form.
! All forms and fields that reference a given image or menu.
! All images or menus that are referenced by any field in a form or by a particular
field.
For more information about the Show Relationships command, see “Finding
related objects” in the Introduction to Application Development with BMC Remedy
Developer Studio guide.

Analyzing server objects

The BMC Remedy Developer Studio Analyzer command can help you optimize
and troubleshoot your AR System application. When you run the Analyzer, it
finds objects that are not consistent with the Analyzer rules you select. The rules
check for potential performance problems, such as inefficient database queries,
and potential errors, such as workflow that cannot be run.
For more information about analyzing server objects, see the Workflow Objects
Guide.

User experience
Auto-completion in menus
For forms that are viewed in a web browser, you can turn on an “automatic
complete” feature for character fields that have a menu attached to them. When
this feature is turned on for a field and a user begins typing text into the field, a list
of values that match the text appears. When multiple values are presented, the user
can change the selection with the up and down arrow keys or using the mouse. To
select a highlighted option, the user presses Enter or clicks it.
To enable this feature, select the field in BMC Remedy Developer Studio, and set
the Auto Complete and Auto Complete Match By properties accordingly.
See the “Automatically completing menu entries” section of the Form and
Application Objects Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 5

User experience

Tooltips
Tooltips are brief informational messages that are displayed in response to a user
action with an object on the screen. Tooltips are commonly used to provide
descriptions of menu items, toolbar buttons, or other objects. In AR System,
tooltips can be applied to tables, attachments, field labels, or field data.
A tooltip can be displayed by hovering the mouse over an area in a form or by
clicking on an object such as a button. For table fields, a tooltip can be displayed by
hovering over a row. The tooltip displays the values for the row being hovered
over, even if that row is not the currently selected row.
Tooltips can include URL links, which can be added through a Set Fields action.
Tooltips do not appear for disabled fields.
Tooltips are implemented through two types of AR System features:
! HOVER event
! Active link Message action
The HOVER event triggers the active link action that displays a tooltip. Depending
on the precise hover event, active links are triggered that are defined with three
possible execution options: Hover on Label, Hover on Data, and Hover on Field.
The HOVER event does not fire on fields that are disabled or hidden.
In addition, a new HOVER function is available in BMC Remedy Developer
Studio, which supports the ability to retrieve hovered-over values.
A ToolTip selection is available as a message action option for an active link.
Tooltip message actions are not available for filters.
With templates, you can enhance the appearance of tooltips. For example, you can
use a template to set the color and appearance of the tooltip’s text and background.
You can also format tooltips manually using HTML. However, the HTML is not
validated.
For those using assistive devices, a tooltip is rendered as a dialog box, which can
be dismissed by clicking its OK button. The following keyboard actions
correspond to the areas on a form where a tooltip can be displayed:
! ALT+F9—label
! ALT+F10—data
! ALT+F12—field
! For more information about tooltips, see the “The Message action” section in
chapter 4, “Specifying workflow actions,” of the Workflow Objects Guide.

6 What’s New January 16, 2009

 User experience

File system browsers for character fields

A new display type, File, was added to character fields in BMC Remedy Developer
Studio. Use this display type to add file-system browsers to forms. File-system
browsers enable application users to browse network file systems for a file name
without uploading or attaching the file. Instead, the file name is simply added to
the character field.
See “Adding a file system browser to character fields” in Chapter 6 of the Form and
Application Objects Guide.

Cell-based tables
Use the new cell-based table field to display a row of data in a single cell instead of
in a traditional grid format with column headings. For example, see Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1: Cell-based table field

See “Cell-based tables” in Chapter 7 of the Form and Application Objects Guide.

Tree-view sorting enhancement

Each level in a tree-view table corresponds to a column field in a list view table. In
previous releases, BMC Remedy User and browsers did not hide tree levels whose
column field was marked Hidden in BMC Remedy Administrator. Thus, you
could sort the nodes in tree levels alphanumerically, but you could not use hidden
levels to sort subsequent levels in a logical order. Sometimes, however, a logical
sort order is more desirable—for example, you might want to display items in their
order of importance or their frequency of occurrence instead of alphabetically.
In this release, BMC Remedy User and browsers hide tree levels marked Hidden
in BMC Remedy Developer Studio, so you can now use hidden levels to create
logical sorts.
See “Arranging nodes in tree views” in Chapter 7 of the Form and Application
Objects Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 7

User experience

Drop-down list character field enhancements

The following enhancements were made to character fields whose Display Type
property is set to Drop-Down List:
! Removing (clear)—Developers can now remove the (clear) item from
character field drop-down lists in all modes except Search. This enables you to
ensure that such character fields contain values in non-Search modes while
providing users the flexibility to omit such character fields from their search
criteria. See “Removing (clear) from drop-down lists” in Chapter 8 of the Form
and Application Objects Guide.
! Entering partial values—In Search mode, users can now enter a partial value in
a drop-down list character field; they are no longer limited to selecting complete
values from the list. For example, if a character field’s drop-down list includes
Business Development and Business Services, users can type Business in the field to
search for all requests that contain either of the longer terms. See “Automatically
completing menu entries” in Chapter 8 of the Form and Application Objects Guide.

Panels
A panel (what served as the page field prior to AR System 7.5.00) is a container that
enables an application designer to group specific fields together on a form. Unlike
a trim box, which can provide only a visual grouping for fields, a panel provides
both the visual grouping and the ability to function as a true container. Panels can
be placed anywhere on a form, or within a panel holder.
You can style panels by setting a background color, opacity (transparent or
opaque), border thickness, and border color.
You can also set a background image for a panel, and choose how the image is
proportioned in the panel. You can keep the image as it is, or you can set the image
to be stretched or tiled horizontally or vertically. For example, you can stretch the
image so it will fill the entire container. Or, you can stretch the image to lengthen
or widen it.
For more information, see the “Field Types” section in the Form and Application
Objects Guide.

Panel holders
AR System 7.5.00 provides new options for configuring the layout and behavior of
panel holders.
In addition to color and background options, you now can configure panel holders
so that the multiple panels they contain are all visible at the same time, or visible
in an accordion display that stacks panels but shows only one panel at a time.
Users can display a splitter that controls the relative size of adjacent panels. Panels
can also be displayed in a horizontal or vertical orientation. Panels now have a
header area. Also, a new option allows a panel’s contents to change its size
dynamically.

8 What’s New January 16, 2009

 User experience

These display options enable developers and users to make better use of screen
space, reduce the number of panel transitions needed to get to optional
information, and remove clutter on the screen.

New layout policy: Fill Layout

In AR System 7.5.00, a new policy, Fill Layout, can be applied to a panel in addition
to the traditional XY layout. This new policy is applicable only for forms viewed in
a browser; the policy is ignored in BMC Remedy User. You can use this option to
allow the screen layout to be readjusted automatically when the browser window
size changes, and to allow the contents of panels divided by a splitter to re-adjust
their layout when the user moves the splitter.
When Fill Layout is selected, the container ignores the field’s XY width and height
properties. Instead, each field takes up the panel’s entire width. Setting the form
view to Fill Layout allows the screen to be adjusted dynamically to changes in the
browser window size.
Setting a panel to Fill Layout is useful when the panel contains a nested panel
holder, or when the panel contains a field that can make good use of resizing, such
as a table field, tree field, view field, or data visualization field.

Panel holder display types

The following display types are available for panel holders:
Tabbed
In the tabbed panel holder, two panels in the panel holder are created by default,
with a tab for each panel. Users view each panel by clicking on its tab or by
pressing the left or right arrow keys. Only the horizontal orientation is available
for Tabbed panel holders.
Collapsible
In a collapsible (stacked) display, multiple panels can be viewed at the same time,
either horizontally or vertically.
For panels within a horizontal panel holder, the height is fixed while the width
always fills the panel holder. For vertical panel holders, the width is fixed, while
the height always fills the panel holder.
Splitter
In a splitter display, all panels in the panel holder can be viewed at the same time,
either vertically or horizontally, and can be dynamically resized by dragging a
splitter control on either side.

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User experience

Accordion
The accordion display is similar to a tabbed display because the content of one
panel in the panel holder visible at a time. Only the headers for the remaining
panels of the container are visible. At runtime, when you click on a panel header,
that panel is expanded to display its contents. If another panel was open, it is
automatically collapsed and only its header is visible. The header cannot be hidden
in an accordion display.

Color and gradient options

AR System 7.5.00 provides new options for setting colors in panels and headers in
panel holders. You can set solid background colors, set an opacity level, and select
vertical or horizontal color gradient effects. (Gradient effects apply only to the
Web.)

Rounded corners
You can apply rounding to one or more corners of a panel by setting rounded
radius values using the Rounded Corners property in Developer Studio. For
example, you can apply the same rounding radius to all four corners of a panel, or
apply different rounding radii to specific panel corners. Rounded corners apply
only to the Web.

Expanding and collapsing panels using workflow

In addition to the ability to expand or collapse panels from the header, you can
expand or collapse panels through new active link Execute On conditions and
Change Field options. These options are available only for panels.
Two new active link Execute On conditions, On Expand and On Collapse, enable
you to apply workflow actions when a panels is expanded or collapsed.
The Change Field options now include an Expand/Collapse option that allows
you to specify expanding or collapsing a panel on a Change Field action.
For more information about panels, see the “Field types” section in the Form and
Application Objects Guide.

Text formatting template and rich text formatting

Templates are a method of formatting text dynamically for presentation in
AR System. The data included in templates is specified through parameters that
the client workflow substitutes at runtime. Templates can be used to format text in
tooltips and view fields.
Templates are stored as HTML file attachments in the AR System Resource
Definitions form, which enables you to store information about the template.
A template is HTML code with parameters or field IDs. The template can be a
complete HTML document (starting and ending with <html> and <body> tags) or
a portion (snippet) of an HTML document (for example, a group of table rows).

10 What’s New January 16, 2009

 User experience

A template can be processed using either of these methods:

! Create a Set Fields workflow action that uses the TEMPLATE function to place
content into a character field or a view field.
! Bind a template directly to a view field. Use this method when you do not need
to calculate parameter values in workflow.
Templates can be nested within templates, either by using workflow to generate
content from a template with an HTML snippet and placing it into a hidden field,
or by using the TEMPLATE function within another TEMPLATE function.
A message action of the type Tooltip can display the HTML generated by an earlier
Set Fields action.
For more information about templates, see Chapter 10, “Using templates,” in the
Form and Application Objects Guide.

Buttons and URLs in tables

In previous releases, buttons that affected table items had to be outside the tables.
To perform actions with the buttons, users first selected a field in a table row and
then clicked the button.
Now, you can add buttons to columns inside list view and cell-based tables.
Buttons in tables can have text or images but not both. In browsers, they can also
be displayed as URLs.
See “Adding buttons and URLs to tables” in Chapter 7 of the Form and Application
Objects Guide.

Transparent images
In previous releases, AR System supported only BMP, DIB, JPEG, JPG, TARGA,
and TIFF images. Those image types cannot have transparent backgrounds.
In AR System 7.5.00, the following AR System components now support GIF and
PNG images, which can have transparent backgrounds:
! BMC Remedy Developer Studio
! BMC Remedy Mid Tier
! BMC Remedy User
See “Transparent images” in Chapter 9 of the Form and Application Objects Guide.

Field effects for state transition and highlight focus

Field effects in AR System can serve as visual cues to specific system actions. These
effects are supported by the Yahoo User Interlace Library, a collection of libraries
in JavaScript™ that provide tools for building rich interactivity in web
applications. These libraries are installed with AR System 7.5.00.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 11

User experience

New properties
Three new field properties specify whether a field is highlighted when a value is
changed through a Set Field action, and the color of the highlight. These properties
apply only to data fields (character, diary, date, time, date/time, currency, integer,
real, and decimal, radio-button fields, check boxes, and drop-down lists).
Field effects can be disabled by selecting No in the Animated Effects field of the
AR System User Preference form (Web tab).
Enabled
When the Enabled property is set to True, you can specify a highlight start color
and a highlight end color.
Highlight Start Color
The Highlight Start Color property enables selection of a color for the highlight
based on the theme of the form, background color, and other factors. If no highlight
start color is specified, the mid tier uses the default color of yellow.
Highlight End Color
The Highlight End Color property enables a smooth visual transition following a
system action. For best results, choose a color that matches the background color
of the element on which the field resides, whether is a panel or form. The default
color is white.
For display as text fields, the default color is the background color of the form.

Additional effects
The following effects are also available.
Highlight changes on value change (data fields)
This effect is applied if the value of a field changed through a Set Field action and
when the Highlight Enabled property is set to True. The field’s input element is
highlighted with the color specified by the Highlight Start Color property, or with
the default color of yellow if no color is specified. The highlighted field fades to the
color specified by the Highlight End Color property.
If the value being changed is in a selection field that does not have a single input
element, the entire set of boxes or buttons is highlighted.
Dialog zoom out
This effect applies to calendar pop-ups, currency field pop-ups, and character/
diary Edit field pop-ups. When a pop-up button is clicked, the associated dialog
box zooms out.
For No Vision users (those using assistive devices), pop-up windows are rendered
the same as in AR System 7.1 and earlier.

12 What’s New January 16, 2009

 User experience

Highlight on required fields when a submit action fails

When a submit action fails due to missing required values, fields needing values
are highlighted with a red border. This effect applies only to data fields.
Slide in and slide out of items in vertical navigation bar and panels
This effect enables submenu items in a vertical navigation bar to be slowly shown
and hidden by having them slide in and out.
For more information about field effects, see the “Field types” section of the Form
and Application Objects Guide.

Quick reports in a browser

With the My Reports toolbar button, you can save reports from searches you
perform on a form. Each report is saved per server, per form, and per user.
For more information, see the “Using the My Reports toolbar button” section in the
BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide.

Right-to-left form views

The text direction of languages such as Arabic and Hebrew flows from right to left
(RTL) instead of the Western left to right (LTR).
With BMC Remedy Developer Studio, you can create form views with a RTL flow
that display a RTL flow in an Internet Explorer version 6 or later browser. Other
browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari browser, are not supported.
(The form view does not appear or function properly in these browsers.)
BMC Remedy User cannot display RTL flows.
The current version of BMC Remedy Flashboards does not support RTL.
See the “Setting form view properties” and “Rendering forms in right-to-left
format” sections in the Form and Application Objects Guide.
For information about configuring right-to-left format in a data visualization field
(DVF), see the “Configuring right-to-left format in a data visualization field
(DVF)” section in the Integration Guide.

Flagging fields and views for translation

The new Localization Required property for fields and views enables you to
specify whether a field label or the text in a view must be translated. See these
sections in the Form and Application Objects Guide:
! Appendix D
! “Setting form view properties” in Chapter 11

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 13

Enterprise capability

Adobe Flash technology used in flashboards

Adobe Flash technology has been incorporated into BMC Remedy Flashboards to
enable you to create more robust flashboards with interactive effects that allow
users to see the flashboard in a full-screen view, zoom in and out, change chart
types, modify labels, and show and hide the legend.
Using Flash technology, Flashboards also has a new look and feel to make
flashboards sleeker and better looking.
Note the following tips regarding flashboards:
! A 3D view of flashboards is not supported for flashboards that use the Adobe
Flex technology (the default format).
! If a flashboard is too small for the Flash technology to generate the image
legibly, the flashboard rendering reverts to the previous “image-based”
technology for optimal use of the space on the form.
For more information about creating flashboards, see the BMC Remedy Flashboards
Guide.
For more information about viewing the flashboards, see the BMC Remedy User
Help.

Enterprise capability
Pure Java API
In previous releases, the JNI™ layer was used to pass Java™ calls through the C
API. Beginning with release 7.5.00, the JNI layer is replaced with a pure Java
implementation.
When running against a release 7.5.00, 7.1.00, or 7.0.01 AR System server, the
release 7.5.00 Java API runs as pure Java. If the release 7.5.00 Java API needs to
communicate with a pre-7.0.01 AR System server, it still uses the JNI layer. You can
configure the Java API to never use the JNI layer, in which case it is unable to
communicate with older servers.
Deployment of the Java API is simplified by consolidating multiple JAR files into
arapi75.jar (excluding logj-1.2.14.jar).
For more information, see the Integration Guide and the C API Reference.

64-bit servers (UNIX and Linux platforms)

In the AR System 7.5.00 release, the AR System server binary is compiled as a
native 64-bit executable for supported UNIX® operating systems (Solaris™, HP-UX
on Itanium and RISC platforms, and AIX®) and for Linux®. The 64-bit AR System
server cache on these platforms can now take advantage of the 64-bit address space
on 64-bit operating systems. This provides enhanced server reliability in enterprise
environments where AR System supports a Service Support solution or other
complex applications and a large and active user population.

14 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Enterprise capability

The C API libraries are provided in 64-bit and 32-bit versions to support new 64-bit
applications and legacy 32-bit applications. In addition, the 64-bit AR System
server is compatible with and required for use with the 64-bit BMC Atrium CMDB
7.5.00 release.
The 64-bit AR System server is compatible with the following 64-bit platforms and
operating systems:

CPU type Operating systems

Sun™ SPARC™ Solaris 9, 10
Intel Itanium HP-UX 11iv2, 11iv3
HP PA-RISC HP-UX 11iv2, 11iv3
®
IBM Power AIX 5L 5.3, 6.1
AMD64 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5
Intel 64
AMD64 and Novell SUSE Linux 9 and 10
Intel 64

For the most up-to-date information about 64-bit AR System server compatibility
with specific operating systems and versions, see the compatibility matrix on the
Support website (http://www.bmc.com/support_home).

Database compatibility
The database for a 64-bit AR System server must use 64-bit database client
libraries. Before installing a 64-bit version of AR System 7.5.00, make sure that the
64-bit database client libraries are installed on the computer that will run the
AR System server (arserverd).

NOTE
Although the 64-bit server can make use of a 64 bit address space, it stores 32-bit
values in the database and exchanges 32-bit values with API clients. It does not
store 64-bit values in the database in this release.

Client and application compatibility

AR System clients that are 32-bit, including the BMC Remedy Mid Tier, the plug-
in server, BMC Remedy Email Engine, BMC Remedy Approval Server, and
AR System-based Service Support solution applications, run unchanged on
AR System 7.5.00 64-bit servers. Custom applications based on the AR System
C API or Java API can also run without changes.

NOTE
Custom plug-ins also run without change, except for C/C++ plug-ins on the
Itanium platform. In AR System 7.1.00, the C plug-in server ran under the HP
ARIES emulator and supported 32-bit plug-ins compiled for the PA-RISC
platform. AR System 7.5.00 for the Itanium platform no longer supports PA-RISC
plug-ins. Recompile C/C++ plug-ins as 32-bit Itanium shared libraries.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 15

Enterprise capability

AR System Java-based applications, such as BMC Remedy Mid Tier, Email Engine,
and Approval Server, are compiled 32-bit for all platforms, and require that you
install a 32-bit JVM™. Using a 64-bit JVM is not supported.
For information about installing the 64-bit AR System server, see the Installation
Guide. For configuration and optimization information, see the Configuration Guide
and the Optimizing and Troubleshooting Guide.
HP-UX Integrity servers
Under HP-UX on Itanium-based HP Integrity servers, all 32-bit AR System
components now run in native 32-bit mode (IA-64N). Therefore, you can now
install Java-based AR System components (such as the BMC Remedy Mid Tier) on
this platform.
The AR System server and applications compiled using the 64-bit C API run in
native 64-bit mode (IA-64) when running under HP-UX on Itanium-based HP
Integrity servers.

Image server object

A new AR System object type, Images, is now available. Images are used in
AR System forms as backgrounds and buttons. In previous versions, a separate
copy of each image was stored as data in the field display property list for each
field or form view with which the image was associated. This could result in a
significant amount of duplicated data in the database as well as in the server's
cache.
In release 7.5.00, you can use an image object to store an image only once, as a
binary object, in a new AR System table, and then set the field display property for
any field or form view to include the image by reference. This allows for significant
improvements in database storage, server initialization time, and import time.
To support this new feature, release 7.5.00 includes the following enhancements:
! A change to the content of the field and form view display properties. Field and
form view display properties now reference the image by name, rather than
storing the image as a byte list. For information about how to create image
objects and configure their properties, see the Workflow Objects Guide.
! Backward compatibility for clients older than release 7.5.00. In this case, the
AR System server converts the image back to a data string in the field or form
view display properties.
! A new database table (image) and a new image ID number (imageID). See the
Database Reference.
! Two new structures (ARImageStruct and ARImageDataStruct) and a set of
new API calls to support image objects, including creation (ARCreateImage),
deletion (ARDeleteImage), modification (ARSetImage and ARSetImageToXML),
and retrieval (ARGetImage, ARGetListImage, ARGetMultipleImage and
ARGetImageFromXML). Related new commands are also added to the driver
program. See the C API Reference and C API Quick Reference.

16 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Enterprise capability

! Two new XML ENUM data types for exporting images

(AR_STRUCT_ITEM_IMAGE and AR_STRUCT_ITEM_XML_IMAGE), and a new export
format (image).
! A conversion program, ImageExtractor.jar (ImageExtractor.bat on
Windows), to convert existing image objects to the new format. You can convert
images associated with individual forms or multiple forms at any time. See the
Configuration Guide for information about using the ImageExtractor.jar
utility.

Querying multiple forms at run time

The C and Java APIs contain a new function,
ARGetListEntryWithMultiSchemaFields. The main operation performed by this
function is a dynamic join. Unlike AR System join forms, which are created at
design time, dynamic joins are performed at runtime. They enable you to perform
database queries across multiple forms—including view and vendor forms—on an
ad hoc basis.
Depending on the structure of your data, this function might also perform the
following suboperations to support the dynamic join:
! Recursive queries—If a form contains hierarchical (parent-child) data, such as
manager and employee relationships, this function can use one query to search
the form recursively and retrieve the complete hierarchy and related attributes.
! Value set queries—This function can perform IN and NOT IN operations on a
fixed value set and on a value set returned by a subquery.
! Vendor form joins—Joining vendor forms with other types of forms enables a
single query to access data in both AR System and external sources.
See these sections in the C API Reference:
! “ARGetListEntryWithMultiSchemaFields” in Chapter 4
! “Structures for ARGetListEntryWithMultiSchemaFields” in Chapter 3
! Appendix B, “Retrieving entries from multiple forms“

Integration with BMC Atrium Orchestrator

You can now use AR System workflow to integrate an application with
BMC Atrium Orchestrator. Orchestrator enables IT organizations to automate
tasks and processes, such as trouble ticketing, virtualization management, and so
on. For more information about integrating an AR System application with
Orchestrator, see the Integration Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 17

Enterprise capability

Registering a web service with the BMC Atrium Web Services Registry
The AR System Web Services Registry form and its workflow provide an interface
to the BMC Atrium Web Services Registry. Creating a request in the form and
enabling it registers a web service. Disabling or deleting the request removes the
registration. If the registry is unavailable, the workflow attempts to register or
deregister the web service later. The form also reports whether the web service is
registered. For more information about registering a web service with the
BMC Atrium Web Services Registry, see the Integration Guide.

Enhanced behavior of deployable application objects

This feature enables users to retain excess forms, import forms with the deployable
application name information, and import forms with precedence, by using the
ImportOption argument in the ARImport C API function. For more information,
see the C API Reference. This functionality also appears in the Import wizard when
importing forms in Developer Studio.
You can move a form to a different deployable application in Developer Studio,
while retaining form permissions, by dragging the form from the Forms tab group
to the Application node.

New SQL Server isolation level

BMC recommends that you use the following database settings to reduce the
possibility of deadlocks and improve performance of AR System:
! Snapshot isolation level with Microsoft SQL Server 2005
! Forced parameterization
However, to completely avoid deadlocks, you need to develop proper workflows
that take care of deadlocks.
See the “Using Microsoft SQL Server with AR System” section of the Database
Reference.

Management of CLOB storage

This feature enables AR System administrators to manage the CLOB storage for
individual fields. A new database property is added to the Character field, and its
value is used only when dealing with an Oracle® database.
See the “Character Fields” section of the Form and Application Objects Guide.

Auditing only when field values change

Auditing is done only for those records whose field values have changed in a
transaction. To use the previous mechanism, wherein all records were audited
regardless of the change in their field values, you can use the Server-level or Form-
level configuration.

18 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Enterprise capability

See the “Server Information-Configuration tab” and “ar.conf (ar.cfg)”

sections of the Configuration Guide, and the “Configuring a form for auditing”
section of the Form and Application Objects Guide.

Run Process command-line limit increment

The limit for the Run Process command-line string length has been increased from
256 to 4096 bytes. The actual maximum length to run the process is limited by the
operating system in use with AR System.
See the “The Run Process active link, filter, or escalation action” section of the
Workflow Objects Guide, and Chapter 2, “SQL Definitions of the data dictionary
tables” of the Database Reference Guide.

Workflow import enhancement

Two new options are added to the ARImport API for workflow, which allow:
! Overwriting workflow objects while preserving the attached list
! Removing forms from the attached list without modifying the workflow object
See the “ARImport” section of the C API Reference.

ARGetCacheEvent API
This is a new API added to the AR System server. You can use this API call to write
a utility to monitor cache events. Installers and automation tests no longer need to
use polling to check whether the changes they perform have occurred or not.
Automation tests can use this API call to achieve a 100% pass rate. BMC Remedy
Developer Studio can add a thread to know when changes become public for
testing.
See the “ARGetCacheEvent” section of the C API Reference.

New BMC Remedy Data Import tool

An updated BMC Remedy Data Import tool (which replaces BMC Remedy Import)
is included with the AR System product and is compatible with Unicode. This GUI
tool allows you to import data to AR System forms. For information about using
BMC Remedy Data Import, see the Configuration Guide.

Java data import command-line interface

In Release 7.5.00, the arimportcmd command-line interface is replaced with a Java
data import command-line utility. See “Using the BMC Remedy Data Import
utility” in the Integration Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 19

Enterprise capability

Row-level security for Flashboards

For real-time data, Flashboards grants access to statistical data based on user login
information.
For historical and summary data in multi-tenant environments, you can grant
access to flashboards variables by implementing row-level security. If you do not
set permissions for a variable, only the administrator who created the variable can
see the information in the flashboard.
Row-level security enables you to show and hide information based on a user’s
permissions. For example, if you place a flashboard on a Help Desk form, you can
display one set of data to support representatives and a different set of data to
requesters.
See the “Setting row-level security for variables” section of the BMC Remedy
Flashboards Guide.

Business time enhancements

Business time segments can be associated with time zones.
Business Time commands work accurately for Daylight Saving Time (DST).
See the “Using time zones” section of the Configuration Guide.

Virtual URL mapping of cached resources

The browser caches mid-tier resource files (such as JavaScript and css files).
Consequently, when the mid tier is upgraded, the new mid-tier files do not match
the files currently in the browser cache.
So that users do not have to clear out the browser’s cache when a new mid tier is
installed, the browser requests a new copy of the resource (instead of the cached
files) through a virtual URL that the mid tier generates and maps to the new
resource files.

Optimizing bulk operations

The new Application-Set-Filter-Phasing Run Process command enables
administrators to delay the creation of individual form entries so that they can be
created in bulk. This command determines whether form entries are created when
the workflow operation to create them occurs or whether they are created in bulk
during a later filter phase.
See “Process commands” in Appendix C of the Workflow Objects Guide.

20 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Enterprise capability

Faster server initialization

You can now configure the server to use multiple threads (known as “preload
threads”) when loading the cache from the database. This option allows the server
to make better use of system resources such as CPU and network bandwidth, and
can greatly reduce the time required to load the cache at server initialization. This
option can also be configured for use during run time. For information about using
this option, see “Using preload threads” in the Configuration Guide.

DSO enhancements

Polling options for DSO server

In previous releases, the DSO server queried the distributed pending queue every
time a request was submitted to the queue. If the request was associated with a
nonpolling pool, the server then immediately notified the pool. This could degrade
the performance of AR System by overloading it with unnecessary operations.
To enhance the performance of DSO, a polling option for the DSO server was
added to AR System 7.5.00:
! Polling server—Queries the distributed pending queue at specified intervals.
! Nonpolling server (Default)—Immediately queries the distributed pending
queue whenever a request is submitted to the queue. If the request is associated
with a nonpolling pool, immediately notifies the pool.
See “Setting a polling interval for the DSO server” in Chapter 2 of the BMC Remedy
Distributed Server Option Guide.

Polling options for distributed pools

In previous releases, as soon as a request was submitted to the distributed pending
queue, it could be processed. Hence, all distributed pools queried the queue every
time the queue received a request. During periods of heavy activity, these queries
could overload the database and degrade the performance of AR System.
To alleviate this congestion, polling options for distributed pools were added to
AR System 7.5.00. Now, you can create two types of distributed pools:
! Polling pool—Queries the distributed pending queue at specified intervals.
! Nonpolling pool (Default)—Immediately queries the distributed pending
queue whenever a request associated with the pool is submitted to the queue.
See “Setting polling intervals for distributed pools” in Chapter 3 of the BMC
Remedy Distributed Server Option Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 21

Enterprise capability

Caching distributed mappings

To reduce the load on the AR System database, distributed mapping information
is now cached. By default, the cache is refreshed every 30 minutes. You can change
this refresh interval.
See “Setting the distributed mapping cache refresh interval” in Chapter 2 of the
BMC Remedy Distributed Server Option Guide.

DSO log levels

You can now set a log level for the DSO log files:

Log level Description

Error Logs only errors.
Warning Logs errors and warnings.
Info Logs errors, warnings, and other information to provide a step-by-step
record of DSO activities.

If you set the log level to Error or Warning, you can use the following entry in the
AR System server configuration file to include a list of source entry field/value
pairs for errors and warnings in the DSO log files: Log-DSO-Field-Values: T.
See “Configuring DSO logging” in Chapter 2 of the BMC Remedy Distributed Server
Option Guide.

Logging matching qualification values

When DSO implements a distributed mapping that contains a matching
qualification, it now logs the fields and values used to match the source and target
request. The Mapping match qualifier values entry in the DSO log files
identifies these values.
See “Logging matching qualification values” in Chapter 2 of the BMC Remedy
Distributed Server Option Guide.

Performing distributed operations on join forms

DSO can now perform all types of distributed operations—transfer, update,
return, and delete—on join forms.
See “Performing distributed operations on join forms” in Chapter 3 of the BMC
Remedy Distributed Server Option Guide.

22 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Enterprise capability

FIPS compliance
To be used by Federal government agencies, software must comply with Federal
Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 200. Per FIPS 200, information that needs
cryptographic protection must use software that complies with FIPS 140-2.
AR System 7.5.00 was enhanced so that data transmitted between AR System
servers and clients can comply with FIPS 140-2 encryption requirements.
The enhancements are described in the following sections.

BMC Remedy Encryption Performance Security

Performance Security now includes a FIPS encryption option. When this option is
enabled, network traffic is encrypted using AES CBC with a 128-bit key for data
encryption and a 1024-bit modulus for the RSA key exchange. It uses SHA-1 for
message authentication. This option supports the minimum Federal Information
Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 encryption requirements.

NOTE
BMC Remedy Encryption Performance Security is sold separately from
AR System 7.5.00.

BMC Remedy Encryption Premium Security

Premium Security now includes a premium FIPS encryption option. When this
option is enabled, network traffic is encrypted using AES CBC with a 256-bit key
for data encryption and a 2048-bit modulus for the RSA key exchange. It uses SHA-
1 for message authentication. This option supports premium FIPS 140-2 encryption
requirements.

NOTE
BMC Remedy Encryption Premium Security is sold separately from
AR System 7.5.00.

FIPS 140-2 certification

The following FIPS-certified libraries provide the cryptography used by the
Performance and Premium FIPS encryption options:
! Network Security Services (NSS) 3.11.4
! RSA Crypto-J 4.0 FIPS-140
! OpenSSL FIPS 1.2

NOTE
The BMC Remedy Encryption Security products will be released with a precertified
version of the OpenSSL FIPS library. This library will be upgraded to the
OpenSSL FIPS Object Module v1.2 certified version when it is available.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 23

Enterprise capability

FIPS-compliant AREA and ARDBC LDAP plug-ins

When you install the AR System server, the FIPS-certified Network Security
Services (NSS) 3.11.4 libraries from Mozilla are added to the following Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) plug-ins:
! AR System External Authentication (AREA)
! AR System Database Connectivity (ARDBC)

IMPORTANT
These libraries provide the capability to comply with FIPS 140-2. To make your
LDAP environment actually compliant with FIPS 140-2, you must further configure
your LDAP server. See the Federal government FIPS 200 and 140-2 guidelines and
your LDAP server documentation.

NOTE
To comply with FIPS 140-2, the plug-ins must use SSL to connect to the LDAP
server.

See the BMC Remedy Encryption Security Guide.

Encryption user interface

The AR System Administration: Server Information form now has an Encryption
tab. Administrators can use this tab instead of the AR System server configuration
file to view and modify their AR System server’s encryption configuration.
See the BMC Remedy Encryption Security Guide.

Support for cert8.db certificates

AR System uses the Mozilla C-LDAP libraries to support LDAP plug-ins and
remote authentication. To enable the plug-ins to establish Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) connections to LDAP servers, these libraries use the Mozilla Network
Security Services (NSS). Previously, AR System used NSS 3.2, which supports only
cert7.db certificates. In this release, AR System uses NSS 3.11.4, which now
supports cert8.db certificates and complies with FIPS 140-2.

NOTE
NSS 3.11.4 is backward compatible with cert7.db. So if you use a cert7.db
certificate database, you do not have to upgrade to cert8.db.

See Appendix E of the Integration Guide.

24 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Server improvements

Server improvements
Version control
The AR System server provides the following version control functions:
! Object reservation—With this feature enforced, users can reserve server
objects. The AR System server prevents other users from modifying reserved
objects. BMC Remedy Developer Studio includes commands to reserve and
release objects.
! Object modification log—With this feature enabled, the AR System server
automatically logs every change to an object and, optionally, exports the objects.
Users can view the log entries in the AR Server Version Control: Object
Modification Log form and restore a saved version of an object from the .def
file attached to a log entry.
For more information, see the Form and Application Objects Guide.

Workflow debugger
The AR System Workflow Debugger is a command-line utility that enables
AR System application developers to debug workflow interactively. In release
7.5.00, this feature is available for filters and escalations.
Application developers can use the workflow debugger to:
! Set breakpoints
! Begin and resume filter and escalation execution
! Single-step through filter and escalation workflow
! Examine data items associated with the workflow
! Overwrite data items associated with the workflow
The workflow debugger is automatically installed with the AR System server, and
it uses a dedicated private queue for communication with the AR System server.
For information about using the workflow debugger, see the Optimizing and
Troubleshooting Guide.

Java plug-in server updates

Configuration
Configuring plug-ins for the Java plug-in server is simpler than in previous
releases. Now, a plug-in requires less description, and some of the redundant
configuration elements have been removed.
For simplified plug-in configuration, see the sample pluginsvr_config.xml file.
For more information, see the “Configuring the plug-in server” section of the
Integration Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 25

Server improvements

Support for C plug-ins

The Java plug-in server no longer supports C plug-ins. Instead, it supports only
Java plug-ins, such as the Web Services plug-in, that use the Java plug-in API.
If you try to configure the Java plug-in server to run a C plug-in, an error is
recorded in the ARServerInstallDir\Arserver\Db\arjavaplugin.log file.
See “Java plug-in server” in Appendix C of the Configuration Guide.

Multithreading
In previous releases, the Java plug-in server created a thread to handle each RPC
connection as it was received from the AR System server, often creating many
threads. If a connection failed, the plug-in server programmatically shut down the
plug-in instances associated with the thread for that connection, often losing data
in the process. To improve performance, the Java plug-in server now uses a
configurable pool of worker threads to handle RPC calls.
See “Multithreading in the Java plug-in server” in Chapter 7 of the Integration
Guide.

Dynamic plug-in loading

Most changes made to the pluginsvr_config.xml file require a plug-in server
restart to take effect. You can now add plug-ins to the file, however, without
restarting the server.
See “Dynamic plug-in loading” in Chapter 7 of the Integration Guide.

Exception log
When a run-time exception or an ARException class error occurs during a Java
plug-in server call to a plug-in, enhanced information is now recorded in the
ARServerInstallDir\Arserver\Db\arjavaplugin.log file.
See “Logging exceptions for calls to Java plug-ins” in Chapter 7 of the Integration
Guide.

Error 8753
The following error has been added to AR System:
Error 8753: Error in plugin: pluginName
Users receive this error when a run-time exception occurs during a Java plug-in
server call to a plug-in. AR System adds detailed information about the error to the
ARServerInstallDir\Arserver\Db\arjavaplugin.log file.

26 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Server improvements

Server group signaling performance improvement

Servers in a server group now use a new process, the arsignald daemon, to notify
other members of the group about changes to the server cache. arsignald is a
persistent process that AR System server starts at startup. The process maintains a
pipe to the associated AR System server and handles all signals to the other
members of the server group. Therefore, signaling between members of a server
group now requires only one additional server process per server, which greatly
reduces the impact on system resources. (The arsignal program is still available
for use by AR System workflow, but is no longer used for server group signaling.)

C plug-in server enhancement

Exception handling in the C plug-in server now produces a stack trace. The stack
trace includes the names of the operation, vendor, and plug-in library. It is written
to the arerror.log file.

Two application forms implemented as System forms

The SHARE:Application_Properties and SHARE:Application_Interface
application forms are now distributed as system forms to support AR System
application interfaces.
For more information, see the “AR System installed forms” section of the Form and
Application Objects Guide.

Including view forms in join forms

With AR System 7.5.00, you can build a join form that includes a view form. The
primary benefit of this feature is the ability to perform simultaneous searches on
internal and external database tables.
For more information, see Chapter 4, “Creating AR System forms,” in the Form and
Application Objects Guide, and the “View forms” section of the Integration Guide.

Active-link firing condition on table refresh

An active link is executed on a table in the following events: loading, refreshing,
sorting, resetting, or displaying the previous and next chunks. This active link has
a Table Refresh execute action, which is triggered when the table contents are
updated.
See the “Defining workflow execution options” section of the Workflow Objects
Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 27

Server improvements

Character counts for character fields

A new field property for character fields called Length Units specifies whether the
Input Length of a character field is calculated in bytes or characters. In previous
releases, the length of character fields was always calculated in bytes.
Because character sets use varying numbers of bytes to represent a single
character, setting the Length Units property to Characters allows better control of
character field sizes in the database. When this is set, AR System applies a
multiplier (determined by the server character set and the database code unit) to
calculate the column size for the field.
The default value for this property is bytes. The administrator can change the
default value for newly created fields by setting the administrator preference for
Input Length Units. (Changing this preference does not affect fields that already
exist.)
For information about setting and using this character field property, see the Form
and Application Objects Guide.

Service action added to filters and escalations

In release 7.5.00, you can now create a Service action in filters and escalations, as
well as in active links.
See “The Service action” section of the Workflow Objects Guide.

Improved default form view selection

A form can have multiple views. Previously, AR System determined which view
to display by selecting the first view available in this order of preference:
1 View specified by the user or by workflow
2 Default view specified in the User Preferences form
3 Default view specified in the form
Now, AR System can also select a form view based on the function that a user
performs in an application. For example, a user might use an application to
manage, submit, or audit help desk requests. In AR System, each of those
functions—manager, submitter, auditor—is called an actor. Each actor can be
associated with a different view. When a user opens a form, AR System determines
which view to display by matching the user to an actor in the context of the current
application and then matching the actor to a view.
See “How a form view is selected for the user” in Chapter 11 of the Form and
Application Objects Guide.

28 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Server improvements

Support for multiple mail servers in Email Engine

Administrators can configure failover mail servers such that Email Engine can
continue with the processing of messages when the primary mail server stops
functioning.
See the “Multiple mail server support” and “AR System Email Failover Mail Server
Configuration form” sections of the BMC Remedy Email Engine Guide.

New keywords
The following keywords replaced the $FILTER-ERRNO$, $FILTER-ERRMSG$, and
$FILTER-ERRAPPENDMSG$ keywords:

! $ERRNO$—The number of the error that just occurred.

! $ERRMSG$—The message of the error that just occurred.
! $ERRAPPENDMSG$—The appended message for the error that just occurred, if any.
The $FILTER-ERRNO$, $FILTER-ERRMSG$, and $FILTER-ERRAPPENDMSG$ are backward
compatible, but use the new keywords in new workflow you create.

Updated third-party libraries

In release 7.5.00, the following third-party libraries are updated:
! Xerces-C 2.6 to Xerces-C 2.8
! Xerces 2.0 to Xerces 2.9.1 (Java)
! Xalan-C 1.9 to Xalan-C 1.10
! Xalan 1.9 to Xalan 1.10 (Java)
! WSDL4J 1.5.1 to WSDL4J 1.6.2
Axis.jar (Java) is updated from version 1.2 to 1.4 to support Java-based web
services and plug-in applications.
In addition, the data files for the ICU 3.2.1 C library and the ICU 3.6 Java library
are updated to the 2007 version to support additional time zones.

Driver return code enhancement

The driver program exits with a non-zero return code that indicates whether an
API failed during the execution. This information is useful during API program
debugging.

Exporting views based on locale selection

API programs can export a form and selected form views by specifying the form
name and a list of locales of the views to be exported. For more information, see
the C API Reference.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 29

License management

License management
Current and historical license usage
To provide data for flashboards so that they can display current and historical
license usage, these read-only forms were added to AR System 7.5.00:
! AR System Current License Usage—Tracks all licenses currently in use on the
server when the Enable License Tracking option is selected in the AR System
Administration: Server Information form. You can use the data in the
AR System Current License Usage form to generate flashboards that show
current license usage.
! AR System Historical License Usage—Tracks information about licenses that
are released while the Enable License Tracking option is selected in the
AR System Administration: Server Information form. You can use this data to
generate flashboards that show the following information for specified time
periods:
! License usage for a single user, including each time that the user acquired or
released a particular license type
! Number of licenses used by all users for a specified application, license type,
or license pool
See “Displaying license usage” in Chapter 2 of the Configuration Guide.

Licenses released when closing browser or navigating away from the

mid tier
You can set a delay timer that releases an AR System user license associated with
a user if that user navigates away from the mid tier or does not log out of the
BMC Remedy Mid Tier properly by closing the last browser window associated
with the current HTTP session.
The mid tier initiates a delay timer when the user closes the last browser window
associated with the established HTTP session. When the delay timer expires, the
user’s license is released, and the HTTP session terminated.
If the user navigates back to the mid-tier URL before the delay time expires, the
delay timer is cancelled, and the current HTTP session is resumed.
To set the timer, edit the License Release Timeout field in the BMC Remedy Mid
Tier Configuration Tool.
See the “General settings” section of the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide.

30 What’s New January 16, 2009

 Accessibility

Session timeout clock in browsers

A session timeout clock in the status bar report shows how much time is left before
an HTTP session will time out. If a user is logged in and performs any activity in
an application on the mid tier, the clock’s timer starts over.
To set the timeout clock, edit the Session Timeout (Minutes) field in the BMC
Remedy Mid Tier Configuration Tool.
See the “General settings” section of the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide.

Accessibility
Identifying rows selected in a table field to non-vision users
This feature provides a way to identify rows in table fields for non-vision users.
Prior to AR System 7.5.00, there has been no way to provide assistive technology
tools with information to speak about the state of row selection in a table. This
feature will provide such capability by adding a column to a table field that
contains links to allow row selection using assistive devices.
The new column, which is the first column in the table, contains three links: Select,
Single Click, and Double Click. In addition, Select All/Deselect All links are
provided to enable no vision users to select or clear all table rows. These two links
are not shown in the no vision user’s form, but they are accessible by the assistive
device.
This feature applies only to tables viewed on the Web.

Supportability
Database consistency checker
The database consistency checker is a command-line option for the
arserver.exe/arserverd process. When used, it initiates a separate server
process that diagnoses the corresponding AR System database and generates a
report, then quits.
See “Using the database consistency checker” in the Optimizing and Troubleshooting
Guide and “arserverd (arserver.exe)” in the Configuration Guide.

BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 31

Supportability

Logging to a form
You can configure the AR System to log information to forms instead of files.
Administrators can decide whether the information is logged into predefined
forms or new ones.
You can add workflow (qualifications) on the log to filter information going in (for
example, only log information on a particular user, error number, error level, and
so on). You can also search for results on fields (that is, search for all errors between
two dates, all errors logged against a particular user, and so on).
See the “Server Information-Log Files tab” and “ar.conf (ar.cfg)” sections of the
Configuration Guide.

Updates to log files

A new naming convention for per-thread log files makes it easier to open the files
on Windows. The thread ID is inserted into the name when a file extension exists.
For example, a file name like arsql.log becomes arsql-2144.log for per-thread
log files. (The previous naming convention was arsql.log-2144.) For log file
names without file extensions (for example, arsqllogfile), the naming
convention has not changed, and the per thread name becomes arsqllogfile-
2144.
In previous versions, when a server was started and per-thread logging was
running, the Admin thread's SQL statements that gathered object definitions for
the cache were placed in the process-level SQL log. Now, the server places the
Admin thread's cache-related SQL statements in the Admin thread's log file. The
process-level SQL log (that is, arsql.log without a thread ID appended) has
various SQL-connection-related statements for the different threads.
For more information, see the “Creating per-thread log files” section of the
Optimizing and Troubleshooting Guide.

New log for mid-tier performance

A new log file allows you to log information for mid-tier response time. The log is
activated when you when you select the Yes option for the Timings (Web) logging
type on the Logging tab of the AR System User Preference form.
For more information, see “Log information for mid-tier response time” section in
the Optimizing and Troubleshooting Guide.

32 What’s New January 16, 2009

 BMC Remedy Approval Server changes

BMC Remedy Approval Server changes

There are several new features added to Approval Server. For more information
about these, see the relevant sections of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

New approval console

Approval Central, the new approval console, provides easier and faster access to
approval requests. The various actions that you can perform on such requests are
just a click away. The new approval console appears when you click the Approval
Central link on the AR System home page.

AP:Pending Approvals
The AP:Pending Approvals form acts as the Approval Central console, and
organizes the various activities that you can perform here into the Approval Tasks,
Action Menu, and Pending Approvals sections.
See the “Approval Central” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

Tooltip to display request details

On the Approval Central console, the Summary column of an approval request
table displays a tooltip, which contains the comment that the requestor provided
when creating the request. This additional information allows you take a quick
decision about that request without having to open the original request, thereby
avoiding multiple clicks.

AP:Show-Detail
A new form, AP:Show-Detail, is added to display the details of an approval
request. Approvers can access this form from Approval Central, and use it to add
questions or comments, approve, reject, reassign, or hold a request, and even
manage relevant ad hoc approvers.
See the “AP:Show-Detail” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.
Questions
Approvers can ask questions and receive responses for a request. This information
may be useful to the current and future approvers, and is associated with the
request record.
See the “AP:Show-Detail” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.
Comments and attachments
Requesters and approvers can associate comments with the request or approval
that they submit. They can also provide one attachment per comment. This
information may be useful to the next approver in the chain.
See the “AP:Show-Detail” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

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BMC Remedy Approval Server changes

Approval process previews for a request

Using the AP:Show-Detail form, you can see the list of approvers in a flowchart or
a tabular format. This enables you to see who has approved the request and who
will approve the request after you approve it.
Elements on the flowchart view are localized.
See the “Configuring Approval Server to work with flowcharts,” “AP:Preview
Data,” and “AP:Show-Detail” sections of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.
Multi-process preview
A new application command, Get-Multi-Process-Preview, creates a multi-
process preview request for the associated application request. The preview
appears as a flowchart or a table that lists all the approvers whose signatures are
required for the approval processes to be completed.
See the “Generate-Multi-Process-Preview” and “AP:Show-Detail” sections of the
BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

Ad hoc approvers
You can add or remove ad hoc approvers for a request using the default
AP:AdhocDialog, which is available through the AP:Show-Detail form.
Alternatively, you can provide a custom dialog by using the Ad hoc Settings and
Ad hoc Form fields on the AP:Process Definition form.
See the “AP:AdhocDetails” and “AP:AdhocDialog” sections of the BMC Remedy
Approval Server Guide.

Working with multiple requests

On the Approval Central console, you can select multiple rows, which represent
approval requests, to perform similar actions (approve, reject, reassign, and hold)
on them.
See the “Approval Central” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

Action Date field

The Action Date field appears on the Approval Central console and the AP:Show-
Detail form. It indicates the duration after which the state of the approval request
will be changed automatically. Administrators can configure this duration using
the AP:Process Definition form.
See the “Approval Central” and “AP:Show-Detail” sections of the BMC Remedy
Approval Server Guide.

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 BMC Remedy Migrator changes

Field mapping for application forms

Applications can optionally display additional information for an approval
request using certain fields that can be mapped to the Approval Server fields on
the Advanced tab of AP:Form.
You can label some of these fields dynamically and also in a locale-specific manner.
See the “AP:Form” and “AP:DynamicLabels” sections of the BMC Remedy Approval
Server Guide.

Full name in the signature line

The Approver field in a signature line displays the full name of the user. This
information is fetched from the default User form or the custom form specified in
the Full Name Form field on AP:Process Definition.
See the “AP:Signature” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

Role-aware signature
To make a signature role-aware, a new, hidden character field (of infinite size;
SIZE set to 0) has been added to the AP:Signature form. If a signature is created by
expanding a role, then the character field stores the role ID of the source role.
See the “AP:Signature” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

Configurable reassignment through process definition

Users can reassign a pending request only if the Can Reassign option for the
corresponding approval process is set to Yes in the AP:Process Definition form.
See the “AP:Process Definition” section of the BMC Remedy Approval Server Guide.

BMC Remedy Migrator changes

The following changes are available in BMC Remedy Migrator 7.5.00. For more
information about these features, see the BMC Remedy Migrator Guide.

Enhancements to Differences, Dependency, and Results reports

Migrator reports now display information about new AR System 7.5.00 objects and
properties. In addition, migrated images can be displayed in the Differences
report. Mask options now include properties for Image objects.

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BMC Remedy Migrator changes

Data migration with field mapping

Data migration now includes the ability to map fields, similar to the process used
in BMC Remedy Data Import. In the Data Migration Options dialog box, you can
now enable field mapping and configure mapping options, including adding
mappings, saving mappings, and reusing saved mappings. Using this feature, you
can auto-map using field IDs or the field names, which are based on field names
and fields IDs used in BMC Remedy Developer Studio. (Field mapping in Migrator
does not work with data files such as .arx files.) The Request/Entry ID can now
also be prefixed during data migrations and can, for example, be used to identify
a source site for a data set.

Ability to disable related workflow during a migration

You can now temporarily disable only workflow that executes on merge and that
is related to the destination form, before any data is migrated to that form. This
disabled workflow is then enabled after the migration. The ability to disable this
particular workflow prevents the possibility of filters and escalations firing on the
form while the data migration is in process.
This feature applies only to workflow that executes on merge and not to all related
workflow.

Use of Fast and List threads for data migration

In previous releases of Migrator, data could be migrated using only the Admin
thread. Migrator 7.5.00 provides the option to migrate data using Fast and List
threads, freeing up the Admin thread and enabling data to be migrated
simultaneously in multiple threads to and from the same server.

Reassignment of forms during migrations

When migrating a form that belongs to an application, Migrator can now reassign
that form if the application to which is belongs on the destination differs from the
application to which it belongs on the source.

Command-line interface
Migrator provides a command-line interface for migration of forms and data,
including CMDB-related metadata such as classes, attributes and indexes. You can
also use the command line for reporting differences and comparing data
migrations. You can use XML files to configure migration options and provide
additional instructions for a migration.

36 What’s New January 16, 2009

 New online help systems

New online help systems

Online help for BMC Remedy Developer Studio
BMC Remedy Developer Studio includes online help. To access it, select Help >
Help Contents from the Developer Studio main menu.

Online help for browser users

A small set of help files is available for administrators to provide to browser users.
The help files were created from appendixes in the BMC Remedy Mid Tier Guide.
These files are packaged in BrowserHelp.zip, which is included with the
AR System documentation files. To view this help in a browser, open the
helpfile.htm file first.

Copyright 2009 BMC Software, Inc.

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BMC Remedy Action Request System Version 7.5.00 37