InfoConnect Desktop 17.0 SP1 Release Notes

1.0 Introduction

InfoConnect Desktop products are full-featured desktop applications that allow you to run host applications, transfer files, and integrate host data into the latest Windows and Office software applications.

  • InfoConnect Desktop Pro for Unisys is a Windows-based terminal emulator that connects users to Unisys, T27, UNIX, Linux, OpenVMS, IBM, and HP 3000 hosts.

  • InfoConnect Desktop Pro for Unisys with X includes all the functionality of InfoConnect Desktop Pro for Unisys, plus Reflection X Advantage, an X server that allows you to view your UNIX desktop and work with X client applications from a remote workstation.

  • InfoConnect Desktop Pro for Airlines is a family of Windows-based terminal emulators, print delivery options, and software development tools built specifically for the airline industry. These products enable users to access and print from multiple systems, including TPF, ALCS, IBM, Unisys, UNIX, Linux, HP 3000, and Global Distribution Systems.

  • InfoConnect Desktop for Airlines Print and Transaction Router (PTR) is flexible print delivery software that complements InfoConnect Desktop Pro for Airlines with support for shared printers and host devices as well as for intelligent card readers, specialized ticket printers, and point-of-sale terminals.

  • The Reflection Desktop for NonStop Add-On is a separately licensed product for connecting to HP NonStop hosts (Tandem 6530).

The InfoConnect Desktop 17.0 SP1 release includes a number of new security improvements, enhancements, and resolved issues.

Many of these improvements were made in direct response to suggestions from our customers. We thank you for your time and valuable input. We hope you continue to help us ensure that our products meet all your needs.

2.0 What’s New

InfoConnect Desktop v17.0 SP1 includes several new features and enhancements.

2.1 InfoConnect Desktop Enhancements

This release includes several InfoConnect Desktop features:

  • This release supports the latest Windows 10 “Windows as a Service” update.

  • The crypto module in InfoConnect Desktop was initially submitted for FIPS 140-2 validation, but has since been officially validated.

  • BIFF and BIFF8 file transfer methods on IBM System i systems are now supported. Other versions (including IBM AS/400, AS400, and iSeries systems) are also supported.

  • Email addresses on host screens are automatically recognized as hotspots that you can assign actions to.

  • The Managed Documents panel was added to the workspace. This panel shows session documents that are centrally managed.

  • The capability for sharing VBA macros was enhanced by adding support for sharing ALC (.ialc), Unisys (.iuts), and T27 (.it27) macros. This feature has been supported for IBM 5250 (.rd5x), IBM3270 (.rd3x), and VT (.rdox) macros since the InfoConnect 16.2 release.

2.2 Security Enhancements

The following security enhancements were added in this release.

  • Expanded the null cipher list to include all defined null ciphers. Null ciphers are only proposed for the inner connection of a managed end-to-end encrypted connection.

  • Users can now configure connections to use both a SOCKS or HTTP Proxy Server and TLS.

2.3 Reflection X Advantage Enhancements:

Several Reflection X Advantage enhancements were added in this release:

  • Reflection X Advantage now provides a new, modern installer for Linux systems. (This installer no longer provides locally installed Help. Only online Help is available.)

  • TLS 1.3 is now supported.

  • The XC-MISC extension is supported.

3.0 Resolved Issues

3.1 InfoConnect Desktop Issues

The following InfoConnect Desktop issues were resolved in this release:

API / Automation Issues

  • Resolved an issue where the ExtraSession.Activate method could cause a .NET application to be unresponsive.

  • Users no longer have to wait up to 30 seconds to re-open a recently closed InfoConnect Workspace from a .NET application when using a custom channel name.

  • The legacy OIA.Updated property in ExtraBasic now reports the correct value.

  • A Connection Action macro which runs "after the initial connection", now properly executes if the Connection Action macro that runs "before the initial connection" contains the ThisTerminal.Connect method.

  • Random failures that caused Extra! Basic dialog boxes to be unresponsive, and message texts to not display when executing an ExtraBasic Msgbox dialog command, are resolved.

  • A C# .NET application no longer randomly experiences a System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingException while calling the WaitForText() method in a tight loop.

  • HLLAPI is now able to send the values 0x01-0x1F for ANSI/ASCII characters to the mainframe.

  • A Host-initiated macro in a UNIX and OpenVMS session now sets the Session.Caption property properly.

  • Programmatically adding a Run Legacy EXTRA! macro action sequence to an InfoConnect Action no longer throws an exception error.

Macro and VBA Issues

  • Launching multiple workspaces from a VBA program in quick succession now works correctly.

  • Express Macro Language (EML) macros now correctly handle long Hidden fields.

Copy / Paste Issues:

  • Resolved "Out of Memory Exception" type errors in the InfoConnect Workspace which could occur when pasting large amounts of RTF data to the InfoConnect scratchpad.

  • Screen History no longer truncates characters when performing a Bitmap copy.

  • The "Cursor out of bounds" error no longer occurs when pasting data in specific host sessions.

  • Resolved an issue where a line break could occur randomly when pasting double-byte characters on a host screen.

Display Issues:

  • Users are now able to manually resize the InfoConnect Workspace to a very small size, like was possible in previous versions of InfoConnect, while using Ribbon display mode.

  • InfoConnect Screen History images are no longer distorted when display scaling is set above 100%.

  • The order of Tiled host sessions no longer changes after switching to another Window arrangement and back.

  • The DCA InfoConnect Control characters font displays correctly when chosen for a UTS theme.

  • InfoConnect host sessions no longer flash when clicking on a tab to move to another terminal session.

  • The host cursor maintains its position when switching between InfoConnect Workspace tabs in UNIX and OpenVMS sessions.

  • Korean Characters are handled correctly in UNIX and OpenVMS sessions.

Keyboard Issues

  • Extra! keymap files (.ekm) containing the <Esc> character will properly migrate when opened in an UNIX and OpenVMS session.

  • Key mapped to send <CSI> using the "Select a special character" option in the keyboard mapper is sent correctly in an UNIX and OpenVMS session.

  • The Scroll Lock key is mapped to PF1 in the Extra VT420.xkb keyboard map file.

Printing Issues

  • The XEROX PullPrn PCL6 printer driver no longer generates a fatal error in the Attachmate.Emulation.Frame.exe when printing.

  • Users are now able to print using V4 print drivers in RAW mode, which sends PCL/Postscript output.

Events Issues

  • The workspace can now switch sessions if ThisTerminal.IsConnected is in the View_Selected event of a UNIX and OpenVMS session.

  • An Event with the Action to "Run Embedded Legacy Macro" no longer gets a "Parameter count mismatch" error.

Session Load Issues

  • Resolved a "Could not read file" error when either of the following was true:

    - Using a compound session document file where the supporting files existed locally, and access was denied.

    - When a VT or SSH session disconnect occurs while a macro was running.

  • Fixed an issue where a "Could not open file session document" error occurs when trying to open a UNIX and OpenVMS session configured for a serial connection.

Other Issues

  • Performing an "on-demand" spellcheck under the Productivity Features works correctly.

  • When creating a "Button Group" on the Ribbon, the Reflection UI Designer now displays all the buttons in the group with unique labels.

  • The exception error "Internal Error 001: one or more params out of range" no longer occurs when trying to email selected text using the Microsoft Office Integration in a UNIX and OpenVMS session.

  • An "update.settings" file can now be applied on a FIPS enabled system.

3.2 Security Related Issues

TLS

  • Addressed TLS 1.3 error handling when client authentication fails. Connections now disconnect with an error when client authentication fails.

  • InfoConnect Desktop now skips trusted certificates in the Windows store that fail to be parsed. This enhancement prevents unrelated trusted certificates from causing errors during server certificate validation.

  • InfoConnect Desktop no longer locks up if a timeout occurs during certificate validation for TLS sessions.

  • Previously, Security Proxy authentication under certain conditions would fail. Token size now dynamically changes to prevent the buffer-size related connection issues.

SSH

  • If the public key file is missing for an encrypted private key, the user is no longer prompted for the passphrase twice.

  • Host key entries with data that is not recognized are skipped in the known hosts file.

  • Resolved several issues with agent forwarding. These fixes address the addition of new algorithms and an updated user interface.

  • Fixed minor issues with Local Forward Tunneling encountered in the new user interface.

  • Corrected progress bar times for both uploads and downloads when using the SCP command-line client.

  • The SSH configuration file requires a linefeed (LF) at the end of each configuration line. When storing certain settings the linefeed may not be added to the end of the configuration line. InfoConnect can now add a missing linefeed when the SSH configuration file is saved.

3.3 Reflection X Advantage Issues

The following Reflection X Advantage issues were resolved in this release:

  • Fixed issues in GNOME 3 multi monitor support.

  • Fixed various drawing issues.

  • Fixed problems with saving the database.

  • Fixed custom JRE issues.

  • Fixed problems relating to co-installation with Rumba.

  • Fixed problems that occurred when dragging windows.

  • Fixed issues with the rxmigrate utility.

3.4 Reflection FTP Client Issues

  • Fixed Reflection FTP Client font issues. The Reflection FTP Client text (fonts) show clearly on all Windows scaling settings.

  • Optimized FTP Client initialization code and removed potential failures on startup.

  • Enabling the quiet-status setting while running FTP Client automation now suppresses all error dialogs.

3.5 Reflection Desktop for NonStop Add-On Issues

The following display-related issues were resolved in this release:

  • All rows and columns in a 6530-host session now properly display with auto font sizing turned off, thus using a fixed font size.

  • The vi editor now runs in a 6530 session with more than 24 rows displayed.

  • Programmatically changing the number of rows or columns from macros using the SetConfigItem method is no longer allowed in Block or VT mode, thus preventing display issues.

  • Enhanced the VT <esc>nJ sequence to add n=3 to clear the screen and scroll the buffer.

  • Fixed problems that caused SSH connections to fail in certain environments after applying a Hotfix to the product.

  • Resolved keyboard issues which could occur when using the “Open documents in same workspace" setting when opening sessions by double clicking on the session document file. With this setting enabled, the keyboard worked properly for the first session, but subsequent sessions opened by double-clicking on their session document names could result in the keyboard being disabled for those sessions.

  • Fixed issues with rectangular text selection starting in the middle of a row which occurred when switching from Conversation mode to VT100 mode and then changing the screen size back to 54*132.

  • Added a new auto font sizing option to fill a host window with no borders.

  • Fixed potential occurrence with connecting to the wrong host when multiple instances of Reflection are running and using alternate host configurations.

  • The user interface has been modified to make the setting for the number of rows or columns unavailable while the emulator is in Block or VT mode.

  • The host session now displays correctly with scroll bars when the number of window rows is less than the number of screen rows, specifically when switching between VT and 6530 modes.

  • Sessions which disconnect while in VT mode will now change back to 6530 mode when using automatic reconnects.

  • The TCP/IP port the current connection is using, is now returned in the session data escape sequence (GetSessionItem(“TCP/IP Port”).

  • A hard reset now works when the session is disconnected.

  • Updated the Help file for the new auto font sizing option and a new GetSessionItem parameter. Also added a warning to the SetConfigItem method to indicate changes made programmatically are not reflected in setup.

4.0 Known Issues

You may encounter the following issue:

Reflection X Advantage 17.0 domain components are not backwards compatible with earlier versions

The Reflection X Advantage (RXA) 17.0 SP1 X Manager for Domains, X Administrative Console, and domain nodes cannot connect to a Reflection X Advantage version 16.2 (or lower version) domain controller. This is due to a change in how domain components securely authenticate each other and encrypt communications. For upgrade instructions, see “Upgrading Reflection X Advantage domains” in the RXA Help.

5.0 Installing InfoConnect Desktop

Maintained customers are now eligible to download the latest product releases at https://download.attachmate.com/Upgrades/. You will be prompted to login and accept the Software License Agreement before you can download a file.

5.1 System Requirements

InfoConnect Desktop

For information about supported platforms and hardware requirements, see System Requirements in the InfoConnect Deployment Guide.

NOTE:InfoConnect Desktop 17.0 SP1 requires a 64-bit operating system.

For more information about installing, see the InfoConnect Deployment Guide.

Reflection X Advantage

For information about supported platforms and hardware requirements for Reflection X Advantage, see System Requirements in the Reflection X Advantage Help. For more information about installing Reflection X Advantage, see the Reflection X Advantage Help and the Reflection X Planning and Installation Guide.

NOTE:

Reflection X Advantage 17.0 SP1 requires a 64-bit operating system that supports Java 11 Update 12.

Reflection X Advantage requires Java 11 Update 12. By default, Reflection X Advantage installs and uses a private Java Runtime Environment (JRE) that is correctly configured to fully support all Reflection X Advantage features. It is also possible to configure Reflection X Advantage running on Windows to use a different JRE.

6.0 Previous Releases

For information about the InfoConnect Desktop 17.0 release, see the InfoConnect Desktop 17.0 Release Notes and the InfoConnect Desktop 17.0 Update 1 Release Notes.

7.0 Contacting Micro Focus

For specific product issues, contact Micro Focus Support at https://www.microfocus.com/support-and-services/.

Additional technical information or advice is available from several sources:

8.0 Legal Notice

For information about legal notices, trademarks, disclaimers, warranties, export and other use restrictions, U.S. Government rights, patent policy, and FIPS compliance, see https://www.microfocus.com/about/legal/.

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Trademarks

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