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Reflection Desktop 18.0 Release Notes

Last Updated: December 2022

Introduction

Reflection 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.

  • Reflection Desktop for IBM provides access to applications running on IBM mainframe and AS/400 systems.

  • Reflection Desktop for UNIX and OpenVMS provides access to applications running on UNIX and OpenVMS systems.

  • Reflection Desktop provides access to applications running on IBM, UNIX, and OpenVMS systems.

  • Reflection Desktop for X provides access to applications running on UNIX and OpenVMS systems. It also includes Reflection X, an X server that allows you to view your UNIX desktop and work with X client applications from a remote workstation.

  • Reflection Desktop Pro includes Reflection Desktop along with Reflection X, and provides access to applications running on IBM, UNIX, and OpenVMS systems, as well as X clients.

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

The Reflection Desktop 18.0 release includes a number of new security improvements, new features, 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.


What's New

Reflection Desktop v18.0 includes several major new features and enhancements:

Reflection Desktop Enhancements

  • Added support for Microsoft Windows 11.

    For a comprehensive list of system requirements see the Hardware Requirements and Supported Operating Systems section.

  • Support for IBM printers is integrated into the workspace. Now you can create, configure, and manage your IBM printer sessions in the same way as your terminal sessions. You can use your current .rsf files in managed sessions. You can also open local .rsf printer session files from previous versions and choose whether to convert them to the new IBM 3270 .rp3x or IBM 5250 .rp5x file formats when you close the sessions. Commonly used Printer .rsf file settings are supported. Some settings that were configured on the legacy View Settings panel are no longer supported.

  • The user interface is modernized to provide a rich user experience. In addition to adding a modern look and feel, the new interface is designed to improve navigation and provide a more consistent and efficient approach for viewing and updating settings.

  • The documentation has a new look and feel and several features designed to improve navigation so you can find the help you need.

  • Added support for native 64-bit HLLAPI applications via WHLLAPI64.dll and EHLAPI64.dll for 3270 sessions.

  • Reflection Desktop now uses WebView2 when Web Browser functionality is required, such as when opening a web session.

  • Trusted Locations are now locked down by default. Users with administrative rights on a machine can modify Trusted Locations.

Reflection X Enhancements

  • Reflection X Advantage is now Reflection X. This X server is no longer sold separately and is included as a feature in Reflection Desktop Pro and Reflection Desktop for X.

  • The supported SSH cryptography algorithms are expanded to connect with the default algorithms supported in the latest OpenSSH servers.

    • Added support for the following Key Exchange Algorithms:

      • ECDH-SHA2-NISTP256

      • ECDH-SHA2-NISTP384

      • ECDH-SHA2-NISTP521

    • Added support for the following Host Key Algorithms:

      • ECDSA-SHA2-NISTP256

      • ECDSA-SHA2-NISTP384

      • ECDSA-SHA2-NISTP521

      • RSA-SHA2-256

      • RSA-SHA2-512

  • GLX performance is improved.

  • Expanded new administrative features that are managed via Group Policy:

    • The Import dialog displayed when Reflection X is first launched can now be disabled via Group Policy.

    • Allow Remote IP Connections can now be disabled via Group Policy.

    • Exit program on last client setting can be enabled via Group Policy.

    • X Manager can now be forced to run in FIPS mode via Group Policy.

  • Developed security improvements to Domain Services.

  • Reflection X is now running on Java 17.

Security Enhancements

  • Added an option to specify SOCKS or HTTP proxy Hostname even if it doesn’t resolve to a hostname from the client machine.

  • SOCKS/HTTP proxy settings have been migrated from the registry to the configuration file.

  • Certificate validation has been upgraded to use OpenSSL APIs.

  • Improved the keyboard and audio navigation experience within the Security Properties dialog box.

  • Updated to OpenSSL 3.0.7 to address CVE-2022-3603 and CVE-2022-3786.

  • Updated to the latest OpenSSL version to address CVE-2022-0778.

Reflection FTP Client Enhancements

  • Added the ability to access the 32-bit Reflection FTP COM interface from 64-bit applications.

  • Reflection FTP Client documentation is available via the web or an installed PDF. The installed PDF is available at the following location:
    <install-path>Micro Focus\Reflection\Help\rftp\<language>\rftp.pdf


Resolved Issues

Reflection Desktop

  • Users referencing ReflectionCOM using VBA or VBScript can now reference ReflectionCOM in other languages without seeing an exception.

  • Improved the user experience of the SAML Authentication HTML page.

  • Added support to launch multiple host sessions when Centralized Management with SAML is configured.

  • Resolved printer session connectivity issues due to spaces in printer session name when connecting via the Security Proxy.

  • The showlabel checkbox is now disabled by default when a new toolbar button is added in Classic UI mode.

  • Fixed display issues caused by screen resolutions higher than full high definition (HD).

  • Failed Advanced Authentication requests when using x509 smartcards will now alert users that access the application with screen reader software.

  • Reflection Desktop when configured with Centralized Management can now authenticate to multiple domains.

  • Resolved performance issues when a Reflection event is enabled and data is being displayed from the host.

  • Added support for special characters when using Express Macro Language (EML) macros.

  • Increased the maximum character limit to 128 characters for SSH user names.

  • Improved the message dialogs if errors occur during the initialization of VBA Components.

  • Enhanced support for Python apps and Extra! COM.

  • Fixed HP Terminal connectivity issues when using GetObject with the OLE Server Name.

  • Resolved an issue so users can change the session title when in Classic user interface mode.

  • Improved the scaling of QuickPad text for increased legibility.

  • Fixed display issues for tab Label Names when using a customized Ribbon.

  • Added support for events in the Event Mapper to work when the session is not active.

  • Increased support for Czech and Romanian character entries.

  • Resolved User Interface Designer display issues to show all available controls.

  • Fixed potential keystroke loss in 3270 host sessions and increased the speed of data display.

  • Logging support has been added when the windows temp folder is not accessible or present.

  • When ..\AppData\Roaming\Micro Focus\Reflection folder is not accessible Reflection Desktop now displays a troubleshooting error message.

  • Restored the option to add the date and time to the status bar.


Security

  • Changed the behavior of sftp uploads when disk space issues are present. When an sftp upload is terminated, the upload will only show the successfully uploaded data.

Reflection X

  • Improved installer feature tree usability when modifying a custom installation.

  • Fixed the display coloring on Gnome 3 desktop when runing on Oracle Solaris 11.4 on SPARC.

  • Resolved character display issues when using the indirect rendering option for the GLX extension.

  • Fixed Secure Shell user key settings.

    When the setting Remember user key for... is enabled, and Always prompt for user key... is disabled users will no longer be prompted to select a user key when launching a session.

Known Issues

  • Product documentation has been updated for this release and rendering issues can be experienced in environments with older web platforms such as Internet Explorer. Please install webview2, which is a modern web platform to navigate the product documentation.

Installing Reflection Desktop

Maintained customers are now eligible to download the latest product releases (see Welcome to the new Micro Focus Support Experience). You will be prompted to login and accept the Software License Agreement before you can download a file.

System Requirements

Reflection Desktop

For information about supported platforms and hardware requirements for Reflection Desktop, see System Requirements in the Administrative Guide.

Note

Reflection Desktop 18.0 requires a 64-bit operating system.

For more information about installing Reflection Desktop, see the Reflection Help and the Reflection Deployment Guide.

Reflection X

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

Note

Reflection X 18.0 requires a 64-bit operating system that supports Java 17.

Reflection X requires Java 17. By default, Reflection X installs and uses a private Java Runtime Environment (JRE) that is correctly configured to fully support all Reflection X features. It is also possible to configure Reflection X running on Windows to use a different JRE.


Previous Releases

For information about the Reflection Desktop 17.0 SP1 release, see the Reflection Desktop 17.0 SP1 Release Notes and the Reflection Desktop 17.0 SP1 Update 1 Release Notes.


Contacting Micro Focus

For specific product issues, contact Micro Focus Support.

Additional technical information or advice is available from several sources:


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