ThingWorx Apps 9.0.0 Release Notes
The following feature enhancements, resolved support cases, known issues and limitations, and end-of-support information are part of ThingWorx Apps 9.0.0:
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Enhancements
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Implementation Change for Binding Properties to KEPServerEX Tags
• The implementation for binding equipment properties to KEPServerEX tags from the Additional Properties page has been updated to provide improved performance.
◦ Properties bound to KEPServerEX tags from the Additional Properties page are now remotely bound.
◦ Properties on a single piece of equipment can be bound to tags on only one KEPServerEX connection.
◦ Equipment which has properties bound to KEPServerEX tags must implement the IndustrialThingShape Thing Shape, either directly on the equipment Thing itself, in the Thing Template for the equipment type, or in a Thing Template inherited by the equipment type. Once the IndustrialThingShape has been added to a Thing or Thing Template, it cannot be removed.
◦ The Thing Template for an equipment type which has properties bound to KEPServerEX tags must use a Thing Template which extends from one of the remote Thing Templates, such as PTC.SCA.SCO.KepserverBasedPhysicalAssetThingTemplate. The remote Thing Templates are: RemoteThing, RemoteThingWithFileTransfer, RemoteThingWithTunnels, or RemoteThingWithTunnelsAndFileTransfer.
• Instructions are provided for upgrading customers to migrate existing property bindings to the new remote binding implementation. Status expressions, trends, and alerts which use KEPServerEX tags continue to be locally bound, and are not impacted by the migration. For more information, see Upgrading ThingWorx Apps.
• The new KEPServerEX-Based Asset equipment type implements the IndustrialThingShape Thing Shape, and is available for creating new assets with properties bound to KEPServerEX tags. It supports the same out-of-the-box equipment relationships as standard assets. Only add the IndustrialThingShape to equipment using the PTC-provided Asset equipment type if that equipment does not need to bind properties to Edge MicroServer (EMS) devices. A single piece of equipment cannot have properties bound to both KEPServerEX and Edge MicroServer (EMS). Equipment with properties bound to Edge MicroServer (EMS) cannot implement the IndustrialThingShape Thing Shape. For more information, see Connecting Assets to Edge MicroServer (EMS).
• Existing properties that are bound to KEPServerEX tags with the local binding implementation from previous releases still function if not migrated. Local bindings to KEPServerEX tags can still be accomplished manually using ThingWorx Composer. These bindings, however, do not benefit from the improved performance of the new remote binding implementation.
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Status Configuration Enhancements
• All statuses are now able to be disabled, enabled and made editable at the global level, including Not Configured, and Unavailable. At least one status must always be enabled. For more information, see Configuring and Customizing Equipment Status.
• Any enabled status can be set as the fallback status by moving it to the last position in the status table. The expression for the last status in the table automatically evaluates to true and cannot be edited. Previously, the Unavailable status was the permanent fallback status.
For more information, see Status.
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Work Instructions Example Implementation Enhancements
• An area displaying the name and any work instructions text for the selected step is added to the work instructions screen. For more information, see Textual Work Instructions Component.
• The unit of measure now displays for each row in the Materials list. For more information, see Materials List Component.
• All levels of nested work definitions within a set of work instructions are displayed for selection in the sequential navigation bar. Previously, only the first level of work definitions were displayed. The tiles for the steps are numbered in the order in which a user encounters them as they move through the set of work instructions. For more information, see Sequential Navigation Component.
• The PTC.SCA.SCO.WorkDefinitionHorizontalSequentialNavigation mashup now uses the GetNestedWorkDefinitionsWithThumbnails service instead of the GetNestedWorkDefinitionsWithThumbnails service. Both services are on the PTC.SCA.SCO.ProductionOrderUtils Thing.
• For more information, see Work Instructions Example Implementation.
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Support for Synchronizing Database Information with the Database Schema
• Customers can now update the database information specified for Data Shapes and synchronize that database information with the database schema. Any differences are identified, and any new columns or tables are added to the database. No existing database information is changed or removed. For more information, see Synchronizing the Database Information and the Database Schema.
• The processes for adding foreign keys, adding custom properties to Operator Advisor entities, and adding new entities to the Operator Advisor data model now use the new method for specifying database information and synchronizing with the database schema. For more information, see Adding or Removing Foreign Keys, Adding Custom Properties to Operator Advisor Entities, and Adding Custom Entities to the Operator Advisor Data Model.
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Foreign Keys Added to Database Tables
• Foreign key constraints are now present on the database tables related to the Operator Advisor data model, including cascade delete behavior for all data model objects. Customers can add additional foreign keys to support their business needs. For more information, see Adding or Removing Foreign Keys and Setting the Delete Behavior with Foreign Keys.
• Instructions are provided for upgrading customers to clean up any "bad data" in the database before adding the foreign keys to the database. Bad data is any data that would violate referential integrity once the foreign keys are added. For more information, see Upgrading ThingWorx Apps.
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Disabling the Logging of Historical Data
• The comprehensive logging of historical data for the Operator Advisor data model can be disabled if performance is impacted. When the comprehensive logging is disabled, only a limited set of historical data is logged. By default, this limited set is what is required for other Operator Advisor functionality. The limited set can be configured to log additional data, to support business requirements.
• For more information, see Disabling the Logging of Historical Data.
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Part Tag Navigation Criteria Support for Process Plan Conversion
• Support has been added for part tag navigation criteria to be used when converting process plans from Windchill MPMLink into Operator Advisor.
• For more information, see Using Navigation Criteria in Process Plan Conversion and Part Tag Navigation Criteria Examples.
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Configuring the MPMLink OData Connector
When configuring Operator Advisor to convert process plans from Windchill MPMLink, it is no longer necessary to create a duplicate of the provided MPMLink OData Connector (PTC.SCA.SCO.MPMLink_ODataConnector) to configure. Creating a duplicate is necessary only when customizing the connector. Upgrading customers are advised to configure the provided connector after upgrading, rather than using an existing duplicate connector. For more information, see Configuring a Connection to Windchill for Process Plan Conversion.
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Manufacturing Planning Demo Extension
• The optional ThingWorx-Apps-[ReleaseVersion]-extension-factory-demo extension adds the [Demo] Manufacturing Planning tile to the console. This tile includes example screens for managing job orders, viewing work definitions and materials, and linking equipment to work definitions and operations.
• For more information, see Manufacturing Planning Example Implementation.
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Supporting Data Import to Operator Advisor from Other Systems
• Data from any outside source can now be imported into Operator Advisor using import bundles with content that is formatted according to the data contract. For more information, see Creating the Import Bundle.
• Conversion of Windchill MPMLink process plans into Operator Advisor work definitions continues to be supported.
• For more information, see Importing Data into Operator Advisor.
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URL Shortening Service Enhancements
• The URL shortening service for text notifications now uses Google Firebase.
• For more information, see Configuring the URL Shortening Service.
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Support for ThingWorx High Availability Active-Active Envorinments
• ThingWorx Apps can be run in a ThingWorx high availability (HA) active-active environment with the following configuration:
◦ Two-server high availability active-active installation.
◦ Running with Apache Ignite embedded in the ThingWorx Platform, rather than running Ignite standalone.
For more information, see Importing the ThingWorx Apps Extension
for a High Availability Active-Active Environment.
• A high availability active-active environment requires a fresh installation. Upgrading from previous releases to a 9.0 system with a ThingWorx high availability active-active environment is not supported.
• In high availability active-active environments, you may experience degraded performance when importing equipment.
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Documentation Enhancements
• With the 9.0.0 release, the documentation for Operator Advisor has been combined with the ThingWorx Apps documentation in a single help center.
• The separate ThingWorx Apps Help Center and Operator Advisor Help Center from the 8.5 release are available from the Help Centers page for the ThingWorx product family.
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Support Matrices
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Resolved Support Cases
The following support cases are resolved in ThingWorx Apps 9.0.0:
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Case Number
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Description
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14543625
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Issue with the Autocomplete widget in mashups with blog Things has been addressed.
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14985690
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The logging of historical data can now be disabled or configured to log only specific actions for specific Data Shapes. For more information, see Disabling the Logging of Historical Data.
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15170840
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Issue with the dateFormat property of the Timeline Chart widget has been addressed.
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15170850
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Tooltips now display as expected when the Timeline Chart widget is used in a modal popup.
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15291351
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Issue with a disabled start button launching a remote access session has been addressed.
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15329531
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Instructions are now available to ensure that back buttons redirect back to a custom home page, rather that to the main ThingWorx Apps console page. For more information, see Including Back Buttons in Custom Mashups.
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15364788
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Issue with email notifications for alerts on assets with Chinese characters in their names has been addressed.
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Known Issues and Limitations
The following known issues and limitations are present in ThingWorx Apps 9.0.0 release:
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Known Issue
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Solution
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A ThingWorx Apps session does not time out automatically after the Idle Session Timeout (min) setting for the UserManagementSubsystem has been reached.
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ThingWorx Apps is designed to display updated information in real time, and does not time out.
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For equipment which has properties that are bound to KEPServerEX tags, when the connection to KEPServerEX is lost, the equipment status does not necessarily update. For equipment status expressions to check for the KEPServerEX connection status, the isConnected property for the equipment must be included in the appropriate status expressions.
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Workaround: Add the isConnected property to the appropriate status expressions for your equipment, for example, to the status expression for the Warning status.
1. On the individual equipment Thing or Thing Template for an equipment type which has properties bound to KEPServerEX tags, override the GetTagPickerProperties service.
2. In the script editor, add the isConnected property to the myList value, and save the service. This allows you to select the isConnected property when editing status expressions from the Status page.
3. On each impacted equipment Thing, edit the appropriate status expressions to include the isConnected property for that piece of equipment. For example, you could edit the status expression for the Warning status on Pump1 as follows:
"Asset_Pump1:isConected" AND "IS_DATA_OK" AND ("HAS_ALERTS")
4. Click Save to save the updated status expression.
For more information, see Status and Specifying Status Expressions.
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During an upgrade, the equipment status value is not changed by the server shutting down and restarting. The equipment status after the server is restarted reflects the last status value before the server was shut down. As a result, KPI calculations which use the status duration can include misleading data for the upgrade timeframe.
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This issue will be addressed in a future ThingWorx Apps release.
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When editing a property that is bound to a KEPServerEX tag, after clicking  to remove the current tag value, the previously selected Server Structure and Tags selections are not highlighted. |
This issue is encountered the first time the property is edited. On subsequent edits, the previously selected Server Structure and Tags selections are highlighted as expected. Workaround: Click Cancel, then click  to edit the property.For more information, see Editing Properties. This issue will be addressed in a future ThingWorx Apps release. |
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In the materials list component, material quantities show as null. This issue is only present when Windchill Rest Services (WRS) 2.0 is used with a Windchill 12.0.0.0 system.
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Workaround: Use another of the Windchill versions that are supported with WRS 2.0. For more information, see the Windchill REST Services Compatibility Matrix, available from Reference Documents.
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Videos do not render in the Video Player widget in the Safari browser on Mac OS.
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This issue will be addressed in a future ThingWorx Apps release.
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For Windchill MPMLink process plans converted into Operator Advisor in ThingWorx Apps 8.5.2, unit and quantity information is not displayed correctly.
For Windchill MPMLink process plans converted into Operator Advisor prior to ThingWorx Apps 8.5.2, operated-on parts are not stored, and cross-selection highlighting does not function.
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Workaround: Convert the process plan again, after upgrading to ThingWorx Apps 9.0.
For more information, see Converting Process Plans from Windchill MPMLink.
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Viewing mashups directly from within ThingWorx Composer for the first time can result in a message saying that the user does not have a valid license.
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Workaround: Reload the mashup.
This issue will be addressed in a future ThingWorx Apps release.
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Once the IndustrialThingShape Thing Shape has been added to a Thing or Thing Template, it cannot be removed.
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This issue will be addressed in a future ThingWorx Apps release.
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Once an identifier has been added to a Thing, for example when connecting equipment properties to Edge MicroServer (EMS) devices, the identifier cannot be removed.
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This issue will be addressed in a future ThingWorx Apps release.
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Options navigation criteria does not filter process plans as expected during conversion when operations are "overloaded". Overloaded operations have expressions assigned to resources within the operation, such as tools or equipment, for more than one variant filter.
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Overloaded process plans, where expressions are assigned to the operations themselves, rather than to resources within the operations, are filtered as expected during conversion.
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In Asset Advisor, the Additional Properties and Monitored Properties tables take more than five seconds to load because the GetAdditionalProperties service is executing slowly.
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Ensure that remotely bound properties have a Cache Method setting of Read from server cache rather than Fetch from remote every read.
The Cache method setting controls whether property values are read from a property cache that is maintained on the ThingWorx server, or are read directly from the Edge device. The Read from server cache setting causes property values to be read from the server-maintained property cache, which is more performant.
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End-of-Support Information
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• The NI TestStand Connector is no longer supported with ThingWorx Apps.
• The ThingWorx ServiceMax Integration is no longer supported with ThingWorx Apps.
• For information on content that has been deprecated or removed in ThingWorx Apps 9.0, see Deprecated Entities and Services.
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