Essentials

Novell exteNd Composer
WHAT'S NEW

This page summarizes the new features of Novell^® exteNd Composer^TM and provides links to more detailed information in help.

What's new in Version 5.2
What's new in Version 5.0

For the latest and most complete information on software and hardware requirements for exteNd Composer, see the Release Notes.

What's new in Version 5.2

Version 5.2 of Novell exteNd Composer is primarily a bug-fix release rather than a features release. Nevertheless, some new convenience features have been added. Some of them are described in the product documentation, as well as the table below. Others are described only in the table below.

Feature Description

Developing on Linux The exteNd Composer development environment is now supported on Linux, as well as on Windows. That means you can install and use the design tools of exteNd Composer on either Linux or Windows when developing exteNd applications.
    For more information on Linux support for exteNd Composer, see the Release Notes.

Connect for PeopleSoft exteNd Composer now offers a Connect for PeopleSoft applications. This Connect supports connection pooling and works with PeopleSoft 8.0, 8.1, and 8.4.

DTD Resource A new DTD Resource type has been added to the Resource category under the nav view (explorer frame) in Composer's design environment.
    For more information, see the chapter on Resources in theComposer User's Guide.

Archiving Command You can have Composer save your project to disk as EAR, WAR, and JAR files using a new menu command under the File menu. (Enterprise Edition only.)

    For more information, see the discussion of this command in the chapter on Deployment in the Composer User's Guide.

Tracing Command
Under Composer's Tools menu, there is a new troubleshooting command called Tracing, designed to be used in conjunction with Telnet, 3270, 5250, or other kinds of terminal data stream components. When the nonmodal Tracing dialog is showing, you can click its Start button, then execute your action model in animation mode, then click the Stop button, to write logfiles to disk containing the actual raw bytes sent over the wire. These raw byte streams are often useful for troubleshooting.

    For more information, contact Customer Support.

Selectable Validation of XML Template docs
A new design-time feature allows you to toggle XML validation of input documents (templates). Repetitive validation of complex documents can introduce significant latency into the design session. You can now turn off validation to speed the loading of documents. In Composer, right-click on any XML Template instance showing in the explorer frame; choose Properties...; bring the Validation tab to the front; and click the checkbox that says "Do not validate input documents when opening a component."

Support for clustered operation of Process Manager
With Novell exteNd Composer 5.2 Enterprise Edition, it is now possible to run a Composer Process Manager process instance in a clustered environment. A previous problem with dangling-process restart has been corrected so that a restart of any or all process engine instances in a cluster results in processes and activities being returned to their previous (correct) state(s).

What's new in Version 5.0

Feature Description

Tightly Integrated exteNd Suite
To enhance the out-of-the-box experience of the user, the exteNd 5 Suite products, including exteNd Application Server, exteNd Director and exteNd Composer, share a common installation wizard with which users can quickly install and deploy the exteNd products.

Deployment xObject A new deployment xObject that defines a deployment “profile” replaces the previous (pre-5.0) deployment wizard. The deployment object can contain such information as which service triggers to create, which resources to deploy, etc.

Server Profiles
Create “server profiles” that define a deployable server and all its necessary server-specific information. During a deployment, the user can choose a server profile, a deployment object and a user name/password to complete the deployment.

eMail Listener The user can specify the mail server, mailbox, user and payload type of the incoming message to use for the trigger.

Timer The user can deploy services that will be “time triggered” or scheduled to execute at a specific time, day or interval.

File The user can deploy services that will poll for files/file types in a specific directory at specific intervals.

JSP The user can easily deploy services with a JSP front end.

XForms Services can be called as the result of Submit on an XForm.

Additional Deployment Options The deployment options have been expanded to include all standard J2EE options (e.g. init, timed, mime type).

Auto-Generation of UIs Auto-generate front ends for the Composer Services (JSP, XForm).

Java Server Pages Wizard Use the new Java Server Page Wizard to auto-generate JSP for Composer Services. Composer users can also manually create JSP pages using exteNd Composer’s JSP editor. JSP Resources can be used with the Composer Tag Library to test Web Services or create simple browser based access to Web Services. The tags can invoke Composer Services, handle multiple output documents, output values from the document, perform looping and conditional branching, and handle faults.

Enhanced JSP Tag Library The JSP Tab Library now includes support for a new input converter class called “InputFromJavaObject”, plus Converter classes that construct or marshal XML documents from various sources of data and pass them to Composer Services by the <composer:execute> tag. The InputFromJavaObject converter class will pass an XML document from two types of Java objects: a String (i.e. a single input part) or an Array of Strings (i.e. multiple input parts). You can handle Composer Faults in a JSP with the new <composer:fault> tag.

Auto-generation of WSDL from Services The new Create WSDL feature enables the user to auto-generate a WSDL by selecting a Service Component and simply right-mouse clicking to select the Create WSDL… option. Using the Create a New WSDL Resource wizard, the user can automatically generate WSDL descriptions for the selected Service Component. The WSDL may be published to various Web Service Registries

Automatically Generate RPC Style WSDL using Samples which don’t have Schemas Using the new Create WSDL feature the user may automatically generate RPC Style WSDLs using samples which don’t have schemas. This is helpful in the case where the user needs to publish a Web Service for an existing Composer service that uses XML documents which refer to DTDs and, therefore, would not have any schemas. In order to publish such a Web service using RPC style binding, WSDLs have to be created. When there are no schemas, the only way to create WSDLs for such services would be to create schemas from samples, which are used in the Service. This enhancement enables the user to create RPC style WSDLs using the Service’s samples.

Tab-view navigation aids
The new Navigator tabs feature enables the user to quickly navigate among the open xObjects. Using the Navigator Tabs view, each open xObject is displayed by clicking on its tab. Via a right-mouse button menu on any tab, the user may close a xObject, close all xObjects or close all xObjects except for the xObject from which the right-mouse button menu was displayed. Composer also provides the option of displaying the open xObjects using the traditional, non-tabbed interface

Hotkeys for Common Actions <> New Ctrl-keys on the New Action Menu enable the user to quickly insert the more commonly used actions into an Action Model without the need to navigate through the menu hierarchy. Ctrl-keys are provided for the following actions:
a.      Comment –   Ctrl - E
b.      Component –   Ctrl - T
c.       Decision –   Ctrl - D
d.      Function –   Ctrl - U
e.      Log –   Ctrl - L
f.       Map –   Ctrl-M

To-do list
The new To-do task management feature enables the Composer user to manage tasks which need to be accomplished for a Composer project or for individual components within a project. As shown in the following illustration the ‘MergeProductandInventory’ XML Map Component has one To-do item called ‘Update per new requirements’ which is complete as indicated by the green check mark. The 3270 component called ‘ProductInfoInquiry’ has two To-do items. The first ‘ProductInfoInquiry’ To-do item ‘Finish component’ is partially complete which is indicated by the gray check mark. Double-clicking on a Component task will display the component to which the task is associated. The last To-do item, ‘Check Test System Availability’ is not linked to a Composer component. The ‘Check Test System Availability’ is a task required for the overall project.

User-defined Part Names and Multiple Outputs Prior to exteNd 5 Composer, users could have multiple inputs to a component, but these inputs were always named Input, Input1, etc. In addition, users could only have one output and it is always named Output. exteNd 5 Composer enables the user to rename the input and output parts to whatever names they choose (e.g. more meaningful names like Purchase Order and Invoice). Also, multiple and or no parts will be allowable for both Input and Output.

Color Highlighted Custom Scripts The new color highlighted script editor enables the user to more easily read a custom script.

File / New Dialog Composer’s new File/New dialog provides the user with an interface consistent to that which he/she experiences in exteNd 5 Director. The consistent user interface across exteNd Director and exteNd Composer enhances the user’s learning curve, productivity and overall experience

Watch Variables Composer’s new Watch Variables feature enables the user to select data items from various aspects of Composer, assemble them in a single list, and examine their data values during the execution of a Composer Service/Component. The Watch Variables feature provides users with additional capability to debug Composer Services and Components at design time

Clear All Breakpoints The Composer user may automatically clear all breakpoints using the new Clear All Breakpoints feature. In an Action Model, the user may clear all breakpoints by selecting the option from the Animate menu or from the Right-mouse click menu. This clears all breakpoints. Previously, the user would need to manually clear each individual breakpoint.

Find / Where Used A Uses Resources option has been added to the Tools/Find dialog. This new feature enables the user to search for components that use Individual resources. The user may use the Resource Type dropdown to filter the list of Resource Names.

Color Code Comments To make it easier for the user to quickly identify and read Comment lines in the Action Model, the Action Model’s Comment lines are now automatically color coded gray.

Save All A new Save All menu item has been added to the File menu which allows the user to optionally save all modified open components. Previously the user would need to save each open component, individually.

Close/Maximize Buttons Close and maximize buttons have been added to the XML Tree view to enable the user to easily gain the view necessary to adequately interact with large DOMs. Previously, the user would need to manually expand and contract the display of XML Documents in order to see large DOMs. Now the user can expand or contract the display of the XML Document with a single click of the min/max button.

Easier Access to XML Features Four new menu selections have been added to the current XML Document RMB menu. The addition of these new menu items to the XML right-mouse button menu allows the user to access these features via a couple of mouse clicks from the more intuitive XML right-mouse button menu.

a.      The new Add to Display menu selection is a cascading menu. When selected, a sub-menu is displayed which lists all the documents not currently on display and allows the user to select one. When the user selects a listed document it will become visible and will be inserted below the currently selected document (or at the end if the current document is the last document).

b.      The new Launch Editor menu selection launches the Configuration-defined external XML editor to edit the current document (like Edit Sample does for XML Templates).

c.       The new Load XML Sample… menu selection enables the user to load an XML Sample using the right-mouse button menu. Previously, this feature was only available from the from the File menu.

d.      Similarly, the new Save XML As… menu selection enables the user to save XML using the right-mouse button menu. Previously, this feature was only available from the File menu.

Resource Action A new Composer Resource Action has been added to the Data Exchange menu which enables the Composer user to utilize XML, XSL and XFORM resources existing in the current project. The Load Resource Action loads an XML, XSL or XFORM resource from the current project into a component.

Template Editor The XML Template editor has been enhanced to include the following new features on the XML Template’s right-mouse button menu:
a.      Create Schema…      - creates a new schema as an XML Schema Resource

b.      Add Sample File…    - enables the user to add a sample file to the template

c.       Create Sample File…            - enables the user to create a sample file and add it the template

COBOL Copybook Resource Because of the growing usages for COBOL data in Composer applications including those not requiring any Connectors, the ability to convert COBOL data (stored in Composer Byte Array objects) into XML and XML into COBOL data is being added to core Composer functionality. Previously, this functionality was available only in JMS Connect and CICS RPC Connect. COBOL Copybook Resources are used with the advanced component actions Convert Copybook to XML and Convert XML to Copybook. Together, these actions and resources enable the user to create applications which move XML data into systems designed to accept COBOL formatted input and move COBOL formatted output into XML data.

Repeat for Element enhancement
The Repeat for Element dialog has been enhanced to provide the option of always creating new elements. In Composer, the Repeat for Element action updates the DOM during iteration and there is no way elements can be added. This enhancement makes it possible to add new elements during iteration.

Send Mail enhancement The enhanced Send Mail Action enables the user to include attachments, send mail to multiple recipients and specify user ID and password for the mail server.

Timeout for WS Interchange / XML Interchange Prior to exteNd 5 Composer, the only way to set a timeout on a Web Service Interchange or an XML interchange was to add a connection. This enhancement adds a timeout field to the XML Interchange and Web Service interchange that overrides the connection timeout, if any.

FTP Support for XML Interchange get/put support has been added for XML interchange.

FTP Support for File Read/Write: FTP get/put support has been added for URL/File Read/Write.

SOAP Message Headers When a user creates a Web Service in Composer the expectation is to receive a particular Input document (i.e. SOAP Request) and send a particular Output document (i.e. SOAP Response). Prior to exteNd 5 Composer, our focus has been on the SOAP:Body or business document. However, the user may also need to bundle SOAP header information to handle higher order tasks. In some respects, SOAP Headers can be thought of as meta-data for the SOAP Body. The optional SOAP Header element contains application specific information (like authentication, payment, etc) about the SOAP message. To support SOAP Headers, exteNd 5 Composer introduces new message part types called “Headers”. The following dialog has been added to The New Web Service wizard now includes the following dialog to enable the user to define the Input Header Parts and Output Header Parts for the Service.

Preferences and Project Settings To provide an easier and more logical means of modifying configuration parameters and user preferences, new menu items and dialogs for Preferences and Project Settings are introduced. From the Tools menu item the user will select Preferences to edit the configuration items related to the environment (e.g., Editor, Browser, Log, etc..) or Project Settings to edit the project specific information (e.g., Subprojects, Project variables, etc…).

XML Resource XML is a new resource type in exteNd 5 Composer. Composer XML resources can be used to store parameters or document skeletons.

XSL Resource XSL is a new resource type in Composer 5.0. Composer XSL resources can be used for server side XHTML generation in servlet based Service Triggers.

JAR Resource Composer provides the capability to dynamically add jar files as resources that will be available to the expression builder and custom script editor and are deployed with the project as standard J2EE archive files.

Image Resource Image is a new resource type in exteNd 5 Composer. Image resources can be used by XSLT transformations and XForms for creating and deploying a better User Interface.

Send Mail A new Connection Type, Mail via SMTP Simple Authentication, can be used in SendMail action in cases where the mail server requires a user ID and password.

JAX-R To enhance exteNd Composer’s support of standards-based registry types, support for JAX-R is added to provide ebXML registry support.

Schema and WSDL Validation Prior to extend 5 Composer, validating a schema or WSDL file performed a well-formed-ness check (e.g. the syntax was checked). In exteNd 5 Composer, validation performs the well-formed-ness check and validates the file (e.g. semantic check).

Fault Document Handling extend 5 Composer provides Fault documents for better handling of exceptions and treats all exceptions as faults to be consistent with the Web Services metaphor and SOAP support.

Rhino JavaScript Interpreter The FESI ECMA Interpreter has been replaced with the Rhino Java Script Interpreter in exteNd 5 Composer. Rhino provides more robust JavaScript capabilities, better performance and the ability to add JavaScript support to HTML Connect.

Install and Enable exteNd Composer Products / License Update To enhance the overall user experience, each of the exteNd Composer products may be Enabled (and Disabled) from the System Information / Licenses tab. The user will no longer need to install products from CD subsequent to the initial installation. The user may also update license strings from this same dialog.

Additional Platform Support In Novell exteNd5, Composer introduces support for the following platforms:
Linux (SuSE Enterprise 8 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1) (Server side only)
Tomcat 4.1 (Professional Suite elements only)
MySQL 4.1

Open Standards Support
Support for the following standards is introduced in exteNd 5 Composer.

a.      WS-Security 1.0

b.      SOAP 1.2

c.       WSDL 1.2

d.      WSIL 1.0

e.      JDK 1.4

f.       EJB 2.0

g.      Rhino 1.5.4

Easier SQL Statement Creation A new, high productivity, SQL Statement wizard enables the user to create simple SQL statements for four commonly used SQL verbs: SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT and DELETE. This will enable the user to quickly create these statements via simple point-and-click rather than typing SQL statements. This enhancement will increase user productivity as well as make for a much more visual and appealing demonstration of JDBC Connect.

LDAP Connection Pooling To improve performance, Connection Pooling is now supported for LDAP Connect.

Cursor Position Capture (3270, 5250)
The user may now capture the cursor position when recording a session with the host. This enhancement enables the user to record a full session without the need to pause and re-animate to the navigation point.

Improved Handling of Large EDI Documents EDI Connect is now able to support very large documents. The connector has been enhanced to breakup an inbound document prior to creating the XML representation so that very large documents can be handled.

JavaScript Support (HTML Connect)
This enhancement provides the ability to interpret and execute JavaScript that may include Web page display, button controls, edits, etc. Many web pages contain some form of JavaScript so this enhancement should increase the opportunities for exteNd Composer HTML Connect.
Note: exteNd Composer HTML Connect does not process Flash, applets or ActiveX controls. Please see the section entitled About JavaScript in the exteNd Composer HTML Connect User’s Guide for more information.

Timeout for HTML Request This enhancement provides the ability to set a timeout value for each HTTP request within the HTML Connect.

JMS 2.0 Support JMS Connect 5.0 delivers support for JMS 2.0. This enhancement maintains compatibility with the new specification while providing backwards compatibility.

Message Beans Support This enhancement allows the user to optionally deploy the message listeners for JMS Services as message beans in adherence with the J2EE specification.

Service Provider / Service Provider Types (Process Manager)
As part of Web Services orchestration and management, this enhancement provides the capability to create an indirection layer which allows for a process/activity to associate different implementations by categories and individual implementations.

Process Versioning This enhancement provides the capability to create multiple versions of a process and to set the effective date for a version of a process. Without intervention, new processes instances will use the version of the process as of the effective date.

"Not Available" Period (Process Manager)
The user may set a ‘not available period’ for a day, week or month so that an activity would not attempt to invoke the underlying implementation during that period.

Drag-and-Drop enhancement (Process Manager)
This new user interface enhancement enables the user to easily drag-and-drop Components and WSDL from the Navigation Pane directly to the Process Design Canvas.

MySQL Support Support for using MySQL as a database for process persistence has been added

SAP Server Support This enhancement provides the ability to support bi-directional communications with an SAP application via the SAP Gateway.

Unisys UTS and T27 Connectivity
Composer T27 Connect provides access to applications on Unisys Clearpath NX Series (a.ka. A Series) mainframes and works with many major Unisys applications including LINC and MARC. A UTS Connect is also new to this release.

Feature	Description
Developing on Linux	The exteNd Composer development environment is now supported on Linux, as well as on Windows. That means you can install and use the design tools of exteNd Composer on either Linux or Windows when developing exteNd applications. For more information on Linux support for exteNd Composer, see the Release Notes.
Connect for PeopleSoft	exteNd Composer now offers a Connect for PeopleSoft applications. This Connect supports connection pooling and works with PeopleSoft 8.0, 8.1, and 8.4.
DTD Resource	A new DTD Resource type has been added to the Resource category under the nav view (explorer frame) in Composer's design environment. For more information, see the chapter on Resources in theComposer User's Guide.
Archiving Command	You can have Composer save your project to disk as EAR, WAR, and JAR files using a new menu command under the File menu. (Enterprise Edition only.) For more information, see the discussion of this command in the chapter on Deployment in the Composer User's Guide.
Tracing Command	Under Composer's Tools menu, there is a new troubleshooting command called Tracing, designed to be used in conjunction with Telnet, 3270, 5250, or other kinds of terminal data stream components. When the nonmodal Tracing dialog is showing, you can click its Start button, then execute your action model in animation mode, then click the Stop button, to write logfiles to disk containing the actual raw bytes sent over the wire. These raw byte streams are often useful for troubleshooting. For more information, contact Customer Support.
Selectable Validation of XML Template docs	A new design-time feature allows you to toggle XML validation of input documents (templates). Repetitive validation of complex documents can introduce significant latency into the design session. You can now turn off validation to speed the loading of documents. In Composer, right-click on any XML Template instance showing in the explorer frame; choose Properties...; bring the Validation tab to the front; and click the checkbox that says "Do not validate input documents when opening a component."
Support for clustered operation of Process Manager	With Novell exteNd Composer 5.2 Enterprise Edition, it is now possible to run a Composer Process Manager process instance in a clustered environment. A previous problem with dangling-process restart has been corrected so that a restart of any or all process engine instances in a cluster results in processes and activities being returned to their previous (correct) state(s).

Feature	Description
Tightly Integrated exteNd Suite	To enhance the out-of-the-box experience of the user, the exteNd 5 Suite products, including exteNd Application Server, exteNd Director and exteNd Composer, share a common installation wizard with which users can quickly install and deploy the exteNd products.
Deployment xObject	A new deployment xObject that defines a deployment “profile” replaces the previous (pre-5.0) deployment wizard. The deployment object can contain such information as which service triggers to create, which resources to deploy, etc.
Server Profiles	Create “server profiles” that define a deployable server and all its necessary server-specific information. During a deployment, the user can choose a server profile, a deployment object and a user name/password to complete the deployment.
eMail Listener	The user can specify the mail server, mailbox, user and payload type of the incoming message to use for the trigger.
Timer	The user can deploy services that will be “time triggered” or scheduled to execute at a specific time, day or interval.
File	The user can deploy services that will poll for files/file types in a specific directory at specific intervals.
JSP	The user can easily deploy services with a JSP front end.
XForms	Services can be called as the result of Submit on an XForm.
Additional Deployment Options	The deployment options have been expanded to include all standard J2EE options (e.g. init, timed, mime type).
Auto-Generation of UIs	Auto-generate front ends for the Composer Services (JSP, XForm).
Java Server Pages Wizard	Use the new Java Server Page Wizard to auto-generate JSP for Composer Services. Composer users can also manually create JSP pages using exteNd Composer’s JSP editor. JSP Resources can be used with the Composer Tag Library to test Web Services or create simple browser based access to Web Services. The tags can invoke Composer Services, handle multiple output documents, output values from the document, perform looping and conditional branching, and handle faults.
Enhanced JSP Tag Library	The JSP Tab Library now includes support for a new input converter class called “InputFromJavaObject”, plus Converter classes that construct or marshal XML documents from various sources of data and pass them to Composer Services by the <composer:execute> tag. The InputFromJavaObject converter class will pass an XML document from two types of Java objects: a String (i.e. a single input part) or an Array of Strings (i.e. multiple input parts). You can handle Composer Faults in a JSP with the new <composer:fault> tag.
Auto-generation of WSDL from Services	The new Create WSDL feature enables the user to auto-generate a WSDL by selecting a Service Component and simply right-mouse clicking to select the Create WSDL… option. Using the Create a New WSDL Resource wizard, the user can automatically generate WSDL descriptions for the selected Service Component. The WSDL may be published to various Web Service Registries
Automatically Generate RPC Style WSDL using Samples which don’t have Schemas	Using the new Create WSDL feature the user may automatically generate RPC Style WSDLs using samples which don’t have schemas. This is helpful in the case where the user needs to publish a Web Service for an existing Composer service that uses XML documents which refer to DTDs and, therefore, would not have any schemas. In order to publish such a Web service using RPC style binding, WSDLs have to be created. When there are no schemas, the only way to create WSDLs for such services would be to create schemas from samples, which are used in the Service. This enhancement enables the user to create RPC style WSDLs using the Service’s samples.
Tab-view navigation aids	The new Navigator tabs feature enables the user to quickly navigate among the open xObjects. Using the Navigator Tabs view, each open xObject is displayed by clicking on its tab. Via a right-mouse button menu on any tab, the user may close a xObject, close all xObjects or close all xObjects except for the xObject from which the right-mouse button menu was displayed. Composer also provides the option of displaying the open xObjects using the traditional, non-tabbed interface
Hotkeys for Common Actions	<> New Ctrl-keys on the New Action Menu enable the user to quickly insert the more commonly used actions into an Action Model without the need to navigate through the menu hierarchy. Ctrl-keys are provided for the following actions: a. Comment – Ctrl - E b. Component – Ctrl - T c. Decision – Ctrl - D d. Function – Ctrl - U e. Log – Ctrl - L f. Map – Ctrl-M
To-do list	The new To-do task management feature enables the Composer user to manage tasks which need to be accomplished for a Composer project or for individual components within a project. As shown in the following illustration the ‘MergeProductandInventory’ XML Map Component has one To-do item called ‘Update per new requirements’ which is complete as indicated by the green check mark. The 3270 component called ‘ProductInfoInquiry’ has two To-do items. The first ‘ProductInfoInquiry’ To-do item ‘Finish component’ is partially complete which is indicated by the gray check mark. Double-clicking on a Component task will display the component to which the task is associated. The last To-do item, ‘Check Test System Availability’ is not linked to a Composer component. The ‘Check Test System Availability’ is a task required for the overall project.
User-defined Part Names and Multiple Outputs	Prior to exteNd 5 Composer, users could have multiple inputs to a component, but these inputs were always named Input, Input1, etc. In addition, users could only have one output and it is always named Output. exteNd 5 Composer enables the user to rename the input and output parts to whatever names they choose (e.g. more meaningful names like Purchase Order and Invoice). Also, multiple and or no parts will be allowable for both Input and Output.
Color Highlighted Custom Scripts	The new color highlighted script editor enables the user to more easily read a custom script.
File / New Dialog	Composer’s new File/New dialog provides the user with an interface consistent to that which he/she experiences in exteNd 5 Director. The consistent user interface across exteNd Director and exteNd Composer enhances the user’s learning curve, productivity and overall experience
Watch Variables	Composer’s new Watch Variables feature enables the user to select data items from various aspects of Composer, assemble them in a single list, and examine their data values during the execution of a Composer Service/Component. The Watch Variables feature provides users with additional capability to debug Composer Services and Components at design time
Clear All Breakpoints	The Composer user may automatically clear all breakpoints using the new Clear All Breakpoints feature. In an Action Model, the user may clear all breakpoints by selecting the option from the Animate menu or from the Right-mouse click menu. This clears all breakpoints. Previously, the user would need to manually clear each individual breakpoint.
Find / Where Used	A Uses Resources option has been added to the Tools/Find dialog. This new feature enables the user to search for components that use Individual resources. The user may use the Resource Type dropdown to filter the list of Resource Names.
Color Code Comments	To make it easier for the user to quickly identify and read Comment lines in the Action Model, the Action Model’s Comment lines are now automatically color coded gray.
Save All	A new Save All menu item has been added to the File menu which allows the user to optionally save all modified open components. Previously the user would need to save each open component, individually.
Close/Maximize Buttons	Close and maximize buttons have been added to the XML Tree view to enable the user to easily gain the view necessary to adequately interact with large DOMs. Previously, the user would need to manually expand and contract the display of XML Documents in order to see large DOMs. Now the user can expand or contract the display of the XML Document with a single click of the min/max button.
Easier Access to XML Features	Four new menu selections have been added to the current XML Document RMB menu. The addition of these new menu items to the XML right-mouse button menu allows the user to access these features via a couple of mouse clicks from the more intuitive XML right-mouse button menu. a. The new Add to Display menu selection is a cascading menu. When selected, a sub-menu is displayed which lists all the documents not currently on display and allows the user to select one. When the user selects a listed document it will become visible and will be inserted below the currently selected document (or at the end if the current document is the last document). b. The new Launch Editor menu selection launches the Configuration-defined external XML editor to edit the current document (like Edit Sample does for XML Templates). c. The new Load XML Sample… menu selection enables the user to load an XML Sample using the right-mouse button menu. Previously, this feature was only available from the from the File menu. d. Similarly, the new Save XML As… menu selection enables the user to save XML using the right-mouse button menu. Previously, this feature was only available from the File menu.
Resource Action	A new Composer Resource Action has been added to the Data Exchange menu which enables the Composer user to utilize XML, XSL and XFORM resources existing in the current project. The Load Resource Action loads an XML, XSL or XFORM resource from the current project into a component.
Template Editor	The XML Template editor has been enhanced to include the following new features on the XML Template’s right-mouse button menu: a. Create Schema… - creates a new schema as an XML Schema Resource b. Add Sample File… - enables the user to add a sample file to the template c. Create Sample File… - enables the user to create a sample file and add it the template
COBOL Copybook Resource	Because of the growing usages for COBOL data in Composer applications including those not requiring any Connectors, the ability to convert COBOL data (stored in Composer Byte Array objects) into XML and XML into COBOL data is being added to core Composer functionality. Previously, this functionality was available only in JMS Connect and CICS RPC Connect. COBOL Copybook Resources are used with the advanced component actions Convert Copybook to XML and Convert XML to Copybook. Together, these actions and resources enable the user to create applications which move XML data into systems designed to accept COBOL formatted input and move COBOL formatted output into XML data.
Repeat for Element enhancement	The Repeat for Element dialog has been enhanced to provide the option of always creating new elements. In Composer, the Repeat for Element action updates the DOM during iteration and there is no way elements can be added. This enhancement makes it possible to add new elements during iteration.
Send Mail enhancement	The enhanced Send Mail Action enables the user to include attachments, send mail to multiple recipients and specify user ID and password for the mail server.
Timeout for WS Interchange / XML Interchange	Prior to exteNd 5 Composer, the only way to set a timeout on a Web Service Interchange or an XML interchange was to add a connection. This enhancement adds a timeout field to the XML Interchange and Web Service interchange that overrides the connection timeout, if any.
FTP Support for XML Interchange	get/put support has been added for XML interchange.
FTP Support for File Read/Write:	FTP get/put support has been added for URL/File Read/Write.
SOAP Message Headers	When a user creates a Web Service in Composer the expectation is to receive a particular Input document (i.e. SOAP Request) and send a particular Output document (i.e. SOAP Response). Prior to exteNd 5 Composer, our focus has been on the SOAP:Body or business document. However, the user may also need to bundle SOAP header information to handle higher order tasks. In some respects, SOAP Headers can be thought of as meta-data for the SOAP Body. The optional SOAP Header element contains application specific information (like authentication, payment, etc) about the SOAP message. To support SOAP Headers, exteNd 5 Composer introduces new message part types called “Headers”. The following dialog has been added to The New Web Service wizard now includes the following dialog to enable the user to define the Input Header Parts and Output Header Parts for the Service.
Preferences and Project Settings	To provide an easier and more logical means of modifying configuration parameters and user preferences, new menu items and dialogs for Preferences and Project Settings are introduced. From the Tools menu item the user will select Preferences to edit the configuration items related to the environment (e.g., Editor, Browser, Log, etc..) or Project Settings to edit the project specific information (e.g., Subprojects, Project variables, etc…).
XML Resource	XML is a new resource type in exteNd 5 Composer. Composer XML resources can be used to store parameters or document skeletons.
XSL Resource	XSL is a new resource type in Composer 5.0. Composer XSL resources can be used for server side XHTML generation in servlet based Service Triggers.
JAR Resource	Composer provides the capability to dynamically add jar files as resources that will be available to the expression builder and custom script editor and are deployed with the project as standard J2EE archive files.
Image Resource	Image is a new resource type in exteNd 5 Composer. Image resources can be used by XSLT transformations and XForms for creating and deploying a better User Interface.
Send Mail	A new Connection Type, Mail via SMTP Simple Authentication, can be used in SendMail action in cases where the mail server requires a user ID and password.
JAX-R	To enhance exteNd Composer’s support of standards-based registry types, support for JAX-R is added to provide ebXML registry support.
Schema and WSDL Validation	Prior to extend 5 Composer, validating a schema or WSDL file performed a well-formed-ness check (e.g. the syntax was checked). In exteNd 5 Composer, validation performs the well-formed-ness check and validates the file (e.g. semantic check).
Fault Document Handling	extend 5 Composer provides Fault documents for better handling of exceptions and treats all exceptions as faults to be consistent with the Web Services metaphor and SOAP support.
Rhino JavaScript Interpreter	The FESI ECMA Interpreter has been replaced with the Rhino Java Script Interpreter in exteNd 5 Composer. Rhino provides more robust JavaScript capabilities, better performance and the ability to add JavaScript support to HTML Connect.
Install and Enable exteNd Composer Products / License Update	To enhance the overall user experience, each of the exteNd Composer products may be Enabled (and Disabled) from the System Information / Licenses tab. The user will no longer need to install products from CD subsequent to the initial installation. The user may also update license strings from this same dialog.
Additional Platform Support	In Novell exteNd5, Composer introduces support for the following platforms: Linux (SuSE Enterprise 8 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 2.1) (Server side only) Tomcat 4.1 (Professional Suite elements only) MySQL 4.1
Open Standards Support	Support for the following standards is introduced in exteNd 5 Composer. a. WS-Security 1.0 b. SOAP 1.2 c. WSDL 1.2 d. WSIL 1.0 e. JDK 1.4 f. EJB 2.0 g. Rhino 1.5.4
Easier SQL Statement Creation	A new, high productivity, SQL Statement wizard enables the user to create simple SQL statements for four commonly used SQL verbs: SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT and DELETE. This will enable the user to quickly create these statements via simple point-and-click rather than typing SQL statements. This enhancement will increase user productivity as well as make for a much more visual and appealing demonstration of JDBC Connect.
LDAP Connection Pooling	To improve performance, Connection Pooling is now supported for LDAP Connect.
Cursor Position Capture (3270, 5250)	The user may now capture the cursor position when recording a session with the host. This enhancement enables the user to record a full session without the need to pause and re-animate to the navigation point.
Improved Handling of Large EDI Documents	EDI Connect is now able to support very large documents. The connector has been enhanced to breakup an inbound document prior to creating the XML representation so that very large documents can be handled.
JavaScript Support (HTML Connect)	This enhancement provides the ability to interpret and execute JavaScript that may include Web page display, button controls, edits, etc. Many web pages contain some form of JavaScript so this enhancement should increase the opportunities for exteNd Composer HTML Connect. Note: exteNd Composer HTML Connect does not process Flash, applets or ActiveX controls. Please see the section entitled About JavaScript in the exteNd Composer HTML Connect User’s Guide for more information.
Timeout for HTML Request	This enhancement provides the ability to set a timeout value for each HTTP request within the HTML Connect.
JMS 2.0 Support	JMS Connect 5.0 delivers support for JMS 2.0. This enhancement maintains compatibility with the new specification while providing backwards compatibility.
Message Beans Support	This enhancement allows the user to optionally deploy the message listeners for JMS Services as message beans in adherence with the J2EE specification.
Service Provider / Service Provider Types (Process Manager)	As part of Web Services orchestration and management, this enhancement provides the capability to create an indirection layer which allows for a process/activity to associate different implementations by categories and individual implementations.
Process Versioning	This enhancement provides the capability to create multiple versions of a process and to set the effective date for a version of a process. Without intervention, new processes instances will use the version of the process as of the effective date.
"Not Available" Period (Process Manager)	The user may set a ‘not available period’ for a day, week or month so that an activity would not attempt to invoke the underlying implementation during that period.
Drag-and-Drop enhancement (Process Manager)	This new user interface enhancement enables the user to easily drag-and-drop Components and WSDL from the Navigation Pane directly to the Process Design Canvas.
MySQL Support	Support for using MySQL as a database for process persistence has been added
SAP Server Support	This enhancement provides the ability to support bi-directional communications with an SAP application via the SAP Gateway.
Unisys UTS and T27 Connectivity	Composer T27 Connect provides access to applications on Unisys Clearpath NX Series (a.ka. A Series) mainframes and works with many major Unisys applications including LINC and MARC. A UTS Connect is also new to this release.

Novell exteNd Composer WHAT'S NEW

What's new in Version 5.2

What's new in Version 5.0

Novell exteNd Composer
WHAT'S NEW