Release Notes archive - 2015 Q3/Q4

December 5, 2015

End-of-Support of FQL (Facebook Query Language)

Due to the changes in the Facebook Platform API, we dropped the support of the FQL option in CloudConnect (the Facebook Reader). Only the Graph API option is available.
Сheck your graphs in CloudConnect, and make sure that they are using Graph API.

New GoodData Support: Coming Soon!

In the coming weeks, GoodData will be rolling out the new-look Support portal home page.
The new page will serve as a single point of service for the GoodData Support and documentation and will let you navigate through helpful information faster and easier.
Stay tuned!

Bulk Client Update API

The bulk client update API allows you to update multiple clients at once as part of Life Cycle Management.

Learn More:
API: Update clients in bulk

November 21, 2015

New KPI Dashboards: Stay Informed on Most Important Data!

You can now create a dashboard with KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and let yourself and your users always stay informed on the most important data.
Here is what you can use the KPI dashboard for:

• Track how a KPI is changed over time and compare it to previous periods.
• Set alerts and get notified when the KPI value reaches the set threshold.
• Link a KPI to another dashboard that provides more detailed information on the KPI.

 

The KPI dashboard is immediately available for Direct customers, except for the customers with the fiscal calendars.

If you are a Powered by GoodData customer and want to use the KPI dashboard, contact the GoodData Support.

CSV Uploader: Add Data from File without Affecting Other Project Data

You can now upload a set of data to your GoodData project and analyze it on an ad hoc basis without affecting the rest of the data in your project.
The data from a file is added as a separate dataset and does not affect the existing datasets. Once the data is added, you can immediately start analyzing it in Analytical Designer (if you have it enabled) or in the Report editor.

 

 

CSV Uploader is immediately available for Direct customers.
If you are a Powered by GoodData customer and want to use CSV Uploader, contact the GoodData Support.

Learn More:
Add Data from a File to a Project

Life Cycle Management

Life Cycle management is a new feature for GoodData. Enabled for Powered by GoodData and Enterprise Data Monetization (PbG and EDM) customers, Life Cycle Management allows you to configure and control multiple customer projects through easily configurable single master projects. This allows you to carry out executions that propagate your data to your customers quickly and accurately.

 

API: New Parameter for Project Models and MAQL DDL Scripts

When creating a project model or generating a MAQL DDL script via API, you can now decide whether to include non-production datasets in the project model.
Non-production datasets are the datasets that have been generated based on data from a file. Such datasets are stored separately and are not connected to the datasets in your project model (production data).

Example of the resource for creating a project model including non-production datasets:

https://secure.gooddata.com/gdc/projects/{project_id}/model/view?includeNonProduction=true

Example of the resource for generating a MAQL DDL script including non-production datasets:

https://secure.gooddata.com/gdc/projects/{project_id}/model/diff?includeNonProduction=true

When you make an API call for information on a project model, the response will contain the production parameter under dataset set in accordance to the includeNonProduction parameter, for example:

...
{
   "dataset": {
      "identifier": "dataset.salary",
      "title": "Payments",
      "production": true,
   }
},
...

 

Analytical Designer

With the introduction of CSV Uploader to the GoodData platform two concepts of data are now used:

• Production data is the data processed by ETL.
• Non-production data is data uploaded by users of the CSV uploader.

Integration with CSV Uploader

In order to improve your GoodData experience, you can access CSV Uploader directly from Analytical Designer by clicking either the Load tab or the Add data link.
When using Analytical Designer with data from CSV Uploader, you can easily filter out any non-production data by checking the My data and Others’ data check boxes in the Production data tab.
Learn More:

Usability Changes

Owing to changes in development processes, the order of lists in attribute filters may be different than before this release. Some filtered attributes that displayed in ascending order may now display in descending order.
If you need to display your attribute filters other than the current behavior, please contact the GoodData Support.

Upgrade CloudConnect to the Latest Version

If you want to use CSV Uploader, verify what version of CloudConnect you are running. If you have older versions of CloudConnect in use, you may experience data consistency issues in your data model.

What can you do to prevent this?
Check what version of CloudConnect you are using: click CloudConnect -> About CloudConnect.

• If the version is older than 98.1, upgrade CloudConnect to the latest version available at the GoodData Developer portal.

• If the version is 98.1 or newer, no action is needed. You can start using CSV Uploader immediately. However, upgrading to the latest version of CloudConnect is still recommended.

Unit Conversion in Metric Formatting

GoodData platform now provides support for simple metric formatting arithmetics to allow for unit conversion (for example, seconds duration to hh:mm:ss).

Learn More:

Formatting Numbers in Reports

New API Resource for Objects Listing

The objects/query API is used to get list of full metadata objects of given type (or "category"). (Each returned object is same as that object on /obj resource.) The resource allows you to easily return a group of objects in one request.

 

Example: get 10 attributes

https://secure.gooddata.com/gdc/md/{project}/objects/query?category=attribute&limit=10

Example: get metrics of a given author

https://secure.gooddata.com/gdc/md/{project}/objects/query?category=metric&limit=5&author=/gdc/account/profile/3f1b2580055c3eptk9563719t8103ee0g

Learn More:

Upgrade CloudConnect to the Latest Version

With great new features planned to be released soon, we’re asking you to get ready for them in advance by verifying what version of CloudConnect you are using.
When the new features go live, you may experience data consistency issues in your data model if you are using older versions of CloudConnect.

What can you do to get ready for the upcoming updates?
Check what version of CloudConnect you are using: click CloudConnect -> About CloudConnect.

• If the version is older than 98.1, upgrade CloudConnect to the latest version available at the GoodData Developer portal.
• If the version is 98.1 or newer, no action is needed.

Don’t worry, when the new features are available, we will post a separate announcement to remind you to check your CloudConnect version if you can’t do it now.

October 26, 2015

Upcoming End-of-Support of FQL (Facebook Query Language)

Due to the changes in the Facebook Platform API, we are going to drop the support of the FQL option in CloudConnect (the Facebook Reader). Only the Graph API option will be available.
Сheck your graphs in CloudConnect, and make sure that they are using Graph API.

CloudConnect: Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server Driver Updated

For the customers using Microsoft SQL Server

We updated CloudConnect with the latest version of Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server: sqljdbc41-4.2.6420.
If you use Microsoft SQL Server for data loading, we recommend that you update your CloudConnect to the latest version from the GoodData Developer portal.

Projections Automatically Refreshed at Creation

When you create a projection, the anchor table is automatically refreshed, and the projection gets updated.

Unrefreshed projections are not permitted. If the refresh operation fails, the projection is deleted.
Learn More:
Creating a New Projection with CREATE PROJECTION Command
Changing Physical Schema

Analytical Designer

Analytical Designer now allows you to sort your table data by column heading. In table view, click the relevant arrows in the column heading to sort by that heading.
Learn More:
Create a Visualisation with the Analytical Designer

MAQL DDL

New MAQL DDL statement:

UPDATE TEMPLATE "template_urn" WITH DATA

The statement "refreshes" data of a given template that has already been included in a project.

Learn More:
MAQL DDL

October 10, 2015

Unsafe Projections not Permitted

When creating a Data Warehouse projection, you can omit the KSAFE parameter or specify it without a value. In this case, the projection is created with the current system level of K-safety.

Unsafe projections are not permitted.

 

Create a projection. The K-safety level on the system is set to 1.

CREATE PROJECTION customer_p AS
SELECT id, name_first, name_last FROM customer
ORDER BY id
SEGMENTED BY HASH(id) ALL NODES
KSAFE

The customer_p projection will be created with a K-safety level of 1 (KSAFE 1).The creation of projections with a K-safety level higher than the system level does not change.

WebDAV Upgrade Postponed

The WebDAV upgrade on the NA datacenter has been rescheduled to a later date.

We will let you know when it happens. Stay tuned!

Analytical Designer

New improvements to Analytical Designer including:

• Limit increase for measures and attributes. Users can now use more attributes in tables and more measures in tables and charts (up to a maximum of twenty).
• GoodData branding can be removed from Analytical Designer to allow whitelabeling.

Learn More:
White Labeling

September 24, 2015

New MAQL Statement - Specify Rolling Window

The ROWS BETWEEN statement specifies a rolling window over which running total functions (for example RUNAVG) are computed. Running total functions such as RUNSUM, RUNAVG, RUNMIN and RUNMAX can be specified with rolling window or a shifted boundary.
This statement can be used to display a moving average that can plot and display long term trends in your data.
Learn More:
Rolling Window

Analytical Designer

Improvements to Analytical Designer searchability. Any unrelated data that cannot be added to your visualization is now hidden, allowing you to display only the data relevant to your report.

Learn More:
Create a Visualization with the Analytical Designer

Handle Drilling Report Requests via Your Own System

For Powered by GoodData customers

You can set up the GoodData platform so that you can manage users’ requests to drill into reports yourself instead of relying on the platform.

This means, when a user clicks a value within an embedded report, or in a report in the embedded dashboard, your web application catches the drilling request, analyzes it, and sends back the drilling data from your system.

• Embedded Dashboards API -- Events and Methods
• Handle Drilling Report Requests through Your Web Application

Upcoming End-of-Life

To keep providing our customers with a best-in-class platform, we are announcing the end-of-life of some features and components on September 30, 2015. This will allow us to focus on high value features and components that enhance your experience using the GoodData platform.

Starting on September 30, 2015, these features will no longer be available in the platform:

GoodData iPad App
Feature: The GoodData iPad app will be removed from the Apple App Store and will no longer be supported. We are moving towards an HTML5 strategy which will focus on the mobile experience.
Alternatives: You can currently view the dashboards at secure.gooddata.com in Chrome and Safari browsers on an iPad.

Feature: Search will no longer be available in the GoodData Portal. It will be removed from the top navigation.
Alternatives: Use standard search on reports/metrics/attributes pages in the browser (Command-F on Mac OS, or Ctrl-F on Windows/Linux).

Pulse
Feature: The Pulse tab will no longer be available in the Manage page in the GoodData Portal.
Alternatives: Author and change time can be found under Reports, Metrics, and Attributes sections of the GoodData Portal.

Upcoming WebDAV Upgrade

We are going to upgrade WebDAV on the NA datacenter on October 10, 2015.
When the new version is deployed, the /gdc resource will be returning a different URI for user staging.

• If you access WebDAV programmatically, use the returned URI exactly as is.
• If you use Ruby SDK, CloudConnect, or the CL tool, update the tool that you are using to the latest version from the GoodData Developer portal.

September 12, 2015

Ruby SDK 2.0 Available!

GoodData Ruby SDK version 2.0 is now available for you!

 

You can script these (and many other!) tasks: We've improved the framework's performance and quality, as well as documentation.

 

GoodData SDK Cookbook

ADS JDBC Driver 2.6.0 Available!

We released version 2.6.0 of the ADS JDBC driver. Download it from the GoodData Developer portal.

What’s new in this release?

• Authentication using SST tokens is supported.
• Exception messages display the connection ID.

Learn More:
Download the JDBC Driver

August 29, 2015

Analytical Designer available for all Direct Customers

The Analytical Designer is now available for all direct customers without limitation. Just click the Analyze tab on your GoodData project to try it for yourself.

The Analytical Designer is a tool for data discovery and visualization creation where you can quickly answer business questions as they arise. Drag-and-drop data onto interactive drop zones and the visualization canvas will dynamically adjust (charts, graphs, and tables). With only a few clicks you can create a visualization, add or remove data from it, slice it, filter it, and change the way it is visualized.

As you create a visualization, the Analytical Designer recommends best practices and next steps. These recommendations leverage the collective intelligence of GoodData’s cloud platform, helping you discover new ways to visualize your data and get value from it.

Data Warehouse Upgraded to HP Vertica 7.1

In our continuous effort to deliver the best service, we have upgraded Agile Data Warehouse Service (ADS) to HP Vertica 7.1.

All changes have been applied to your ADS instances automatically. No action is needed.

Analytical Designer - Filter Improvements

New usability refinements have been added to improve search and selection of filters.

• Search - search for filters by entering your desired search text.
• Only - tick the ‘only’ check box to select that filter only.

Reminder - MAQL Function Deprecation

All remaining projects (including old-format time macros) have now been automatically migrated when deployed to production.

Learn More:
MAQL Function Deprecation

August 15, 2015

• Using the braces format will no longer be supported in MAQL. Ensure that you use the keyword format for MAQL time macros from now on. Any existing metrics and reports that use this format will be migrated to the new format automatically.
• Projects created from templates may still contain old-format time macros (in braces). These will still work when executed.
• If you must manually edit a metric with the old-format time macros (in braces) please contact support at https://support.gooddata.com/home.
• After the next release (scheduled August 29) all remaining projects (including old-format time macros) will be automatically migrated when deployed to production. All new projects from templates will contain new-format time macros (without braces).

https://secure.gooddata.com/gdc/datawarehouse/instances?status=enabled&limit=50&offset=e145r8be855b3f500c65sdf413f5h7h2

{
   "instances" : {
      "items" : [ {
         "instance" : {
            "title" : "Storage",
            "description" : "Testing Storage",
            "status" : "ENABLED",
            "authorizationToken" : “token",
            "created" : "2014-03-17T13:02:39.000Z",
            "updated" : "2014-03-17T13:02:41.000Z",
            "createdBy" : "/gdc/account/profile/{profile_id}",
            "updatedBy" : "/gdc/account/profile/{profile_id}",
            "links" : {
               "self" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}",
               "parent" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances",
               "users" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/users",
               "schemas" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/schemas",
               "jdbc" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/jdbc"
               }
            }
         }, {
         "instance" : {
            "title" : "Salesforce",
            "description" : "Test",
            "status" : "ENABLED",
            "authorizationToken" : “token",
            "created" : "2014-04-09T22:10:26.000Z",
            "updated" : "2014-04-09T22:10:26.000Z",
            "createdBy" : "/gdc/account/profile/{profile_id}",
            "updatedBy" : "/gdc/account/profile/{profile_id}",
            "links" : {
               "self" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}",
               "parent" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances",
               "users" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/users",
               "schemas" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/schemas",
               "jdbc" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/jdbc"
            }
         }
   } ],
   "paging": {
      "next": "{next_page_uri}"
   },
   "links" : {
      "parent" : "/gdc/datawarehouse",
      "self" : "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances"
      }
   }
}

https://secure.gooddata.com/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/instance_id/users?limit=50

{
   "items": [
      {
         "user" : {
            "role": "{role_id}"
            "profile": "/gdc/account/profile/{profile_id}"
            "links": {
               "self": "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/users/{profile_id}"
               "parent": "/gdc/datawarehouse/instances/{instance_id}/users"
            }
         }
      }
   ]
   "paging": {
      "next": "{next_page_uri}"
   },
}

Report not computable due to improper metric definition

August 1, 2015

Analytical Designer

Custom Measure Building

Measures can now be customized with the custom measure feature. Expand any of your displayed measures and apply a calculation from the drop down menu including currently:

• Sum
• Average
• Minimum
• Maximum
• Median
• Running sum

Custom Date Support

Analytical Designer now supports custom fiscal dates for the following time periods:

• Week (Sun-Sat)
• Month
• Quarter
• Year

Note: To improve your experience with Analytical Designer this release introduces the concept of measures and calculated measures (formerly facts and metrics respectively).

Analytical Designer Documentation Updates

The following documentation has been updated for this release. Changes in documentation will be reflected when the new GoodData documentation portal is launched.

The Analytical Designer is an environment for data discovery and visualization. Drag-and-drop data onto interactive drop zones and the Analytical Designer creates visualizations (charts, graphs, and tables). With only a few clicks you can create a visualization, add or remove data from it, slice it, filter it, and change the way it is visualized. The visualization changes dynamically with each click, enabling you to play with your data and discover business insights.

As you create a visualization, the Analytical Designer recommends best practices and next steps. These recommendations leverage the collective intelligence of GoodData’s cloud platform, helping you discover new ways to visualize your data and get value from it.

Currently, the Analytical Designer is enabled for Direct customers with projects that contain less than 5 GB of data.
Steps:

1. Click Analyze on the project toolbar to open the Analytical Designer.
2. Begin building the visualization:

3. Add detail to the visualization. You can interact with any of the following tools:

• Measures - Select an option in the Measures drop zone to show measure values in percents or generate a year over year comparison.
• View by - Drag a date () or attribute () onto the View by drop zone to slice your visualization.
• Stack by/Segment by - Drag an attribute onto the Stack by drop zone to split the display into a stacked bar chart.
• Recommended Next Steps - Apply one of these options to let the Analytical Designer create useful visualizations for you.

The recommendations that appear when you add a measure are based on actions GoodData users typically perform in similar analytical scenarios. They help you quickly create a visualization that provides business value.

4. Tune the visualization. After you have selected the measures, dates, and attributes for your visualization, you can optionally tune the visualization in the following ways:

Customize measures:

Filter measures by attribute:

Add filters to chart/table:
You can also filter whole charts and tables by dragging a date or attribute:

Change Date granularity:

Change the visualization type:

5. Click Open as Report to open the visualization in the Report Editor.
6. Optionally modify the visualization, then save it.

Your visualization is saved as a report and ready to add to dashboards.

You must open a visualization in the Report Editor to save it so that you can add it to dashboards. You cannot save a visualization in the Analytical Designer at this time.

FAQs:

Can the Analytical Designer be used on any project?
Not yet. Currently the Analytical Designer is turned only only for Direct customers whose projects contain less than 5 GB of data.

Can I create calculated measures in the Analytical Designer?

Measures can now be customized with the custom measure feature. Expand any of your displayed measures and apply a calculation from the drop down menu including currently:

• Sum
• Average
• Minimum
• Maximum
• Median
• Running sum.

July 18, 2015

Number Format Editor

The number format editor has been expanded to allow better visualization of custom number formats including the following features:

• Preview of number format displays as you create.
• Predefined use templates to quickly apply the most common formats.

ADS Security Barriers

A new schema, catalog, has been introduced in Agile Data Warehousing Service (ADS). The v_monitor and v_catalog schemas have been transparently rewritten.

You can now create tables with system names (for example, users).

NOTE: For security reasons, the v_internal schema, and some tables and columns are not accessible.

Setting of an Environment for an ADS Instance

You can now define an environment when creating an ADS instance via the GoodData API. The environment is set up during the instance creation, and cannot be updated later.

The environment value can be:

• PRODUCTION
• DEVELOPMENT
• TESTING

The default value is PRODUCTION.

PRODUCTION and DEVELOPMENT instances are backed up and archived. TESTING instances are not backed up and archived.

Unless you need the instance backup and archive, we recommend that you set up the instance environment to TESTING.

Example of the API request:

           {
                "instance": {
                    "title": "New Data Warehouse",
                    "authorizationToken": "Your-DW-Token",
                    "description": "Data Warehouse Description",
                    "environment": "TESTING"
                }
            }

Learn More

Create a Data Warehouse

Reminder: Updates to GoodData Help Coming Soon!

The GoodData documentation team is working on improving your experience using help.gooddata.com. In the coming weeks, we will roll out a more navigable version of GoodData Help with improved look-and-feel.

How will this affect you?

GoodData Help will remain at help.gooddata.com but links to individual articles will change. You will need to update any saved links or bookmarks.

July 7, 2015

Upcoming Deprecation

To keep providing our customers with a best-in-class platform, we are announcing the deprecation of some features and components. This will allow us to focus on high value features and components that enhance your experience using the GoodData platform.

The deprecation date is the date when GoodData will stop investing in improvements of that feature. We suggest that you do the same and make steps to adopt the alternative when available.

The end of life date is the date when the feature will no longer be available in the platform.

GoodData iPad App

Feature: The GoodData iPad app will be removed from the Apple App Store and will no longer be supported. We are moving towards an HTML5 strategy which will focus on the mobile experience.
Alternatives: You can currently view the dashboards at secure.gooddata.com in Chrome and Safari browsers on an iPad.
Deprecation Date: July 1, 2015
End of Life Date: September 30, 2015

IE 9 and 10 Support

Feature: Internet Explorer versions 9 and 10 will no longer be a supported browser for the GoodData platform. Microsoft is discontinuing their support of IE versions older than 10 for most of their operating systems (Windows 7 and newer) and encouraging customers to migrate before January 12, 2016.
Alternatives: Supported browsers are Chrome, Safari, Firefox, IE 11.
Deprecation Date: July 2, 2015
End of Life Date: January 15, 2016

Search

Feature: Search will no longer be available in the GoodData Portal. It will be removed from the top navigation.
Alternatives: Use standard search on reports/metrics/attributes pages in the browser (Command-F on Mac OS, or Ctrl-F on Windows/Linux).
Deprecation Date: July 2, 2015
End of Life Date: September 30, 2015

Pulse

Feature: The Pulse tab will no longer be available in the Manage page in the GoodData Portal.
Alternatives: Author and change time can be found under Reports, Metrics, and Attributes sections of the GoodData Portal.
Deprecation Date: July 2, 2015
End of Life Date: September 30, 2015

White Labeled and Partner Documentation

Feature: White label and partner specific documentation will no longer be available.
Alternatives: Copy-Paste documentation information from documentation at help.gooddata.com.
Deprecation: Immediately
End of Life: July 7, 2015

GoodData-provided FTPS and SFTP Server for Customer Uploads

Feature: GoodData will no longer be providing FTPS and SFTP server interface for data uploads.
Alternatives: You can use WebDAV at secure.gooddata.com/gdc/uploads using our standard platform authentication (HTTP-Basic or cookie-based). WebDAV is secure and unlike FTP supports SST-based authentication.
Note: Only the uploads to GoodData using FTP will be deprecated. Data download from other FTP servers using CloudConnect will continue to be supported.
Deprecation Date: July 2, 2015
End of Life Date: January 1, 2016

Domain na1.secure.gooddata.com Support

Feature: GoodData will not be available at na1.secure.gooddata.com.
Alternative: Use secure.gooddata.com, which is equivalent to na1.secure.gooddata.com (points to the same data center).
Deprecation Date: July 2, 2015
End of Life Date: January 1, 2016

Domain na1-di.gooddata.com Support

Feature: GoodData upload areas will not be available at na1-di.gooddata.com.
Alternative: For user staging area, use secure.gooddata.com/gdc/uploads. For project staging area, use secure-di.gooddata.com, which is equivalent to na1-di.gooddata.com.
Deprecation Date: July 2, 2015
End of Life Date: January 1, 2016

Java 6 Support

Feature: Components in the GoodData platform that rely on Java will no longer work with Java 6. Oracle has stopped supporting and updating Java 6.
Alternative: Upgrade to Java 7. Latest CloudConnect releases already include Java 7.
Deprecation Date: Immediate
End of Life Date: July 2, 2015

GoodData SSO PGP Key Expiring

If you use GoodData single sign-on, be aware that the PGP key used for GoodData PGP-based SSO will expire on August 16, 2015. The key is used on your side to encrypt the information needed for PGP SSO login handshake.

To ensure that the single sign-on remains working properly, GoodData SSO administrators will need to rotate their PGP key before the expiration date.

GoodData Support has contacted all relevant customers about the steps needed to adjust their settings. Perform these steps to ensure that your PGP-based SSO keeps working after August 16, 2015.

If you have questions or concerns, contact our support team for help at support@gooddata.com.

Allowed Functions in ADS

When creating and querying for data in ADS, you can use only white-listed or your own user-defined functions.

Learn More

Data Warehouse and Vertica

Data Limits

Data limits have been introduced to reduce the amount of report result data loading to the GoodData client.
These limits are dependent on the browser:

Browser	Chart Limit	Table Limit
< IE 10	375	2000
IE 10+	1125	5000
iOS	500	1000
Android	500	1000
Chrome (default)	1125	5000

Enabling this can lead to crashes of mobile devices. Contact support in case you need to disable the limit.

Updates to GoodData Help Coming Soon!

The GoodData documentation team is working on improving your experience using help.gooddata.com. In the coming weeks, we will roll out a more navigable version of GoodData Help with improved look-and-feel.

How will this affect you?

GoodData Help will remain at help.gooddata.com but links to individual articles will change. You will need to update any saved links or bookmarks.

Release Notes Archive

To access release notes from older releases, please visit GoodData Platform Release Notes Archive.