Excel Adapter - multiple sheet supportIt is often the case that several worksheets have to be processed from an Excel workbook. Until now, these had to be addressed more or less manually using the Designer or by means of the Batch Module with a static CMD script file. If Excel worksheets were added or removed from the workbook, the CMD script had to be manually adapted to the new conditions before running.

This tedious manual effort has largely been eliminated. As of this version, when specifying the worksheet to be processed in the Excel Adapter, asterisk can be used as a wildcard operator. This means that by simply specifying "*", all worksheets in the Excel workbook will be processed, or for example "Report_*" to select only certain worksheets that match this wildcard pattern.

The data of the individual Excel worksheets are read as if they were one contiguous worksheet. The individual worksheets must of course share the same format. The System Heater can be used to discover the current worksheet name during the Excel export. Thus, the individual Excel worksheets can be recognized and classified during the import process.

Microsoft Azure SQL databases supportedAs of this version, optimizations have been made to the MS SQL Server Adapter that now offers optimal support for Microsoft Azure "Cloud" SQL databases. The SSL/TLS encrypted connection options can now be configured to enable this. Furthermore, you can now specify whether or not an SSL/TLS server certificate should be used to check for validity. This option is useful for local MS SQL servers, where no official server certificates are used, to continue being able to use encrypted communications with an MS SQL server.

Note: Certificate checking should only be disabled for trusted local MS SQL servers. Of course, for Microsoft Azure "Cloud" SQL databases this option should never be enabled.

XML Insert/Update - key fieldsThis version extends the XML Adapter with another powerful feature. It is now possible to append content to existing XML documents (INSERT) or to update existing data using defined key fields (UPDATE), in a similar manner to SQL. Of course, the XML Adapter also supports UPDATE using a unique key composed of multiple XML nodes/fields. By using this function some fairly complex XML documents can now be generated in a series of processing steps.

As of this release, the FlowHeater Server Manager supports copying tasks within the GUI. In addition, tasks can be exported and later imported. To avoid possible conflicts, copied and imported tasks are initially marked “deactivated”. Using the “Multi-Select” option it is possible to import or export more than one task at the same time. Tip: Among other things, this makes it relatively easy to create backups of existing server tasks.

 As of this version FlowHeater supports the dynamic inclusion of FlowHeater Parameters from a Parameter file. The Parameter file, which needs to be in UTF-8 format, is read dynamically before each run and FlowHeater Parameters are preassigned with the values defined within it.
In the Designer, a static parameter file can be specified using “Menu ->Edit->Parameters”. The Batch Module further supports dynamic replacement of the default with the option “/ParameterFile filename”.
Any number of FlowHeater Parameters can be entered in a Parameter file. One Parameter can be assigned per line e.g. "Parameter name = value”. A detailed description of the structure of the Parameter file can be found under the Batch Module help.