Release Notes

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

We have added a new groupByVarianceJson function. This provides the same functionality as groupByVarianceTable but for JSON projects with tabular data in a two-dimensional array. This function calculates the variance between the aggregated values for two measures and then breaks this down by the given dimensions to identify drivers and offsets.

Similar to the map function for JSON data, the new mapRows function modifies the value in the given column for each table row using the supplied function, which can be conditional. This may be useful to amend or clean data; for example, to convert instances of 'USA' to 'America' or replace instances of '-' with '0'.

We have added a What's New? button to the top banner of the Studio interface to make it easy to find out about the latest features and enhancements. Clicking the button takes you to the What’s New page in the Studio documentation.

We have updated the list of locales available in Studio, used by number and currency formatting and some of the datetime functions. The list is available in the ATL Guide section of the documentation and as a downloadable spreadsheet.

This release also includes security improvements.

When you open a project Compose view and click the Formatted/Plain Paste Mode icon, you should see a message stating which mode is active. This message was not displayed on the first click after opening the project or closing the message. This has been fixed.

We have fixed two issues with the warning message displayed if you enter an invalid character in a script name in the script panel; it now appears in the correct position, and the question mark opens the correct Studio documentation page.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

We have fixed an issue where scripts with an ampersand in them failed to mark up when switching to marked up mode.

This release includes security updates.

With the 117 release of Chrome, opening any #value or #define script in marked up mode or ATL mode resulted in syntax errors when the project was previewed. This is now fixed.

The script panel in Compose view showed a new Add script library button. We have removed this button as the Script libraries feature is not yet released.

Clicking the documentation link (? icon) in the Function Builder when the isTypeList, isTypeNumber, or isTypeString functions were selected opened the wrong URL. This issue has been fixed so it now opens the correct function page in the Studio Documentation.

The new isTypeList, isTypeNumber, and isTypeString functions make it easier to debug projects and prevent warnings generated from passing the wrong value type into a function. These new functions are all in the tools group in the Function Builder menu.isTypeNumber

You can now open a script in the ATL View editor by holding the Ctrl key (⌘ on a Mac) and clicking on any call to that script, making for easier navigation between scripts. See Using ATL View > Ctrl + click to open scripts for more detail.

We have added a Sorting topic to the ATL Guide chapter of the Studio documentation to help you choose the best sort function for different sorting tasks.

This release also includes security updates.

In ATL mode, if you clicked Ctrl + f to open the Find and Replace tool when the cursor focus was outside the ATL editor pane, it opened the Chrome Find tool instead. This has been changed to open Find and Replace.

If you previewed a multi-line #define or #value script in Code View, then switched to another script while still in Code View, this caused persisting syntax errors until the first script was previewed again in ATL or Marked Up View. This has been fixed.

In the Number and Formatting tab in the Settings view, there is a field for currency with a dropdown list of options (currencies and descriptions). As you type in the entry box, the list of items in the dropdown should be filtered to only show those which contain the string in the entry box. This was not happening, but has now been fixed.

In Marked Up View, if you applied bold, italic, or underline formatting to the first part of a paragraph where the paragraph begins with a marked up element (i.e. a variable, script, or function), the formatting was not applied to that first element. The formatting now works correctly.

Similarly, if you applied bold, italic, or underline formatting to a marked up element anywhere in the script but not its surrounding text, and then switched to ATL View without first previewing the content, then the formatting was lost. This is also fixed.

We have improved the process for decoding and encoding HTML entities when projects are imported to and exported from Studio to avoid double encoding of entities.

If you edited a script and immediately used the Preview Main hot keys (Alt + m), the output did not always reflect the most recent changes. We have resolved this issue.

Code View, in the project Compose view, offers a dark or light theme. The dark theme is the default, and your last setting is remembered between project editing sessions. We have fixed an issue where this was not happening correctly.

If unsupported HTML code is added or edited in Code View, it is removed automatically when Code View is closed. We have fixed the behavior of the warning message that is displayed in this scenario.

After running a published project in Studio Runner, if you tried to regenerate the report but the API key had changed in the meantime, this caused Runner to hang on the 'project is running' modal dialogue. This has been fixed, and Runner now returns to the Application Configuration screen so the new key can be entered.

The Compose view script panel shows a new Add script library button. The script libraries feature is not yet released, so the button opens a non-editable window. You can close the window by clicking Cancel.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

This release includes security updates.

We have also added SSL support for DocumentDB.

This release includes security updates.

The new consolePrint function makes it much easier to debug your projects. This function generates log entries that appear in the new console log area in Preview Mode. The log entries are for debugging only and do not appear in your output narrative.

This function is in the new tools group in the Function Builder menu.

You can now copy scripts and folders from one project and paste into another. You can also copy–paste within the same project. See Copy and pasting scripts for guidance.

The editor's ATL View now includes a Find and Replace tool, which you can access via the toolbar's Find button or the Ctrl + f shortcut. As well as regular text matching, there are options for regex search and case-sensitive search.

Marked Up View is now available in JSON projects.

You can now access a script or folder's context menu via right-click.

The new isCountry function tests if a country name is recognized by the countryAdjective and countryDeterminer functions. We have added this function to the language group in the Function Builder menu.

We have expanded the list of country names recognized by countryAdjective and countryDeterminer.

We have improved the runtime performance of various ATL functions including filter, map, and sort.

We have improved how Studio processes conditionals written in full syntax.

We have made changes to ensure consistent formatting of text, headers, and tables in Studio, Studio Runner, and document exports.

This release also includes security improvements.

If you renamed a script, immediately edited it, and then immediately selected another script, your edits to the first script were not saved. This problem has been fixed.

If you applied bold, italic, or underline formatting to an ATL statement immediately after typing it, the statement sometimes failed to execute. This no longer occurs.

Opening then resaving a valid conditional in the Conditional Builder could add unwanted characters that broke the conditional. This problem occurred only when the conditional had another valid conditional as one of its clauses. It no longer occurs.

Selecting a word and clicking the Thesaurus button should open a dialog that displays the source word and a list of synonyms. Due to a bug, only one synonym appeared. You now see all the synonyms.

We have fixed an issue that embedded a span or partial span in your script after you closed the Thesaurus dialog. This issue occurred only when the selected word in your script was directly beside a highlighted ATL bracket.

The Thesaurus dialog did not open correctly when the source word — that is, the word selected in your script when you click the Thesaurus button — had no synonyms. It now opens correctly.

If you selected a function from the Function Builder menu with a value already selected in your script, the Function Builder dialog would display only the first parameter field, populated with the selected value. Any other required fields for the function were missing. Now, all required parameter fields appear.

The preview in the Function Builder dialog failed to execute if you changed your function selection — for example, from precision to round — and the existing parameter values met the requirements for the new function. The preview now executes.

If you wrote a function call with an invalid name — for example, [[currencyFromat(Sales)]] — then opened the call in the Function Builder, the dialog did not highlight the invalid function name. A warning message now appears.

When converting an ATL object to a JSON object, the asJson function no longer converts numbers (e.g. 5) to strings (e.g. "5").

The color markup in Marked Up View sometimes failed to work when the ATL statement — for example, a function call — was already formatted bold. The markup now works properly.

The color markup of ATL elements sometimes failed if you toggled from the editor's Marked Up View to Code View and then back again. This no longer occurs.

Toggling from ATL View to Code View and back again sometimes produced a confusing display where it wasn't clear if the editor was in ATL View or Marked Up View. This no longer occurs.

When creating a variable in the Variables view, a message alerts you when you duplicate the name of a variable already in the list. The message didn't appear if the duplicated variable was last in the list. We have fixed this.

Deleting a parameter inside the Conditional Builder should generate a "Nothing to preview" or "No text was returned" message in the builder preview. Due to a bug, the preview showed nothing. It now shows the correct message.

Entering the URL for an invalid Studio project — one that no longer exists or one you don't have access to — produced a confusing "Error saving project" message that sometimes corrupted the screen. You now get a more helpful message.

For private-cloud and customer-hosted deployments, the reset password email incorrectly linked users to the login screen. It now correctly links to the reset password screen.

In private-cloud deployments that use SAML authentication, users are now redirected to the correct SAML login page rather than the standard login page.

We have improved the message for narrative generation timeout.

This release fixes an issue relating to collaborator email addresses that locked some users out of projects.

This release includes security updates.

Studio Runner now includes the option to export your generated narrative to a PDF document. You can export to a new document or use a template with a bookmark that defines where to insert the narrative. We have released this as a beta feature, and we welcome feedback. See Studio Runner > Exporting to Word or PDF for guidance.

Within a single session, the Export Narrative dialog now remembers and pre-selects your last-used template.

URLs in your output narrative are now formatted using the hyperlink style defined in your template.

The filename for exported documents is now taken from the project name rather than the template name.

There is now a Preview Main button in the top right of the Studio interface. This means you can preview the Main script without switching away from the script you're working in. This greatly speeds up the task of checking how changes in a subscript affect the Main script's output. It's especially useful for checking user-defined function (UDF) scripts, which you can't preview directly.

You can also use Preview Main via a keyboard shortcut. See Preview Mode > Previewing the Main script for further detail.

We have added a removeFromAtlObject function to enable the removal of key–value pairs from an ATL object. This function lives in the Data Access group within the Function Builder menu. See the function topic for guidance.

The filterRows function can now take a column variable (or list of column variables) for its second-parameter input. Previously, you had to reference columns by giving their names in string form. You can now use either method.

This release also includes security improvements.

We have fixed a defect with the inflectNoun function that sometimes produced incorrect results for capitalized nouns.

Previously, you couldn't use the eq() function — a helper function for filter and filterRows — to detect a string value containing an apostrophe. To filter for these values, you had to use a lambda instead. You can now use the helper function or a lambda.

There was a problem where the color markup of functions, variables, and other ATL elements failed when the user switched from Marked Up View to ATL View and then back again. This should no longer occur.

We have fixed a problem that occurred when a user-defined function (UDF) returned a list of strings and one value in the list itself came from another UDF. Studio didn't count that value as equal to the equivalent string, which could lead to incorrect calculations.

Previously, if you called your project's API endpoint and the request body file had either an invalid type value or no type value, the API request failed without an error message. Now, an appropriate message appears.

Similarly, if you called your project's API endpoint using a request body file with invalid JSON for the dataSet or jsonData value, you received a 400 response code and no error message. You now get a proper response object with an error message.

There's now a warning message when you try to import JSON sample data with a key name that contains a dot or starts with a dollar sign (not currently supported in Studio).

We have improved the response for when a user with a standard Arria for BI license tries to access Studio.

There was a Function Builder bug that sometimes added erroneous ATL brackets around the value in the first parameter field if you selected a different function in the builder. This no longer occurs.

When a higher-order function (e.g. filter) used a lambda that itself invoked a lambda and the inner expression failed with a major warning, the message gave a long numeric string instead of the relevant script name. The message now gives the script name.

We have fixed a bug that caused Studio to throw a BAD REQUEST error when the generated narrative contained "a" or "an" directly followed by a number that begins with one or more zeros followed by either 8 or 9 (e.g. "an 0845 number").

We have corrected the warning message for when you try to compare two lists, two ATL objects, two JSON arrays, or two JSON objects. Previously, the message incorrectly stated that the two input values were of different types.

Previously, Studio stored collaborator email addresses in the as-entered form, which could cause case-related issues when trying to match them. All addresses are now stored in lowercase form, and this is reflected in the displayed list of collaborators.

Previously, for private cloud customers using Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) authentication, a routing conflict could prevent the login page from loading. We have resolved this issue.

Changing from one script to another and then deleting a third script could overwrite the content of the previously open script with the content of the currently open script. This issue was timing-related and happened rarely, but now it shouldn't occur.

You can specify multiple CORS domains for your published project's endpoint, enabling you to call it from within a web application on that domain. We have corrected a problem where removal of one CORS domain did not save unless you removed them all.

If you made a call from a CORS web application to your project endpoint and narrative generation failed, this showed as a CORS policy failure. We have fixed this to ensure you get an error message explaining why narrative generation failed.

Similarly, if a call from a CORS web application to the project endpoint was error-free but had the withCredentials property set to "true", this incorrectly produced a CORS error. This no longer occurs.

The unique function failed to recognize duplicate ATL objects in a list if one or more objects came from a UDF. Likewise, the contains function failed to recognize an ATL object if the searched-for object came from a UDF. We have fixed both issues.

When you used asJson to convert an ATL object to a JSON object, any inner objects or lists were converted to strings rather than to JSON objects or arrays. This is now fixed.

When you used asList on a table cell whose value was a string containing a comma, the behavior was different depending on whether the cell came from a UDF or directly from a call to the cell function. We have removed this inconsistency.

The warning message displayed when a UDF returned a null value was different depending on whether the UDF was in a #define script or a #value script. We have removed this inconsistency.

Similarly, the warning message displayed when a variable returned a null value was different depending on whether the variable was defined in a script or in the project's Variables view. We have removed this inconsistency.

If a null value from a UDF was assigned as a value in an ATL object and that object was then converted to JSON using the asJson function, the value was converted to "null" in string form. The value is now correctly converted to a null literal.