Tom Sawyer Perspectives, Java Edition

Release 13.2.0

DateFebruary 26, 2025
StatusGeneral

Overview

This release highlights improvements to the Modern web client framework, which is now the default framework for Perspectives applications, featuring rearranged default toolbars in our views and updated action icons. Key updates include that our chart and timeline views now have a React-based underlying framework. Other improvements are: REST support, Print Preview support, Cancel Layout operation, invokable view dialogs, and HTML dialogs. New tutorials show how to use Tom Sawyer Web Components in Angular or plain HTML web applications. End users now have the ability to enter custom Cypher or Gremlin queries directly in their application. Performance speed of schema extraction has been significantly improved for graph databases.

Hierarchical layout has been improved to reduce edge crossings up to 30-50% on average, and also improved node placement and edge routing given the flow of edges in the drawing. The implementation of Closeness Centrality has also been improved for disconnected graphs.

Perspectives has been upgraded to Spring Framework 6.2.2 and Spring Boot 3.4.2. Also, many third-party libraries have been updated to eliminate potential vulnerabilities.

New

Integrators

  • Added support for expressions in Query Builder, Load Neighbors, Update action, and Commit action
  • Query Builder and Load Neighbors now have case sensitive search
  • Added action to open dialog that allows end user to manually run Cypher and Gremlin queries

Model

  • Added $emptyString() function

Views

  • Added support for invokable view dialogs in Modern web client framework
  • Added support for HTML dialogs in Modern web client framework
  • Added support for exporting image and printing in chart and timeline views
  • Added Modern React-based web client framework for chart and timeline views
  • Added action item that opens the Swagger User Interface URL on web preview in Modern React-based web client framework
  • Drawing
    • Improved ability to cancel layout operations in Modern web client framework
    • Added Print Preview support in the Print Setup action
  • Timeline
    • Added support for reverse sorting of elements by date

Example Projects

  • Added a Perspectives application exploring the identification and resolving of supply chain issues in a manufacturing network
  • Added a Perspectives application visualizing potential fraud rings found through automated queries of financial accounts and transactions

Documentation

  • Added a tutorial that demonstrates how to create an Angular application with Tom Sawyer Web Components
  • Added a tutorial that demonstrates how to create a plain HTML web application with Tom Sawyer Web Components

Improvements

Integrators

  • Improved performance speed by up to 64% in schema extraction for graph databases
  • Query Builder and Load Neighbors remember the last dialog size and location
  • Query Builder has resizable Documentation panel available in a separate browser tab

Views

  • The Modern React-based web client framework is now the default framework for Perspectives applications
  • Improved the default toolbars on newly created views
  • Drawing
    • Reduced reduce edge crossings up to 30-50% on average hierarchical layout with orthogonal edge routing
    • Provided an option to route backward edges in hierarchical layout either directly (further reducing crossings) or looping (showing an intuitive picture of the flow of the edges)

Designer

  • In the Designer, improved visual indications of features that are available for certain client frameworks, ie., Desktop, Classic web client framework, or Modern web client framework and their combinations

Analysis

  • Improved implementation of Closeness Centrality for disconnected graphs

Example Projects

  • Updated the majority of example projects to use the Modern React-based web client framework
  • Updated toolbar and context menu icons in example projects

Documentation

  • Improved documentation for use of custom Java code
  • Improved documentation of third-party dependencies

Installers

  • Separated Model-Based Engineering and Business Process from the Tom Sawyer Perspectives installer

Licensing

  • Improved error messages to provide clearer, more actionable feedback when licensing issues occur

System Requirements

  • Added support for the following operating systems:
    • Apple macOS 15
    • Oracle Linux 9.4
    • Debian Linux 12.7
  • Updated Spring Framework to 6.2.2
  • Updated Spring Boot to 3.4.2
  • Added support for the following databases:
    • Apache TinkerPop 3.7.3
    • JanusGraph 1.1.0
    • Neptune Gremlin 1.3.4
    • OrientDB 3.2.37
    • MongoDB 8.0.1
    • Neo4j 5.26.1
    • Neptune openCypher 1.3.4
  • Added support for the following application servers:
    • Apache Tomcat 11.0.2
    • Red Hat WildFly 33.0.2
    • Eclipse Jetty 12.0.14
  • Dropped support for the following operating systems:
    • Apple macOS 12
    • Apple macOS 13
    • Oracle Linux 9.3
    • Debian Linux 12.5
    • Windows Server 2019
  • Dropped support for the following databases:
    • Apache TinkerPop 3.7.2
    • JanusGraph 1.0.0
    • Neptune Gremlin 1.3.1
    • OrientDB 3.2.29
    • MongoDB 7.0.9
    • Neo4j 5.19.0
    • Neptune openCypher 1.3.1
  • Dropped support for the following application servers:
    • Apache Tomcat 10.1.20
    • Red Hat WildFly 32.0.0
    • Eclipse Jetty 12.0.9

Fixes

Integrators

  • Fixed an issue where the Query Builder would crash when handling long queries
  • Fixed an issue with missing edges in Load Neighbors when re-loading data after deleting elements from a view
  • Fixed an issue where the XML integrator failed to correctly process CDATA sections
  • Fixed an issue with the SQL integrator comparator when ordering edge bindings
  • Fixed an issue when committing null values to Neo4j

Views

  • Fixed an issue where the default toolbar actions dialogs were instantly closing when being invoked from React context menus
  • Drawing
    • Fixed an issue where drawing elements were improperly rendered during view updates
  • Table
    • Fixed highlighting issue when sorting rows by attribute
    • Fixed autoscrolling and pagination issues in the Modern table view

Issues

  • Some JavaScript Commands are not yet functional in Modern framework. Please refer to our documentation for more information.
  • The Modern web client framework supports at most one invokable view dialog per view.
  • The action item opening the Swagger User Interface URL is only available on web preview. It is not available when invoked from applications generated via our Application Generator.
  • There is an issue using the default configuration for the HTTPS protocol with the Neo4j integrator. Contact Support for assistance in using this configuration.
  • When you use the “Generate Schema Code” feature and select to support JPA (Java Persistence API), the generated code requires Hibernate to properly execute.
  • There is an issue with the resolution option in the Export Image dialog in the Modern web client framework.
  • You may see a warning of "Unknown Publisher" while using the uninstaller on Windows 11.