What's New in Spotfire 12.2

TIBCO Spotfire 12.2 introduces several new features to improve the experience for web authors, administrators and users. Some of the key enhancements include support for ISO week numbers, new options for Actions parameters, and improved library search capabilities. Additionally, TIBCO Spotfire adds supports for Ubuntu, making it easier to deploy the Spotfire services on the most popular Linux distribution.

Visual Analytics

Tags for Web Authors

Web authors with a Spotfire Analyst license can attach tags to data rows. Tags enable analysts and applications developers to gather data rows according to their own choices and be able to quickly identify the tagged rows in different visualization contexts. For examples gathering the top hundred values by attaching the same tag to them, or assign 'Good', 'Bad', or 'OK' tags to values.

Data Management

Format Dates using ISO Weeks & Years Standard

Spotfire allows to format dates using ISO-8601 weeks and years standard to determine how data in a chart appears, and how it is used in calculations. 
ISO-8601 Week-Based calendar purpose is to provide an unambiguous and well-defined method of representing dates and times, which will avoid misinterpretation of numeric representations of dates and times, particularly when data transfer happens between countries with different conventions for writing numeric dates and times.

Export Data to Library for Web Authors

Web authors can export data from a Spotfire analysis to the library. The data will be saved as an SBDF file (TIBCO Spotfire Binary Data Format file), which stores the data and metadata.

Export Data to File for Web Authors

Web authors can export data from a Spotfire analysis and save it as a text file, a CSV file, a SBDF file (TIBCO Spotfire Binary Data Format file) or a Microsoft Excel file.

Data in Analysis Panel from Data Canvas

The data in analysis panel is now accessible from the data canvas, making it easier to view and edit columns properties in the context of a selected data table in the data canvas.

Analytics Apps

Configurable Labels & Descriptions in Action Input Prompts

It is now possible to customize labels and add descriptions in external action prompts, to make it easier for the person running the action to know what type of input is expected.

Optional Parameters for Actions

To make it easier to configure external actions, it is now possible to skip parameters that you find unnecessary, if they not have been defined as required in the external service.

Administration

Ubuntu Support

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is now supported as the operating system for:

• TIBCO Spotfire® Server
• TIBCO Spotfire® Web Player
• TIBCO Spotfire® Automation Services
• TIBCO Spotfire® Statistics Services
• TIBCO® Enterprise Runtime for R - Server Edition
• TIBCO Spotfire® Service for Python

Library Search Improvements

You can now more easily search the library for a specific user due to the addition of a search field that filters to the users matching your input in the 'Created by' and 'Modified by' filter fields.
You can also use 'Created by' and 'Modified by' filter fields in search expressions and you can now also search for the latest version of a library item by the version name, by a version comment, or by who created the version.

Updated Command for Deleting Library Versions

The delete-library-versions cli command now has two new arguments for defining a lower and an upper limit on the number of versions to be kept for each item.

Usage:

-l value
--keep-at-least=value
    Defines a lower limit on the number of versions that are kept (for each item). At least this many versions of each item will be kept (if
    there are more versions than that). The most recent versions are kept. This argument is optional. The default value is '0'.
 
-m value
--keep-at-most=value
    Defines an upper limit on the number of versions that are kept (for each item). At most this many versions of each item will be kept
    (even if some versions otherwise would have been kept due to some other filter). The most recent versions are kept. This argument is
    optional. By default there is no upper limit on the number of versions that are kept.

New Command to Remove a Member from a Group

The new cli command remove-member can be used to remove an existing user or group from a group.

Usage:

 remove-member [-b value | --bootstrap-config=value]
       [-t value | --tool-password=value] <-g value | --groupname=value>
       [-u value | --member-username=value]
       [-m value | --member-groupname=value]

New Command to delete Web Player state

The new cli command delete-analysis-states can be used to remove stale or unwanted personalized views for each web client user from analyses in the library.

Usage:

delete-analysis-states [-b value | --bootstrap-config=value]
       [-t value | --tool-password=value] <-g value | --groupname=value>
       [-q value | --search-query=value]
       [-a value | --keep-technical-versions-after=value]
       [-f | --force ]

New Command to Configure OpenID Connect Token Hints

The config-oidc command now has a new argument, --provider-include-id-token-hint, that can be used for configuring the use of the id_token_hint parameter in OpenID Connect authentication requests.
The id_token_hint parameter in OpenID Connect authentication requests is now disabled by default.

Note: The result of setting it (to false) is that no id_token_hint parameter is included in the OpenID Connect authentication request after an absolute session timeout. See the OIDC specification for more information.

Configure Password Min/Max Length

Spotfire Server now supports setting a minimum length and a maximum length for passwords stored in the Spotfire database. This aligns with NIST SP800-53 security controls for Authenticator Management and NIST 800-63B recommendations.

Usage:

<security>
...
    <password-policies>
        <password-length-policy>
            <enabled>true</enabled>
            <minimum-password-length>5</minimum-password-length>
            <maximum-password-length>10</maximum-password-length>
        </password-length-policy>
    </password-policies>
</security>

Action Logging for Actions

Usage data for running external actions can now be captured in the user action log.
The logs can be analyzed to better understand how the actions are used, and the logged data can also be a support in audits.

Changes to Data Source Templates for Information Services

In new installations of Spotfire Server, the included data source templates for Information Services have changed.

• The PostgreSQL data source template is now enabled by default.
• The following data source templates are no longer included:
  • DB2
  • DB2 TYPE4
  • MySQL
  • MySQL5
  • Oracle
  • Netezza
  • SAS/SHARE
  • SQL Server (JTDS)
  • SQL Server 2000
  • Sybase
  • Sybase (JTDS)

Note: If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Spotfire, no changes are made to the templates in your installation.

Python Service Available in TIBCO Cloud Spotfire

TIBCO Spotfire® Service for Python is available in TIBCO Cloud™.
You can now publish a Spotfire analysis that contains Spotfire Service for Python data functions on TIBCO Cloud™ for use by Spotfire Business Author and Consumer users.