Software Product Docs

Release Notes

Version 2.1

Hotfix

Introduction

IMPORTANT

Previous versions of itnetX ITSM Portal stored custom Request Offering settings in your management packs. Due to a bug introduced in Service Manager 2016, these settings can no longer be stored in management packs, but must be stored in your CMDB instead.

Changes you make to your Request Offerings will only be available in the new Portal v2.1 or v3 after the upgrade.

You must migrate your request offerings from the management packs to the CMDB after the application of the hotfix for version 2.1. A script is provided for this task.

Constrained User Groups

ITSM Portal stores extended features made available through the "Edit RO for ITSM Portal" wizard in an extension object in the SCSM CMDB. These features include:

  • Conditional Questions
  • Repeating Tables
  • Multimapping
  • etc.

If you are using user roles with restricted access to service catalog items, these users will not be able to read the extensions objects from the CMDB. As a result, these features will not be visible (i.e. conditional questions are always displayed, repeating tables do not work, etc.). To resolve this, please follow the instructions in the following KB article:

http://support.itnetx.ch/KB/ShowKB/5502ae6d-b070-e541-c602-1b39ce7135ea

Updating

Hotfix release

Version 2.1 of itnetX ITSM Portal is a hotfix release. You must perform the upgrade manually follow these instructions.

  1. Log on to the portal server as a local administrator of the server
  2. Stop IIS by executing the following command: net stop w3svc
  3. Extract the ITSMPortal-v2.1.0.0.zip to a temporary folder on the portal server
  4. Locate the installation directory of ITSM Portal. By default, this is C:\inetpub\SylianceITSMPortal
  5. Create a backup of the entire content of the portal root directory located in step 2.
  6. Copy the bin, Scripts and Views directories and all of its contents to the portal root folder you located in step 2. Do not delete the existing files and folder. Instead, overwrite the existing files and folders with the new ones. This procedure ensures that existing files which do not need to be updated are kept untouched.
  7. Restart IIS by executing the following command: iisreset
  8. If you are using SCSM 2016, import the itnetX.ITSMPortal.SupportingObjects.2016.mpb management pack into your SCSM environment. If you are using SCSM 2012, import the itnetX.ITSMPortal.SupportingObjects.2012.mpb management pack into your SCSM environment.
  9. Import the Syliance.ITSMPortalSupporting.Objects.xml management pack into your SCSM environment.
  10. Run PowerShell as an Administrator and execute the Migrate-itnetXPortalExtensions.ps1 script

New Features

  • Support for SCSM 2016 added

Bug Fixes

  • MPInfra_p_ManagementPackInstalled exception can occur when saving changes to request offerings, templates, or other elements to a management pack which contains request offering extensions.

Version 2.0.4

Updating

To upgrade itnetX ITSM Portal from versions below 1.1.0.12 please update first to 1.1.0.15 and then install 2.x.x.x.

Update sequence from 2.0.3.x

Changes to CSS files under the base directory (except customization.css) will be lost during an upgrade. Also, any additional NavLinks (see Admin Guide Section 8.5) will be lost. Be sure to back up existing customizations before upgrading.

  1. Run runinstaller.cmd
  2. Follow the instructions on screen

Update sequence from 2.0.x.0 (older than 2.0.3.x)

Changes to CSS files under the base directory (except customization.css) will be lost during an upgrade. Also, any additional NavLinks (see Admin Guide Section 8.5) will be lost. Be sure to back up existing customizations before upgrading.

  1. Run runinstaller.cmd
  2. Follow the instructions on screen
  3. If you have a custom CreateNewRequest.cshtml or InstancePickerFieldView.cshtml then you have to synchronize changes manually because the CreateRequest view and InstancePicker view were changed significantly.
  4. If the portal is installed on a separate server without an SCSM management server role, copy the file \bin\Syliance.ITSMPortal.Shared.dll to each SCSM management server to the SCSM installation folder (C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager\ by default)
  5. If you have a custom theme, then please copy these files to your custom theme folder:
    a. \Content\themes\blue\jstree.css
    b. \Content\themes\blue\images\jstree-32px.png
    c. \Content\themes\blue\images\jstree-40px.png
    d. \Content\themes\blue\servicecatalogplain.css

Update sequence from 1.1.0.x

Changes to CSS files under the base directory (except customization.css) will be lost during an upgrade. Also, any additional NavLinks (see Admin Guide Section 8.5) will be lost. Be sure to back up pre-existing customizations before upgrading.

  1. Run runinstaller.cmd
  2. Follow the instructions on screen
  3. Import the new license library management pack (itnetX.SCSM.Licensing.Library.mpb)
  4. Import the new license management pack (itnetX.SCSM.itsmPortalv2.LicenseInfo.mp)
  5. Follow the steps from section Update sequence from 2.0.3.x

New Features

  • Time Zone for string values (see Administration Guide for more details)
  • Performance improved when user loads portal for the first time
  • Ordinal attribute added to UserInput XML (useful when parsing Repeating Tables programmatically)
  • Custom queries are now supported in \Settings\Queries.xml
  • Manual reset and expired password reset feature for Forms Authentication (please contact Support Team if you need this feature enabled)
  • Mapped user prompts in the Request Offering editor can now be unmapped

Bug Fixes

  • Two or more objects can be added to relationships with MaxCardinality = 1
  • Mapping of user prompts to child form filling activity does not work properly
  • Validation for repeating table doesn’t work properly in combination with query results
  • Query result selection is ignored inside of a repeating table
  • Workaround for exception “MPInfra_p_ManagementPackInstalled failed with exception: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation” which might occur when saving changes to a management pack which includes Request Offerings with ITSM Portal Extensions.

Workaround for MPInfra_p_ManagementPackInstalled exception

Many customers have reported an issue where a MPInfra exception is raised when saving changes to a management pack which includes Request Offerings. Microsoft confirmed this to be a bug in SCSM and is working on a fix to resolve this issue.

We have found a workaround for this issue. With the latest version of ITSM Portal, you will not see this exception anymore when saving Request Offerings using the task “Edit RO for ITSM Portal”. You might still see the exception when using the out-of-the-box Request Offering Editor, or when saving other elements to the same management pack (e.g. templates, console tasks, etc.). If you receive an MPInfra exception, you have to open any request offering which is located in the same management pack using the “Edit RO for ITSM Portal” task and press OK. The error should now be gone.

Known Issue / Limitations

  • When saving Request Offerings, or when saving changes to a management pack which includes Request Offerings with ITSM Portal Extensions, the following exception may occur: “MPInfra_p_ManagementPackInstalled failed with exception: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation”. This exception is caused by the SCSM SDK. To resolve this issue, please restart the SCSM services on all SCSM management servers (except the Data Warehouse management server): System Center Data Access Service, System Center Configuration, Microsoft Monitoring Agent. We are working with Microsoft to provide a fix for this problem as soon as possible.
  • When upgrading ITSM Portal installed on a server which is not a SCSM management server, the following message might appear at the end of the installation process: “itnetX ITSM Portal Setup Wizard ended prematurely”. This message can be ignored.
  • Request Offering Editor for ITSM Portal: When using a MP Enumeration prompt in multimapping, you will receive a message when saving the Request Offering saying that the MP Enumeration prompt is not mapped and to confirm Save. Clicking OK at this message will save the RO. Also, any RO with a MP Enumeration prompt in multimapping will display an error when attempted to be opened in standard RO Editor and cannot be used in standard SharePoint-based portal.
  • Minor page rendering issues when using Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8/8.1/10
  • UIs for scrolling and simple list picker are different for IE9.
  • No size information for attachments displayed under IE9 unless “Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting” option in Internet Explorer settings set to Enabled (browser limitation).
  • Size constraint for attachments doesn't work under IE9 unless “Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe for scripting” option in Internet Explorer settings set to Enabled.
  • User Portal Token: only user name part is used. Domain ignored.
  • Date picker date format and language depend on browser's language settings, not from selected UI language, unless useSameLanguagesForUIandGlobalizationsettings setting is not set.
  • You cannot add two attachments with the same file name.
  • If there are many user objects and\or work item objects in the CMDB, importing the supporting management pack can take several minutes.
  • The True\False value in the User Input is localized and depends on the selected portal UI language.
  • The time part for DateTime questions is ignored (also in constraints).
  • Upgrading and installing the portal will result in an update of all incidents, service requests and users in your SCSM environment. The last modified date will be set to the current date/time. This is caused by a class extension and is by the design of SCSM
  • Importing Syliance.ITSMPortal.SupportingObjects.mpb may cause the Exchange Connector v3.0 to stop. This issue is related to Exchange Connector. To fix this issue please install the latest version (by date) of the Exchange Connector.

Version 2.0.3

New Features

  • Plain Service Catalog View
  • Custom result views for Instance Picker (Query Result)
  • Custom view for details view in Instance Picker (Query Result)
  • “My Team Activities” view
  • Option "Do not allow selecting non-child elements" in MP Enum picker
  • Binding to child enumeration in Management Pack List
  • Ability to add Reviewer using custom relationship in Query Result
  • Ability to hide search bar for query results
  • Access with anonymous authentication
  • Approve\Reject buttons behavior changed for Review Activity: If the user already voted, then the Approve\Reject buttons will be hidden unless the user selects another reviewer to vote on-behalf of.
  • New languages:
    • Czech
    • Polish
    • Portuguese (Portugal)
  • Minor enhancements:
    • Small UI improvement in Create Request view
    • Icons for console tasks
    • In RO wizard, Configuration section now before Layout
    • Syliance.ITSMPortalSupporting.Objects.xml removed from bundle
    • Performance of Instance Picker (Query Result) increased (including non-blocking loading)

Bug Fixes

  • 15 Changing user prompts layout is not reflected in mappings
  • 21 "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" if try to request API without Language header
  • 114 Even if a KB article is found, the “No results found” message appears
  • 120 Error message missing when username/pw is wrong or any other errors occured on Logon page
  • 125 Property not loaded in output if derived classes have same properties or property inherited from parent
  • 128 System.NullReferenceException error in SDKHelper.MG
  • 129 "UnauthorizedAccessException: Attempted to perform an unauthorized operation" in ExceptionHandlerAttribute
  • 139 Query Result doesn't return result if non-string (int, decimal etc) column is selected
  • 140 Unable to Cancel CR
  • 152 Error text returned by non-API controller are not in a readable format
  • 157 Links in Query Result's prompt don't work
  • 159 Multimapping can't be removed
  • 160 "The given key was not present in the dictionary" error when RO opened
  • Event with ID 29105 logged in Operations Manager event log when System Center Management Configuration service is started
  • IIS Settings can be set to default when upgrading from a previous version
  • You can’t start search in Query Result using Enter key in Firefox

Version 2.0.2.0

New Features

  • Enumeration List Picker now supports filtering of selection (JavaScript required)
  • Ability to add “Add Comments/Attachments” on activity view for custom views

Bug Fixes

  • “Null array” exception if question was hidden by condition
  • Conditional question cannot be saved when hidden
  • Display Review Activity review comment in list of activities
  • Cannot resolve identifier Activity!System.WorkItemContainsActivity” exception for Change Requests
  • Some display strings were not translated correctly
  • An error occurs if you try to call the Web API without a language header
  • User input prompt in request offering is not validated if the question is hidden and the "do not add hidden question" option is enabled
  • Spanish strings loaded from SCSM are not translated
  • Error occurred if request offering opened from view targeted to class only, not to type projection
  • Issues with Web API calls if portal is published using Cisco ASA Web Publishing
  • No line breaks in Query Result columns
  • Request offering fails to save if condition for a simple list entry containing a quotation mark was configured
  • Conditional question settings are improperly loaded in editor
  • Multimapping cannot be removed
  • Duplicate entries for same relationship in query result advanced configuration
  • Yes\No values for default value picker of boolean prompt not visible

Version 2.0.1.0

New Features

  • Internal API is now public
  • CreatedDate used instead of TimeAdded in list of objects
  • You can define properties to load in list of objects
  • addHiddenQuestionToUserInput option in web.config

Bug Fixes

  • Form Authentication doesn’t work after upgrading from v.1.1.0.*
  • ResolvedDate for Incident not set if Incident was cancelled
  • Unable to close request if add comment\attachment button was used
  • Exception occurred when creating change request with activities with mapped fields
  • Form Authentication section in Admin Guide updated
  • Repeating Table: Guid added instead of first value in summary for Query Result
  • RO Wizard: Owner not saved
  • Page number in header is incorrect when conditional questions used
  • Wrong time in list of objects

Version 2.0.0.0

New Features

  • Service and Request Offerings
    • Repeating Tables
    • Conditional Questions
    • Multi Mapping of Prompts
    • Request Offerings for Change Requests
    • Default Value for prompts
    • Include current user as default selection for Query Result
    • Advanced Query Result Configuration
    • Advanced Request Offering Editor
    • Request Offering preview form in SCSM console
  • Work items
    • Checklist Activity
    • Form Filling Activity (Chained Service Requests)
    • CurrentUser element in query definition
    • Close Request and Reopen request buttons
    • Close request once rated
    • Open detailed form directly
  • New languages added
    • Chinese Simplified
    • Danish
    • Dutch
    • French
    • Italian
    • Norwegian
    • Portuguese (Brazil)
    • Spanish
    • Swedish
  • Overall
    • Users’ pictures from Active Directory
    • Existing users are still able to access the portal if licenses are overcommitted

Bug Fixes

  • Performance degraded if more than two queries with large results exist on one page
  • Error when trying to open the Portal from anything other than a browser (PowerShell or indexing services)

Version 1.1.0.15

New Features

  • Navigation links are defined in UISettings.xml file
  • Support for custom views added
  • Support for custom resource strings added
  • /Auth/CheckDelegation page added
  • addUsersComputerToAffectedCIs parameter in web.config added
  • Announcements list is now sticky when header is clicked
  • String normalization added (possible double-line breaks in description of work items created by Exchange Connector eliminated)

Bug Fixes

  • New Request: Wrong US Phone number validation
  • New Request: Unable to save request for some languages if request offering contains date field
  • New Request: Add Attachment button overlaps the MP List picker
  • New Request: Query Result marked as required instead of Display Only
  • Service Offerings\Request Offering list: title and description always truncated to one line in Chrome
  • Exception can occur while saving the new request under high load
  • AD logout issue, limitation added: worked only under IE

Version 1.1.0.14

New features

  • Dutch language added

Bug Fixes

  • Service Offering Categories ordered by Title instead of ordinal value
  • Error occurred in Review Activity preview form if reviewer is empty

Version 1.1.0.12

New Features

  • Announcements are now displayed on the portal
  • RSS Feed for announcements
  • Forms Authentication added
  • Logoff button added for both Windows and Forms Authentication
  • Full RTF support for knowledge base and announcements
  • Knowledge Base Explorer added
  • Featured Articles added
  • Attachments are now displayed for Knowledge Base Articles
  • Request Offerings: <%ExpandResults%> token behavior changed: table with results is always visible and inline with other content, expand button not visible
  • Request Offerings: TextBox\TextArea control changed: it now depends on the MaxLength of the target property and the constraint set in the Request Offering. If more than 256 characters are allowed, it will be displayed as a multiline textarea control.
  • Request Offerings: URL parsed in field's question text
  • Request Offerings: questions are cached for each user. Use Ctrl-F5 to use non-cached data
  • Request Offerings: you can display icon for Configuration Items (please refer to Administration Guide)
  • Request Offerings: <%DefaultValue%> token added
  • Request Offerings: default value can be set using URL
  • Assigned To and Reviewers can be displayed in the list of activities (disabled by default)
  • You can search work items by ID using wildcards (_, %, *, ?)
  • /Admin/Settings page. You can use this page to change some parameters in web.config. You must be a member of the Administrators group on the web server to use it.
  • Scripts folder in theme directory added. You can attach custom scripts for each theme.
  • General performance improved

Bug Fixes

  • Service Request not loaded if parent category has no child SRs
  • The Service Offering and Request Offering detail area can be too small
  • Values in UserInput aren't escaped
  • "The sort property failed validation" exception could throw for some Query Results fields
  • Fast Review buttons available even after review was made
  • "a potentially dangerous request.path value was detected from the client ()" error message when search using special characters was made
  • Line breaks are ignored in form instruction for Request Offering
  • Create new request: Empty value can't be selected for Simple List if no default value set
  • Max attachment size and count ignored in “Add comments and attachment” dialog

Version 1.0.1.4

New Features

  • My Team Requests added: requests where affected user or created by user managed by current user.
  • Queries for Home, My Requests, My Activities and My Team Request are moved to Queries.xml
  • Query for search is moved to SearchQuery.xml
  • Icon for removing items in Create New Request page changed.
  • <%ExpandResults%> token added
  • New parameter hideGenericRequest added to web.config.
  • Preview pane now supports type projections (except manual activity).
  • You can use customization.css for customizations.
  • Installation script will not remove site folder if it exists.
  • “Open Link” displayed instead of full URL in External URL in Knowledge Base
  • “…” added if description for Service Offering or Request Offering is truncated.
  • [me] and [mygroups] token now supported for queries.
  • companyLogo.png moved to theme folder (\Content\themes\base\images\contentLogo.png).

Bug Fixes

  • Performance of My Requests and My Activities pages improved.
  • Search by ID fixed if search string contains spaces.
  • Create New Request page layout fixed.
  • Can’t change icon for Generic Request.
  • For incident, cancelation comment not written to Resolution Description field.
  • Google Chrome: issue with Long External Url.
  • Google Chrome: issue with "Information about request" text in activity page.
  • Google Chrome: OK button doesn't work on submitted form.
  • MP List: overlapping issue.
  • There is no related KBs for request offering.