Version 5.9 is here, and it’s packed with exciting updates and new features.
You can download EasyMorph Desktop v5.9 right now by heading to the downloads section of the EasyMorph website. EasyMorph Server v5.9 is also available to download from the EasyMoprh Server downloads page.
Let’s dive in and explore what’s new and improved!
Workflow Tables and Charts Convergence
The biggest update in version 5.9 comes to tables and charts in workflows.
In previous versions of EasyMorph, charts in workflows were special objects and therefore had some limitations. For example, workflow charts were entirely separate and had no relation to any charts created in the “Analysis view”. You also couldn’t derive another chart or table from an existing chart.
In version 5.9, charts and tables have been merged into a single unified workflow object. A new “View” menu in the top left of every workflow table now allows you to switch the view seamlessly between a familiar tabular “Datagrid” view, and one or more chart views. These charts are synchronized with the “Analysis view” and so any charts or cross-tables created in “Analysis view” will appear in the drop down also.
Whichever view you are currently in, all of the actions and charts can be viewed in the table properties on the left hand side of the screen.
As always with EasyMorph, the upgrade is seamless and you won’t lose any functionality. All charts in your existing workflows will be automatically converted. This significant upgrade to tables and charts also lays the groundwork for some exciting new features coming in the future.
“File Uploads” Parameters
Another important new feature in version 5.9 is the addition of a new parameter type called “File Uploads”. This parameter type is created in the same way as any other parameter but rather than storing a string or numeric value, it allows you to upload one or more files which are stored by EasyMorph. The parameter then holds the path to the file which you can use in a workflow anywhere where you can use parameters.
TIP: The File Uploads parameter is an advanced parameter and so like all advance parameters, you'll need to "Switch to advanced mode" in the Edit parameters dialog to be able to add them.
Once created, you can upload files to the parameter in the "Overview" side panel.
In EasyMorph Desktop, this might not seem to add a lot of value, but it becomes a huge help when moving my project to an EasyMorph Server. If my workflow loads in a file from a specific path, historically I would also have to make sure that same file was available to the server under the exact same path or my workflow would fail. The “File name” and “Folder path” parameter types could be used to configure the path or file name to be different between EasyMorph Desktop and EasyMorph Server, but we still need to manually make sure our file is copied to the correct path for the server. And giving users access to folders on the EasyMorph Server could pose a security risk.
With the “File Upload” parameter type in version 5.9, EasyMorph Server also prompts me to upload the file when I run the project as a task. EasyMorph Server handles storing the file including checking it for viruses and other security risks.
This functionality will be extended further in the next release of EasyMorph to allow “File upload” parameters to be supported through the EasyMorph Gateway. This will allow external API endpoint calls to EasyMorph Server to provide files to tasks.
New Actions
There are 3 completely new actions in EasyMorph versions 5.9:
The “Uploaded Files” Action
The “File upload” parameters mentioned above can be used on their own, or in combination with another new feature in version 5.9, the “Uploaded Files” action.
This new action allows us to return a list of uploaded files, their full paths and sizes. And as with any other list of files in EasyMorph, I can combine them with other actions to filter the list, validate the file formats and load them into a table.
The "Import from OData" Action
Version 5.9 also brings a long awaited new data import action. The “Import from OData” action now makes it possible to pull data into EasyMorph directly from systems which provide OData RESTful APIs such as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics. It supports importing both OData entities as well as entity metadata.
The “Modify Column Names” Action
The last new action in version 5.9 is the “Modify column names” action which makes it quick and easy to add a prefix and/or suffix to one or more columns in a table.
What's coming next?
DISCLAIMER: The below is for informational purposes only. It does not guarantee that any mentioned features will be implemented in the software or included in a specific version. Plans and priorities may change at any time.
Version 5.9.1 is expected to be released towards the end of February 2025 and, as mentioned above, will bring Upload Files Parameter support to EasyMorph Gateway, allowing you to trigger a task when the Gateway receives a new file.
v5.9.1 will also bring a big new feature to Analysis View called "Facets". Facets are a form of advance filtering allowing you to filter data, not only by the explicit values in it, but also by automatically derived or configured meta data. Many facets are planned, but in v5.9.1 we will bring you the first 3:
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Time periods - A bit like in Excel filters, EasyMorph will automatically break dates and times into their component parts (i.e. Year, Month, Day, Hour, etc). These component parts can then be used to filter the data.
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Profiler - Because EasyMorph supports having mixed data types within the same column, the Profiler Facet will allow you to filter on all values of a specific type (i.e. all strings, all numerical values, etc). This will helping you to identify where unexpected data may exist.
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Thresholds - Threshold facets will allow you to group values into user defined ranges (e.g. orders up to $100 are "Small order", those up to $500 are "medium orders" and those over "small orders")
Importantly, you'll be able apply multiple Facets simultaneously to the same column. In future versions, we'll be bringing Facets to the EasyMorph Server UI as well as adding many more Facets such as Text Length, Regular Expressions, Match List, Percentile and even some "visual Facets".