4. Release Notes¶

4.1. Supported Platforms and Browsers¶

System Designer 6.1.0 is compatible with Connext DDS 6.1.0.

System Designer is available for the following platforms:

Linux® platforms: All Intel 64-bit Linux platforms listed in the RTI Connext DDS Core Libraries Release Notes with the same version number. Tested on Ubuntu® 18.04 LTS only, with Chrome® version 77, Firefox® version 69 and Safari® version 12.
macOS® platforms: All macOS platforms listed in the RTI Connext DDS Core Libraries Release Notes with the same version number. Tested on macOS 10.14 only, with Chrome version 77, Firefox version 69 and Safari version 12.
Windows® platforms: All 64-bit Windows platforms listed in the RTI Connext DDS Core Libraries Release Notes with the same version number. Tested on Windows 10 only, with Chrome version 77, Firefox version 69 and Safari version 12.

System Designer is not supported on POSIX-compliant architectures that end with “FACE_GP” or any custom-supported platforms.

System Designer works with these browsers:

Chrome version 77
Firefox version 69
Safari version 12

4.2. Compatibility¶

For backward compatibility issues between System Designer 6.1.0 and previous releases, see the Migration Guide on the RTI Community Portal (https://community.rti.com/documentation).

4.3. What’s New in 6.1.0¶

System Designer 6.1.0 is the first official release of System Designer.

If you had access to previous experimental releases, this release makes the product more robust and adds new functionality.

System Designer 6.1.0 is built on Connext DDS 6.1.0. The previous, experimental release of System Designer (version 0.4.0) was built on Connext DDS 6.0.1.

4.3.1. Improved XML and IDL view with Markdown¶

The text area of the XML and IDL view has been improved with Markdown. For example, tags and attributes are now highlighted in XML.

4.3.2. New validation button to check XML files with Code Generator¶

A new validation button enables you to select an XML file and have it validated by RTI Code Generator to confirm that the current state of the file can be used to generate code. This validation also provides the output from Code Generator if there are errors.

4.3.3. Ability to view content of a specific IDL file¶

Now you can view the content of a specific IDL file. To do so, select the Types tab, then the IDL tab. Choose a file from the list of IDL files in the drop-down menu. This is similar to the behavior of the XML tab.

4.3.4. Valuetypes enabled by advanced project properties¶

Valuetypes are deprecated and therefore can only be activated via a project setting in the project properties file. To use valuetypes in System Designer, navigate to Project -> Properties -> Advanced -> and check the Enable Valuetypes check box.

4.3.5. Support for use of environment variables as domain ID¶

System Designer now allows setting the domain ID as an environment variable $(ENV_VAR_DOMAIN_ID).

4.3.6. Delete project files when removing a project¶

Now when you remove a project from the System Designer workspace, you can also choose to delete the project files from the filesystem.

4.3.7. Create a domain without a domain ID¶

It is no longer a requirement to set a domain ID when creating a domain.

4.3.8. “Add” buttons merged into a single, context-aware Add button¶

The Add buttons in the QoS, Domain, and Participant panels have been merged into a single context-aware Add button. This new button contains the same functionality as the previous two add buttons in each panel. Previously, to create a QoS you had to click first on +Library to create a library and then +Profile to create a profile inside the library. Now, you need only click on the Add button to first create a Library, and then, with the library selected by default, click Add again to create a profile inside the library.

4.3.9. Updated “Configure Security” dialog with new security properties¶

The “Configure Security” dialog for a Participant QoS has been updated. The following fields have been added to configure new security properties; an example is shown below:

DataWriter Data and Metadata Key Sharing Enabled (Cryptography tab)

RTPS Protection Key (Cryptography tab)

Alternative Permissions CA certificate(s) (Access control tab)

Alternative CA file(s) (Authentication tab)

Enforce X.509 v3 Extension (Authentication tab)

In addition, the following fields and properties have been added to the “Security Global Settings” dialog; an example is shown below:

Private Key Password (Authentication tab)

Authentication Request Timeout (sec) (Participant Trust tab)

Simple Participant Discovery DataReader’s Mode (Participant Trust tab)

4.4. What’s Fixed in 6.1.0¶

4.4.1. Existing comments in XML/IDL text area not updated when modified¶

Editing an existing comment in the XML/IDL view via the Comment box in the upper-right didn’t update the comment in the text area. The updated comment was only shown after reopening the XML/IDL view. Now the comment is updated without reopening the XML/IDL view.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-727]

4.4.2. Invalid content in IDL view when using aliases¶

Using aliases (long, short, …) for types resulted in “undefined” types in the IDL view. Now aliases are properly shown in the IDL view.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-740]

4.4.3. Crash when trying to create a type inside a module¶

System Designer crashed when trying to create a type inside a module under the following circumstances:

Select a module and click on the + button located in the Structured View. Don’t select any element and instead click outside of the menu.
Click on the + button near the Help button. Again, don’t select any element and click outside the menu.
Click again on the + button located in the Structured View.

This problem has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-765]

4.4.4. Uint64 member produced invalid IDLs¶

Adding a Uint64 member to a structure produced an invalid IDL. This issue has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-766]

4.4.5. Use of constants in @min, @max, and @default fields¶

System Designer now allows you to use constant value names in @min, @max, and @default fields.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-767]

4.4.6. Version control issues¶

System Designer saved the project path (ui_projectPath), causing issues when dealing with the version control system. This issue has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-769]

4.4.7. Inheritance Chain edit icon was enabled when the QoS Profile was a QoS Snippet¶

The Inheritance Chain edit icon was enabled when the QoS Profile was a QoS Snippet. Now the edit button is only enabled when the QoS profile is not an QoS Snippet.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-810]

4.4.8. Unbounded sequences of strings converted to strings¶

Refreshing System Designer caused unbounded sequences of strings to be transformed into strings. This problem has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-816]

4.4.9. System Designer failed to delete QoS Library, Domain Library, and Participant Library¶

Previously, when you deleted a QoS Library, Domain Library, or Participant Library, then later reopened the project, System Designer had actually failed to delete the library. Now System Designer deletes it.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-833]

4.4.10. Union Editor did not allow addition of cases after adding default case¶

Previously, System Designer prevented you from adding any cases to a union after the “default” case was added. Now you can. As part of this fix, System Designer now also prevents you from adding duplicate default cases.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-835]

4.4.11. System Designer didn’t allow creating a constant of an enumerator¶

System Designer now allows creating a constant of an enumerator.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-839]

4.4.12. List of XML files incorrectly updated when importing invalid XML file¶

If the process of importing an XML file failed—for example, the XML file contained an element already defined in the open project—System Designer still showed that file in the list of XML files. This problem has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-854]

4.4.13. List of XML files in XML view not updated when creating new XML file¶

The list of XML files in the XML view was not updated when creating a new XML file. Now, the newly created file will be shown in the list of XML files.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-855]

4.4.14. Browse button in Ez-Secure dialog didn’t work¶

Selecting a folder by the Browse button in the EZ-Secure dialog didn’t work. This prevented System Designer from generating all the required Secure files and updating the participant QoS. This issue has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-862]

4.4.15. Invalid (HTTP) 400 Bad Request when checking if a file exists¶

System Designer produced a (HTTP) 400 Bad Request if, when checking if a file exists, the file didn’t exist. This problem has been resolved. System Designer no longer produces an error in this case.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-871]

4.4.16. Updated security property names¶

The following security properties have been renamed to match the latest DDS Security speficication:

Legacy property name (prefix with `com.rti.serv.secure`)	New property name (no prefix)
`authentication.ca_file`	`dds.sec.auth.identity_ca`
`authentication.private_key_file`	`dds.sec.auth.private_key`
`authentication.certificate_file`	`dds.sec.auth.identity_certificate`
`access_control.permissions_authority_file`	`dds.sec.access.permissions_ca`
`access_control.governance_file`	`dds.sec.access.governance`
`access_control.permissions_file`	`dds.sec.access.permissions`

The legacy property names are no longer supported. System Designer will generate a warning if it detects any of the legacy property names being used by any XML file. For example, if the following XML file is loaded:

<participant_qos>
  <property>
      <value>
          <element>
              <name>com.rti.serv.secure.authentication.ca_file</name>
          </element>
      </value>
  </property>
</participant_qos>

System Designer will generate the following warning:

com.rti.serv.secure.authentication.ca_file has been deprecated, System Designer will
ignore its value. Please update the property name with the new one:
<dds.sec.auth.identity_ca>

These properties have been moved from the Security Configuration dialog to the Global Security configuration. This dialog can be accessed by clicking on the “Globals” button in the Security Configuration dialog.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-875]

4.4.17. System Designer crashed when attempting to load XML file that contained a forward_dcl¶

System Designer crashed when attempting to load an XML file that contained a forward declaration (forward_dcl). This issue has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-876]

4.4.18. @key fields couldn’t be set in derived structures¶

A derived structure couldn’t configure any of its members to be keyed. Now it can.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-882]

4.4.19. System Designer failed to import a zip project in Windows¶

System Designer failed to import a zip project in Windows with the following error:

SyntaxError: Unexpected token U in JSON at position XX

This problem has been resolved.

[RTI Issue ID SYSD-898]

4.5. Known Issues¶

Modules can be defined in multiple files, and each file might define the module with different annotations:

@autoid
@transfer_mode
@language_binding
@allowed_data_representation

Semantically, those annotations (when defined in a module) apply only to the contained entities.

Since internally modules are identified by a single object, when their definition comes from multiple files, their annotations must be the same.