7.0 Technical Changes

Owned by Kevin Kronenbitter (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Sept 07, 2016 by Ailish Byrne (Deactivated)

  • Rice Version: Latest minor of 2.5

  • Java 8.  Financials requires Java 8.  The code uses Java 8 features, therefore will not compile with Java 7 or below.

  • Rice mode.  Financials only supports standalone rice mode; this is now the default configuration.  Rice bundled mode is no longer supported.  See Financials Configuration.

  • Web Front end.

    • React.  React is a user interface framework written by Facebook.  It is being used for components such as the header and sidebar menu and will be used for other components in the future.  See React.

    • Javascript.  Financials uses features from the ES6 syntax of Javascript.  See Javascript.

    • REST.  React client components access data in Financials via REST service calls.  These are written using Jax-RS in the Financials application.  See REST.

    • Webpack.  Webpack is a NodeJS module that is being used to pre-compile React JSX and combine React components into a single javascript file that the browser can use.  It also converts the Javascript ES6 syntax into an older version that is supported in browsers in use today.  See Webpack.

  • MongoDB.  Financials uses the MongoDB database to store data such as institution and user preferences.  See MongoDB.

  • Data setup and maintenance. Primarily for developer productivity, there are three components to Financials data setup and maintenance that can be run on application startup or from the command line.

    • Relational Database Setup and Updates. Relational database data can be loaded from scratch or updated via LiquiRelational. See LiquiRelational

    • Document Store (MongoDB) Updates. Document Store (MongoDB) data can be updated via LiquiMongo. See LiquiMongo

    • Workflow Ingestion. Workflow xml can be ingested via WorkflowIngester. See Workflow Ingestion

  • Authentication.  Previous to Financials 6, the build tool (ant) modified the web.xml file, allowing injection of xml into that file.  The new tool provides a different method of customizing Authentication.  See Authentication.

  • REST Authentication.  REST API's require authentication.  Financials provides both session and token based authentication.  See REST Authentication.
  • Maven Build Enhancement.  A maven property named help.skip has been added to speed up rebuilds.  See Skip Help.
  • KNS back into KFS. The KNS has been extracted from Rice and is now in the KFS codebase. See Core Services in Client Framework Upgrade
  • Updated User Interface. The app has a new look and feel. See Re-skinning UI