StreamBase 6.3.x Release History

The sbmonitor utility was updated to provide more detail in the Queues view, and to use moving averages in its statistics. The display also gained a new Sync Threads view, and a new command, U, that toggles on and off the updating of the display. For details, see StreamBase Monitor.

The StreamBase Alpha Trading System EMAPI Order Entry adapter allows a StreamBase application to submit trade requests to the Alpha Trading System venue. The adapter appears as two icons on the EventFlow canvas in StreamBase Studio: an output adapter for sending orders, and an input adapter for receiving order status updates from the venue. These adapters are described in Alpha Trading Systems EMAPI Order Entry Adapter and have a sample, described in Alpha Trading System EMAPI Order Entry Adapter Sample.

The StreamBase Alpha Trading System EMAPI Market Data Feed (MDF) Adapter allows a StreamBase application to subscribe to market data from from the Alpha Trading System venue. You can configure one to thirteen Alpha output flows as separate output ports for the adapter. For some of these output flows, Alpha supports replay capability, snapshot capability, or both. This adapter is described in Alpha Trading Systems EMAPI Market Data Feed Adapter and has a sample, described in Alpha Trading System EMAPI Market Data Feed Adapter Sample.

The CSV File Writer and Binary File Writer adapters were updated to prevent two or more instances of either adapter from writing to the same file simultaneously. Application authors should be aware that this change does not prevent a non-StreamBase external application from writing to the same file being written to by these adapters.

The CSV File Reader adapter now reports a failure to open its specified CSV file on its optional event port.

The StreamBase expression language gains the following new functions:

StreamBase Studio now flags the current canvas as changed (and thus needing to be saved) for text-only changes in the Description field for components, including Notes. Studio does not run a typechecking pass when it detects changes only in Description fields.

The StreamBase documentation includes the following updates and corrections:

The StreamBase expression language now includes the timezoneoffset() function, which returns a signed interval timestamp that expresses the number of hours that the local time zone is offset from UTC. You can subtract the return of timezoneoffset() from any absolute timestamp value to generate a new absolute timestamp that represents the same moment in the UTC time zone. See timezoneoffset() for examples and other uses of the function.

There is a new Java property, streambase.ide.leave-launch-tempdir, that you can add to the startup configuration of StreamBase Studio by means of the STREAMBASE_STUDIO_VMARGS environment variable. When set to true, this property instructs Studio to preserve the temporary directories it creates every time you run or debug an application in Studio. This allows you to inspect and debug the temporary sbd.sbconf file that Studio generates when running applications.

Studio's temporary directories are created in the directory defined with the Java system property java.io.tempdir, which is typically /tmp or /var/tmp on UNIX and C:\TEMP on Windows. The temporary directories are named sbstudio-session-nnnn, where nnnn is an integer generated for each run.

Starting with this release, StreamBase samples that provide a Makefile to build C++ code were updated to work with a simple make command without options. The make -e workaround suggested in the 6.3.6 notes below is no longer necessary, and the Makefiles from these samples can once again serve as models for your own projects that use the StreamBase C++ API.

The Administration Guide topic on Running StreamBase Server in Background Mode has a new section that describes the requirement to use full, absolute paths to specify any file system resources when running StreamBase Server in background mode with sbd -b. See Specifying File System Paths in Background Mode. The same page has another new section that clarifies the setup of syslogd on UNIX.

This release includes a new embedded adapter, the Deutsche Bank AutobahnFX Trading System adapter, which allows a StreamBase application to retrieve market data from, and submit trade requests to, a Deutsche Bank AutobahnFX trading system. See Deutsche Bank AutobahnFX Trading System Adapter for details, and see the adapter's sample, described in Deutsche Bank AutobahnFX Trading System Adapter Sample.

The FIX adapter was updated with a new command for the command port that can be used to retrieve the next incoming and outgoing message sequence numbers. See the Get Next MsgSeqNums command in the Input Ports section of the FIX adapter's documentation page.

The HA Heartbeat adapter was updated and now accepts new commands on its input port and emits a larger set of event strings on its output port. These changes are described in HA Heartbeat Input Adapter.

The Sun JDK bundled for private use by StreamBase now includes the header files from that JDK in STREAMBASE_HOME/jdk/include. These are provided as a convenience for programmers and are not required or used by the StreamBase installation.

There is a new Java property, streambase.java-operator.stacktrace-on-warn that can be specified either with the jvm-args or sysproperty elements in the server configuration file. When set to true, exception stack traces from Java operators and adapters are displayed on the server's console.

For building C++ clients or custom functions on Solaris and Linux, StreamBase requires G++ 3.4 through 4.2 . StreamBase does not support building clients or custom functions with G++ 4.3, which is the default compiler on newer Linux distributions. On such distributions, install GCC and G++ 4.2, and set the CXX environment variable before building StreamBase C++ code, including StreamBase samples that include C++ code. For example:

export CXX=g++-4.2

On Linux, the sb-config -cxx command now honors (but does not validate) the setting of the CXX environment variable. On a Linux system where the default C++ compiler is G++ 4.3, sb-config --cxx normally returns the path to the G++ 4.3 compiler, unless you set the CXX environment variable as described in the previous note. For example, with default settings:

`sb-config --cxx` --version

returns

g++ (distro build info) 4.3.3

But if you first set the CXX environment variable, the same command returns the correct G++ version to use for building StreamBase code:

export CXX=g++-4.2
`sb-config --cxx` --version

returns

g++ (distro build info) 4.2.4

To take advantage of this new feature when building the C++ samples shipped with StreamBase, use the make -e command instead of just make. As an alternative, with the CXX variable set as described above, use the following variation:

make CXX=`sb-config --cxx`

The version of the Sun JDK installed for private use by StreamBase is now 1.6.0_12. As before, you can override this installed default to use a different supported JDK as described in Using an External JDK. The supported JDK versions are listed in Supported Configurations.

If your FIX adapter's configuration file contains exactly one pair of values for SenderCompID and TargetCompID, you can now send null values for those fields when sending administrative messages to the command port. The adapter now reads the null values as a trigger to obtain the values for those two fields from the configuration file.

Two new commands were added to the FIX Input Adapter's Command port: SetSenderMsgSeqNum and SetTargetMsgSeqNum. These allow you to explicitly set the FIX message sequence number of outgoing and incoming messages, respectively. Note that with the SetSenderMsgSeqNum command, no SequenceReset (MsgType=4) message is emitted. The command only sets the adapter's expected next sequence number for incoming messages.

Certain FIX venues require the addition of custom fields to FIX administrative messages to be considered valid. For example, a venue may require that a Username and Password fields be added to Logon messages for certain FIX versions.

This release provides a way to add such custom fields manually, by making available to the adapter a custom interceptor class that will be responsible for adding the fields before administrative messages are sent. The FIX adapter topic in the Adapters Guide describes this new feature and provides sample code for the custom interceptor class. See Implementing a Custom Admin Message Interceptor Class.

The CameronFIX libraries that support the CameronFIX engine were updated to Cameron release 6.3.

To support the TIBCO Rendezvous Subscribing Input and Publishing Output adapters, the StreamBase installation kit now includes version 8.1.2 of the tibrv.jar JAR file from TIBCO that implements the TIBCO Rendezvous Java API.

The properties for the CSV File Writer adapter were reorganized across four tabs in the adapter's Properties view. No new functionality was added.

When using the Compare Schemas dialog, you can now select any line, then right-click and select a copy command from the context menu to place the current field name in the system clipboard. Select Copy Field Name for simple fields. Select Copy Qualified Field Name to copy an element of a list in the form list-name.element-name, or to copy a member of a tuple with the form tuple-name.field-name.

When using Data File generation method for feed simulations, the feed simulator can read input data files compressed with zip or gzip. This release add bzip2 compression to the recognized compression methods. The extension for input data files must be .zip, .gz, or .bz2, respectively, for the three supported compression methods. Compression with bzip2 can result in significantly smaller files, but at the cost of slower reading times.

In the StreamBase Java Client library, the SBPropertyDescriptor class has three new methods: deprecated(), IsDeprecated(), and setDeprecated(). These provide a mechanism to deprecate a property for custom operators and adapters. Deprecated properties do not appear in the Properties view for the operator or adapter, but existing modules with that property set can still be used.

There is a new Java property, streambase.java-operator.stacktrace-on-warn that can be specified either with the jvm-args or sysproperty elements in the server configuration file. When set to true, exception stack traces from Java operators and adapters are displayed on the server's console.

The StreamBase documentation includes the following updates and corrections, independent of the changes above:

This release adds the ability to encipher passwords and the value of certain name-value pairs in the StreamBase Server configuration file so that they do not appear as clear text in the file. You encipher text values by means of the new sbcipher command, as described in the feature's new page, Enciphering Passwords and Parameter Values. The reference page for the server configuration file was updated to describe the new enciphered="true" attribute.

For several releases, StreamBase has supported calls to SQL stored procedures and stored functions to the database defined in its JDBC data source. This release adds support for certain databases such as Oracle that require special handling of the result sets returned from stored procedures. This new feature is described on Using Stored Procedures and on the page for the Query operator.

This release introduces the TIBCO Rendezvous Subscribing Input adapter, which is an embedded adapter that allows a StreamBase application to receive messages published to one or more Rendezvous subjects. This adapter complements the TIBCO Rendezvous External adapter, which remains available. The existing external adapter requires Rendezvous 7.2, whereas the new embedded adapter is Java-based, and is implemented by means of a TIBCO-supplied Rendezvous JAR file. This allows the new adapter to support the versions of Rendezvous supported by the TIBCO JAR file. The new adapter is described on TIBCO Rendezvous Subscribing Input Adapter.

The TIBCO Rendezvous Publishing Output Adapter allows a StreamBase application to publish Tibrv messages to one or more Rendezvous subjects. Like the new Rendezvous input adapter, the output adapter is Java-based, and is implemented by means of a TIBCO-supplied Rendezvous JAR file, which allows you to determine what versions of Rendezvous the adapter will support. The new adapter is described on TIBCO Rendezvous Publishing Output Adapter. There is a new sample that illustrates the use of both new TIBCO adapters, described in TIBCO Rendezvous Adapter Sample

This release includes a new Chronicle for Vhayu Subscription adapter, which allows you to subscribe to subjects on a Vhayu Velocity server (or on a Reuters RTCE server, which is based on Vhayu Velocity). This adapter complements the existing Chronicle for Vhayu Query adapter.

The JMS Reader and JMS Writer adapters, in both embedded and external forms, can now be configured to attempt reconnections to the JMS server, and to pause and resume the conversion of messages on JMS destinations to tuples. These new features are described in JMS Input and Output Adapters and JMS External Adapters.

The Hotspot FX adapter was updated to support version 4.9.6 of the Hotspot FX API. The changes include:

Because of these changes, if you have an application that uses the Hotspot FX adapter, it may fail typechecking the first time you open the application in release 6.3.4. The typechecking error messages will lead you to the fields whose data types need changing. Once you have made the corrections suggested by the typechecking messages, the adapter runs normally.

The 32-bit Linux version of the Reuters SFC External adapter was recompiled with the latest version of the SFC libraries from Reuters. This fixes the following bugs, shown with their tracking numbers in the Reuters bug tracking system. The adapter is otherwise unchanged.

Studio was enhanced to prompt about the presence or absence of layout files. This might occur in two cases:

See EventFlow Layout Options for more on Studio's layout options.

In Studio's auto-completion feature (described on Expression Auto-Completion and Content Assistance), an information window on the right provides details about the selected item. This window was enhanced to describe the element types of lists in input fields of type list, and to describe the schemas of input fields with type tuple.

StreamBase requires G++ 3.4 through 4.2 for building C++ clients on UNIX. StreamBase does not support building clients or custom functions with G++ 4.3, which is the default compiler on newer Linux distributions. On such distributions, install GCC and G++ 4.2, and set the CC and CXX environment variables before building StreamBase C++ code, including StreamBase samples that include C++ code. For example:

export CC=gcc-4.2
export CXX=g++-4.2

The StreamBase documentation includes the following updates and corrections, independent of the changes listed above:

In release 6.2 and earlier, you could run StreamBase Server as a Windows service, and could also use the StreamBase authentication system when connecting to that server. In releases 6.3.0 through 6.3.2, architectural changes to the server prevented these features from working together. Release 6.3.3 restores the ability to use these features together by providing new Windows registry settings. See Configuring Windows Service with Authentication for instructions.

In previous releases, you could mark a Query Table with the Shared attribute, which makes the table visible to Query operators in modules one level higher. Starting with this release, you can now re-export the shared table from module to module, up the chain of nested modules to any depth.

Thus, if module A has a Query Table marked Shared, and module B contains module A, then module B's Query operators can access the table in module A. But in previous releases, that is as far as the sharing went, up one level higher.

Now, if module C contains module B, Query operators in module C can access the table in module A, two levels down. Likewise, if module D contains module C, it can also access the table in module A, and so on up the chain of nested modules.

To support this new feature, the Properties view for Module References has a new feature. The Table Associations tab was renamed the Tables tab, and it now contains a Re-export shared tables control in addition to the existing Associate placeholder tables control. This new control is discussed on the Module Reference Properties page.

This release includes a new adapter that allows a StreamBase application to subscribe to and receive market data from Lime Brokerage's Citrius Quote delivery system. This adapter is described on Lime Citrius Quote Input Adapter.

The CSV File Input adapter and the CSV Socket Input adapter were enhanced to accept HTML character entities in the form &#nnn when specifying the field delimiter in StreamBase Studio. This allows you to specify tab-delimited CSV files with &#9, or to specify any other non-standard character as the field delimiter.

The CSV File Writer adapter contains a new property, Check for Roll at Startup. If enabled, it causes the adapter to roll the output file at adapter startup if, based on the file's last modification time, the configured roll period, and the current time, the file would have been rolled before the adapter was started.

This release introduced a new adapter that allows a StreamBase application to connect to UBS Investment Bank's FX trading infrastructure using the FX2B API, and to exchange FIX messages with it. See UBS FIX Adapter.

This release introduces the Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading FX adapter that allows a StreamBase application to connect to a Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading FX platform using the FIX protocol, and to exchange FX trade and price information with it via FIX messages. See Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading FX Adapter.

The Reuters RMDS Subscribing adapter now supports meta tuples (the so-called thin tuples). The adapter's properties were reorganized into three tabs in the Properties view. See Reuters RMDS Subscribing Input Adapter.

The Reuters SFC external adapter now supports an optional MessageType field in both the fat-tuple and meta-tuple (thin tuple) handlers. See Reuters SFC External Adapter.

The Wombat adapter was updated to add support for the list data type, which was added in release 6.3.0.

Release 6.3.0 added support for file compression to four adapters, as described in the 6.3.0 Adapter Changes section. Release 6.3.1 adds file compression support to a fifth adapter, the CSV File Writer adapter. This adapter gains a new Compress data checkbox in its Adapter Properties tab in the Properties view. Check this checkbox to specify that the output file is to be stored in gzip format with the .gz file extension. See CSV File Writer Output Adapter.

When using the Feed Simulation Editor, if you resize the Data File Options dialog or the JDBC Data Source Options dialog, Studio now saves and restores the new size when you next open those dialogs.

The sbbundle command now supports the -i option, which you can use to specify a comma-separated list of path names to ignore when generating a StreamBase bundle file. This is especially useful when working on a version-controlled working directory, to exclude the version control system's metadata files or directories from the bundle. For example, sbbundle -i .svn ...

The Operator class in the StreamBase Client API was enhanced with the size() method, which returns the current size of the operator. The value of size() will be displayed in sbmonitor's Size column. In your custom operators, you can override this method to display the size of an important data structure, such as the size of a queue. Returns 0 by default.

The page for the New Embedded Adapter Wizard was rewritten, and now describes the relationship between adapter properties and the GUI controls generated for each property. See Using the StreamBase Embedded Adapter Wizard.

The page for the Wombat MAMA Input adapter was updated with a section describing how to dynamically subscribe to symbols and how to react to timeouts. See Wombat MAMA Input Adapter.