FAQ


Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions about BMC Helix Innovation Suite.

Frequently asked questions about BMC Helix Innovation Suite licenses

How do I translate what licenses I bought to what entries I see in the Add or Remove Licenses form?

With the new bundled license option, you can configure license limits, assign licenses to users, and control and report license consumption in alignment with how user licenses were purchased. You do not need to manually map the new pricing models to the old pricing models and then apply the licenses in the system.

Why is the user to whom I have assigned a bundled license not getting displayed in the license usage report or on the Admin Manage User licenses screen?

The License usage report gets updated in every 45 minutes. The Admin Manage User licenses screen displays two new options, bundled - current users and bundled - registered users, to display the consumption of bundled licenses along with the existing granular license consumption options.

Frequently asked questions about BMC Helix Innovation Studio

How do I set account usernames and passwords?

When you first request a Sandbox (on the Developer Portal), you are provisioned two accounts, developer account and administrator account. By default, the developer account is developer and administrator is admin (as shown in the image below). You can specify the account names and passwords.

Developer credentials.jpg

You can changes the usernames for these accounts and specify the passwords for these accounts. The passwords you specify must meet the following criteria:

  • Passwords must consist of at least one uppercase character and at least one lower case character.
  • Passwords must consist of at least one numeric value.
  • Passwords must consist of at least one special character (any of the following special character ~!@#$%^&*_-).
  • The length of the passwords must be between 8 to 30 characters.
If I am a BMC customer, do I need to sign-up for the Developer program?

Yes, you still need to sign-up for the program to ensure you benefit from the exclusive Developer content and the Personal Sandbox that will be available only as part of the program.

Do I need to be an existing BMC Customer or Partner to be part of the program?

No, that is not a pre-requisite to sign up for the program.

Can I deploy the application I built in the sandbox into production?

The personal sandbox you get is only a Development Environment. This does not have a Production Environment with a run-time available to deploy applications in the cloud at this time. 

How long do I have access to the sandbox?

You have unlimited access to the sandbox as long as you use it. The sandboxes will be reclaimed by BMC if there is a week's worth of inactivity. You will have to request a new sandbox once your sandbox has been reclaimed.

How do I reset developer password?

You can reset the developer password by using Sandbox details page.

  1. On the Sandbox details page, navigate to Manage Your Sandbox > RESET PASSWORD, click RESET PASSWORD.

  2. Select Innovation Suite Developer, enter the new password, and reset the password.

The following image shows the Manage Your Sandbox section:

1802_Reset Developer Password.PNG

How do I set the required language for BMC Helix Innovation Studio?

BMC Helix Innovation Studiosupports the following languages:

  • German (de)
  • Japanese (ja)
  • Russian (ru)
  • Spanish (es)
  • French (fr)
  • Italian (it)
  • Korean (ko)
  • Brazilian Portuguese (pt-br)
  • Chinese (zh-cn)
  • Swedish (sv)
  • Dutch (nl)

The following table describes how users can select the required language from various browsers:

Browser

Operating System

Steps to change the language

Google Chrome

Windows, apple MacOS

Open Settings, search for language settings, and add the required language.

Mozilla Firefox

Windows, apple MacOS

Navigate to Open Menu and click Options. Search for language settings and add the required language.

Edge

Windows

In Control Panel, in the Clock, Language, and Region option, add the required languages in the order of preference.

You must download the install pack of the added languages and then restart the computer.

BMC Helix Innovation Studioalso provides localized error messages in the supported locales.

How do I unlock an account?

If you encounter the error ERROR 624 User account locked, when you login to BMC Helix Innovation Studio, review the following knowledge article for steps on how to unlock the account:

BMC Helix ARSystem - ARSystem administrator cannot login.

How are test metrics calculated for BMC Helix Platform Cognitive Service?

Example of how cognitive test metrics are calculated

You have created a data set to test whether BMC Helix Innovation Studio Cognitive Service can categorize appropriate service requests in Category A and Category B. The following table indicates the number of expected and predicted categories:

 

Expected Category A

Expected Category B

Total Predictions of expected categories

Predicted Category A

8

4

12

Predicted Category B

2

6

8

Total predictions for A and B

10

10

20

Based on the above results, the accuracy, precision, recall, and F-score for Category A and Category B are calculated as shown in the following table:

Test metrics

Category A

Category B

Accuracy

8/10 = 0.8

6/10 = 0.6

Recall

8/10 = 0.8

6/10 = 0.6

Precision

8/12 = 0.67

6/8 = 0.75

F-score

2* (0.80*0.67)/ (0.80 + 0.67)

2* (0.60*0.75) / (0.60 + 0.75) = 0.66

The consolidated results for BMC Helix Innovation Studio Cognitive Service for Category A and Category B are calculated by using the weighted macro average as shown in the following table:

Test metrics

Formula

Result

Accuracy

10/20*0.80 + 10/20*0.60

0.70

Recall

10/20*0.80 + 10/20*0.60

0.70

Precision

10/20*0.67 + 10.20*0.75

0.71

F-score

2*(0.70*0.71) / (0.70+0.71)

0.70

Important

For multi-class categories, Accuracy and Recall that is computed for each category and the consolidated calculation for BMC Helix Innovation Studio Cognitive Service are the same.

What do I do when I get the error 'You are not authorized to access BMC Helix Innovation Studio?'

If you encounter the error You are not authorized to access BMC Helix Innovation Studio when you log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio, use your developer account to log in. This error occurs when you try to log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio by using an administrator account.

What do I do when BMC Helix Innovation Studio locks constantly?

If you encounter the following error even if you do not have any failed login attempts:

ERROR (624): User account locked out due to too many failed login attempts. Please contact your Administrator.; developer

In this case, you should create a new account in BMC Helix Innovation Studio and use the account for development. To create a new account, perform the following steps:

  1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
  2. Navigate to Administration > Configure My Server > People > Manage User Accounts.
  3. Create a user with Administrator permissions and a fixed license.
How to use transaction (TR) field or DB field in rule qualification?

In rule qualification, you can use the function NEWVALUE() for TR field and the function OLDVALUE() for DB field. See Working with rules.

How do I create display only field to store action results?

You do not need the display only field to store the activity results. In a process, you can get the activity results in the following ways:

  • You can use the expression ${activityResults.<activityGUID>.xxx> to access an activity output.
    All activity results are stored in the process context and can be accessed anywhere.
  • If an activity is not executed, you get an empty value.
  • If an activity returns a record (that is Get Record Service Task), only the record identity (record ID and record definition name) is persisted to the process context. Record field values are not persisted to the process context.
  • If you access field values of Get Record Service Task, you get the latest database value of the record. See Get Record.
  • You can use the activity Output Map to store activity result in a process variable.
How do I access database record and transaction record in a process?
  • To access the transaction record of a rule, you can use record as the process input, and have rule call process and pass the transaction record. See Working with rules.
  • To get the database value of a record, you can use Get Record action, and access the database value using the activity results of the Get Record action. See Get Record action.
How does a process instance resumes from User Task?

The condition to resume a process instance from User Task is specified in the Completion Criteria property of User Task (process designer element).  Completion Criteria specifies the condition when the user task is considered as complete. The condition is an expression that evaluates fields of a task record.

  • The platform service EntryEventNotificationService is used to monitor registered record events. User Task uses EntryEventNotificationService to monitor the task completion. Records that need to be monitored are registered in the Entry Event Registration system form and the Notifier Listening field is set to true.

    Entry Event Registration.PNG
  • When a record event occurs, the EntryEventNotificationService evaluates the record instance condition and if the condition is true, the Pending Notification flag is set.
  • A background thread notifies event listeners of all pending notification records with the Notification Information provided by the record event register. When the listener is notified, the record event is cleaned up from the registration form and the Notifier Listening flag is reset. Event listeners are notified by a separate pool of threads where the pool size can be configured.
How are process instances managed?

Process instances are managed by the platform and third party process engine Activiti. The platform manages process context and Activiti engine manages process instance state information.

  • Process context consists of process variables and process activity results.
  • Process instance state information consists of process current activity, start time of a process, and end time of completed process activities.

For process context, there is a form to store active process instances, and a form to store completed process instances. The archive policy of completed process instances is that all completed process process instances are moved to an archive form after three months. Process instance state information follows the similar pattern.

How does a process transaction works in process runtime?

When a process is started through an API (Record API triggers rule, which starts the process or Start Process API), process transaction starts at the REST APIs.

The process transaction joins the API transaction and the process runs till its completion or it is goes to a wait step. Wait steps are User Tasks or Receive tasks. When the process reaches a wait step, it persists all the transaction values and returns from the wait state. When the process resumes the execution from a wait step, the process transaction continues till it completes or reaches the next wait step. The records, signal inputs, process operations, process context, and the wait state information are all persisted in one transaction.

For more information on APIs, see PDFs-videos-and-API-documentation.

For more information on User Tasks and Receive tasks, see Activities.

Where are my overlay objects?

To make the platform operational in varied customer environments, the way you customize objects in core BMC applications has changed from 17-02 onwards. You can customize the objects developed in your own applications, but you cannot customize the objects developed in com.bmc.arsys. For example, objects in core BMC applications like Foundation, Approval, and Assignment cannot be customized. You cannot customize the record definitions by updating the permissions or adding security labels, adding or updating record fields, and so on. Therefore, you must delete the customizations and then perform the upgrade the BMC Helix Innovation Studio. If you attempt to customize any objects developed in core BMC applications, you encounter the following error message:

If you attempt to customize any objects developed in core BMC applications, you encounter the following error message:
Error message_object locking.jpg

Why are the required Default Tenant field values displayed empty?

In BMC Helix Innovation Suite, you may find the required fields of the Default Tenant (Administrator > Configure My Server > Manage Tenants) such as Domain Identifier and Virtual Host Name are empty. This is because the default tenant fields are imported during the platform creation and when you use tools such as data import there is an option to not trigger the required field check.

I am unable to export a licensed application that includes definitions and data? What do I do?

If you are working on a dedicated system, ensure that you have assigned the application license to yourself using the Foundation Person UI. For more information, see Setting up Foundation data.

I am unable to see my licensed application. What do I do?

To see a licensed application, you must have that application license assigned to you using the Foundation Person UI. For more information, see Setting up Foundation data.

Frequently asked questions about end of support for AngularJS

Why is BMC Helix transistioning from AngularJS to Angular?

While AngularJS is a powerful framework, it has reached its end of life (EOL) and is no longer actively maintained by Google. This EOL status has implications for the security, stability, and long-term viability of applications built on this technology stack. Starting with 25.3.00 release, the default choice for new custom applications is Angular.   

How to determine which coded applications and libraries are built by using AngularJS?

Perform the following steps to determine the applications and libraries that are built by using AngularJS:

  1. Log in to the BMC Helix Innovation Studio by using the Google Chrome browser.
  2. Open the browser developer tools by pressing F12. 
  3. On the Console tab, paste and run the following code:

    fetch('/api/rx/application/datapage?dataPageType=com.bmc.arsys.rx.application.bundle.datapage.BundleDescriptorDataPageQuery&pageSize=
    -1&startIndex=0&includeNonLicensedBundles=true')
      .then(response => response.json())
      .then(dataPage => {
         console.log(dataPage.data.filter(x => x.containsJavaScript
    && !x.id.match(/^com.bmc./) && x.id != 'standardlib').map(x => x.id));
      })
      .catch(error => {
       console.error('Error:', error);
      });

    The following screenshot shows the code snippet in the browser console. The output is a list of IDs of the coded applications and libraries that use AngularJS.
    SOD-CodeSnippet.png

     

We want to continue running an application in AngularJS runtime. What are our options?

Starting with the 25.3.00 release of BMC Helix Innovation Suite, running AngularJS applications will no longer be feasible. With the withdrawal of support for AngularJS, BMC Helix will not incorporate the AngularJS runtime, and the following changes will take effect:

  • All the application links in the application switcher and the Visit deployed application will point to Angular in runtime.
  • If you try to access a URL for an AngularJS application, you will be redirected to the Unknown application page. 
  • In your application, if you are using an AngularJS-based view component that has not been converted to Angular, that component will not be displayed in the view. In addition, the view's behavior will be undefined.
  • If you try to access the View designer for an AngularJS application, you will be redirected to the Workspace page. 
Will BMC Helix continue to support the custom applications built on AngularJS for the previous versions?

Yes, BMC Helix continues to support the custom applications built on AngularJS for versions earlier than the 25.3.00 release of BMC Helix Innovation Suite in accordance with our support policy guidelines. 

How do I convert my existing AngularJS application to Angular?

Contact BMC Helix Support to update your applications from AngularJS to Angular. For more information about contacting BMC Helix Support, see Support information

Frequently asked questions about Mid Tier

How do I achieve mid tier scaling?

You can use the JSP servlets to make the Mid Tier scalable. For more information, see Mid Tier scalability.

What are the recommendations for mid tier caching?

For Mid Tier caching recommendations, see Best practices for configuring mid tier cache.

Frequently asked questions about Support for Google Chrome version 80

I cannot enable the single sign-on experience using Google Chrome browser version 80 and later.

Some content is unavailable due to permissions.

Frequently asked questions about generating PDFs in the online documentation

How do I find content in the online documentation that was previously provided in PDF format?

For information about PDFs, see PDFs and videos.

 

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