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Reflection Desktop 18.0 Service Pack 1 Release Notes

Last Updated: October 2023

OpenText has completed the purchase of Micro Focus in 2023. We are excited to provide expanded offerings to support our customers’ growing needs to digitize and work smarter.

Introduction

Reflection Desktop products are full-featured desktop applications that allow you to run host applications, transfer files, and integrate host data into the latest Windows and Office software applications.

  • Reflection Desktop for IBM provides access to applications running on IBM mainframe and AS/400 systems (iSeries, System i, IBM i).

  • Reflection Desktop for UNIX and OpenVMS provides access to applications running on UNIX and OpenVMS systems.

  • Reflection Desktop provides access to applications running on IBM, UNIX, and OpenVMS systems.

  • Reflection Desktop for X provides access to applications running on UNIX and OpenVMS systems. It also includes Reflection X, an X server that allows you to view your UNIX desktop and work with X client applications from a remote workstation.

  • Reflection Desktop Pro includes Reflection Desktop along with Reflection X, and provides access to applications running on IBM, UNIX, and OpenVMS systems, as well as X clients.

  • The Reflection Desktop for NonStop Add-On is a separately licensed product for connecting to HP NonStop hosts (Tandem 6530).

The Reflection Desktop 18.0 Service Pack 1 release includes a number of new security improvements, new features, and resolved issues.

Many of these improvements were made in direct response to suggestions from our customers. We thank you for your time and valuable input. We hope you continue to help us ensure that our products meet all your needs.

What's New

Reflection Desktop v18.0 Service Pack 1 includes several major new features and enhancements:

Reflection Desktop Enhancements

  • Developed an Automated Sign-On workflow for administrators to enable groups and users to automatically log on to a host application.

  • Added .NET API framework to interact with printer sessions.

  • Macros containing WaitForHostSettle and WaitForKeyboardEnabled API calls have been optimized to run faster when contention resolution is active in TN3270E sessions.

    See the knowledgebase article to optimize macro performance when contention resolution is enabled.

  • Developed ability to access workspace settings from .NET and VBA APIs.

  • Implemented the Show unprotected attribute setting in 3270 sessions to support Extra! X-treme functionality in Reflection Desktop.

  • Added the ability to set event logging level via Workspace Settings.

    See the knowledgebase article How to capture log files for more information on enabling and viewing log files.

  • Reflection Desktop 3270 and 5250 sessions can start a communication trace without the requirement of providing a file name.

  • Added OnEvent() type handlers to the .NET API of Reflection Desktop for C# applications to match legacy Reflection 14 support in VT And IBM sessions.

    See the related knowledgebase article for more information on this enhancement.

  • When using the Installation Customization Tool to create the workspace settings file, environment variables can now be added to trusted locations.

Security Enhancements

  • Updated to the latest OpenSSL version to address the following CVEs

    • CVE-2022-4203
    • CVE-2022-4304
    • CVE-2022-4450
    • CVE-2023-0286
    • CVE-2023-0464
    • CVE-2023-0465
    • CVE-2023-0466
    • CVE-2023-2650

  • Private key encryption now uses aes-256-cbc.

  • Add support for additional DH key exchange algorithms.

Resolved Issues

Reflection Desktop

  • Resolved issues with copy/paste handling of leading zeroes.

  • Fixed functionality of the IBM and VT terminal connection actions.

  • Resolved session status issues when a VT connection is terminated.

  • Improved drag and drop behavior in the Reflection Desktop workspace to function like Extra! X-treme.

  • Focus issues have been resolved when switching between the workspace and other features and/or applications.

  • Fixed how special characters are pasted into the Reflection Desktop terminal to function like Extra! X-treme.

  • Resolved screen object copy and CopyAppend issues when writing to the clipboard.

  • Workspace slow loading is resolved when using a redirected /My Documents directory and the "Default user data directory" is targeted to a local drive.

  • Administrative deployments with customized workspace settings are now properly deployed in the .msi package.

  • Resolved connection macro startup inconsistencies when connecting to an IBM 3270 host.

  • Fixed ReflectionCOM interface performance for 3270 host sessions.

  • Fixed Reflection VBA and legacy-VBA interface performance for 3270 host sessions.

  • Resolved .rd3x file size increases when productivity features are disabled.

  • Improved accessibility and focus of the Authentication dialog when using Centralized Management.

  • Fixed terminal keyboard display behavior when undocked.

  • Restored the ability to change the session name by running a VBA macro when in Ribbon user interface mode.

  • Fixed log file creation and deletion issues with Reflection Desktop.

  • Resolved failed AS/400 file transfers due to input file record length errors.

  • Fixed display of incorrect printer status messaging.

  • When creating an IBM 5250 printer session. Changes made to the ModelID setting will now take effect in the initial connection.

  • Restored IBM 3270 printer session "Print to PDF" default formatting.

  • Restored Copy action in VT sessions following the selection of text.

  • Fixed the Allow exit while connected setting to disable the user from exiting a connected session.

  • Restored VT session Mouse cursor shape display issues.

  • After configuring Reflection Desktop to use a non-default user data directory, sessions will now launch in the desired directory without the creation of the default directory. After configuring Reflection Desktop to use a non-default user data directory, sessions launched will no longer create the default directory in tandem with utilizing the configured user data directory.

  • Fixed VBA Action Mapper to display the full list of executable VBA subroutines.

  • Backup host information can now be added to the settings update file.

Security

  • Enabled Reflection Desktop to allow TLS connections without accessing the .pki folder and cache files located in the /My Documents directory.

  • Restored host certificate or intermediate certificate support as a trust anchor.

  • Corrected the display of underscores in the Secure Shell Settings dialog box.

  • Added a workaround to address an issue in the OpenSSL library that reports a CRL scope error when the root CRL contains an Issuer Distribution Point.

  • Resolved connectivity failures when the CRL Distribution Point identifies multiple query locations.

Reflection FTP Client

  • Fixed the display of all members in a IBM MVS partitioned data set when using the Reflection FTP Client.

Known Issues

  • Product documentation has been updated for this release and rendering issues can be experienced in environments with older web platforms such as Internet Explorer. Please install webview2, which is a modern web platform to navigate the product documentation.

Installing Reflection Desktop

Maintained customers are now eligible to download the latest product releases (see Welcome to the new Open Text Support Experience). You will be prompted to login and accept the Software License Agreement before you can download a file.

Info

Micro Focus was acquired by Open Text in 2023 resulting in a partial rebrand of the product for this release. In order to see the new branding for this release, apply the patch to an administrative install. For more information on applying patches for a Service Pack release see the Administrative guide section on Applying a Patch to an Administrative Installation.

System Requirements

Reflection Desktop

For information about supported platforms and hardware requirements for Reflection Desktop, see System Requirements in the Administrative Guide.

Note

Reflection Desktop 18.0 and all subsequent releases require a 64-bit operating system.

For more information about installing Reflection Desktop, see the Reflection Help and the Reflection Deployment Guide.

Reflection X

For information about supported platforms and hardware requirements for Reflection X, see System Requirements in the Reflection X Help. For more information about installing Reflection X, see the Reflection X Help and the Reflection X Planning and Installation Guide.

Note

Reflection X 18.0 Service Pack 1 requires a 64-bit operating system that supports Java 17.

Reflection X requires Java 17. By default, Reflection X installs and uses a private Java Runtime Environment (JRE) that is correctly configured to fully support all Reflection X features. It is also possible to configure Reflection X running on Windows to use a different JRE.

Previous Releases

For information about the Reflection Desktop 18.0 release, see the Reflection Desktop 18.0 Release Notes and the Reflection Desktop 17.0 SP1 Update 1 Release Notes.

Contacting Open Text

For specific product issues, contact Open Text Support.

Additional technical information or advice is available from several sources:

© 2023 Open Text

The only warranties for products and services of Open Text and its affiliates and licensors (“Open Text”) are as may be set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Open Text shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.