Reflection Desktop 16.0 New Features and Release Notes

Reflection Desktop products (version 16.0) are successors to Reflection 2014 products (version 15.6). This technical note describes the new features and resolved issues.

Note: Version 16.0 Update 1 released January 2016. For more information, see KB 7021418.

What’s Reflection Desktop?

Reflection 2014 emulation products are now named Reflection Desktop. For information about features provided in each product edition, see KB 7021415.

Note for X users: Reflection Desktop for X and Reflection Desktop Pro also include:

• Reflection X Advantage version 5.1. For features and fixes, see KB 7021837.
• Legacy Reflection X version 14.1 SP4 Update 1 (32-bit). For features and fixes, see the Reflection X sections in Technical Notes 2812 and 2764. For installation instructions, see KB 7021808.

Note for NonStop users: Reflection Desktop for NonStop Add-On is a separately licensed product for connecting to HP NonStop hosts (Tandem 6530). For NonStop features and fixes, see KB 7021414.

New Features

This release includes the features previously provided in Reflection 2014 R1 Service Pack 1 Update 1 (see KB 7021435), Reflection 2014 R1 Service Pack 1 (see KB 7021432), and Reflection 2014 R1 Update 1 (see KB 7021434), plus the following new improvements.

Key Enhancements

• Micro Focus brand: Attachmate is now part of Micro Focus, and thus you will notice some changes as we bring a consistent user experience across all emulation products:
  • Splash screens and icons have the new Micro Focus brand.
  • For new installations, the default Program Files and User Data Directory folders include Micro Focus as the company name. For more information, see KB 7021416.
  • The Attachmate Customization Tool (ACT) has been renamed the Installation Customization Tool (ICT) as it is now being used with other products in the Micro Focus portfolio.
• Plus Mode: Reflection Desktop includes a limited Plus Mode screen designer, which allows you to customize green screens for IBM 3270 and 5250 sessions by dragging and dropping modern controls. This feature boosts productivity and modernizes the user experience.
• Plus Add-On: A full-featured screen designer, with the complete set of controls unlocked, is also available. Reflection Desktop Plus Add-On requires an additional license.

• Host Access Management and Security Server (MSS) interface: MSS is the successor to Attachmate Reflection Security Gateway 2014 (licensed separately) and can now distribute custom host sessions, themes, keyboard maps, ribbons, and other Reflection Desktop configuration files (configured in Administrative WebStation). After a user successfully authenticates with MSS, a progress indicator displays on the Reflection splash screen as packages are downloaded. In the Configure Centralized Management dialog, a “Test Connection” button is provided to validate the MSS Server URL.
• Integrated HP Install: Reflection Desktop and Reflection Desktop Pro no longer require a separate download and installation to run the Reflection for HP (700/9x terminal emulation) application.
• Updated platform support: Tested for the following:
  • Microsoft Windows 10 operating system certification
  • VMware Ready logo for Applications specification
  • Citrix Ready logo specification

• Microsoft Office 2013 and 2016 support: The Office integration productivity features in Reflection Desktop have been tested with Office 2013 and Office 2016 (32- and 64-bit). You can create an Outlook email message or Word document from host screen contents, or create a PowerPoint presentation from screen history.

User Interface Improvements

• QuickPad Designer: Reflection Desktop has added the ability to edit and modify existing QuickPads that contain buttons and other controls that can be used to access macros, host functions, commands, or other actions that are available within a terminal session. The Manage Quick Pad option opens the QuickPad Designer that you can use to select, create, and edit QuickPad files.
• New Classic MDI mode: You can configure the user interface to work like Classic but with a multi-document interface. Multiple host sessions can be opened in a single Reflection Workspace and displayed in a “split screen” manner.
• TouchUx Updates: TouchUx user interface elements work the same as in Reflection mobile apps for iOS and Android to provide a consistent user experience.
• New Theme: Template has been added, based on the 16-color palette called Solarized.
• Browser sessions use latest IE: For Browser sessions opened in Reflection Workspace that use Internet Explorer (IE), version 11 is used by default. If you have an older IE version installed, you can modify a Windows registry value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\MAIN\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BROWSER_EMULATION. The DWORD value named Attachmate.Emulation.Frame.exe has a default value of 11000 for IE 11. Use 10001 (0x2711) for IE 10 standards mode.

Security Improvements

• Encrypted TLS 1.2 sessions can now be run in FIPS mode. (For more information about FIPS mode, see KB 7021285.)
• Key Agent now supports multiple concurrent host connections.

API and Macro Improvements

• An Events Mapper User Interface has been added for Reflection events in 3270, 5250, and UNIX/OpenVMS (VT) sessions. Using the Events Mapper, you can associate events with a Reflection command, Reflection macro, terminal keystroke, or any combination of these. There are 17 events you can select with which to associate actions. Each event can execute once per session, or every time the event occurs. Events can also be defined so that they execute one after another, in the order shown in the Events list in the Events Mapper dialog box. Legacy-Reflection events can now be migrated to new Reflection Desktop session files and then updated and modified.
• Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), which is included with Reflection Desktop for macro support, has been updated to version 7.1.
• .NET and VBA methods have been added to allow the editing of SSL/TLS options including TelnetEncryptionStrength, TelnetEncryptionUseOCSP, and TLS_SSLVersion. See the API documentation for further details (https://docs.attachmate.com/reflection/16.0/net-prog-guide/ for .NET, or https://docs.attachmate.com/reflection/16.0/vba-prog-guide/ for VBA).
• New actions for the EventsUI, Quickpad Editor, and Terminal Keyboard have been added to the VBA and .NET interfaces so they can be accessed programmatically.
• The “EnableDefineEvent” method, originally implemented in the legacy Reflection 14.x API, is now supported in the IbmScreen interface. You can use this method to enable or disable defined events, one at a time, or all at once.
• A "PrintString" method has been added to the .NET and VBA interfaces to match functionality from the legacy Reflection 14.x API.

Installer Improvements

• Reflection Desktop installs faster than previous Reflection 2014 releases, and the install media size is smaller.
• The Rumba Compatibility feature is now installed by default.
• The 32-bit and 64-bit MSI files now have different names. The 64-bit MSI file names contain -x64.

Other Improvements

• All session configurations (themes, keyboard maps, ribbons, etc.) can be stored in a single file. Enable the “Save session as compound document” option in Reflection Workspace Settings > Reflection Workspace Defaults.
• Legacy EXTRA! 5250 File Transfer Scheme (*.ftb files) are now supported for transfers to the AS/400.
• You can configure whether redacted data can be copied and pasted within sessions. The “Allow copy of redacted data within sessions” option is in Reflection Workspace Settings > Set Up Information Privacy.
• The internal logging engine has been upgraded to provide detailed logs to help troubleshoot a variety of problems including load errors. Logging can be enabled in the Reflection Workspace Settings under Configure Workspace Attributes. Check the box that says “Enable event logging” and the log files will be automatically created and stored in the C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Micro Focus\Reflection\Logs folder by default. For more information, see KB 7021466.

Resolved Issues

This release includes the fixes previously provided in Reflection 2014 R1 Service Pack 1 Update 1 (see KB 7021435), Reflection 2014 R1 Service Pack 1 (see KB 7021432), and Reflection 2014 R1 Update 1 (see KB 7021434), plus the following additional fixes.

API and Macro Fixes

• A host session that is currently in a connected state using the HLLAPI interface can now be manually closed and re-opened and still maintain the HLLAPI connected status.
• A .NET Terminal User Control (TUC) application in a multi-user (Citrix or Terminal Server) environment will now allow multiple users to access the application simultaneously without errors occurring.
• DDE applications that send large strings of characters very quickly no longer randomly lose a character in the middle of the string sent to the host.
• The legacy EXTRA! COM API method of ExtraSessions.Open, when called from a C# application, now allows Reflection to open a host session.
• The VBA keyword “End” now correctly stops macro execution when run outside of the VBA editor and updates the host session status line correctly.
• The Session.WaitForString macro method no longer requires a timeout value be specified in order for the terminal screen to display the host data.
• Nuisance error messages no longer occur when adding a VBA reference in your Reflection VBA project to any *.OCX file.
• Defaults have been set all ExtraCOM API optional parameters so that VBA programs that load ExtraCOM directly can leave out optional parameters without compile errors.
• VT session macro recording now works correctly when macro recording is first paused and then stopped or exited.
• The host session status line is restored to the connected status with the first key press after a “Macro completed successfully” message has been displayed.
• An Enter key sent to a VBA dialog button control or to close a VBA UserForm no longer gets passed on to the host session.
• The Reflection DefinedEvent handler will now correctly handle all received DefinedEvent notifications.
• Reflection Events set with DefinedEvent are no longer ignored if the previous line was marked as a code comment.
• DefinedEvent EventType constant values now correctly match DefineEventType enum constant values.
• In a Reflection VT session, VBA methods, properties, constants, and events are now all available at global scope allowing legacy macros to run that were written to take advantage of this access.

Copy/Paste Fixes

• In an IBM Host session displayed in Classic UI mode, the “Paste Next” functionality is now shown in the Edit menu.
• Performing a copy function from an IBM host session that contains consecutive attributes now only pastes single tabs in Microsoft Excel.
• Performing a copy function from an IBM host session that contains a standalone '-' (dash) or ‘.’ (period) now pastes the correct data to Microsoft Excel.
• For 3270 sessions, APL line draw characters are now copied to the Windows clipboard properly resulting in correctly displayed lines and boxes in output.

File Transfer Fixes

• The IND$FILE File Transfer window no longer will show duplicate local folders when the folder is marked with a hidden attribute.
• The “Send SITE command before transfer” option is now available for downloads from a Server so the quote command can be specified in FTP file transfers.
• The command line SFTP client will correctly return to a command prompt after a connection timeout with exit code 84 on Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows Server 2012.
• The command line SFTP client will now take a redirected file name as an option.
• The command line SFTP client now supports lrename, lrm, and lrmdir commands.

Installation/Load Fixes

• A problem with the slow loading of Reflection in a restrictive network access environment, where the certificate authority revocation list (CRL) is not accessible, has been resolved.
• The Reflection Workspace now properly detects a zero-length application.settings file and continues to load with an application.settings file that contains the default values.
• The installation will now detect most releases of Reflection prior to version 8.0 and continue to properly install the latest version on these machines.
• Applying a patch (*.MSP file) to Reflection with the /Q option now works correctly.

Keyboard Fixes

• After switching focus between multiple Host sessions, when switching keyboard input mode using a Japanese keyboard with the Half-width/Full-width key, problems no longer appear.
• Host session screen updates are no longer slow when using the PageUp and PageDn functions with redaction turned on along with PAN detection.

Printing Fixes

• DBCS text layout is no longer misaligned when output sent to a 5250 printer session.
• An IBM 3270 LU3 printer session now defaults portrait pages to 80 columns and landscape pages to 132 columns to prevent default output from being too small and compressed.

Secure Shell Fixes

• Resizing a VT Host window with “Set host window size” and “Dynamic terminal size” settings enabled is now sending the correct window size to the host.
• Users can now properly cancel out of the SSH Change Password dialog, regardless of the time spent sitting with the dialog displayed.
• Resolved issues where a “Couldn't open local file <file> for writing: (123) The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect" was posted when doing SCP command where both the source and destination are the same server.
• For an SSH session, the hostkey fingerprint displayed at the server now matches that of the client.

Security Feature Fixes

• Signing error no longer occurs when attempting to authenticate with a host using a SHA256 signed certificate on a Common Access Card (CAC).
• The retrieval of large Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL) for a SSL connection now allow CAC authentication to occur properly.

User Interface Fixes

• 3270 session graphics colors now get set to the correct values allowing previously “invisible” graphics objects to be displayed.
• 5250 session data now all appears properly when written with a Start of Field (SF) Order.
• Jumping between host sessions is no longer slowed down over time after numerous uses of the right-click context menu.
• The user is now able to modify a selected Theme if the Host session has a variable-width font selected, and subsequent modifications to the theme include unchecking "Include variable width fonts."
• In a 5250 session using the Courier New font, the underline characters no longer disappear when the display window is resized.
• When a user right-clicks on “Quick Keys” in the ribbon and then selects “Add to QAT,” this selection is disabled to prevent an incorrect action from being invoked.
• The Manage Themes dialog no longer displays a temp file as the currently selected file.
• In Classic UI Mode, the toolbar buttons now can be configured with no icon but just a text label.

VT Fixes

• Configuration settings have been added to the UI to configure “Preserve Display Memory On Reset” and “Preserve Clipboard On Reset” settings.
• The mouse pointer can now be changed from the default I-beam to a standard arrow in a VT session.
• In a VT session, the SHIFT+TAB key sequence now sends <Esc>[Z.
• When the settings for “Set host window size” and “Dynamic terminal size” are enabled, if the host session is minimized and then restored, the host cursor now stays to the right of the host prompt.
• If the “Exit Allowed” property is set to False, all disconnected VT sessions properly close even if some sessions still connected to the host.
• The Hotspot “button-depressed” visual effect now displays correctly in a VT terminal session.”
• VT sessions with graphics enabled and the foreground and background colors changed from defaults will now print the graphics or text in black instead of grey.
• Highlighting an area of the VT session screen using a mouse no longer loses the “key up” or mouse release event and thus now fixes the text selection area and makes it ready to copy.
• Six specific UTF-8 characters are now drawn correctly in VT sessions.

Other Fixes

• Users are now able to successfully open more than 20 separate Reflection Workspaces.
• The settings for "BeforeConnectStartupMacro" and "ExitAllowed" have been added to the Reflection Permissions Manager and the Group Policy Files so that their use can be restricted by Administrators.
• Metering is now supported with Reflection for HP sessions.
• “The active session model is not supported by the selected host” error will now be displayed when attempting a Telnet connection with an unsupported or invalid terminal type for an IBM display session.
• Invalid or unavailable network locations in the list of Trusted Locations will no longer generate an error message of “Unable to open Workspace Document because it is not a Trusted Location” when loading a Reflection Host session.
• “Connection type is not supported” is now displayed when attempting to open a legacy EXTRA! or legacy Reflection 14.x session file with a non-supported connection or transport type.
• Host session screen positions no longer shift if they are opened by an API application instead of Windows Explorer.
• The Reflection Security Proxy is now always available for selection within the Administrative WebStation (AWS) when retrieving proxy data from the Reflection Security Gateway 12.1.
• Characters are no longer intermittently dropped in IBM Host sessions when using a barcode scanner to input data, where the text spans several host fields. For more information, see KB 7021430.
• The Microsoft Visual C++ redistributable files that ship with Reflection Desktop 16.0 have been updated to those shipped with Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 to resolve some compatibility issues with Microsoft App-V version 5.0 SP1.

Downloading and Installing

Beginning 06-Nov-2015, maintained customers are eligible to download the latest product releases at https://download.attachmate.com/Upgrades/. You will be prompted to login and accept the Software License Agreement before you can download a file. For more information about using the Downloads website, see KB 7021965.

For supported platform information, see KB 7021413.

For information about upgrading an existing installation of an earlier Reflection product, see KB 7021412.

Legacy KB ID