EXTRA! 9.2 New Features and Release Notes

This technical note includes the most up-to-date information about this release including new features and installation notes, and supersedes the EXTRA! product release notes available in the product documentation.

Note: For information about new features in EXTRA! X-treme 9.3 see KB 7021710.

Obtaining the Product

Maintained customers are eligible to download the latest product releases from the Attachmate Download Library web site: https://download.attachmate.com/Upgrades/.

You will be prompted to login and accept the Software License Agreement before you can select and download a file. For more information on using the Download Library web site, see KB 7021965.

New Release Available for Windows 7 or Vista Users

If you run Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you may want to consider installing Reflection Standard Suite 2011, the successor product for EXTRA! X-treme. For a list of new features in Reflection 2014, see KB 7021448.

For information about purchasing Attachmate products, please e-mail us: SalesRecept@attachmate.com or visit https://www.attachmate.com/How+To+Buy/.

New Features and Enhancements

Following is a summary of the new and enhanced features in EXTRA! X-treme 9.2:

Updated SSL/TLS and SSH Security Components

EXTRA! X-treme 9.2 includes the Reflection security components for SSL/TLS and SSH. These cryptographic modules are validated against the stringent Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS 140-2) federal security specification and enable Attachmate products to adhere to the DoD PKI certification requirements.

For instructions on using the new security settings in your sessions, see “Creating Secure Connections” in the EXTRA! Help Update available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/23653.htm.

FIPS 140-2 Connections

By using Windows Group Policy, you can now set all secure connections (SSL/TLS and SSH) to use only FIPS mode. FIPS mode enforces the United States government Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 for the connection. When FIPS mode is enabled, all available settings use security protocols and algorithms that meet this standard. See “Enable FIPS Mode Using Group Policy” in the EXTRA! Help Update available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/23659.htm.

Secured Macros

EXTRA! X-treme 9.2 protects sensitive data in your macros. Macros are automatically encrypted in EXTRA! X-treme 9.2 when they're executed or when they're saved in the EXTRA! Basic Editor 9.2. Encrypted macros will run only in EXTRA! X-treme version 9.2 and later.

Users can control macro encryption locally via settings in the Global Preferences dialog box. Administrators can apply these settings in a customized deployment (see "Customizing the EXTRA! X-treme Installation" in the EXTRA! Help Update available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/23791.htm). If the Encrypt macros setting is deselected in the Global Preferences, all macros saved in the EXTRA! Basic Editor 9.2 will be unencrypted.

Reflection Secure FTP Client Updated

This release includes the latest Reflection FTP Client, version 14.1. For a list of new features in this version, see KB 7021727.

Certificate Management

In addition to providing stronger encryption for transferred data, EXTRA! X-treme has improved support for digital certificates and certificate management. For details, see “Authenticating with Certificates” in the EXTRA! Help Update available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/23656.htm.

Enhanced Productivity Features

In the Productivity Bar, you can set the Scratch Pad to use any of the fonts installed on the system. For more information, see “Change the Font in Scratch Pad” in the EXTRA! Help Update available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/24059.htm.

In addition, screen images from IBM 3270 and 5250 host sessions that are recorded using the Screen History feature can now be sent directly to your printer. For more information, see “Print the Screen History” in the EXTRA! Help Update available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/23957.htm.

Updated Client Option for CAIL HP NonStop/Tandem/6530 Terminal Emulation

The EXTRA! 6530 Client Option has been updated to work with this release of EXTRA! X-treme. This optional component can be installed after installing EXTRA! X-treme 9.2 or the EXTRA! X-treme 9.2 Evaluation product. For more information, see “Installing the Tandem Option” in the EXTRA! Help Update available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/23806.htm.

• Tandem sessions now display the row and column coordinates of the cursor on the session status line, the same as other host sessions in EXTRA!.
• EXTRA! 9.2 provides compatibility for legacy applications that require the Tandem HLLAPI interface.

Option to Remove 'New Line' Characters from Pasted Text

If you paste text into VT sessions, you can now paste it without the new line characters (also referred to as CR/LF for Carriage Return/Linefeed). To enable this option, choose Options > Settings, click Edit on the left, and under Paste Options, select Remove new line characters.

Prevent Sessions from Disconnecting When Computer Goes into Standby Mode

A new global preference gives the application more control over system standby (or “sleep”) mode, which can cause host sessions to disconnect. To specify the “Prevent System Sleep” preference, choose Options > Global Preferences and click the General Tab.

How you use this preference depends on your operating system.

• Windows 7 and Vista enter standby mode without first prompting the user. To prevent host disconnections when the computer is idle, select the “Prevent System Sleep” check box. All other settings (a colored or cleared check box), allow the computer to enter standby mode.
• Windows XP enters standby mode only after prompting the user. To keep this behavior, leave “Prevent System Sleep” at its default setting (a colored box).  To prevent the system from entering standby mode, select the “Prevent System Sleep” check box. To allow the computer to enter standby mode without a prompt, clear the check box.

Resolved Issues

The following issues have been resolved in EXTRA! 9.2:

Keyboard

• The F10 key now behaves as expected when it is defined as a Local Key.
• Menu hotkeys no longer activate hidden menus.
• When the right-mouse button is configured to emulate a light pen, the edit context menu is now accessible.

API

• The HLLAPI QuerySession function call now returns the correct session information when an EXTRA! Basic macro reconnects a Host session.
• HLLAPI SearchPS now works correctly when called from a 16-bit HLLAPI application.
• HLLAPI QueryHostUpdate (function 24) now works correctly after a session is stopped and restarted if the “Prompt for disconnect” feature is unselected.
• HLLAPI function 4 "Wait" no longer requires a minimum of 10 milliseconds each time it's called.
• A “Runtime error 91” no longer occurs in a VBA application when calling the Connect method on a session that was launched by the Sessions.Open method.
• Using the fully qualified object name (such as System.Sessions.Item(i).Name), will no longer cause an application error.
• The API ConnectPS function now returns success after the SSL connection is totally complete, thereby preventing problems that caused some HLLAPI applications to interact with the host presentation space prematurely.
• Corrected issue where EAL calls to a session that uses an 8.3-DOS-naming convention in the registry entry would fail, taking up to 5 minutes to return the call.

Macro

• Browsing for macros on the French version of EXTRA! now works correctly.
• Corrected issue where the EXTRA! Basic macro search path was being set incorrectly if a previous version of EXTRA! was removed using System credentials.
• The search path for EXTRA! Basic macro is now able to reference two macros with the same name in different locations.
• EXTRA! Basic macros that are attached to hotspots and use the Sendkey command and are activated by a double-click will now send the complete string specified.

File Transfer

• The IND$FILE Send command now transfers the file successfully if three asterisks (***) are displayed during the transfer.
• EXTRA! FTP Settings and the Browse button no longer hang when a HOSTS file begins with CR and LF.
• 3270 IND$FILE transfer Host "Browse" Feature for CMS now displays the list of host file names correctly if the user profile contains a capital letter H.
• Drag-and-drop IND$FILE file transfer into a session window no longer generates errors.

Fonts

• Fonts that were available in previous versions of EXTRA! are no longer inadvertently removed when upgrading.
• The Windows XP Font Lucida Console is no longer removed when EXTRA! is uninstalled.
• For TN3270E sessions, the keyboard is now locked and the X-SYSTEM indicator is correctly displayed if an AID key is pressed in graphics mode.

Productivity

• The Recent Typing pane now correctly displays strings that contain characters with ASCII values greater than 127 in the Win1252 codepage.
• Corrected issue where random application errors sometimes occurred when the Auto Complete productivity feature checked certain punctuated words.
• An application error will no longer occur when a second EXTRA! session is shut down after an initial EXTRA! session is closed where Auto Complete was used on the same Host screens.

Additional Resolved Issues

• Rapidly scrolling up or down in an OpenVMS Language Sensitive Editor no longer causes some lines to display twice.
• Application errors no longer occur when printing a large screen selection from a VT session’s history buffer.
• A “PROG750 error” no longer occurs if the initial TN3270E packet is concatenated to an NVT packet.
• The ConfiguredSession default registry key is no longer created with a blank data value.
• The cursor was enhanced to display a light pen image when the cursor is over a light pen-enabled field.
• Corrected occasional application errors that occurred when pasting data into a 5250 session window.
• When starting EXTRA! from a command line, a specified keyboard map file is now saved correctly.
• EXTRA! no longer fails to load after disabling the most recently used (MRU) session list feature of Microsoft Windows.
• The login method for SSH connections has been modified to allow a banner to be displayed.
• You can now use a RemoteHostAddressList= entry with comma-separated "default" values in the 3270.EDP template file to prepopulate TN3270 connection settings. See KB 7021796 for details.
• Added support for IBM Telnet Servers that have the "MonitorGroup" setting turned ON for TN3270E connections.
• The Attachmate DLC driver has been updated to correctly resend a lost packet if the host indicates the number received is wrong.
• When you enter a negative value in an AS/400 Numeric Only field, the host message “= Numeric Data Only Field” no longer results.
• Fixed an incorrect reply sent for a specific SNA Read Modified command that was causing a 3270 console application to miss some inputs.

Deprecated Feature

Beginning in EXTRA! 9.2 the compressed MSI file, once used for deployments using the now deprecated Management and Control Server, is no longer shipped with the product, nor is it supported.

Third-party tools and utilities are available that provide the ability to compress MSI files.

Installation Notes

For installation information, see the EXTRA! Help Update, available from the Help menu in the product or from https://docs.attachmate.com/EXTRA/X-treme/9.2/Help/en/index.htm.

• No access codes required. Access code fields are automatically populated when you install EXTRA!.
• Over installs and testing. EXTRA! X-treme 9.3 can be installed over myEXTRA! Enterprise 7.11 and EXTRA! X-treme 8.0-9.2.
• Installing the Custom Installation Wizard. The Custom Installation Wizard, a tool for administrators to pre-configure EXTRA! prior to deploying it to users, can be installed simply by copying CustomInstallationWizard.exe from the Tools folder from the EXTRA! CD/DVD to an administrator's hard drive. After running the electronic product download package, the CD/DVD image files are extracted to C:\~Attachmate\EXTRA!-v9.2.0 by default.
• Unsupported installation option. Although you can select "This feature will be installed when required during a custom installation," this option is not supported in this version of EXTRA! X-treme.
• Reboot recommended after uninstalling. To delete files that may be in use, Attachmate recommends rebooting your computer after uninstalling this product.
• EXTRA! 6530 Client Option. When using Group Policy to publish EXTRA! X-treme to users, EXTRA! X-treme must be installed before the EXTRA! 6530 Client Option can be installed. When you install EXTRA! X-treme 9.2 over EXTRA! X-treme 8 with myEXTRA! 6530 Client Option 8 installed, the 6530 Client Option 8 is removed. To enable Tandem connectivity, you must install EXTRA! 6530 Client Option 9.2 after you install EXTRA! X-treme 9.2. Contact your Attachmate Sales representative for information on the EXTRA! 6530 Client Option 9.2.
• DLC Driver for Windows XP installation. Although the Attachmate DLC driver for Windows XP cannot be covered under the “Designed for Windows XP” logo, it has been tested extensively on the Windows platform and works well.

EXTRA! Documentation is available on the Support site: https://support.microfocus.com/manuals/extra.html.

Legacy KB ID

This article was originally published as Attachmate Technical Note 2541.