Welcome to the all new notifications section in Alloy. Here you will find highlights to showcase new features and updates coming in each new release.  We hope that this will help you get to most out your Alloy system. 

You can still access all announcements including API updates by visiting our announcements site at https://announcements.alloyapp.io.

If you have any feedback on this change or any other, we would love to hear from you so get in touch at product@weareyotta.com.

Discuss this post in the Alloy Community here: https://community.alloyapp.io/c/announcements/

Overview

As part of ongoing improvements, we are updating the way API keys are managed in the system. This change will see the provision of an API key to every user discontinued, with future keys being generated on demand using the new mechanism described below. As part of this change, the way in which the keys are provided to the API as a token header will change to use the Bearer Authentication method.  

Who will this affect?

This change will affect all API users as any existing API key in use will be retired based on the timeline specified below, with the expectation for all users to transition to the new keys by that time.

Details

A new mechanism for API keys has been added and alongside it, a new series of endpoints. The current API key mechanism, where all users have an API key created alongside them is obsoleted and will be removed as part of Phase 2. 

Ignoring the current mechanism, new users will not have API keys created by default, but instead, will be able to create them on demand up to a maximum of 100 keys per user per customer. The new API keys will also come with a label field (to provide some description), an enabled flag (if false the API key will not be valid for usage), and an optional expireAt datetime (if an API key is expired it cannot be edited nor used to authenticate, it can only be deleted).

An API key value (or token) will never be shown after the creation of the API key, so if an issued API is lost or forgotten then the user will need to generate a new one. The database only contains a one way hashed version of the key, just like for passwords, so it is not possible for anyone to impersonate the user using the key even if they have direct access to database. 

The new endpoints are as follows:

GET api/api-key/{id} - Allows the caller to get the information of an API key by its ID

GET api/api-key - Allows the caller to list API keys by user and customer. Optionally it accepts a filter for the "label" field

PUT api/api-key/{id} - Allows the caller to edit an API key to change the label, enabled flag and expiration

POST api/api-key - Allows the caller to create an API key, this is the only endpoint that will return the actual value of an API key

DELETE api/api-key/{id} - Allows the caller to delete an API key

Important: The way you pass the API key is changing!

The new API keys will need to be passed according to the OAuth 2.0 Bearer token format (RFC 6750). That is a request header named "Authorization" will need to be included, which would look like this:

Authorization: Bearer APIKEYVALUEHERE

This change means that the API keys provided by the old and new mechanisms are not interchangeable and old keys will not be accepted via the Authorization header and new keys will need to be generated.  

FAQ

Will API keys work across Alloy regions/environments?

No, each key is specific to a user and customer project. Customers with Live and Staging environments should consider these separately as there is no link between projects across environments. 

Is there a default expiration date for each API key?

No, by default each API key will have no expiration date set and it will be the responsibility of the user to set this on creation or edit.

Will I be able to retrieve my API key at a later date following creation?

In line with best practice, the API key will only be given in the response model on creation. It will then be the creator's responsibility to safely store this key for later use. Only the associated data for the API keys (such as the label, enabled flag and expiration date) will be provided in the GET, PUT and DELETE responses.

Will I need an API key to generate an API key?

Once you've authenticated using your login credentials via the session endpoint and created a customer session, you'll be able to use the customer session token to generate and manage keys using the endpoints described above. So no, you won't be stuck in a infinite loop trying to get an API key 😜. 

Expected Release Date

13th January 2022

Phase 2: Retirement of Existing Token Method

26th January 2023

Overview

We are adding a new option to the Data Export endpoint which allow you to set the export format to ESRI SHP (Shape) file instead of the standard CSV export. 

Who does this affect?

This change will affect API users of the Export endpoint who require ESRI shape file output. 

Details

The following endpoint:

POST /api/export 

can now be used to specify the export type as ESRI SHP. Note that due to length constraints in the SHP format for field data, attributes values may be truncated in the exported files.

The endpoint now accepts two different request models:

ShapefileExportWebRequestModel requests made with this model will return files as SHP.

CsvExportWebRequestModel requests made with this model will return data as a CSV.

Both these models extend the ExportWebRequestModelBase model.

Note the the SHP format consists of multiple (3) files that will be returned on the Export File endpoint as a zipped bundle. 

GET /api/export/{id}/file

Expected Release Date

13th January 2022

Overview

We are adding an new option to the data Export endpoint which allow you to specify the projection to be used for Geometry data by providing the Proj4 string to use to convert over from WGS84 (Lat-Long)

Who does this affect?

This change will affect API users of the Export endpoint but will not modify the existing behaviour if the optional setting is not provided. 

Details

The following endpoint:

POST /api/export 

now accepts an optional string proj4 that may be used to convert geometry coordinates into the spatial reference system of your choice. This mirrors the optional Proj4 setting used during import.

Without the proj4 string, geometry is exported in WGS84 (Longitude, Latitude) coordinates.

There is a database of PROJ4 strings available for searching here https://epsg.io/

For example, for the UK British National Grid system, the Proj4 string is

+proj=tmerc +lat_0=49 +lon_0=-2 +k=0.9996012717 +x_0=400000 +y_0=-100000 +ellps=airy +datum=OSGB36 +units=m +no_defs

Expected Release Date

13th January 2022

Overview

We are adding a new feature that will allow administrators to specify the specific method of authentication (such as Microsoft Online SSO) to use in order to access Customer Projects. 

Who does this affect?

This change will affect administrators who want to restrict their users to using a specified authentication method over the current choice of email/password or SSO options including Google and Microsoft. Note that these policies may only be configured using Alloy Forge so please contact the Support Team to change the way in which users access your project. 

Details

This change has introduced a new concept called "Customer Security Policy". In simple terms, this is an object contained in the Customer document that is meant to include information about customer choices in terms of security related "settings".

Currently the security policy only includes the accepted authentication method property. If set, a user can only create a customer session for a specific customer if that session is created through one of the accepted authentication methods. Normally a customer session is created by switching a master session to a customer session. This means the master session will need to have been created through one of the accepted authentication methods.

If the user utilises an authentication method not on the accepted list, an error message will be presented and the user returned to the logon screen to retry. 

The security policies may be set using the following Forge endpoints:

GET api/customer/{id}/security-policy - Gets the customer security policy for a specific customer

* PUT api/customer/{id}/security-policy - Edits the customer security policy for a specific customer

Expected Release Date

13th January 2022

Note

Due to a technical error, this post is being announced after the changes in Phase 1 were issued. 

Overview

When first designing Alloy, we anticipated the need for an item setting that would allow versioning. With this setting enabled, each change to the item would create a new version of the item with only the most recent item being visible in the application. While we still believe this function may hold value in the future, maintaining the feature in the application offers very little benefit over the item audit logs. Instead, the item versions consume storage space unnecessarily when enabled on designs. 

We have therefore taken the decision to remove item versioning for the time being. 

Who will this affect?

The change to remove item versioning will not impact the functionality within the system and is being made to improve performance for customers with large numbers of items. 

This work will mark the properties and endpoints marked as Obsolete to be removed at a later date. If this can cause a problem for API users, we urge you to take action during the time provided before removal as any integrations relying on obsolete properties may cease to function.  

Phase 1

Details

Both DesignWebModel and DesignInterfaceWebModel will not have the versioned property being returned anymore. It was already advertised as optional in the response and it is thus not meant to cause any problem.

The start and end properties ofItemWebModel and ReconstructedItemWebModel are now obsolete and will always return respectively 0000-01-01T00:00:00Z and 9999-12-31T12:59:59Z.

The DesignEditWebRequestModel and DesignCreateWebRequestModel will not accept the versioned property anymore. If the property is passed, it will be ignored.

The ReconstructedItemDeltaWebModel optional properties start and end will not be returned anymore.

The GET api/item-version/{itemId} and the GET api/item-version/item/{id} are now obsolete and will be removed as part of phase 2.

Phase 2

The start and end properties of ItemWebModeland ReconstructedItemWebModel  that were obsoleted during phase 1 will be removed.

The GET api/item-version/{itemId} and the GET api/item-version/item/{id} that were obsoleted during phase 1 will be removed.

Phase 1 Expected Release Date

3rd September 2021

Phase 2 Expected Release Date

March 2022

Overview

We are making a temporary change to the behaviour of how the results from an AQS Query Data Source are displayed in custom reports. This change will affect the display in controls when linking to multiple items to make this work consistently across all attribute types.

This change is being made to prevent report generation from failing under certain conditions described below.

Who will this affect?

This change will affect anyone using the AQS Query Data source with join attributes within the Report Builder to build custom reports.

Details

Previously, when an AQS Query resulted in multiple matched items for join attributes, this would be displayed as X Items into the resulting table cell in the report. However, since all entries in a table column must be of the same type, this would only work for String attributes (since the entry X Items is also a String) and would result in an error for other attribute types with the report failing to generate. 

From now on, resulting cells will show a single item attribute result, similar to the current behaviour of the single join result. If multiple values are matched, only the first attribute of the first item will be displayed. 

Example

Let's assume there is a project containing 4 job tasks. If the user would create a custom report using an AQS Query data source rooted on Projects and linking to Jobs via the Tasks Attribute (Project DS -> Tasks to Jobs DS -> Title). If a Table control was then added to the layout based on this data source, the display of the data in this table will change following this change. 

Before Change

Previously, the table would have shown 4 Items in the joined Tasks and Title column.

After Change

However, from now on this would display one of the job titles e.g. JOB-9.

Note

If you would like to continue using this aggregation, this can be achieved by using a Join Data source rather than an AQS Query Data source.

Expected Release Date

30th September 2021

Overview

We are making changes to some of our endpoints in order to become fully OpenAPI 3.0 compliant. Additionally, we will be adding Redoc under the /docs path to provide an even easier way of navigating our API definition and explore models that use discriminators.

Who will this affect?

There are several changes to various endpoints as detailed below. None of these changes are expected to be a breaking change and the current method of calling these endpoints will remain compatible.

There will however be a Phase 2 of this work in which we will remove any obsolete endpoints and properties. API users should complete any transition to the new endpoints before the Phase 2 date to avoid issues.

Details

Delete Endpoints

The following endpoints will change to have a query parameter named signature to pass the signature. Passing the signature in the body will be obsoleted and removed in Phase 2:

DELETE api/access-policy/{code}/rule/{id}
DELETE api/custom-report/{customReportCode}/data-source/{code}
DELETE api/custom-report/{customReportCode}/document-definition/{id}
DELETE api/design/{code}/attribute/{attributeCode}
DELETE api/design/{code}/interface/{interfaceCode}
DELETE api/workflow-action-group/{code}/action/{id}
DELETE api/workflow/{code}/action/{id}

User Group Endpoints

There are 2 new user group endpoints to add and remove users from a user group:

POST api/user-group/user/add
POST api/user-group/user/remove

The following two (current) endpoints will be marked obsolete and removed in Phase 2; note, these will no longer be visible through the swagger documentation.

POST api/user-group/user
DELETE api/user-group/user

Role User Endpoints

There are 2 new role endpoints to add and remove users from a role:

POST api/role/user/add
POST api/role/user/remove

The following two (current) endpoints will be marked obsolete and removed in Phase 2; note, these will no longer be visible through the swagger documentation. 

POST api/role/user
DELETE api/role/user

Role Group Endpoints

There are 2 new role endpoints to add and remove groups from a role:

POST api/role/group/add
POST api/role/group/remove

The following two (current) endpoints will be marked obsolete and removed in Phase 2; note, these will no longer be visible through the swagger documentation. 

POST api/role/group
DELETE api/role/group

Expected Release Dates

Phase 1 : 29th September 2021

Phase 2 : 31st March 2022

Overview

AQS expressions now support the ability to run queries with conditions on an item level count.

Who will be affected?

All existing users will be able to take advantage of this feature through the newly added AQS Count node.

Details

An item level count allows to have a condition on the number of items connected through a link attribute being equal, greater than, etc. to the value of another attribute on the same item.

Example Use Case

As an example, we can consider a query that wants to fetch the title and subtitle of all projects that are over capacity. That is all projects that have a number of tasks greater than or equal to their capacity, contained in attribute attributes_projectsCapacity_60464441c14e5d000ad7e47.

{
  "type": "Query",
  "properties": {
    "attributes": [
      "attributes_itemsTitle",
      "attributes_itemsSubtitle"
    ],
    "collectionCode": [
      "Live"
    ],
    "dodiCode": "designs_projects"
  },
  "children": [
    {
      "type": "GreaterThan",
      "properties": {
        "inclusive": true
      },
      "children": [
        {
          "type": "Count",
          "properties": {
            "groupBy": "attributes_projectsTasks"
          }
        },
        {
          "type": "Attribute",
          "properties": {
            "attributeCode": "attributes_projectsCapacity_60464441c14e5d000ad7e479"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Prior to this change, users could only compare a count node against a static Number node.

Expected Release Date

June 24th 2021

Overview

In order to improve the accessibility of Alloy Meshes, we will be adding support for Open API JSON and endpoint documentation. Following a detailed review of the exposed endpoints and data models, we will also be acting to implement the following deprecations to provide better consistency between naming and conventions with the Alloy Core, Extended and Forge API's. Finally, we will be making changes to the way in which the security token is passed to the Meshes to improve security. 

Security token to be removed from query string

We will no longer be accepting the token parameter which represents an Alloy API token on the query string, this should be passed via the HTTP headers in all future requests using the same key of token.

Example CURL before:

curl -X 'POST' \
  'http://localhost:3000/aws-iot/update-device?itemId=abc?token=123' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \

Example CURL after:

curl -X 'POST' \
  'http://localhost:3000/aws-iot/update-device?itemId=abc' \
  -H 'accept: application/json' \
  -H 'token: 123' \

MeshResponseWithItemWebModel renames property itemResponse to item

The following meshes are expected to return a response which includes an item payload under the property itemResponse.

• alloy-push-mayrise-notice-mesh
• json-push-alloy-mesh
• telensa-fault-push-alloy-mesh

This property is being renamed to item but we will continue to return itemResponse until the date specified below for Phase 2. 

Example response before:

{
  "itemResponse": {
    "itemId": "af32ef...",
    ...
  }
}

Example response after:

{
  "itemResponse": {
    "itemId": "af32ef...",
    ...
  },
  // we will duplicate the data in the recommended item property
  "item": {
    "itemId": "af32ef...",
    ...
  },
}

Risk calculation mesh to remove itemsResponse property

The risk calculation mesh alloy-push-risk-calculation-mesh is removing the itemsResponse property as it was not correctly indicating the success of the response model, it isn't required and will therefore be removed as part of Phase 1 changes. 

When do these changes take effect?

The above changes will be rolled out in June 2021, with deprecations finally removed in January 2022 with the following expected release dates: 

Expected Release Date

Phase 1: June 24th 2021

Phase 2: February 24th 2022