If you are currently running with a version prior to the current release see the section on Upgrading From Prior Versions for information about how to update your software.

 

9 January 2023 Version 7.0 released.

 

Product Release: Version 7.0 is a bug-fix and patch which addresses an issue regarding parsing of individual component data values into your SQL Schema Tables. A behavior was discovered regarding the handling of SUB component values in a component value.

 

Example: PID|1|12345&54321^data||||.....

 

In the example shown above Component #1 of Field #2 of the PID segment contains 2 SUB components as evidenced by the sub-component delimiter &. When inserting data into the database table <prefix>_Segment_PID_A column PID_F2_C1 the current (wrong) behavior in prior versions after 6.0 would show the entire value of component 1 "12345&54321" being inserted into the column AND the entire raw field value being inserted into PID_F2_C0. The correct behavior which is now corrected is that only the FIRST sub component value "12345" will be inserted into the column AND the entire field raw value being inserted into PID_F2_C0.

 

If this earlier "wrong" behavior effects you then we recomment that you upgrade to this release as soon as possible.

 

NOTE: If you own an Enterprise License for the UltraPort SQL Schema Engine you should also review and update your installations for the UltraPort SQL Listener and UltraPort SQL Extenders (if applicable). See Enterprise Features for downloads.

 

21 June 2022 Version 6.7 released.

 

Minor Product Release: Version 6.7 is a minor bug-fix and patch which addresses an issue which we discovered internally related to Schema Training. If you are using this feature we recommend that you upgrade to this release as soon as possible.

 

Minor Bug in Schema TrainingWhat was the bug?

 

When you enable Schema Training you are authorizing your Schema Engine software (as well as any of the Enterprise Addons) to dynamically alter your database schema tables at run-time when importing HL7 messages if certain conditions are encountered.Those conditions are:

 

1.Data Truncation. IE there is a data column declared as a VarChar(20) and the HL7 message contains 25 bytes of data for that column. The Fix: Alter Column and increase the size.

2.Missing Data Column. IE we have defined PID Segment Field 1 as containing 1 component (column) and the HL7 message contains 2 components. The Fix: Alter Table and add new column.

3.Missing HL7 Field. IE we have defined the EVN segment as having 7 HL7 fields and in the HL7 message it contains 9 HL7 fields. The Fix: Alter Table and add new column(s) for fields 8 and 9.

4.Missing Schema Table. IE the HL7 message contains a Zxx segment which was NOT initially created. The Fix: Create new segment tables for the Zxx segment.

 

What was occurring. Training works exactly as advertised but in rare conditions The Fix for Data Truncation conditions (#1) was not working and would cause the insert transactions to fail. The scenario is as follows:

 

The way that training handles Data Truncation conditions is to determine the size of the column (let's say Varchar[40]) and compare that to the size of the data in the message destined for that column (let's say it's 50 characters). When this occurs, the message import operation would halt and a training operation would start and would issue an Alter Table statement and INCREASE the size of the column from a Varchar[40] to a Varchar[55] (adding an additional 5 characters). Then the import operation would start over, this time the 50 characters of data fits easily into the data column which is now a Varchar[55].

 

The Problem. For our example we will use the DG1 segment field #4 component #1 (the Diagnosis Description) which by default in your schema tables will be a Varchar[25-40] depending on the HL7 Version and the version of the Schema Engine that created the schema initially. The problem would only occur IF a HL7 message contained repeating segments (IE multiple DG1 segments) AND the SAME data point (IE DG1, Field 4, Component 1) in each segment was GREATER than the defined size (Varchar[40]) AND a later instance contained data that was smaller than a previous instance. For instance, a HL7 message contains 4 DG1 segments. In the first DG1 segment Field 4.1 contains 65 characters of data, which is greater than Varchar[40] and triggers the truncation condition, but then the 3rd instance of the DG1 segment contains 55 characters of data in Field 4.1, which is also greater than the current size of Varchar[40] and would cause multiple Truncation condition entries for the same data column with conflicting sizes. So we would try to issue the first alter table which would increase the size from Varchar[40] to Varchar[70] (65 + 5) which was successful to accept 65 characters of data, but THEN it would reach the 2nd trigger which would attempt to alter the column to a Varchar[60] to hold the 55 characters of data and would fail.

 

 

See Schema Training for more information about what it means to Train Your Schema.

 

 

 

20 December 2021 Version 6.6.5 released.

 

Minor Product Release: Version 6.6.5 is a minor bug-fix and patch which addresses some minor issues which came to light when version 6.6.0 went into wide release this past summer. Bugs discovered and addressed were as follows:

 

•A bug which would cause the Force TLS Encryption flag in the MS SQL Server Schema Profile to be ignored when connecting to the database schema(s) See Using Encryption.

•A patch to tweak the algorithm which would size MS SQL Data Columns.

 

21 December 2020 Version 6.6.3 released.

 

Minor Product Release: Version 6.6.3 is a bug-fix and patch which addresses some minor issues which came to light when version 6.6.0 went into wide release this past summer. Bugs discovered and addressed were as follows:

 

•A patch for the MySQL (ODBC Connection) Schema Profile. Added the database name property to the add/edit schema profile screen.

•A bug which would cause the configuration program to hang and crash IF you attempted to 'Run Locally' and an enabled Inbound Processor was using a Data Folder which was invalid!

•A bug which would cause the import operation of a HL7 message to fail IF the HL7 message contained NO HL7 Message Type (MSH 9.1). The error occurred because of a (completely valid) Not Null constraint which we place on the MsgType field in your <prefix>_HL7Data table. This was NOT a bug in versions prior to version 6.6.0 of the software, prior versions inserted an empty string into the field if MSH.9.1 was empty while the new HL7 loader introduced in version 6.6.0 would insert Null. This was a tricky one to find because, as anyone with HL7 experience knows, the Message Type (MSH.9.1) is one of those few fields which is really ABSOLUTELY required to form a valid HL7 message. It took 6 months until a customer upgraded to version 6.6.0 who was actually importing and processing HL7 messages which were this mangled. We corrected the issue by having the loader insert "{None}" into the MsgType column when this condition occurs.

 

30 June 2020 Version 6.6.0 released.

 

Major Product Release: Version 6.6.0 is the "major" product release that we have been building towards for more than a year. Versions 6.1.2 and 6.1.3 were only interim releases created to address specific Important issues which customers needed and could not wait. Be sure and review the System Requirements. Important differences from prior versions:

 

•The Enterprise License is now available with associated Enterprise Features!

•You can now Auto-Train your SQL Schema. This is a VERY exciting new feature which will make data truncation a thing of the past.

•The Schema Browser external program has been deprecated in favor of allowing a "Browse" featuer

•In Microsoft SQL Server you now have a choice of either a "Native" database connection OR you can create an ODBC connection (See Database Schemas).

•In Microsoft SQL Server we now support the Varchar(Max) column type. When the software creates or modifies schema tables Varchar(Max) is now used in all instances where prior versions would create TEXT columns. Legacy database schemas will work fine with existing TEXT columns, HOWEVER once you have upgraded from a version prior to 6.6.0 you cannot revert to the older version as they did not support the Varchar(Max) database columns and a software failure would result.

•The Schema Engine software now uses the .Net Framework Version 4.6.2 (see System Requirements). For customers still using Microsoft Windows Server 2003 contact Customer Service for information about how to upgrade or install this version.

 

 

20 May 2020 Version 6.1.3 released.

 

Interim Patch Release: Version 6.1.3 is an "interim" patch release in preparation for a major release coming in the summer (July/August time frame) of 2020. Important issues of note is in the System Requirements. While earlier versions of the Schema Engine software required the .Net Framework v40 starting with version 6.1.3 the .Net Framework has been updated to v452 and that framework must be installed on all systems wishing to use this version.

 

 

18 March 2020 Version 6.1.2 released.

 

Minor Patch Release: Version 6.1.2 is a minor patch release. In March 2020 we have updated the TLS and SSL certificates on our web servers which handle online license activation. Prior versions (older than version 6.1.2) will no longer be able to use ONLINE license activation (See Getting Started). They will have to use MANUAL license activation. Note that this has NO impact on upgrading your software in place from an older version (because your license has already been activated).

 

10 November 2018 Version 6.0.0 released.

 

Version 6.0 represents several major enhancements for the UltraPort SQL Schema Engine! The biggest one is that you now have the ability to test the HL7 database tables in your Schema by having the program actually evaluate real HL7 messages and tell you (based on the HL7 message content) if your Schema is missing any data tables, if existing data tables are missing any columns, and even if the existing columns are too small to contain the data. You will get a detailed, easy to follow report and even generated suggestions and SQL statements for help fixing any issues. See the Schema Utilities Window and Testing Your Schema for more information.

 

For MySQL database users we have 2 major enhancements.

1.For those using the ODBC MySQL connection we have added the ability to pass a MySQL Login ID and Password. This allows you to create a MySQL ODBC System DSN which doesn't keep the credentials embedded, or allows you to use different credentials.

2.This is a big one. Using MySQL has always been a challenging platform for us. The Schema Engine, be necessity, creates many tables, and lots of those tables have many columns. This has caused frustration for many users because the default storage engine for MySQL (INNODB) is notoriously hard to configure to support large tables. The quickest way to avoid the issue is to configure your MySQL Server to use the older MyISAM storage engine, but that poses it's own set of problems for any OTHER databases etc. Now you have the option in your SQL Schema Profile to "Force MyISAM Storage Engine" which will cause the engine to generate specific SQL Scripts when creating or repairing your tables which will cause ONLY those tables to use the MyISAM engine, otherwise whatever the default engine you have configured on your server is used. See MySQL Schemas for more information.

 

Minor Bug Patch: Version 6.0.0 also contains a minor "bug-fix" which only relates to MySQL users. It corrects a flaw in the "Create Schema Table" scripting (see Creating Your Database Schemas) where when creating the script for the OBX HL7 segment it would incorrectly create the field OBX_ResultData as a TEXT column (which has a 64KB size limit) instead of as a LONGTEXT column (the equivalent of the MS SQL TEXT Column data type).

 

10 January 2018 Version 5.2.3 released.

 

Minor Bug Patch: Version 5.2.3 is a minor "bug-fix" patch release. It corrects a flaw in the "Repair Schema" scripting (see Repairing Your Database Schemas) wherein SQL repair scripts generated for MySQL users were not being created correctly. For MSSQL users the repair scripts were not generating repair scripts for the _B tables if needed.

 

21 December 2017 Version 5.2.2 released.

 

Minor Bug Patch and Enhancement: Version 5.2.2 is both a minor "bug-fix" patch release and also contains a minor enhancement. A bug was reported in the program code which was causing an extra sub-folder (Errors) to be created (or attempt to be created) underneath your data folder selected in Inbound Processor Profiles. This sub-folder has never been used by the UltraPort SQL Schema Engine but its absence would generate a validation error at run-time causing your inbound processors not to run. An enhancement to editing your Inbound Processor Profiles was also added. In versions prior to version 5.2.2 users were forced to 'browse' for the Data Folder and were not allowed to type in a path or UNC path manually. Starting with this version you can now double-click on the HL7 Data Folder field to allow you to type in (or paste in) a valid path. See Importing HL7.

 

31 July 2017 Version 5.2.0 released.

 

Minor Bug Patch: Version 5.2.0 is a "bug-fix" patch release. Starting in version 4.2 a bug was introduced which prevented existing Schema Tables from dropping properly when you clicked the 'Create Schema Tables' button in the Schema Utilities Window. This bug only effected Microsoft SQL Server schemas. Whenever you click the 'Create Schema Tables' button in the Schema Utilities Window the program generates a SQL Script to create/recreate the SQL Schema Tables based on the HL7 Definition selected in the Schema Properties Window. When creating the SQL script the program is supposed to generate a "Drop Table" statement before each "Create Table" statement. In versions 4.2, 5.0 and 5.1 this "Drop Table" statement was not syntactically correct for Microsoft SQL Server. This has been corrected in version 5.2. Users of versions 4.2 through 5.1 can "work around" the problem by clicking the "Drop Schema Tables" button in the "Remove Schema" tab (See Removing Schema Tables). In version 5.2 the syntax error has been corrected and you do not have to use this "work around".

 

31 October 2016 Version 5.1.0 released.

 

Product Enhancement Release: Version 5.1.0 has 1 major product enhancement related to MySQL. In addition to the "Native" support for MySQL Version 5.6 which was introduced in version Schema Engine version 4.2, there is now support for ODBC connections to MySQL Databases as well. See MySQL Schemas for more information.

 

12 June 2016 Version 5.0.0 released.

 

Product Enhancement Release: Version 5.0.0 has 1 major product enhancement which is the introduction of the product in a native 64-Bit MS Windows Installation. It also includes 1 minor bug-fix resolving a pesky non-critical error being generated whenever users created new HL7 Vendor Definitions.

 

17 February 2016 Version 4.2.0 released.

 

Product Enhancement Release: Version 4.2.0 has 1 major product enhancement which is the incorporation and integration of the popular MySQL database platform. See MySQL Schemas for more information.

 

16 January 2016 Version 4.1.0 released.

 

License Enhancement Release: Version 4.1.0 has 1 major product enhancement which is the implementation of short term licensing (see Software Licenses). In order for short term licenses to function properly you must be running version 4.1.0 or greater of this product.

 

04 September 2015 Version 4.0.0 released.

 

Product Enhancement Release: Version 4.0.0 has 1 very minor bug fix and 1 major product enhancement.

•Bug Fix: This one is so obscure it took over 5 years for one customer to detect it. When importing HL7 messages into a Schema IF the HL7 field repeats AND the HL7 field only contains 1 component AND the first component of the repeats was BLANK then the corresponding C0 column in the table (or the OBX_ResultData field in the OBX Table) was being populated with NULL. This has been corrected.

•Product Enhancement: Effective with version 4.0.0 the UltraPort MS SQL Schema Engine has been updated to use (and requires) the Microsoft .Net Version 4 platform. See System Requirements for more information.

 

22 July 2014 Version 3.5.0 released.

 

Product Enhancement Release: Version 3.5 has 2 minor bug fixes and 2 major product enhancements.

•Bug Fix: When in the Schema Utilities Window and attempting to Create Your Schema Tables a final windows message box would prompt you to verify that you wanted to continue and create the Schema Tables. If you selected "No" at this prompt the program was SUPPOSED to leave the SQL Script generated to create the Schema Tables in the trace window. It did not do this. This has been fixed and now the SQL Script is left in the trace window allowing you to copy it and run it directly in MS SQL Server if desired.

•Bug Fix: The Schema Table generator was not assigning the appropriate user rights for all schema tables to the <prefix>_DBAROLE database role. This has been fixed.

•Product Enhancement: Effective with version 3.5 all schema table objects have either a Primary Key OR a Unique Clustered Index. In prior releases all of the HL7 segment data tables had only UNIQUE Indexes created by default. **IMPORTANT: Schemas created with prior versions need to be dropped and recreated (see Creating Schema Tables) to have the Schema Engine recreate the indexes. Alternatively you can use the Schema Table Generator to generate the SQL Script to recreate your schema and then cut out the index creation entries to recreate JUST the appropriate indexes.

•Microsoft Azure Platform: Effective with version 3.5 you can now create schemas which access MS SQL databases created in Microsoft Azure. **IMPORTANT: See Microsoft Azure Compatibility for more information.

 

28 October 2013 Version 3.3.2 released.

 

VM License Patch Release: Addresses a problem with version 3.3.0 and 3.3.1 in that the new VM (virtual machine) licenses were not being created correctly on client computers and thus special VMware features and behavior were not being registered and causing the license to become invalid if a CPU was added or removed from the VM. Version 3.3.2 corrects this issue. If currently running any version >= 3.0 than all that is required is to download and install the latest version over your current installation and start the configuration program once. If running a version prior to version 3.0 then you will need to download and install the new version and then go through the "move" license process (see Moving Licenses to Another Computer)

 

 

22 September 2013 Version 3.3.0 released.

 

License Enhancement Release: With version 3.3 HermeTech and TransWorld Scribes introduce a new type of software license for the UltraPort MS SQL Schema Engine. Effective with this version you can now purchase licenses for the UltraPort MS SQL Schema Engine specially designated to be used when running VMWare or other "virtual" computer software. Version 3.3.0 is considered a mandatory upgrade for customers running older licenses on VMWare or other virtual computer software. Older licenses will continue to function but an upgrade will be required if the license becomes invalid or needs to be moved to a new virtual instance.

 

08 May 2013 Version 3.2.1 released.

 

Product Enhancement Release: Version 3.2.1 introduces a new feature into the UltraPort MS SQL Schema Engine. You can now integrate MS SQL Stored Procedures directly into the Schema Engine processes. Consider using this method seriously as an alternative to using database triggers. The feature is available for inbound processors (for importing HL7 data) and also for outbound processors (for exporting HL7 data).

 

20 January 2013 Version 3.1.0 released.

 

Non-Critical Bug Fix Release: Version 3.1.0 corrects a bug which was introduced in version 3.0.0 wherein if you unchecked the "Always check for duplicate HL7 messages" box in your Inbound Processors the change would not be applied and the schema engines would continue to check for duplicate messages (See Importing HL7).

 

16 August 2012 Version 3.0.0 released.

 

Mandatory Update Release: Version 3.0.0 is a mandatory upgrade release. This is due to our online activation portal being replaced at the end of July 2012. This DOES NOT mean that current customers need to uninstall/reinstall their current installations, but all NEW installations or reinstallations will have to be version 3.0 or greater. Also, per customer feedback a new export option was added to outbound processors. See below:

 

•Product Activation has been updated to use our new online activation portal. This means that there have been some changes in the Getting Started section for new installations.

•A new export option was added to the Outbound Processor (See Exporting HL7).

 

 

29 March 2012 Version 2.1.4 released.

 

Non-Critical Bug Fix Release: Version 2.1.4 is a maintenance release. There was a bug addressed in the underlying software component which caused an error to be generated when trying to add a custom HL7 segment to an existing HL7 vendor definition (see HL7 Vendor Definitions) and when loading or displaying reports in the UltraPort Schema Browser.

 

3 March 2012 Version 2.1.2 released.

 

Non-Critical Bug Fix Release: Version 2.1.2 is a bug-fix release. Bug addressed with the Service Instance 4 program file (UltraPortMSSQL_Service4.exe) which was not responding or running inbound or outbound processors assigned to Service Instance 4. The bug apparently has been in place since version 1.3.3 and has now been fixed. This bug would ONLY impact the Service Instance 4 program and would NOT result in the loss or corruption of data. Users should upgrade to this version if they need to use Service Instance 4 (Professional Licenses Only, Developer licenses do not use any of the MS Windows Services). The workaround to be used until you can upgrade to this version is to make sure that all of your inbound and outbound processors use only Service Instances 1-3.

 

12 February 2012 Version 2.1.1 released.

 

Maintenance Release: Version 2.1 is a maintenance release. It does have several major implementation changes but all are "behind the scenes" changes designed for performance improvements. Major changes include:

 

•We changed the main MS SQL Server data provider. Prior versions used Microsoft's older ADO technology with ODBC to connect to MS SQL Server and that has been changed to use the Microsoft .Net framework's MS SQL Client data provider. This was done primarily to insure future compatibility as well as to maintain the stability of keeping as much of the MS SQL Schema Engine codebase in the .Net "managed code" arena to better maximize memory management as well as SQL connection pooling.

•The UltraPort Schema Browser was enhanced and the loading speed of reports was greatly increased.

•An internal change was made and the Schema Engine codebase was upgraded to use the latest version of the EasyHL7 Managed Code objects. The main impact to users of the Schema Engine is that the file format of the EasyHL7 Vendor Definitions was changed. This means that IF you are upgrading or migrating from the EasyHL7 SQL Schema Engine OR from older versions of the UltraPort SQL Schema Engine AND you either created or customized the EasyHL7 Vendor definitions in your old installation you will have to EXPORT the old vendor definition, then using the UltraPort Schema Engine CONVERT the old format to the new format and THEN import the converted file into the new UltraPort SQL Schema Engine installation. Should you have any questions or need help with this don't hesitate to contact customer service at info@hermetechnz.com.

 

 

 

28 November 2011. Version 1.3.1 released.

 

Maintenance Patch [Inbound Message Processors]: Expanding on version 1.3 this maintenance patch addresses a memory consumption issue on the same specific Server OS version / SQL Server Version combinations with a further compounding effect from global security policies which affect .Net framework garbage collection. In situations with effectively constant traffic garbage collection for the .Net framework was not being automatically triggered to free up memory from disposed objects. The inbound processor used an "optimistic" ad-hoc garbage collection algorithm to provide a "safety net" should this situation occur but it relied on system "idle" time to be triggered.

 

The Fix: The issue was fixed and verified by changing the inbound processor's internal garbage collection routines from "optimistic" to "pessimistic" insuring that framework garbage collection is strictly monitored and regularly triggered manually if not automatically triggered by the OS.

 

18 November 2011. Version 1.3 released.

 

Critical Bug Fix [Outbound Message Processors]: Wherein on specific Server OS version / SQL Server Version combinations the garbage collection of dead SQL Server connection threads was not being performed. Problem was tracked to an interaction of the .Net Framework Version 2.0 with ADO. Symptom is an ever growing list of SQL Server connections shown in the SQL Server Activity monitor until eventually SQL Server would fail to accept further connections.

 

The Fix: The issue was fixed and verified by changing the Outbound Processor to manually insure that dead SQL Server connections are garbage collected.

 

11 November 2011. Version 1.2 released.

 

Bug Fix: Wherein HL7 messages being imported with an inbound processor AND duplicate message checking is enabled AND the inbound HL7 message resulted in the PartnerAPP field value being greater than the defined size of the PartnerApp column in the <PREFIX>_HL7Data table resulted in a processor scram reset which was non-recoverable. See Identifying Duplicate Messages for more information about how the PartnerApp column is implemented.

 

The Fix: Added dynamic checking of the defined size of the PartnerApp column size in the <PREFIX>_HL7Data and if the key value exceeds the length it is automatically truncated. Also, we increased the defined size of the PartnerApp column when creating or recreating Schema Tables from Varchar(60) to Varchar(128). If this situation is impacting customers who have not applied this patch OR who have applied the patch and do not have the luxury of recreating their Schema Tables because they contain live data which you don't wish to lose you can manually apply a fix yourself by going into MS SQL and modifying the design of the <PREFIX>_HL7Data table and increase the size of the PartnerApp column to any acceptable value you like, the only caveat being that you MUST set the column size to a numeric value DO NOT use the "max" predicate. See Creating Schema Tables for more information.

 

 

18 October 2011. Version 1.1 released.

 

Bug Fix: Wherein HL7 messages with non-numeric HL7 versions in MSH 12 would fail to load (Ex: 2.5.1 and 2.3.1).

 

 

18 September 2011. Version 1.0 released