2090553 - SAP HANA Rules Framework 1.0 SPS02 Release Note

Symptom

This is the SAP release note for SAP HANA Rules Framework 1.0 SPS02 (1.002).

Other Terms

SAP HANA rules framework; HRF; release note; SPS02

Reason and Prerequisites

You are installing SAP HANA rules framework 1.0 SPS02 add-on on top of SAP HANA platform.
Minimum Requirements: HRF SP02 support HANA SPS8 and above. In order to enjoy  the lifecycle improvements and the HANA repository integration SP09 is required as will be explained in our installation guide
Note:

1. When running HRF 1.0 SPS02 on SAP HANA SPS09 and using data objects mapped to SAP HANA views, an incorrect result will occur with conditions that apply operations on collections (average of, sum of, count of, min, max) and partial collections (‘where’ clause) together. The condition returns an incorrect answer for lines in which the filter does not apply.

For example: count of all player.gender where gender = ‘F’ > 20  // If the database contains 30 player objects, out of which 15 with gender = ‘F’ the result will be incorrect.

This bug has been fixed in SAP HANA SPS09 revision 91. If you are using a lower version of SAP HANA, use tables for calculations to avoid the issue.

Solution

The SAP HANA rules framework provides a set of tools enabling business users and application developers to build decision logic based on the organization's data. This rule engine applies rules and actions as defined by end users without affecting how the application runs.
Using the SAP HANA rules framework, you can plan your decision support application development by:

• Identifying the business logic to be represented by rules in your application and implement the out calls for rule execution
• Identifying data sources for your rule elements, defining alternative actions and phrasing them all using an end user vocabulary, which will later be used as the foundation for all user-entered logic
• Designing the application user interfaces that, in designated areas, should allow the insertion of business logic

SAP HANA rules framework supports the above steps by delivering:

• Developer tools for defining rule consumption interfaces
• Vocabulary authoring tools
• Rule authoring tools such as the rule expression language and decision table
• UI controls to be embedded into the application UI flow
• Monitoring and simulation tools

SP02 Solution Highlights:
SAP HANA Rules Framework 1.0 SPS02 enhances the abstraction capabilities of data and frequently-used decision logic via the use of aliases. Aliases can now refer to logic defined in decision table and can have a restricted scope of a single rule. A number of enhancements to the user experience and consumption are delivered with this release, such as operations on collections of results and consumption of rule services from JavaScript. Lifecycle management is simplified and performance improved for both design time and runtime.
Important Installation Information:
Minimum Requirements: SAP HRF 1.0 SPS02 supports SAP HANA SP08 and above.
SAP HANA SP09 is required (and generally recommended) to benefit from the lifecycle improvements and integration with the SAP HANA repository. For more details, see the "SAP HANA Rules Framework 1.0 SPS 02 Installation Guide".
Documentation:
Documentation for SAP HANA Rules Framework 1.0 SPS 02 can be found on SAP Service Marketplace at: http://service.sap.com/~form/sapnet?_SHORTKEY=00200797470000103845
New Features in SP02 release:
Business User Experience:

• Aliases have a new availability mode: “In This Rule Only” (also referred to as “private aliases). Such aliases are relevant only in the context of the rule in which they were created and cannot be used in other rules. This new mode complements the existing “In All Rules” mode (public aliases) that was already introduced in HRF 1.0 SPS01.
• Decision tables can now be defined as aliases (in SPS01 – only text rule were supported). Decision tables as an alias provide similar functionality to that of a standard decision table within a rule, but with the following restrictions:
  • Returns only a single output column
  • Returns a single value or a list of values (collection) based on the hit policy defined by the user
  • Actions are not supported
• Enhancements to the rule expression language (REL):
  • Counting of a root object or association of a vocabulary (example: number of customer) is supported
  • Sorting of objects based on three types is supported: string, number, date. Example: Sorting by number… average of 10 transaction.transaction_amount with the highest transaction_amount.
  • Decision table alias is supported in REL as collection type or a single value (based on the hit policy set by the user)

Development Experience:

• Rule in all statuses can be deleted (once deleted, all rule-related artifacts are deleted).
• Full integration with SAP HANA SP09 lifecycle management for all HRF resources. Starting with SAP 1.0 HRF SPS2, the SAP HANA native application does not require an additional activation step for HRF resources (on SAP HANA SP08, the completeActivation API is still needed).
• Consolidated the suffix domain for SAP HANA rules and process *.hpr*.  In SAP HRF 1.0 SPS02 and above, the following additional resources suffixes are supported: .hprruletemplate, .hprvocabulry, .hprruleservice, and .hprrule.
• Ability to consume rule services from within a simple “select” statement. Rule service can generate column view and be consumed from “select”.
• It is possible to define dependencies between vocabularies (in a vocabulary resource) in order to allow sharing of content, where a vocabulary in a dependency chain includes all content from other parent vocabularies that are higher in the dependency chain.
• Performance improvements for creation and generation of resources (design-time artifacts) .
• SAP HANA rules framework modeling tools:
• Introduced Text Rule Editor for IF-THEN conditions.
• HRF Tools are enhanced with context sensitive auto-suggestion for Rule Expression Language (REL) and vocabulary .
• Vocabulary Editor is enhanced with configurable re-usable actions.
• Text Rule Editor can use the vocabulary actions as part of the rule result.
• HRF Tools are integrated with HRF Runtime Plug-in and SAP HANA repository.
• HRF Tools now work in Multi DB SAP HANA configuration

 SP02 Patch Level 1 Corrections:

• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-4199] Decision table aliases do not work if the runtime column name is different than the column name of the data object.
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-4396] Incorrect generation of 'with' filter in a rule service when 'all' context is used.
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-4397] 'sum of' not working on timespan attributes with null values. For example: sum of player.session.duration < 5
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-3620] Sorting within an expression containing 'exists in' is not possible. For example: ...exists in (10 player with the highest...)
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-4693] Not possible to concatenate a number and complex expression. For example: concatenate (1, average of all player.age where...)
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-4400] Get parameters (getParams service) of sorted collection constants not working. For example, when requesting all constant parameters for the condition “10 player with the highest age”, <10> is not returned as a parameter.
• [BCP-1482025099] Auto-complete adds whole term instead of missing letters when editing an existing rule. For example: after “a”, “aand” is added instead of “and”).
• [BCP-1472007845] Using auto-complete after typing a REL expression that is not case-sensitive deletes the whole expression.
• [BCP- 1472010107] Using auto-complete deletes existing REL expressions.
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-3343] (Modeling tools) Creation of association is not displayed in Vocabulary editor in modeling tools.
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-3332] (Modeling tools) In rules with reference to public vocabulary it is possible to change data object names.
• [CSN 783312] (Modeling tools) Exception while saving a rule.
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-2304] (Modeling tools) Null pointer exception while opening a scenario in cases of a complex join.
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-3335] (Modeling tools) Save fails if a vocabulary is missing layout information.

SP02 Patch Level 2 Corrections:

• [BCP-1472016398] PutParams "Repository object doesn't exist" error received for rules that were created before the new .hpr* suffix was introduced in HRF 1.0 SPS 02.
• [HPAIAPPSRTDS-4396] Incorrect generation of rules that contain a filter in service and an 'all' clause in their condition.
• [BCP- 1472015495] While editing a rule, parts of the rule's condition are deleted when using the auto-complete suggestions.
• [BCP-1472010107] While editing a rule, existing expressions are deleted when using the auto-complete suggestions.

SP02 Patch Level 3 Corrections:

• [BCP-1570003042] - An exception is thrown when using a division operator in an expression and the denominator results in a runtime value of zero (e.g., "number of payments of a customer" when the customer has no payments). Following the fix, the outcome of such an operation will be 'null'.

Header Data

Released On	29.01.2015 06:55:05
Release Status	Released for Customer
Component	HAN-AS-RUL SAP HANA Rules Framework
Priority	Recommendations / Additional Info
Category	Upgrade information