2024 Release Two (2) Expere Engine and Tools Changelog

Expere Engine Release: 2024 Release Two (2)External release date is September 2024. Expere Engine build number is: 24.2.0.5916.

Note: Users may notice that the 2024.2 Expere Engine release contains updates that reference the eOriginal SmartSign®+ solution. The Expere Engine is used to support both our Hosted and Self-Hosted ("On-Prem") customers, however, the updates made to support SmartSign®+ were implemented solely for our Hosted customers at this time.
Fillable Field Default Behavior Change
Summary: Expere has been updated to generate Fillable Fields when specified rather than producing them by default. These changes simplify the logic and makes Expere more maintainable. The previous default allowed documents to support fillable fields but not eSignature fields. The new behavior will support fillable fields when eSignatureAndFieldSupport options are specified in the request; otherwise, fillable fields will not be generated on the documents. (Please see Feature Page for more details).
Note:
  • The com.bankerssystems.expere.render.acroformSupport property ONLY supports a "false" value.
  • No user action is required provided that fillable fields are not needed unless the eSignatureAndFieldSupport ancillary output is specified. To return fillable fields without eSignature fields (the current default behavior), the following eSignatureAndFieldSupport ancillary output options should be specified:
    • eSignatureAndFieldSupport = true
    • eSignatureCoordinatesOnly = true and
    • NonSignatureFieldCoordinatesOnly = false
WCAG: Expere Engine enhanced to support embedded and Tagged .PDF's
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 813603, 821765, 826126, 825652
  • Documentation Impacts: See below for any pertinent links.
Summary: As a part of our continued effort to create WCAG compatible documents we have updated the Expere Engine to now support the generation of Tagged .PDF documents. We will continue making enhancements to the Expere Engine for Tagged .PDF support, so check back for items being identified and corrected. As part of our continued work to support Tagged .PDF's, we have implemented enhancements to resolve the following WCAG-related changes in Expere 2024 Release Two:
  • LinkReferences in Header Rows in split tables behavior enhanced (PBI 813603, 821765): it was reported that when a data table was split between pages containing a LinkReference in a header row, the table appeared as two different groupings of tags in the Adobe Acrobat tag tree, and the linked text (<LinkText/> element did not appear in the Adobe Acrobat tag tree for the first page.

    This behavior has been resolved in the Adobe Acrobat tag tree: a table previously split into two tables between pages now appears as one table, and the LinkReference text displays correctly

  • Merged PDF PAC 2021 exception resolved (PBI 826126): users reported that the PAC 2021 compatibility checker flagged merged PDF documents with XMP Metadata and Title in Metadata errors. Updates were made and as a result, XMP Metadata and Title in Metadata errors are no longer present in PAC 2021.
  • Embedded PDF checkbox format updated (PBI 825652): it was reported that a particular Embedded PDF document contained checkboxes that were not read correctly by the NVDA screen reading tool. When the NVDA tool encountered a checkbox on the generated PDF document, the tool is expected to announce that a checkbox was present and either checked or not checked; this was not occurring.

    Internal analysis determined that the structure of certain checkboxes in the Adobe Acrobat Tag Tree was incorrect. In the screen shot below, the tag form is incorrect for the Investor / Builder checkbox compared to the Owner-Occupant checkbox in that the tag should be structured <Form> "CheckboxName" with a child tag for the checkbox. Additionally, the first instance has alternate text generated (if viewed in Properties for that tag), however it is missing from the second instance.

    This behavior has been modified so that the checkbox Adobe Acrobat Tag Tree is structured <Form> "CheckboxName" with a child tag for the checkbox in Embedded PDF documents.



Expere Engine: PackageInformation child element name changes
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 819943
  • Documentation Impacts: See pertinent links below.
Summary: the following PackageInformation data type child elements have been renamed and can be included in the request, response, or PKG files:
  • EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingCostCenter is now EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingCostCenterDesc
  • EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingCarrierType is now EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingCarrierName, while all enumerated values for this element have been removed.
  • EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddress / EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddressLine1 is now EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddress / EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddressStreetAddress
  • EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddress / EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddressLine2 is now EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddress / EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddressStreetAddress2
  • EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddress / EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingNumCopies is now EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingCopiesCount

See PackageInformation and EOriginalSSPlusPrintMailingReturnAddress for more information.
Expere: <InstanceBarcodeValue> displays in Expere response
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 838313
Summary: a user reported that a null pointer error would appear when a Barcode type (for example: "PDF417") was not authored in a Tagline element that contained a barcode (commonly referred to a "Transaction barcode"). A previous version of the Expere Engine was configured to allow a user to bypass the Barcode type and still receive an <InstanceBarcodeValue> element and value in the Expere response. However, the latest version of the Expere Engine did not allow this. As a result, the Expere Engine has been updated to include an <InstanceBarcodeValue> in the response for Transaction barcodes where the type of barcode is not authored. Also, note that by including the <InstanceBarcodeValue> value, the response will include the <AncillaryOutputOption> container, for example:

...
<r:InstanceBarcodeValue>987987201</r:InstanceBarcodeValue>
<r:AncillaryOutputOption>
	<r:OutputType>Barcode</r:OutputType>
	<r:Barcode>
		<r:Pattern>987987201</r:Pattern>
		<r:UseCoverPage>false</r:UseCoverPage>
		<r:FirstPageOnly>false</r:FirstPageOnly>
	</r:Barcode>
</r:AncillaryOutputOption>
...
Expere: EmbeddedPDF response updated for Signer Description
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 832759
Summary: it was reported that when using a previous version of a document that was authored as a Static document, entering a value of "Notary, Notary" in the SignerRole resulted in the same value appearing in the <Description> element in the Expere response file. Only "SignerRole:Notary" was honored.

<r:Signer>
	<r:Id>NotaryID</r:Id>
	<r:Description>Notary, Notary</r:Description>
	<r:SignaturePoints>
		<r:SignaturePoint>
			<r:IncludeDate>true</r:IncludeDate>
			<r:PageNumber>1</r:PageNumber>
			<r:PageOrder>1</r:PageOrder>
			<r:Height>26.25</r:Height>
			<r:Width>197.54999</r:Width>
			<r:SignatureText>_</r:SignatureText>
			<r:XCoordinate>155.25</r:XCoordinate>
			<r:YCoordinate>249.75</r:YCoordinate>
			<r:Type>Signature</r:Type>
			<r:FieldName>SIG_Notary, Notary_0_NotaryID_false_1_GrantorNotary_eSig</r:FieldName>
			<r:Sequencing>7</r:Sequencing>
			<r:SignatureRequired>false</r:SignatureRequired>
		</r:SignaturePoint>
	</r:SignaturePoints>
</r:Signer>
However, after this document was converted to an EmbeddedPDF, users could no longer add a "Notary, Notary" value for the Signer Role. As a result, Expere has been updated to support a "Notary, Notary" SignerRole value which will be honored in the Expere response file.
Note: The "SignerRole:Notary" value will continue to be honored and is the recommended value for SignerRole when authoring documents with Notaries.
Expere: RTF output behavior enhanced
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 834813
Summary: a user reported that the Acknowledgment section on a generated RTF document did not preserve space to enter data.

As a result, the Acknowledgement section on a generated RTF document preserves space to physically enter data. Data fields authored to contain an underline are presented in an RTF document; additionally, updates were made so that checkboxes display similiarly to those on a PDF document.
Expere: <SuppressESignature/> logic updated
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 829776
Summary: It was identified that signature fields were not being removed in the PDF and Tagged PDF in certain scenarios when the <SuppressESignature/> element resulted in true. Expere has been updated so that signature fields are removed on the PDF and Tagged PDF when <SuppressESignature/> element results in true.
Expere: iText8 upgrade / enhancement
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 825821, 810591, 818440
Summary: the Expere Engine has updated to use iText8. With this update, we have identified and addressed certain known issues; these are listed below. Customers may notice differences in the generated PDF.
  • Known differences:
    • If smart quotes are authored in tooltips when generating Tagged PDFs, Expere will convert the smart quotes to standard quotes. Smart quotes in other parts of the document, if they exist, will remain.
    • Checkbox borders appear slightly thicker.
    • Hovering over a radio button will display the field name (for non-WKES radio buttons)
  • Issues resolved:
    • PDF generation behavior resolved (PBI 825821): users reported that certain Tagged PDF documents failed to generate a merged PDF document when using either the MergePdf or MergedCopyPdf ancillary output option while generating succesfully as individual PDF documents. This behavior has been enhanced so that using either the MergePdf or MergedCopyPdf ancillary output option generates a merged PDF document successfully.
Expere: installation media updated to include WildFly version
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 838569
Summary: updates were made to the release media to include a WildFly version of the Engine. The WildFly version exists in the ExpereWildFly folder. See WildFly installation procedure > Accessing the WildFly installation for more information on using this version.
Engine: internal component upgrade to resolve security issue
  • Type: Maintenance
  • Reference: 798752, PBI 829927, 822068, 798914, 798744, 798912, 813365, 829639
Summary: As part of a regular cadence to review components used by Expere Engine for security issues, we have upgraded the following components:
  • Batik 1.17
  • Windows Installer XML (WiX) 3.14.1
  • JSON-Java 20231013
  • Apache Santuario 4.0.2
  • Bouncy Castle 1.78
  • io.swagger.core.v3 2.2.22
  • jackson-databind_2.16.2
  • jackson-core_2.16.2
  • 7pzip removed in order to use the Native Windows-compatible powershell script
Note: No user action is required.
Expere Engine: internal components upgraded
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 822599, 826091, 826965, 826967
Summary: As part of a regular cadence to review and upgrade any items used with our Expere applications, we have upgraded the following:
  • WildFly 33.0.0
  • Amazon Corretto 21.0.4.7.1
Note: No user action is required.
Engine: <StaticSignature/> behavior updated
Summary: it was reported that when a the source document (REQ file) used the <StaticSignature/> element, and it was the only signature on the document, the Expere response file specified that the document was an "InkSign" document (<InstanceSigningInstructions/>="InkSign"). As a result, the document was sent to a Third Party eSigning Platform as a document requiring an "InkSign" signature from a Loan Officer; however, the document had a "Static Signature" applied.

Expere has been updated so that when a document contains <StaticSignature/> and <SignerNameAboveLine/> elements and when no other non-<StaticSignature/> signatures are present on the document, the <InstanceSigningInstructions/> value is NoSignatures in the Expere response file.
Expere Engine: Removal of FOP26 element
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 812856
Summary: Expere has been updated to completely remove the FOP26 flag from all API's. Moving forward Expere will only support one version of FOP.
Expere Testing System removed
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 826268
Summary: Wolters Kluwer has retired the Expere Testing System application provided with the Expere Engine. We made this decision after our internal security scans uncovered security vulnerabilities in the Expere Testing System. As a result, the Expere release has been updated to remove the "TestingSystem" folder.

The Readme.txt has also been removed.

Note: We recommend uninstalling the Expere Testing System if it is still part of your regular Expere testing plan.
SMART Doc address logic enhanced
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 821734
Summary: The Expere Engine updated how the following values within the <PARSED_STREET_ADDRESS> inside the <PROPERTY> element of the SMARTDoc are set (see screenshot below):
  • _DirectionSuffix (i.e. SW)
  • _StreetSuffix (i.e. HIGHWAY)


Additionally, Expere will no longer set a value for _StreetType.
Expere Engine: internal code optimization with XY Coordinate and Wolters Kluwer E-Sign (WKES) functionality
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 819077, 820296, 819072, 829380, 828961
Summary: As part of a regular cadence to review and upgrade any items used with our Expere applications, the XY Coordinate and WKES, functionality has undergone a code optimization; no user impact is expected.
Expere Engine: WildFly build enhancement
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 822568, 825419
Summary: updates were made to automate how Wildfly is incorporated in the the build.
Note: No user action is required.
Expere Engine: Saxon upgrade to 10.9
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 818520
Summary: As part of the regular comprehensive security tests that are run against Expere components, we have updated the Expere Engine to use Saxon version 10.9. This upgrade was conducted to resolve issues where font settings were not being preserved in the field when line breaks were present in the transaction data.
Expere Engine: Font and Bold emphasis behavior enhanced when using <br/>
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 800837, 740793
Summary: The following line break (br/>)-related functionality has been enhanced by upgrading to Saxon 10.9:
  • It was reported that when a DTA in an .REQ file contained a phrase or sentence authored with a specific font (e.g. using an "Emphasis" tag and a Font of "Courier New"), a line break (<br/>) in the code resulted in the subsequent text reverting to a default font (e.g "Times New Roman"), rather than preserving the specified font. After the Saxon 10.9 upgrade, a font selected through an "Emphasis" tag is preserved regardless if line breaks are used.

  • It was reported that when a DTA in an .REQ file contained a phrase or sentence authored with a "Bold" Emphasis tag, a line break (<br/>) resulted in the subsequent text not being bolded, rather than bolding the entire phrase or sentence. After the Saxon 10.9 upgrade, a Bold emphasis selected is preserved regardless if line breaks are used

Expere Engine: EmbeddedPDF Document Generation enhanced
  • Type: Defect
  • Reference: PBI 827803
Issue: It was identified that for a specific EmbeddedPDF REQ (HUD203KSpecificationOfReparis-M2.req), document generation would error.
Solution: Expere has been updated to generate this document successfully,
Expere: eSignature date field length enhanced
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 823496
Summary: users reported that when using an eSignature date field, the generated fillable date field did not fully display a date using "mm/dd/yy format". Instead, the last "y" character was truncated (for example: "10/12/2").

This behavior has been enhanced so when using an eSignature date field, the complete date using a "mm/dd/yy" format is displayed.

Note: Users can opt for either a "mm/dd/yy" or "mm/dd/yyyy" date format.
DocViewer: Third Party Cookie Phaseout
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 822257
Summary: Google is implementing a new "Tracking Protection" feature that will limit the use of "third-party cookies" that track internet usage when using Google Chrome. As part of this "third-party cookie phaseout", DocViewer will continue to be accessible for our Expere users.
DocViewer: FooterNotice element now ignored
  • Type: Enhancement
  • Reference: PBI 813734
Summary: DocViewer has been updated to now ignore the FooterNotice element. Previously, DocViewer did not display any FooterNotice elements; however, if the REQ included any xpath data items within the FooterNotice, it caused problems with subsequent locations for the xpath in the document display. As a result, FooterNotice elements are now ignored in addition to not being displayed within DocViewer.
Expere: 2D Barcode compression behavior enhanced
  • Type: Defect
  • Reference: PBI 831295, 837547
Issue: a user reported a barcode discrepancy between two different versions of content where a 2D Barcode was generated on the cover page of the document. This 2D Barcode that was applied to an older, Static version of the content resulted in a scannable barcode. However, after that same content was converted to an Embedded PDF, the barcode was compressed, resulting in an issue with scanning.
Solution: This behavior has been enhanced; as a result, using a 2D Barcode results in a barcode size equivalent to that of a Static and Dynamic document. Functionality has also been updated so that 2D Barcodes height closely matches the barcode field height on the Embedded PDF pages.
Note: For any barcode type that contains text in the barcode, users may notice a font size difference, however the barcode and value will remain the same.
Expere: EmbeddedPDFs to support line breaks
  • Type: Defect
  • Reference: PBI 818892
Issue: a user reported that an Embedded PDF document containing line breaks in transaction data (coded as <br/>) displayed the actual <br/> syntax in the generated PDF document instead of adding line breaks to the transaction data.
Solution: Expere has been updated so that generated EmbeddedPDF documents display actual transaction data containing line breaks.
Embedded PDF document not honoring eSignatureDateSupport Ancillary Option
Issue: it was reported that generating an Embedded PDF file using an ESignatureAndFieldSupport ancillary output > eSignatureDateSupport = "false" the resulting date field was fillable and appeared as a <SignaturePoint/> in the corresponding Expere response file.
Solution: This behavior has been resolved so that if using an ESignatureAndFieldSupport ancillary output > eSignatureDateSupport = "false", the resulting date field is not signable, and the Expere response file should only display a SignaturePoint container for the signature field with an IncludeDate = "true".