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NovaStar Data Web Services / Release Notes

This appendix provides information about changes that have occurred in NovaStar data web services. A summary table is provided, with links to details for major versions.

Data Web Services Version History

The following table summarizes the NovaStar data web services release history. Links are provided to detail pages. Only recent versions are documented in detail. Comments for minor versions may be listed under a version that is publicly released, rather than the development release when a feature was initially added.

NovaStar Data Web Services Version History Summary (most recent at top)

Version(s)                     Summary of Major Changes in Version Release Date
1.14.0 Feature release to improve services for source line numbers and plots and enable the tslist service. 2026-01-18
1.13.1 Maintenance release to fix issues with new features in the previous release. 2025-08-15
1.13.0 Feature release to provide data for source line numbers. 2025-08-11
1.12.1 Maintenance release to improve the checkDatabase service. 2025-07-27
1.12.0 Feature release including enhancements to the plots and checkDatabase services. 2025-07-24
1.11.5 Maintenance release to improve the plots service. 2024-05-09
1.11.4 Maintenance release to enable the ts readData query parameter. 2024-05-06
1.11.3 Maintenance release to improve the plots handling of data analysis. 2024-05-03
1.11.2 Maintenance release to enhance the reports service, other maintenance. 2024-05-01
1.11.1 Maintenance release to enhance the plots service. 2023-11-26
1.11.0 Feature release to add the maps service. 2023-11-02
1.10.1 Maintenance release to enhance the plots and ts services. 2023-11-01
1.10.0 Feature release including Swagger/OpenAPI documentation and Debian Bullseye support. 2023-10-01
1.9.2 Maintenance release to fix parsing of descriptions with embedded properties. 2022-09-20
1.9.1 Maintenance release to fix handling of custom data types. 2022-07-13
1.9.0 Feature release to improve time series and statistics output for ArcGIS integration. 2022-04-28
1.8.0 Enhance performance reading data reports, fix time series read bugs, other maintenance. 2022-01-31
1.7.2 Fix bugs found for specific cases, change station statistics default format. 2021-08-16
1.7.1 Maintenance release and enhancements to support automated testing. 2021-08-12
1.7.0 Improve performance querying rated time series. 2021-06-29
1.6.1 Improve time series catalog to facilitate troubleshooting. 2020-12-17
1.6.0 Add service to compute station statistics to support web mapping applications. 2020-12-15
1.5.5 Enhance to support mean areal precipitation calculations. 2020-09-05
1.5.4 Improve control of calculations for interval time series. 2020-08-11
1.5.3 Enable custom data types in addition to SHEF data types. 2020-07-13
1.5.2 Update station summaries to handle multiple same data types at a station. 2020-06-27
1.5.1 Fix problem with installer permissions. 2020-06-03
1.5.0 Significant cleanup to support custom data types, improve interval data processing, enhance performance. 2020-06-02
Early development versions.

Known Limitations

  • limitation json output format is the primary output format in order to support software use. csv is supported by many services. xml is supported by some services. geojson is supported by a few services. Support for all formats where it makes sense needs to be implemented uniformly.
  • limitation There is currently no web tool to help form URLs. A URL builder will be added in the future. Refer to services documentation for syntax of services and format of output.

Data Web Services Version Numbering Convention

NovaStar Data Web Services versioning adheres to the following pattern, which is generally consistent with Semantic Versioning. The version may be incremented in source code but does not become official until a public software release is made.

Major.Minor.Patch[.Modifier]

where:

  • Major is a number indicating a major change to the software, expected to occur infrequently
  • Minor is a number indicating a minor change to the software, expected to occur as features are added
  • Patch is a number indicating a patch release, for example to fix a bug, expected to occur between feature releases, as necessary
  • The version may also be followed by a modifier such as .dev to indicate a release that is under development

The above version string is used in the software as follows:

  • the version is used in software installer files
  • the /version service request will return the version information
  • each format=json web service response contains an apiVersion section that includes version information:
    • the version can be checked by software to handle different versions
    • if the response is saved to a file, the version is useful for archival purposes

Data Web Services Issue Icons

The following icons are used to indicate the type of issue in release notes.

  • limitation Known Limitation – A known limitation has been documented and may impact the user. The limitation will be addressed in a future release unless there are significant technical challenges.
  • bug Bug Fix – A bug has been fixed. Users should evaluate whether their work is impacted. Sometimes bug fixes impact internal code and changes may not be visible or obvious to users.
  • remove Remove – A feature has been removed, generally because functionality has been migrated to other code or the functionality is no longer needed (e.g., a web service response data field is no longer available).
  • change Update/Change – An existing feature has been changed or enhanced. Backward compatibility is usually retained. Modifications to an existing service are considered to be a change.
  • new New Feature – A new feature has been added, such as a new service. New features may or may not be obvious to users but will generally be visible in documentation.

Software Compatibility

The following table summarizes data web services software compatibility for major versions.

NovaStar Data Web Services Software Compatibility Summary (most recent at top)

Web Services Debian Linux NovaStar PostgreSQL Java Tomcat
1.5.0+ Stretch 5.2.0.0 9 8 8