Release Notes

Introduction

The release notes provide brief and high-level descriptions of the new features of HaloCAD. Before installing HaloCAD, it is recommended to read the release notes to understand any current limitations or bugs that may apply to this version of the software.

Product Description

HaloCAD acts as the guardian of your CAD files by automatically protecting them with Microsoft Purview Information Protection (MPIP) labels whenever they leave your secure IT perimeter. As a plug-in for CAD applications, HaloCAD offers access to MPIP-protected files, including label handling and privilege enforcement. CAD users will not notice any differences in the handling of CAD files because protection takes place in the background. By seamlessly attaching MPIP labels to the CAD files while they are being created, it provides end-to-end security for those files.

System Requirements

The following system requirements table specifies the minimum and recommended technical specifications, such as software and network resources, necessary to run the product.

Requirements

Supported CAD applications for HaloCAD Add-ons 

CAD applications and the HaloCAD Add-on version

Prerequisites

Before installing the add-on, ensure that the following prerequisites are met:

1. An application is registered with Microsoft Entra ID.

2. An active Office 365 subscription is available.

3. Access to the recommended URLs is enabled.

4. TLS 1.2 or later is enabled on all client workstations to ensure secure communication.

For more information, refer to the Technical Reference Manual.

Code Quality and Security

Secude focuses on software quality and security. This is accomplished by adhering to and exceeding best practices in development, testing, and quality control. Secude has chosen SonarQube as the first building block for building and implementing a robust continuous code quality assurance (QA). SonarQube is a platform for static code analysis for continuous inspection of code quality. It performs automatic reviews of code to detect bugs, code smells, unit test coverage, and security issues in 29 programming languages.

SonarQube is utilized throughout the development process at Secude, and only the highest marks are accepted for a product to be released. It helps to regulate code quality from the beginning of development, find and repair issues promptly, and improve overall software stability.

Each build report can be found under its relevant version heading in this release notes.

Reliability Rating 

1. A = 0 Bugs

2. B = at least 1 Minor Bug

3. C = at least 1 Major Bug

4. D = at least 1 Critical Bug

5. E = at least 1 Blocker Bug

Security Rating

1. A = 0 Vulnerabilities

2. B = at least 1 Minor Vulnerability

3. C = at least 1 Major Vulnerability

4. D = at least 1 Critical Vulnerability

5. E = at least 1 Blocker Vulnerability

Security Review Rating 

The Security Review Rating is a letter grade based on the percentage of Reviewed (Fixed or Safe) Security Hotspots.

1. A = >= 80%

2. B = >= 70% and <80%

3. C = >= 50% and <70%

4. D = >= 30% and <50%

5. E = < 30%

Maintainability Rating 

A=0-0.05, B=0.06-0.1, C=0.11-0.20, D=0.21-0.5, E=0.51-1

The Maintainability Rating scale can be alternatively stated by saying that if the outstanding remediation cost is:

1. <=5% of the time that has already gone into the application, the rating is A

2. Between 6 to 10%, the rating is a B

3. Between 11 to 20%, the rating is a C

4. Between 21 to 50%, the rating is a D

5. Anything over 50% is an E

Build 2.4

This chapter provides an overview of the updates and quality insights included in this release. It covers the fixed issues, improvements, limitations, new features, and known issues, along with a summary of SonarQube’s key parameters to highlight code quality metrics and analysis results.

New Features

There are no new features to highlight in this release.

Improvements

This section lists the improvements in the current release.

1. Improved token-sharing encryption and FIPS compatibility by ensuring proper OpenSSL FIPS context initialization and preventing failures in child processes during configuration decryption. HCADSW-560

2. Added support to display online documentation directly from the installer UI for both the standard and Reader add-on installers. When the Online Help button is clicked, the online documentation now opens in the user's default browser. HCADSW-571

3. Added default values for silent command-line parameters.

4. Added support for SOLIDWORKS 2026. HCADACD-574

5. In previous releases, asterisks were used in MIP SDK logs to mask Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as email names and IP addresses. This feature is now extended to HaloCAD logs to also mask information such as label name, label ID, engine ID, policy ID, and watermark text.

Fixed Issues

This section provides a list of the fixed issues in the current release.

1. Fixed an issue where a Microsoft pop-up is displayed when opening a protected IGES or STEP file, even when the user cache is already available. HCADSW-570

2. Fixed an issue where the SOLIDWORKS application hangs when importing a protected large Assembly STEP file. HCADSW-578, HCADSW-579

Known Issues

This section describes the known issues with the current release.

1. It is possible to export the protected file using the Motion Study 1 option without export rights. HCADSW-162

2. It is possible to modify the design using the Assembly features > Hole Series option in the view-only rights-protected file and save it as an unprotected file. HCADSW-204

3. It is possible to modify the Bill of Materials Part number and Description in a protected drawing file with view-only rights. HCADSW-205

4. Without copy permission, it is possible to take a screenshot of a protected file in the Task Preview window. HCADSW-216

5. Protected files can be modified with view rights, and the connected user will be updated as the owner of the file in the HaloCAD status window when the file is opened at a network location. HCADSW-264

6. If the HaloCAD Tomcat service is stopped when opening a Keytech file, the SOLIDWORKS application crashes, and the file opens as unprotected. HCADSW-328

7. HaloCAD Add-on for SOLIDWORKS cannot be uninstalled via the control panel intermittently, as the HaloCAD uninstall dialog does not appear. HCADSW-371

8. The SOLIDWORKS application will crash if a protected part file is opened from the Welcome-SOLIDWORKS screen > click Open. HCADSW-501

9. SOLIDWORKS PDM: When opening a protected file from the SOLIDWORKS PDM VAULT folder, the Save As window will appear, and the protected file will be saved in the folder. HCADSW-511

10. Intermittently, an error may occur and prevent a protected large STEP file from opening. HCADSW-586

Unsupported Versions

Support for SOLIDWORKS 2023 has been removed in this release.

Quality Gate Report

Please see the table below for a list of SonarQube's key parameters for this version. Refer to the "Code Quality and Security" section for more information on rating definitions.

Quality Gate report