Helix ALM 2025.1 release notes

Released: March 2025

Release highlights

Helix ALM 2025.1 includes the following key features and enhancements.

Improved requirement document Specification Document window (desktop client)

The requirement document Specification Document window has many usability and performance improvements, and is now more consistent with the web client experience.

  • View and edit requirement review workflow events in a document without switching to Review Mode, which no longer exists. You can hide review events in the Show notes list.
  • Select requirement text without editing the requirement.
  • Click an inline image to open a preview.
  • Press and hold CTRL and rotate the mouse wheel button to zoom in and out on the requirement details pane.
  • Multi-line text field width is no longer fixed and spans the width of the single-line columns or page, depending on which is larger.
  • Inline images that are too wide are scaled down instead of cut off.

Add test cases to folders from the Automation Suites list (web client)

You can now add test cases to folders when editing and viewing automation suites and builds.

To learn more, see Working with test cases in automation suites and Viewing build details.

Include file attachment names in matrix reports (desktop and web clients)

You can now include item file attachment names in matrix reports. Use the %ATTACHMENT_FILENAMES% field code.

To learn more, see Adding matrix reports.

Other enhancements (desktop client)

  • Scaling in the View Image dialog box is now more accurate and does not resize when navigating between multiple images.
  • Inline images are now cached so they do not require downloading when viewing again.
  • The Qt framework that the Helix ALM desktop client uses no longer uses WebKit and adopted WebEngine, which is Chromium browser technology. The new rendering engine is better tuned for multi-processing, uses a smaller memory footprint, and has a larger development community, providing improved support for HTML5 and security-related updates.

Release notes

  • (Desktop) indicates changes specific to the desktop client.

  • (Web) indicates changes specific to the web client.

  • (REST API) indicates changes specific to the REST API.

  • (SOAP SDK) indicates changes specific to the SOAP SDK.

Enhancements - all Helix ALM areas

  • Use the %ATTACHMENT_FILENAMES% field code in matrix reports to include file attachment names.
  • Updated the Jira integration based on the deprecation of the /rest/api/2/search REST API endpoint, which will be removed by Atlassian in May 2025.
  • Increased the default timeout for calculated custom fields because complex scripts run in QJSEngine in the Qt framework can sometimes take longer than they did in QtScript.
  • The Qt framework that the desktop client uses no longer uses WebKit and adopted WebEngine, which is Chromium browser technology. The new rendering engine is better tuned for multi-processing, uses a smaller memory footprint, and has a larger development community, providing improved support for HTML5 and security-related updates. (Desktop)
  • Scaling in the View Image dialog box is now more accurate and does not resize when navigating between multiple images. (Desktop)
  • Inline images are now cached so they do not require downloading when viewing again. (Desktop)
  • Upgraded Node.js to version 20.18.2 to address potential vulnerabilities: CVE-2025-23083, CVE-2025-23085, CVE-2025-23084, CVE-2025-22150. (REST API)
  • Upgraded the REST API to address potential vulnerabilities: CVE-2024-45296, CVE-2024-45590, CVE-2024-52798. (REST API)
  • Upgraded swagger-ui to address potential vulnerabilities: CVE-2024-45296, CVE-2024-45590, CVE-2024-52798/ (REST API)

  • Addressed potential low severity vulnerability: CVE-2024-11084 - Information Disclosure. (Web)

Enhancements - requirements management

  • The Specification Document window was changed to be more consistent with the web client implementation and to provide better usability and performance. Enhancements include: view and edit requirement review workflow events in a document without switching to Review Mode, click an inline image to open a preview, press and hold CTRL and rotate the mouse wheel button to zoom in and out on the requirement details pane, select requirement text without editing a requirement, multi-line text field width is no longer fixed and spans the width of the single-line columns or page depending on which is larger, and inline images that are too wide are scaled down instead of cut off. (Desktop)

Enhancements - test case management

  • Add test cases to folders when editing and viewing automation suites and automation builds. (Web)

Bug fixes - all Helix ALM areas

  • Recalculating calculated custom fields could significantly increase memory usage and server crashes when using the QJSEngine framework.
  • If the audit trail was enabled for configuration changes and a field label was changed, an audit event was not added if calculated field formulas were updated.
  • Resetting a password after logging in with a temporary password from the Forgot Password email could fail. (Web)
  • Changing a user's security group could return an error when using Active Directory or LDAP. (Web)
  • When viewing items with a client running in a UTC-positive time zone, some date field values were offset by one day. (Web)
  • Creating a new baseline could fail if baselines were recently deleted. (Web)
  • A crash could occur when scrolling after editing a multi-line text field if the cursor was in a table. (Web)
  • When logging in, the Username field was required if single sign-on was enabled. (Web)
  • Table cell borders could disappear after merging cells. (Desktop)
  • Text in multi-line text fields could shift slightly up and to the left when activated. (Desktop)
  • Field relationships were not resetting grandchildren to <not set> when changing a field. (Desktop)
  • When viewing a workflow diagram, Helix ALM could not find the diagram file when using the specified associated or selected application in the View File local options. (Desktop)
  • Pasting HTML with Base64-encoded images into multi-line text fields failed if the data header format type was incorrect. (Desktop)
  • Editing multi-line text fields with mixed text styles could slow down text selection. (Desktop)

Bug fixes - requirements management

  • The audit trail incorrectly reported editing of requirements directly in the Specification Document window as adding a workflow event.
  • When viewing a requirement document, clicking a hyperlink to go to another requirement if the server name in the URL had different casing. (Web)

Bug fixes - test case management

  • Expected results for test cases failed to save after enabling test run compliance settings. (Desktop)
  • Users could not select multiple test variants when generating test runs. (Web)
  • Types were listed in reverse order in the Requirement Type dropdown field. (Web)
  • When editing a test case in detailed grid view, the Add Step Note option was not available until the value of another dropdown field was changed. (Web)

Helix ALM 2025.1.0 also includes other minor bug fixes.

Additional notes

  • Because of changes to the Slack integration API, the Helix ALM Slack integration is deprecated and will stop working in March of 2026. Future plans for Slack integration are under consideration and will be communicated in the future.
  • Discontinued support for macOS 11.x, Debian 10, Fedora 35 - 37, RedHat 8.0 - 8.5, OpenSUSE 15.4, and Ubuntu 20.04.
  • Discontinued support for Google Chrome 101.x - 111.x, Firefox 99.x - 110.x, Safari 15.x, and Microsoft Edge 101.x - 111.x.
  • Discontinued support for Helix Core 2020.x and Git 2.25 - 2.35.
  • Discontinued support for configuring and running external reports from Helix ALM.
  • Deprecated support for Windows 10. Support will be discontinued in a future release.
  • Deprecated support for macOS 12.x. Support will be discontinued in a future release.
  • Deprecated support for Helix ALM Data Warehouse. Support will be discontinued in a future release.

Helix ALM 2025.1.0 contains a newer version of the Helix ALM License Server (version 2025.1.0).

Helix ALM License Server 2025.1.0 release notes

Helix ALM License Server 2025.1.0 includes minor bug fixes.

Additional notes

  • Discontinued support for macOS 11.x, Debian 10, Fedora 35 - 37, RedHat 8.0 - 8.5, OpenSUSE 15.4, and Ubuntu 20.04.
  • Discontinued support for Chrome 101.x - 111.x, Firefox 99.x - 110.x, Safari 15.x, and Microsoft Edge 101.x - 111.x.
  • Deprecated support for Windows 10. Support will be discontinued in a future release.
  • Deprecated support for macOS 12.x. Support will be discontinued in a future release.
  • Deprecated support for Helix ALM Data Warehouse. Support will be discontinued in a future release.

Helix ALM License Server 2025.1.0 only supports Helix ALM 2020.1 and later, and Surround SCM 2020.1 and later.