Data pages define the data associated with a data object and contain the data object's connection configuration to a system of record, separating your application from the integration with the system of record. Because of this separation, your application can easily adapt to integration changes and access data from a range of sources on demand. With data pages, you can connect a data page of one object type to a data source of another, incompatible type, enabling data virtualization.

Benefits of using data pages

Data pages can improve performance and reduce memory requirements when many requestors in an application need to access the same information. For example, a data page can hold last night's closing U.S. stock prices in a Value Group property indexed by ticker symbol, so that the property reference D_Stock.Price("IBM") is the closing price for IBM shares. The first time each evening (after the 4:00 P.M. New York stock market close) that a requestor attempts to access the page, Pega Platform automatically loads the page with the latest end-of-day prices. The page can remain unmodified in memory until the next day's closing.

Data pages create only as many instances as requested. When you reference a data page by using parameters, the data page creates a unique instance of itself for each unique reference, which is identified by a parameter value. For example, a single data page, D_Customer, can create as many instances of itself on the clipboard as your application requires. Each instance has exactly and only the information about one particular customer.

Data pages refresh the data only when required. Pega Platform automatically checks the data page contents (by using a when condition rule) before each property access to see whether a fresh recomputation is needed. For example, a page might list the part numbers or SKU numbers of items that are out of stock, extracted from an inventory control system. Recomputation is needed only when an out of stock condition begins or ends, not each time the inventory changes.

Data page configuration options

In App Studio you can view a list of data pages associated with a data object, replace or update the source used by a data page, and configure its environment settings.

Data pages can be simulated, production ready, or not simulated and not production ready if the data page references a source that does not have settings that are configured for production. Simulated data pages do not have a data source associated with them. You must configure the data source before the data page is ready for production.

In addition, you can work with savable data pages in App Studio and use them to update other data in your cases. Some of the advantages of saving data pages directly in App Studio include the following capabilities:

• Ability to configure a save plan from App Studio.
• Ability to list savable data relationship in a collect information step.