Best practices for updating mobile apps
New versions of Pega Mobile Client are backwards-compatible with most of the features that are available in earlier versions. However, an update to the latest Pega Platform version adds new features and enhancements to the low-code prescriptive authoring environment, in which you can develop your app.
The following best practices ensure that your apps work correctly after the update.Authentication
- When you update from earlier Pega Platform versions to
Pega Infinity, use SAML, OpenID Connect, or basic
authentication type services instead of custom authentication services.
For more information, see Authentication services.
- Contrary to earlier Pega Mobile Client 7 versions, in new releases of Pega Mobile Client, user data is cleared when another user signs in to the app.
- Never regenerate the client secret for a client registration data instance that was generated for your mobile channel.
- When you update from an environment that is already on a Pega Infinity version, remember that an export of a mobile channel instance already includes a client registration data instance. Therefore, mobile apps from your earlier Pega Infinity versions can work after the update.
Branding
- Define the branding and theme of your app directly in the mobile channel.
For more information, see Customizing the theme of mobile apps.
- Avoid customizing the branding of your app by uploading branding assets or modifying skins in your application.
Navigation
- Build the navigation of your app in the mobile channel, instead of manually
configuring and overriding navigation rules.
For more information, see Adding items to the menu bar.
- Reuse the required harnesses by selecting them from the list of pages in the
navigation configuration in the mobile channel.
For more information, see Adding items to the menu bar.
Layout and user interface
- Follow all recommended UI and mobile app guidelines.
For more information, see Designing applications for mobile use and Designing applications for offline mode.
- In the UI of your application, consider replacing harnesses that include
repeating dynamic layouts with mobile list pages that you can author in the
mobile channel.
For more information, see Authoring mobile list pages.
Customizations
- Avoid any JavaScript customizations and custom modules; instead, build and
configure your app in the mobile authoring model.
Check if the out-of-the-box authoring in later versions supports processes that required customizations in earlier Pega Platform versions.
- Avoid using iframes.
Ruleset sharing
- Use only one unlocked ruleset for mobile app development. If you want to make changes in multiple rulesets, use branches.
- If you want to share rulesets between applications or between versions of the same application, ensure that the rulesets are locked.
- If you want to share rulesets between applications or between versions of the same application, ensure that a shared ruleset does not contain a mobile channel interface rule instance. An instance of a mobile channel is bound to only one Pega Platform application version – the one within the context of which it was created.
Legacy mobile channels
- Update legacy mobile channels that reuse web portals to Pega Mobile Client-based channels.
For more information, see Updating mobile channels that reuse web portals.
Push notifications
- In Pega Mobile Client, the app displays push notifications on the banner at the top of the screen of the mobile device first, even if the app is in the foreground.
Migration
- If you migrate your application from earlier Pega Platform
versions, ensure that the data page that you use as a source for a mobile list
page contains the pzInsKey property.
For more information about configuring mobile list pages, see Authoring mobile list pages.
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