Published Release Notes

Improved cross-browser support

All rule forms are now harness-based and open in the work area of Designer Studio. This means that you can develop in the browser of your choice, free from pop-up distractions and incompatibility messages. Many rule forms have been upgraded to use the latest layouts, styles, and design best practices, giving you a consistent development experience.

Viewing a Word Template in Pega 7.1.7 compared with Pega 7.1.6

Previous restrictions still apply to any deprecated or custom rule forms in your application that remain form-based. Refer to the Deprecated features list for guidance on how to upgrade these forms and recommended alternatives.

Changes to archive.info in Pega 7.1.7

In Pega 7.1.7, the contents of the archive.info file have changed.

• In versions Pega 7.1.6 and earlier, the archive.info file displays the build number of the Pega installation.
• As of Pega 7.1.7, the build number no longer appears in the archive.info file.

In Pega 7.1.7, the archive.info file only displays a status message indicating whether or not the system is running, and the build number no longer appears. Instead, if the system is operational, the message “status=Running” displays in the archive.info file.

If there are any automated tests, scripts, or applications that rely on the archive.info file displaying the build number, those may fail and produce an error. It is recommended that any automation that relies on the build number displaying in the archive.info file be changed to look for the “status=Running” message.

Quickly see what's new in Pega 7.1.7

A new home page panel gives you centralized access to Help and the PDN, eliminating the need to leave Designer Studio. Use the buttons in this panel to learn about new features quickly and stay connected to product announcements.

What’s new panel as it appears on the Designer Studio home page

After you are finished reviewing new features and enhancements, you can dismiss the What’s new panel. This hides the panel from your operator in future sessions without impacting the home page for other application users.

Clear and actionable guardrails help you mitigate risk sooner

The Application Guardrails landing page has been restructured to give you an executive-level view into your application health. Use the available metrics and tools on each tab to understand the scope of warnings in your application, the operators responsible for introducing this risk, and ways to improve your compliance score before your development goes into production.

Include this landing page in your governance process to:

• Understand your application compliance score and how it has changed over time:

  • A score of 90 or greater indicates your application is in good standing.

  • A score of 80-89 indicates your application needs review for improvement.

  • A score below 80 requires immediate action.

• Investigate the factors contributing to your score, such as warning age or severity, and the rules and operators associated with each warning.
• Review a comprehensive list of warnings and the recommended path to resolve them.
• Communicate all of these details to project stakeholders through email or exported documents.

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Available metrics on the Compliance Details tab of the Application Guardrails landing page

The Charts tab in this landing page has been superseded by the Compliance Details tab, which provides more options and an enhanced presentation.

For more information about the available features on all tabs in this landing page, see Application Guardrails landing page.

All tabs are accessible on delegated rule forms

Delegates can now access all tabs in a delegated rule form.

You can continue to customize the development experience for delegated users, such as line managers, who may not require the full set of rule form options. For example, you can prevent users from adding new nodes on the Decision Tree form or using the expression builder on the Map Value form. All users, including delegated users, can remove these restrictions if they hold a rule-editing privilege.

For more details on this process and a list of commonly delegated rules, see How to delegate a rule.

Delegate rules and data types

You can delegate business-facing application assets, such as paragraphs, decision tables, and data types, to your business line by using a new delegation process. Delegated records are displayed in the new Configuration dashboard on the Case Manager portal.

Enhanced text-editing experience

The enhanced text editor simplifies your text-editing tasks inside Designer Studio. It includes support for:

• Color coding and syntax highlighting
• Tag and bracket matching
• Auto-indent
• Search

You can use the new editor to edit a variety of rules, including basic text files and utility functions.

New context menu in the ruleform header

A new context menu has been added to the Applies To class in the ruleform header. This menu provides the following links that are related to the current rule:

• Show in App Explorer – switches the Application Explorer to the Applies To class of the current rule.
• Open in class record – opens the Applies To class definition.
• View in data designer – opens the Data Designer for the Applies To class.
• View inheritance – opens the inheritance display for the Applies To class.

Merge multiple branches at the same time

Enhancements to the Merge Branches wizard provide support for the merging of multiple branches at the same time. Additionally, the Merge Branches wizard now uses the latest user interface design.

Enhanced Expression Builder

Several enhancements have been made to the Expression Builder. The Expression Builder is displayed in multiple locations and guides you when creating construct arithmetic and logical expressions in your application.

Enhancements to the Expression Builder include:

• An updated text editor
• A navigational pane that displays functions in available libraries and properties within a selected page
• The ability to drag functions and properties into the text editor
• The ability to search for properties and non-internal functions
• The ability to select properties and functions from prompts in the text editor
• Automatic bracket-matching
• Syntax highlighting