Improved search results and screen space economy
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Theme Cosmos applications now display search results in a new tab with a variety of filters. Consequently, users do not lose their content when they raise a search query, and can adjust their results by selecting from out-of-the-box filters, such as status or type.
The summary panel now also gives users more freedom in managing screen space by being collapsible. The collapsed panel moves to the top of the page and aligns the summary tabs horizontally, so that users can conveniently interact with complex lists.
For more information, see Enhance the case processing experience in Cosmos Rules applications (8.6).
Tabbed templates in portal authoring
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Portal authoring in Pega Platform™ now includes tabbed templates that provide you with the tools to build complex user interfaces with less effort. The new templates help you save screen space and display the contents of your application in smaller, meaningful chunks.
For more information, see Configuring a tab-based landing page.
Deprecation of EAR deployments in Pega Platform 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Starting with Pega Platform 8.6, EAR deployments of Pega Platform are deprecated. In the upcoming 8.7 release, EAR deployments will not be supported. The following rules that require EAR deployments will also be deprecated and no longer supported in Pega Platform 8.7:
- Connect EJB
- Connect JCA
- JCA Resource Adapter
- JMS MDB Listener
- Service EJB
With this deprecation, you can use the latest tools and keep your application up to date.
Upgrade impact
In Pega Platform 8.6, you can still create rules that require EAR deployments and update existing rules. However, after an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.7, rules that require EAR deployments are no longer supported.
What steps are required to update an application to be compatible with this change?
To prepare your application for this change well in advance of the Pega Platform 8.7 release, see the following table for a list of alternative rules and for guidance on modernizing your application.
| Deprecated rule type | Alternative rule type | Recommended configuration |
| Connect EJB | Connect REST | Substitute legacy EJB resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| Connect JCA | Connect REST | Substitute legacy JCA resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| JCA Resource Adapter | JCA resource adapters are data records that are used within the scope of a Connect JCA rule. If you replaced Connect JCA rules in your application with Connect REST rules, JCA resource adapters are no longer relevant. | No further configuration is necessary. |
| JMS MDB Listener | JMS Listener | Replace JMS MDB Listener configurations with standard JMS Listener configurations. |
| Service EJB | Service REST | Redefine your EJB services as a set of RESTful service APIs, and invoke them over HTTP/HTTPS. |
For information on the supported platforms that are affected by this deprecation, see Pega Platform 8.6 Support Guide.
Legacy Parse XML rule configurations must be upgraded to edit them
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
If your application has Parse XML rules that use the legacy configuration from Pega Platform™ 5.x, you cannot edit these rules after you upgrade to Pega Platform 8.6 until after you upgrade them to use tree-based parse rule configuration.
You must upgrade a Parse XML rule that you want to edit if it shows the following warning when you open it in Dev Studio.
This type of Parse XML rule is deprecated. An upgrade should be performed.
An option to upgrade also displays below the message.
Upgrade impact
Parse XML rules with the legacy configuration do not map data to the clipboard, and the rule definition is empty. After you upgrade to Pega Platform 8.6, you cannot edit Parse XML rules that you created in Pega Platform 5.x or earlier until you upgrade them to use tree-based parse rule configuration.
What steps are required to update an application to be compatible with this change?
Update legacy Parse XML rules to use tree-based parse rule configuration before you edit them in Pega Platform 8.6. Using tree-based parse rules is considered a best practice.
- Open the legacy Parse XML rule.
- On the Mapping tab, click Upgrade.
Result: The Allow tree editing? check box is displayed and is automatically selected. You can add attributes and elements to the tree structure, or delete them. - Save the upgraded rule configuration.
For more information, see Parse XML rules.
Insights from 8.5 require additional configuration after upgrade
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Upgrade impact
After you upgrade Pega Platform™ version 8.5 to 8.6, the Explore Data landing page might not include insights that come from the earlier version of the product.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
Run the pxUpgrade85Insights activity to make all insights from version 8.5 accessible for you in 8.6. By running this activity, you upgrade insights with new metadata that is required in version 8.6. For example, the pxUpgrade85Insights activity provides you with the option to set the visibility of insights to private, public or shared.
For more information about insights, see Visualizing data with insights.
Connect MQ rules configured with alias queue do not work after upgrade
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Connect MQ rules that you defined with an alias queue in earlier versions of Pega Platform do not work after an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.6.
Upgrade impact
If you defined an alias queue in Connect MQ rules, after an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.6, those Connect MQ rules do not work.
What steps are required to update an application to be compatible with this change?
In the Pega-IntegrationEngine ruleset, create the following dynamic system settings and their default values:
- "mq/pmo" = 0
- "mq/gmo" = 0
- "mq/oo_request" = 1040
- "mq/oo_response" = 16
For more information, see Creating a dynamic system setting.
Embedded properties in DX API v2 requests are no longer removed
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
In Pega Platform version 8.5, when you use the POST and PATCH v2 DX API methods with an embedded page property included in the content element of the request, the system removes all properties in the embedded page that are included in the case but are not a part of the request. Now, the merge logic has been modified to update embedded page fields sent up in the request, and keep other fields unchanged.
This feature simplifies client code and prevents data corruption.
Handlebars library update
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Pega Platform version 8.6.4 uses the 4.7.7 version of the Handlebars template to generate client-side template files. The updated version, which is the latest available, introduces a wide variety of security fixes and new features that improve application reliability.
Tags disappear from Rich Text Editor source mode
Valid from Pega Version 8.5
When you use Rich Text Editor in HTML source mode, some tags disappear from the markup, which causes backward compatibility issues and data loss.
Cause
Pega Platform™ version 8.5.5 introduced the DOM Purifier security plugin. The plugin removes potentially vulnerable tags, including custom tags, from the raw HTML code in the Rich Text Editor source mode.
Workaround
You can disable the DOM Purifier plugin by adding the the window.disableDomPurifier = true markup to the userWorkForm HTML fragment rule.
Alternatively, as of Pega Platform version 8.5.6, you can add a tag to the allow list by including the window.rteCustomAllowedTags = ['myCustomTag'] snippet in the userWorkForm HTML fragment rule.
In Pega Platform versions 8.5.6 to 8.6, the iframe tag is added to the allow list by default.