Published Release Notes

Extended currency control

The currency control can now display a different currency than the locale currency. This means a user in one country can view amounts that are designated in a foreign currency, using that currency's international conventions.  For example, a credit card transaction in Germany might need to be posted in US dollars. 

Responsive layout groups and grids

The Responsive UI was introduced in Version 7.1, and has now been enhanced in two areas, to create an entirely responsive UI.

PRPC 7.1.4 introduces the Layout Group control, which can render its contents as “tabs,” “accordions,” or as a “menu.”  The rendering choice is driven through the presentation layout (the skin), which presents the information responsively:  a “tab” at a certain breakpoint can turn into an “accordion” or a dropdown-style menu, depending upon what format would be most appropriate for the device/screen size being used.

The grid functionality has also been enhanced, so that grids may be displayed on a tablet or a phone without the need for horizontal scrolling, offering the optimum experience on a mobile device.  A PRPC Grid Layout now supports responsive breakpoints in the skin definition in which columns can drop off or be consolidated according to screen size.

Designers will be able to mark columns in the grid by importance, and at the first breakpoint, the columns marked as “less important” will be dropped off first.  At the second breakpoint, the grid turns into a “fat list,” with the most important column displaying as a heading for each item in the “fat list.”  Styling options can be associated with these breakpoints.

Improved accessibility support

PRPC support for accessibility has been enhanced to allow applications to better meet the standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), 2.0 AA. 

Input Method Editor (IME) support

PRPC has added support for the Microsoft Windows Input Method Editor (IME), to allow developers to enter complex characters in four different East Asian languages using the standard keyboard.  The IME is a way to create input using a keyboard, by using additional windows for character editing or selection, in order to facilitate entry of alternate writing systems.

User Interface

This release had a focus around improving support for accessibility for all the PRPC UI Components as well as extending capabilities for responsive design with grids and tabs. A series of cosmetic changes and fixes are included.

• Improvements have been made for action items being opened in a dynamic container.
• Row repeat functionality in sections has been improved to better handle source properties.
• Screen layouts have been optimized for the iPhone platform
• The display on dynamic containers has been enhanced to provide the same behavior for both single-mode and multi-mode.
• The Launch Harness feature has been improved to launch into a pop-up window.
• The operator menu will now display from the Case Manager portal.
• The Primary Page functionality has been enhanced for control-defined Repeating Tab Headers.
• Using local actions defined as modal windows has been enhanced to work in an iPAD using a Safari browser.
• When using a modal dialog to open a flow action in a repeat grid, to add an item to the list, users may now cancel out of this dialog if no changes are needed.

Anypicker control is now available

The new Anypicker control displays a drop-down list of values that you can group into expandable categories for faster browsing. To save time and improve search accuracy, the Anypicker control filters the available values based on the characters that the user enters.

For more information, see Adding an Anypicker control.

Referencing Rule tool in Dev Studio

The Referencing Rule tool now runs in Dev Studio without the need for Adobe Flash Player. This enhancement integrates the Referencing Rule tool into your work environment, which improves productivity by reducing context switching.

For more information, see Finding rules by dependency.

PDF/UA support

PDF documents that you generate in Pega Platform™ are now in PDF/UA format. This enhancement improves accessibility for users who rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers.

For more information, see Setting PDF file versions.

Upgrade impact

With an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.4 and later, the underlying PD4ML library in Pega Platform changes from v3.10 to v4.x. Following an upgrade, most standard HTML-CSS conversions to PDF work seamlessly; however, if you use the following custom coding in their application to convert HTML to PDF, you may find that PDF generation works differently than expected or no longer works:

• Application layer Java in activities that directly link to the underlying PD4ML library
• A Rule Utility Function
• PD4ML tags in HTML fragments

For example, the following PD4ML proprietary CSS keywords are no longer supported in v4.x:

• pd4ml-page-break-border-top
• pd4ml-page-break-border-bottom

What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?

After you upgrade to Pega Platform 8.4 and later and find your PDF generation works differently than expected or no longer works, you should consult the latest documentation available at pd[4]ml support site. You may also consider using the Compact CSS instead of the application skin for PDF generation; for details, see Creating PDF files by using a compact style sheet.

Custom activities protection

Additional activities in table layouts

Table layouts now provide you with the option to run activities either before or after updates to a table. This gives you greater flexibility when you design user interfaces.

For more information, see Configuring table activities.