Published Release Notes

End of support for form-based rule forms in Pega 7.1.9

Rule forms that are configured to render as forms are no longer supported in Designer Studio or end-user applications. Form-based configurations are found on custom rule types that were created in earlier versions of Pega 7 and are characterized by pop-up windows that are rendered externally from Designer Studio.

Reconfigure Pega 7 applications that use such rule forms by using standard harnesses and sections.

1. Open the class form.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Select Harness from the Rule formmenu.
4. Create a new harness and new sections that implement the logic of the custom rule, using standard user interface layouts and controls.

Migrating custom rule forms to harnesses and sections offers the following benefits:

• User interfaces become HTML5 WC3 compatible and responsive to different screen sizes.
• User interfaces become cross-browser compatible, rendered consistently in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and recent versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
• Rendering performance on modern browsers is dramatically improved.
• User interface pop-up behavior is eliminated; all windows are rendered inside Designer Studio and end-user applications.

Pega 7 Express is available on-premises

You can now experience Pega 7 Express by switching your enterprise application from Designer Studio to express mode. By default, users with access to the Developer portal can switch between these two development environments. You can also create an express application to work in express mode exclusively.

Trial versions of Pega 7 Express continue to be available on the cloud. To view the documentation for both the cloud and on-premises environments, see Getting started with Pega 7 Express.

Access to Pega 7 Express from within Designer Studio is not supported on mobile devices.

Context-specific documentation is not available in express mode

Help topics that are opened from express mode display content that is specific to Designer Studio.

If your system is dedicated to applications that are developed in express mode exclusively, and you do not need Designer Studio help topics, you can set the Online Help URL field on the System Settings landing page to: https://pdn.pega.com/sites/default/files/help_p7e/procomhelpmain.htm. Alternatively, you can view the contextual help system for Pega 7 Express in a separate browser tab.

Design-time limitations in express mode

Some limitations apply when you develop an enterprise application in express mode. At design time, some features are disabled or have limited options when you configure them in Designer Studio and switch to express mode. The use of these features does not restrict the run-time behavior of your application; however, you cannot change the configuration of these features unless you switch from express mode to Designer Studio.

For more information about each limitation and the recommended action to take, see the following information:

• Pega 7.2.2 Design-time limitations in express mode
• Pega 7.2.1 Design-time limitations in express mode
• Pega 7.2 Design-time limitations in express mode
• Pega 7.1.9 Design-time limitations in express mode

Add subspaces within spaces

You can now create subspaces within spaces. By adding a subspace, you can collaborate on a subtopic that is related to the topic of the parent space. For example, you can create an Annual Day subspace within the Events space.

For more information, see Creating a subspace.

Improvements to email case triaging

Improvements to Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant™ (IVA) for Email make the system more robust and user friendly. When you reply to emails in a triage case, you can forward the email, reply to all, and use the carbon copy (cc) and blind carbon copy (bcc) fields. You can also send Pulse messages to discuss an email case without exposing the information to external users. You are notified in the Email Manager and Case Manager portal if you receive Pulse messages. Even when an email case has been resolved and appears as read-only, you can still send Pulse messages.

For more information, see Email Manager portal and Email triage.

Improve clipboard performance for Service REST

Improve clipboard performance in Service REST processing by using the new Lightweight clipboard mode option. This mode does not support all clipboard features.

For a list of supported and unsupported features, see Service REST form - Completing the Service tab.

Improvements to the Email channel configuration and content analysis

To make the Intelligent Virtual Assistant™ (IVA) for Email more useful and easier to manage, you can track all the Email channel configuration changes that you or other operators make. The system now also detects defined entities and topics, not only in the contents of the email messages and its attached files, but also in the email subject field which improves the responsiveness of IVA to emails. You can map same text that appears in an email triage case to different entities. In previous versions of Pega Platform, only the email body was analyzed but with subject analysis, now the entire email is analyzed for topics and entities, including its salutation and signature.

For more information, see Tracking configuration changes in the Email channel and Enabling the analysis of subject field content during email triage.

Support for large binary data item storage in Pega Client for Windows

Pega Client for Windows can now store and synchronize large binary data items and their corresponding actions from the action queue. As a result, offline-enabled application users can view, attach, and delete data files from within a case view, whether the Windows-based device is online or offline. To use this feature, enable offline case attachment support, which allows offline-enabled applications to synchronize case attachments between Pega Platform™ and the device.

For more information, see Attach content support in offline mode and Enabling offline case attachments support.

Facebook and Web Chatbot configuration in the preview console

When you develop a Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant™ (IVA) for Facebook or Web Chatbot, you can now teach interactive bot conversations by chatting with the bot in the preview console and guiding the artificial intelligence algorithm to the right responses. This ability greatly accelerates conversation development and simplifies configuration, while providing the developer with more transparency in the mechanisms that produce specific responses.

For more information, see Simulating a conversation and building a chatbot runtime and Testing and building a chatbot from the preview console.