Virtual questions deprecated in 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Following the improvements in Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA), the creation of virtual questions is now deprecated and planned for removal. To avoid additional effort during updates to future releases, do not use deprecated features. For optimal application performance and efficient development of conversation processes, you now collect information from users by using the Ask a question smart shape.
For more information, see Adding a case type conversation process for a conversational channel and Asking a question in a case.
Deployment Manager on Pega Cloud Services
Valid from Pega Version Pega Cloud
Pega Cloud Services introduces Deployment Manager support, a service that is automatically installed and configured in Pega Cloud environments running Pega Platform 7.4 and higher. Deployment Manager on Pega Cloud allows you to manage the deployment of your Pega Cloud applications through staging to production environments. For details see Deployment Manager 03.01.01.
Send event notifications in Pega Platform
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
You can configure applications to notify users of case changes or other significant events that occur in an application. Use notifications to engage application users by providing key updates that might be of interest to them.
You can deliver notifications over the default web gadget and email channels or use a custom channel that you created. You can configure multiple web gadgets to display different kinds of notifications. The email channel supports notification frequency of instant, daily, or weekly.
Application users can set their own notification preferences in the run-time portals or override the set preferences for a specific case type instance.
For more information, see Sending event notifications and Management of user notification preferences.
Upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x requires downtime during upgrades to Pega Infinity 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Upgrade impact statement
On-premises upgrades of Pega Infinity release 8.4.2 and later to version 8.5.1 or later on Tomcat and PostgreSQL are completed with near-zero downtime. However, upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x requires that you shut down and restart your application server.
What is required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
Hazelcast 3.x is enabled by default. For near-zero downtime upgrades, you do not need to perform any action.
For instructions about upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x, see one of the following topics:
- For near-zero downtime upgrades from Pega Infinity release 8.4.2 or later on Tomcat and PostgreSQL, see "Optional: upgrading to Pega Platform version 8.6: Upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x" in Near-zero downtime Upgrade Guide for Pega Platform version 8.4.2 and later for Tomcat and PostgreSQL.
- For all other upgrades, see "Optional: upgrading to Hazelcast 4.x" in the appropriate upgrade guide.
Pega Survey documentation refers to deprecated field
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.1
The documentation for Pega® Survey refers to the Answer Layout field on the Complex Question form, but this field is no longer supported. For more information about the question layout formats that Pega Survey supports, see Pega Survey.
View the configuration settings for Pega Platform nodes in Designer Studio
Valid from Pega Version 7.4
On the new Configuration Settings landing page, you can view a list of the configuration settings for a specific node, current or remote, or for an entire cluster. From this landing page you can diagnose settings issues, determine whether settings are loaded correctly, and review the settings' purposes. You can also download the prconfig.xml file for any node in a cluster to modify the settings. The ability to view settings for all nodes in the Cluster from a single landing page makes diagnosing configuration issues across the cluster simpler and easier than logging on to each node individually to view its system settings. For example, if a started agent does not run, you can check if agents are enabled on your system; or if some of your caches are too big, you can check the setting for the cache size. You can also determine if settings are loaded correctly, and identify discrepancies in the settings across the nodes.
For more information, see Viewing the current configuration settings of a node or the whole cluster, Downloading and viewing the prconfig.xml file for a specific node, REST APIs for viewing the configuration settings for Pega Platform.
Survey rules are deprecated
Valid from Pega Version 7.4
Surveys that were created prior to version 7.4 of Pega Platform are now deprecated. As a best practice, recreate your survey by using the Survey Management landing page, and then reuse questions or question pages from your survey library.
For more information about creating surveys, see Improved survey authoring.
Deprecated survey APIs
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
APIs that were available in the PegaSurvey ruleset have been superseded by Pega® Platform APIs. Although older APIs continue to function in this release, it is recommended that you update your flows and flow actions to use the new APIs because they provide the latest survey capabilities, and deprecated features are not supported.
The following table maps deprecated APIs to their replacement APIs.
| Deprecated API | New API | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Work-.QuestionShape | Work-.pzQuestionShape | A flow that displays one simple question. |
| Work-.QuestionShapeScr | Work-.pzQuestionShapeScr | A screen flow that displays one simple question. |
| Work-.SurveyDriver | Work-.pxSurveyDriver | A flow that displays questions in a survey, which can be simple or complex. You can control whether the questions are displayed on one or multiple screens. |
| Work-.SurveySection | Work-.pxSurveySection | A section that displays questions in a survey. You can reference this section from a user action, such as a flow action or connector flow action, in a flow. |
Deprecated rule types
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.8
The following rule types have been deprecated as of the Pega 7.1.8 release:
- Form
- Hierarchy
- Service COM
- Service BPEL
- Connect BPEL
- Parse Transform
- Parse Transform Collection
- Parse Infer
For more information, including suggested alternate rule types, see the help topic Deprecated features.
Deprecated support for Microsoft ActiveX controls
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
Beginning with Pega Platform 7.3, Microsoft ActiveX controls are no longer supported in any version of the Pega Platform, and technical support for ActiveX is limited. It is recommended that you use HTML-based, cross-browser solutions for improved performance and greater security.
For more information, see Deprecation of ActiveX controls in Pega Platform.