Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA) support for Pega 7 applications
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.2
You can use Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA) to integrate and unify processes that run on a user's desktop to streamline work and free your staff to focus on higher-value, customer-oriented tasks. You can use automations to retrieve information from applications that run on the desktop and send them to your Pega 7 application, and you can also use automations to send information from your application to applications that run on the desktop.
In an example Call Center application, you can use an automation to retrieve information from a legacy application running on a customer service representative's (CSR) desktop and display it in your application. You can also send information that users enter in your application (for example, an address change) to an automation to update the legacy application.
For more information, see:
New formats for styling report data grids
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.2
When you view a report, the data grid that is displayed is now styled by using either the List report format or the Summarized report format, depending on the report type. With this enhancement, you can display report data differently, and perhaps more effectively, than other grids in your portal. In the skin of your application, these new formats will be added and upgraded automatically by copying the Default format for the Trees & grids layout type, which was previously used to style reports.
For more information, see Modifying data grid formats for reports.
BIX -I command-line option fails for unexposed properties
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.2
Business Intelligence Exchange (BIX) command-line extractions fail when the extract has a filter that uses unexposed property references that are passed in by the input file that you specified in the -I command-line option. Previously, the BIX extraction ignored the filter and the extraction did not fail.
BIX filtering now works like report filtering
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.2
Filtering for Business Intelligence Exchange (BIX) extracts has been enhanced to work like report filtering, making it easier to use. Existing filters that use the Contains/DoesNotContain filter operation will be converted to use the Equals/NotEquals filter operation.
New PEGA0084 alert - Search node count
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.2
The PEGA0084 alert is generated when the number of available index host nodes does not meet the quorum ((replicas/2) + 1) required for index writes to succeed. This alert can occur when some of the index nodes go down, causing the number of available index host nodes to be less than the quorum. For more information, see PEGA0084 - Search node count.
Style charts in the application skin
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.2
You can now style charts in your application skin by selecting Charts in the Controls section and setting a theme. When you style charts by using a theme, charts that are generated for report definition reports and the autogenerated chart control are styled consistently, and you do not need to style charts individually. In addition, you can preview chart themes in the Skin form to see how different charts look without launching an application.
For more information, see Styling charts in the application skin.
Unit testing support for more rule types
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
You can now create unit tests for the following additional rule types. You can also create assertions to validate activity status. The expanded rule types for unit testing enable developers to more thoroughly perform regression testing of their application, thereby improving application quality.
- Collection
- Declare expression
- Map value
- Report definition
For more information about unit testing rules, see Pega unit test cases.
Upgrade impact
With the four new rule types, unit test execution and unit test compliance metrics will change. Reports on automated unit testing of the customer application decrease due to the increased pool of supported rules.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
After a successful upgrade, create Pega unit test cases for the newly supported rules to see updated and accurate unit test metrics.
View application quality metrics by data type
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
You can now view application quality metrics by data type on the Application Quality landing page. The new Data Types tab displays metrics for data types grouped by data objects, which enables you to more quickly understand the overall coverage of the application's integrations and interfaces.
For more information about data type metrics, see Application Quality landing page.
Scenario tests are reusable
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
Existing scenario tests are now reusable in different business scenarios. Before Pega 8.3, you had to create a new test every time a user interface or process flow changed significantly. Now, scenario tests are editable to help you maintain the test stack more effectively.
For more information, see Updating scenario tests.
Improvements for automated scenario testing
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
Test automation authors can group related scenario tests into suites. The scenario test suites can be run manually from the Scenario Testing landing page as part of purpose-specific tests such as smoke tests, regression tests, and outcome-based tests. Additionally, automation authors or release managers who monitor tests for an application can disable or quarantine unstable scenario tests so that they do not run.
For more information about creating and managing test suites for scenario testing, see Creating test suites for scenario testing.