Published Release Notes

Batch database processing improvements

Batch database processing has been enhanced to ensure that a constraint violation does not occur when you save transactions to a table with a foreign key dependency. Because batch processing changes the order of save operations, it is disabled for transactions with foreign key dependencies. Disabling batch processing ensures that a record with a foreign key dependency on another record will not be written before the record on which it is dependent.

For more information about how batch database processing works and how to enable and disable it, see Batch processing during database write operations.

Operator presence record tracks disconnected status of operators

The state attribute in the operator presence record now tracks the operator connection status of DISCONNECTED, in addition to tracking the operator connection status of ACTIVE, AWAY, or OFFLINE. Operators are disconnected if their browser crashes, if they close a browser session without logging out of the system, or if the network connection is down. The DISCONNECTED status helps prevent work from being routed to operators who are not online or not available.

When the operator restores the browser session or the network connection is restored, the Pega^® Platform updates the operator connection status to ACTIVE.

For more information, see Tracking the online presence of operators.

Chart drilldown capabilities extended to dashboard widgets

When the chart for a report is displayed in a dashboard widget, you now can click any part of the chart to drill down and view the subset of data for that part. This enhancement provides you with an accurate view of the data that determines the report results. Previously, this capability was provided only in the Report Viewer.

Designer Studio keyboard navigation

Keyboard navigation adds speed and convenience to Designer Studio. To open the command palette and search within or select from a list of Designer Studio menu options, press Ctrl+Shift+P (Command+Shift+P on a Mac). For more information, see Navigate Designer Studio menus with the keyboard.

Enhanced autocomplete control with combo box functionality

You can now add combo box functionality to an autocomplete control. You enable this functionality on the Presentation tab of the control. In the combo box, search results that match the search criteria are displayed in a list that you can scroll through by clicking the down arrow.

For more information about how to configure an autocomplete control as a combo box, see Autocomplete Properties — Presentation tab.

Enhancements to exporting report results to Excel

When you export report results to Excel, the .xlsx file that the export process generates is smaller, opens faster, and no longer displays a security warning when you open it. Excel handles more of the formatting, and DateTime, Date, TimeOfDay, and Numeric properties are exported in a format that Excel recognizes. In addition, columns have sorting and filtering enabled by default.

These enhancements are enabled by default and provide improvements to performance and memory usage, especially with large data sets. You can disable this new default behavior by modifying the pyEnableExportToAdvancedExcelFormat when rule. For more information, see Disabling the default functionality for exporting reports to Excel.

Improve cluster security by limiting concurrent operator sessions

You can increase the security of a Pega^® Platform cluster by limiting the number of concurrent sessions allowed for each operator. Because operators typically do not require multiple concurrent sessions for performing their work, limiting the number of sessions reduces the chance that an unknown or untrusted person could access systems in the cluster. Use the new setting Number of concurrent sessions allowed for each operator on the Production tab of the System Data Instance form to configure the number of concurrent sessions for operators. You must restart your system when you change this setting. You can also create a list of operators by using the presence/maxsessions/operators/whitelist Dynamic System Setting, to which the maximum number of concurrent sessions setting will not apply.

For more information, see System form - Completing the Production tab.

New System Queue Management landing page

You can manage your system queues from the new System Queue Management landing page. You can use this landing page to quickly and efficiently debug applications without exiting Designer Studio. In addition to viewing items in a queue, you can defer, remove, and requeue items in a queue, stop items in progress, and view an item's XML.

As a result of this enhancement, the Broken Queue landing page has been removed.

For more information, see System Queue Management landing page.

Consistent authoring experience for sections

Section references inside a dynamic layout have the same configuration options as a top-level section within a section (section include). Section references reduce the need for included sections, reduce the size of the document object model (DOM), and provide a more consistent authoring experience. You can specify a container format, set view and update privileges, and defer content load for sections within or outside of a dynamic layout. For more information see Harness and Section forms - Adding a section.

Data encryption across search nodes

You can now encrypt communication among search nodes. Encryption secures the data that is transferred across nodes so that it cannot be accessed by unauthorized hosts. Encryption is enabled by default for new installations and upgrades from Pega^® 7.1.6 or earlier to Pega 7.3. Encryption is not enabled by default for upgrades from Pega 7.1.7 or later to Pega 7.3. You can enable and disable search encryption from the Search landing page or by using the indexing/distributed/enable_inter_node_encryption Dynamic System Setting.

For more information, see Enabling and disabling encryption for communication among search nodes.