Published Release Notes

Enhanced swipe support for case actions

UI authoring in the mobile channel now offers more case-wide actions that can be performed by swiping on list items. For example, you can add a swipe action to attach an invoice to your expense work item. This enhancement increases usability and work efficiency as it allows for fast, instinctive mobile interactions.

For more information, see Designing a new mobile list page.

Searching for Pulse messages available in spaces

Pega Platform™ now supports searching for Pulse messages within a space. For greater accuracy of the results, you can search by applying different filters, such as keywords, message authors, and a time range for posting of the messages. The results return private and public posts, comments, and attachments that match the search filters. When the result is a comment, Pulse displays the whole message thread for full context.

For more information, see Search for Pulse messages in spaces (8.5), Searching for Pulse messages in spaces.

Automatic draft off mode for processes in case types

App Studio now supports automatically turning off the draft mode for processes in your case types. Any process that you add to a case type is in draft mode by default so that you can run the case type to check the run-time behavior even if the process contains errors. However, in a production environment, processes in draft mode do not work. To save time and deliver your projects faster, any process that has no errors now automatically switches off draft mode when you save the case type. Additionally, Case Designer now displays a list of errors that processes in your case type include, so that you can quickly locate any issues.

For more information, see Save time and effort with automatic draft off mode for processes in case types (8.5), Draft mode of case processes.

Enhancements for fields in views and data models

Pega Platform™ now provides a unified experience of adding fields to views, the case type data model, and the application data model, by using an intuitive dialog box. For greater clarity, a new field type, data relationship, replaces data references, field groups, and field group lists. As a result, you can conveniently reuse data objects in your application. 

When you upgrade to Pega 8.5, your system automatically converts your field groups, field group lists, and data references to data relationships. The case type data model now displays all the fields by default, including any referenced fields, and provides an application layer that contains each field. Use this functionality to view how the data is organized across your system.

For more information, see Define fields in data objects intuitively (8.5), Adding data relationships to fields and data models.

Geolocation tracking for the latest mobile client

The latest version of Pega Mobile Client™ now supports geolocation tracking for offline-enabled mobile apps. You can enable constant tracking when users work on specific cases from their worklists. This enhancement helps audit the trail of the case and increase the efficiency of your mobile users. For example, dispatchers at headquarters can track the routes of field workers and more effectively assign them tasks based on their current location.

For more information, see Tracking mobile users based on geolocation data.

Native synchronization indicators for offline-enabled mobile apps

Offline-enabled mobile apps now include a set of native synchronization indicators. Indicators keep users informed about the data synchronization status, for example, the Syncing indicator appears when an app regains network connectivity and starts receiving responses from the server. You can customize the indicators to better suit the look and feel of your mobile app. For more information, see Customizing synchronization indicators.

Upgrade impact

After upgrading Pega Platform™ to version 8.5, your app does not include native synchronization indicators until you update your application to use UI-Kit 15.

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

Update the UI Kit in your application to version 15. For more information, see Updating the UI Kit in your application.

Close button on a pop-up application update removed from App Studio

When you open an existing application that you created in previous releases without support for the Pega Express methodology, App Studio now displays a pop-up window to support Microjourneys™ without a Close button, to improve the usability of App Studio. 

Upgrade impact

The UI automation script might require a change if the script mentions clicking on the Close button.

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

If you have a UI automation script that uses the Close button, update the UI automation script to delete reference to clicking on the Close button.

For more information, see Creating a Microjourney for customer success.

App Studio enhancements further support Pega Express methodology

App Studio now includes improvements that you can use to plan your Microjourney™ in a more convenient way. The Overview workspace now includes a button to edit application details, such as name, description, and business objectives, without having to switch to Dev Studio. You can also access relevant information faster, because Case Designer displays additional details about channels, data objects, and attachments associated with a case type directly in a properties pane. For improved management of your features, feature categories are now available in the application inventory so that you can clearly communicate to your development team what type of features need implementation.

For more information, see:

• Editing application details in App Studio 
• Associating personas with channels 
• Adding features to application inventory 
• Creating a Microjourney for customer success

Enhanced mapping of personas and users in App Studio

App Studio now provides a consistent and transparent experience when mapping personas to users. When you invite users to your application, you can associate each user with a run-time persona or developer role by selecting an option from a clearly organized list. For example, you can associate run-time users with a customer service representative persona, and then invite a person to help develop your application and assig them a developer role. For greater clarity, personas now replace references to roles in App Studio.

For more information, see Inviting collaborators to your application.

Tracer support for Cosmos React

The Tracer tool is now available for stateless applications, so that you can trace and debug applications that you build on Cosmos React. Because in a stateless application multiple requests can run simultaneously, to provide clarity, Tracer shows the events by request ID instead of grouping the events by the time of occurrence. For greater convenience, debugging Cosmos React applications is also available in an offline Tracer tool. As a result, you speed up the development process and deliver top-quality applications that are free of bugs.

For more information, see:

• Debug your Cosmos React applications faster with Tracer (8.6)
• Application debugging by using the Tracer tool
• Pega Digital Experience (DX) API
• Cosmos React