Published Release Notes

Enhanced security of Robotic Desktop Automation requests

Security enhancements have been introduced in the communication (data synchronization or pulling data) between your application that uses robotic desktop automation functionality and Pega^® Platform. These applications (web, desktop, and legacy) communicate with Pega Platform through connectors. No additional configuration is necessary.

For more information, see Robotic automation.

Create email correspondence by using templates

You can configure email correspondence rules by using email templates. Email templates provide custom email formats for users and give developers a greater degree of customization in designing email correspondence. Select an email template on the Corr tab of a correspondence rule by clicking Edit mode and selecting Templated email from the menu. You can also create a section as an email template by clicking Email template on the Settings tab of the section form. For more information see Creating email correspondence by using a template.

External keystore support in Pega Platform

Pega^® Platform now provides the ability to source certificates and encryption keys from external keystores. You use the Keystore rule to specify alternatives to the platform's database to source certificates and keys. You can choose to use a data page, a URL, or an external file in one of the following standard formats: JKS, JWK, PKCS12, KEYTAB, or KEY. Keystore information is stored in cache memory only. It is not stored on the clipboard nor is it directly accessible to the application logic.

For more information, see Creating a Keystore data instance.

Two-factor authentication with one-time passwords

Pega® Platform now supports two-factor authentication in custom authentication services and case flow processing, by sending a one-time password to an operator through email and requiring the operator to provide it back to your application for verification. Use REST API OTP Generation to generate and store one-time passwords, and REST API OTP Verification to verify passwords against user entries. You can also use the pxSendOTP and pxVerifyOTP activities called by these APIs to implement two-factor authentication of users in case flows prior to performing a critical operation (e.g. before completing a critical transaction such as a funds transfer in excess of a certain amount). Settings on the Security Policies landing page control the behavior of the two-factor authentication process.

For more information, see Enabling security policies.

Support for OAuth 2.0 authorization in Pega Platform REST services

Pega^® Platform REST services now support OAuth 2.0 authorization that uses federated authentication with SAML 2.0-compliant identity providers (IDPs). The OAuth 2.0-based authorization can be configured to use the SAML2-bearer grant type with a SAML token profile. This configuration is used when a resource requestor is authenticated by using a SAML2.0-compliant IDP.

For more information, see Security rules and data.

Privilege inheritance support through access roles

Privilege inheritance simplifies the process of defining privileges that are relevant in multiple classes. When determining whether a user should be granted a named privilege that allows a type of access to a class, Pega^® Platform searches for Access of Role to Object (Rule-Access-Role-Obj) rules that are relevant to the target class and to the access roles listed in the user's access group, and considers the privileges granted or denied in those rules. When privilege inheritance is enabled within an access role, the search for relevant Access of Role to Object rules begins with the target class and, if necessary, continues up the class hierarchy until a relevant rule is found.

For more information, see Privilege inheritance for access roles.

Actions available for custom controls

All standard actions that are available for autogenerated controls are available on non-autogenerated custom controls as well. You can configure actions on custom controls by using the legacy actions options or the standard options that are available to custom and autogenerated controls. By using the standard options, developers can now configure multiple action sets for different types of events on a single custom control.

For more information, see Actions tab.

Edit sections across Pega Express and Designer Studio

Sections created in Pega^® Express can be edited in Designer Studio, saved, and then reopened in Pega Express. This allows developers to create more complex, feature-rich sections and make them accessible to Pega Express users. In the section rule, you can convert template-based sections to full sections that no longer use a template.

For more information, see Harness and Section forms - Adding a section.

Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) policies for APIs and REST services

You can now use cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) policies to control how external systems and websites (origins) are permitted to access resources such as APIs and services within your applications. For example, Pega^® Platform uses CORS policies to restrict which Pega Robotic client applications can connect to your Pega applications, and to limit which mobile apps can call Pega mobile services. Using CORS policies results in reduced cost and implementation times, while providing increased security when other systems or websites interact with your application.

For more information, see Creating a cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) policy and Mapping an endpoint to a cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) policy.

Style UI elements based on their state

You can style a control or component based on its state to give users a visual indication of an element's current state, without overriding the CSS file. The styles that you specified for each state (hover, focus, or active) are applied at run time.

For more information, see Styling UI elements based on their state.