Published Release Notes

Faster, contextual editing of case types

Case Designer now includes a contextual property panel that helps you to quickly configure behavior in your case type. It supports case-wide properties, stage properties, and properties that are specific to an individual step.

When you click a stage or step in your case type, only relevant fields and controls are displayed, allowing you to stay focused and make decisions faster. Online help is also integrated with the property panel to give you just-in-time information.

For more information, see Contextual property panel in Case Designer.

Simplified creation of case types

A wizard is now available in the Case Type Explorer that walks you through the process of creating a case type. Helper text and default values gradually introduce you to stage-based case types to facilitate your transition from the wizard to Case Designer. To run the wizard, click Add a case type or select Add a child case type from the menu of an existing case type in the Case Type Explorer.

For more information about this wizard, see Case type wizard in the Case Type Explorer. 

Enhanced options for resolution stages

When configuring a stage that resolves cases in Case Designer, you can now:

• Create a new resolution status.
• Select the status that is assigned to a case when it completes the last step in the stage.
• Instruct your application to close all open assignments when a case is resolved.

At run time, the audit trail of a case includes entries that capture the time that the case was resolved and open assignments were closed. To access the configuration options for a resolution stage, click Resolve the case on the General tab of the contextual property panel in Case Designer.

For more information about configuring a resolution stage, see Options for a stage that resolves cases.

Schema not found error when importing a Rule-Admin-Product file

If you import a Rule-Admin-Product file (RAP) file that includes a schema that has a view, grammar parsing changes can mean that the Pega 7 Platform is unable to find the schema.

To enable the Pega 7 Platform to find the schema:

1. Review the error message that indicates that the schema was not found and identify the following items:
   • The name of the schema that is causing the error
   • The table name in the format: wrong_schema_name.table_name...
   • The DDL that the Pega 7 Platform is trying to apply
2. Use the table name to identify the correct schema name in your system. This schema is usually your data schema, but might also be an external database.
3. Download the DDL.
4. Correct the schema name and save the DDL.
5. Manually apply the DDL.

End of support for Netscape Plugin API in Google Chrome 45

Beginning with Chrome 45, which is expected to be available in September 2015, Google is ending support for browser plug-ins that rely on the Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI) architecture. These plug-ins include Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash Player, and Java.

The Pega 7 Platform includes several optional features that use these plug-ins. For a detailed overview of these features, see Client-side technologies.

WebSphere log error with Java 8 for Enterprise JavaBeans

For environments that are deployed by using Java 8 on IBM WebSphere Application Server version 8.5.5.9 through the last 8.5.5.x fix pack, the log might report that a class was not found when the application server attempts to start Enterprise JavaBeans. If Java EE functionality is not needed, no further action is required. However, to use Enterprise JavaBeans, see WebSphere log error with Java 8 for Enterprise JavaBeans.

Unit testing support for more rule types

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.

Use Page-Change-Class method to change a Page class

With the release of Pega Platform™ 8.3, using the Property-Set method to change the Page class shows a guardrail warning. Use the Page-Change-Class method to change the Page class instead.

For more information about the Page-Change-Class method, see Changing the class of a page and Page-Change-Class method.

View application quality metrics by data type

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

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.