Published Release Notes

Creating data page unit tests in Internet Explorer 8

When creating data page unit tests, selecting a parent property does not automatically select the child properties when using Internet Explorer 8.

Page and page list properties to be included in a data page unit test are selected on the Create test screen by selecting a check box next to the property name. Normally, selecting the check box of a parent property automatically selects all subsequent child properties as well. When using Internet Explorer 8, child properties are not automatically selected when the parent property's check box is selected.

The solution requires selecting all of the desired child properties individually. Select the check box next to each child property to include it in the data page unit test.

Configuration required for data operations on external schema when using a Postgres database

When you use the API for data operations on external schema in the Postgres database, you must update the prconfig.xml file. No other platform requires a prconfig.xml update.

To update the prconfig.xml file:

1. Stop the server and add the following entry to the prconfig.xml file:
   env name="database/databases/postgres_ext/defaultSchema"
   value="externalschema"
   where postgres_ext is the external database that uses the external schema “externalschema”.
2. Restart the server.

Internet Application Composer (IAC) renamed to Pega Web Mashup

The name of Internet Application Composer (IAC) has changed to Pega Web Mashup.

For more information, see Pega web mashups for embedding Pega Platform UI in external web pages.

FTP server records enhanced for SSH FTP

When using SSH FTP (SFTP) in an FTP Server record, you can securely transfer files by using SSH keys. You can enable and configure SFTP by opening the FTP server record and completing the fields in the Protocol section.

For more information, see SSH FTP for FTP server records.

Accessibility support using WAI-ARIA roles

The Pega 7 Platform supports accessibility by using Web Accessibility Initiative Accessible Rich Internet Application (WAI-ARIA) roles. WAI-ARIA roles are a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ontology that specifies roles, states, or properties for each user interface element. Roles provide semantic information about features, structures, and behaviors that assistive technologies use to convey information to users.

• The dynamic container is marked as the main content area by default. When a user tabs through a page, the user can choose to follow a skip to the main content link by pressing the Enter key.
• WAI-ARIA roles are included by default on screen layouts, and each panel of the screen layout is assigned a role that is based on its position.
• Dynamic layouts can be configured with a specific WAI-ARIA role, depending on the function of the layout in the user interface.

IMAGE data type replaced by varbinary(max) in SQLServer

Because Microsoft is discontinuing support for the IMAGE data type, the Pega 7 Platform now supports the varbinary(max) data type, which will replace the IMAGE data type. All new columns in existing tables and all new tables will use the varbinary(max) data type instead of the IMAGE data type, and IMAGE columns will be automatically converted to varbinary(max).

Accessibility improvements

Several improvements are now available that enable application accessibility. These improvements affect the wait indicator, overlays, and collapsible layouts.

The wait indicator, or throbber, announces its status to an assistive technology such as JAWS.

• When loading, the throbber announces “Loading content” or other text that can be edited in the pyThrobberLoadingText property.
• When loading is completed, the throbber announces “Loading completed” or other text that can be edited in the pyThrobberLoadingCompletedText property.
• The loading announcement is set by default to a three-second delay, which can be modified in the pyThrobberAnnouncementDelay property.

Overlays are announced by an assistive technology and overlay content can be tabbed through by using the Tab key without closing the overlay. Overlays can be closed by pressing the Esc key. This behavior applies to all overlays and modal dialog boxes that are opened as local actions and popovers that are part of the autogenerated UI.

All users, including those not using an assistive technology, can focus the expand and collapse feature of a layout by using the Tab key. The expanded or collapsed state is announced by screen readers.

Date control for past and future years

The Date control can be configured to show only past dates, only future dates, or any date range that includes the current year. The Display range can be set to include a configurable range of previous years or next years. The number of years is relative to the user’s date.

Enabling run-time edit in Live UI

When you inspect a rule with the Live UI tool, you can enable editing if editing has not yet been enabled for the application. The Enable live editing link at the top of the property panel adds a run-time edit branch to the current application's definition. A similar option is available when you add or move elements by using Live UI.

Interact with cases from external applications

You can now achieve API case integration by using the Integration case-wide property to generate code that allows you to interact with cases from external applications. The Generate create case microservice code option for microservice APIs automatically generates code that is specific to your case type. This option complements the Generate mashup code option, which generates code that you can use to embed Pega 7 Platform content in another application's web page.