Published Release Notes

Personalized views in table layouts

Table layouts now provide users with the option to save preferred run-time configurations, such as column visibility and filtering, as permanent profiles. This enhancement helps users create dedicated views for specific work scenarios, which reduces the need for repetitive adjustments to the user interface and improves productivity.

For more information, see Enabling table personalization.

Upgrade impact

After an upgrade to 8.4 and later, the default table toolbar styling and experience may be unexpectedly different for any customized tables in a client's application: if you enabled a tool bar action for a personalizable table and the 8.4 application overrides your customization, your application now displays the default 8.4 table toolbar.

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

Existing clients that upgrade to Pega Platform 8.4 and later may need to update applications in some scenarios. Any custom actions present in the overridden section may need to be re-authored into this toolbar using the additional actions section.

Improved mobile app user experience

Pega Platform™ can now produce a better mobile experience through performance gains and flexible access settings. Apps now support quick-loading native worklists, smooth scrolling and swiping, and query-based search, which improve productivity for mobile users. In addition, you can make your app available to users without authentication, and enhance usability for products that do not require strict security controls.

For more information, see Securing mobile apps.

More efficient mobile development

The work environment for mobile app developers in Pega Platform™ is now more intuitive. Because every new out-of-the-box application now comes with a preconfigured mobile channel, you can start building mobile apps straight away. Create a mobile channel from scratch, and then customize it to include specific requirements for your new app.

The following updates enhance the process of building mobile apps:

• Your application stores all mobile channels as rules. You can reuse these channels across all versions of your mobile apps for more convenient updates.
• You can now configure contextual search from the mobile channel.
• You can now create native mobile list pages for the app navigation directly from the mobile channel.
• You can now add pages from web portals to a mobile app navigation pane, with full support for native mobile features, such as floating action buttons.
• Mobile channels now support configuration through predefined templates, widgets, and actions.
• You can now instantly preview your mobile channel configuration to see how the app displays on mobile devices.
• Configuration of offline support for mobile apps is now available from a single, low-code page.
• The preview section now offers a low-code pane, from which you can instantly start building a mobile app.
• The mobile channel now supports adding custom iOS and Android modules.
• Admin Studio now supports a mobile page, from which you can provide your own Mobile Build Server credentials and decide whether users need to provide authentication to download your mobile app.

Improved offline support for mobile apps

The updated offline mode in Pega Platform™ now reduces implementation time, enhances the development process, and helps you create a more comprehensive mobile experience for users without a reliable web connection.

The improved offline support includes the following enhancements:

• Offline-enabled apps now use native mobile UI components, such as headers and bottom bars.
• Offline mode now supports decision trees for improved case processing. 
• Users can now process multiple cases simultaneously in separate offline tabs, which leads to higher productivity.
• Offline-enabled apps now work more efficiently because of improved caching and background synchronization.

For more information, see Working with offline apps.

Mobile features deprecated in 8.4

Following the introduction of new functionalities for mobile apps, some features are reaching end of life. To avoid additional effort during updates to future releases, do not use deprecated features.

In the 8.4 release, the following features are no longer recommended:

• Mobile Client 7 is now deprecated and planned for removal in 8.5. Use Pega Infinity Mobile Client to meet the mobile needs of your business.
• The Reuse existing web portal functionality is deprecated and planned for removal in 8.5. For improved app performance and more efficient development, use the mobile app builder in the mobile channel. Also, you must convert existing projects to use separate channels for mobile and web portals before upgrading to 8.5.

In addition, the Pega Mobile Express app has been removed from app stores and replaced with the Pega Mobile Preview app.

Default views for cases and data objects

Pega Platform™ now generates default views for new case types and data objects. Because of this feature, your application now automatically creates a case summary and case details view for every new case type, and a list view for each data object. The default views automate a common recurring task, and improve productivity by reducing development effort.

Improved view authoring

Case authoring in Cosmos React UI now features updated view authoring tools. The redesigned view tab and overlay provide a more intuitive interface for creating views, applying design templates, and adding fields and controls. This enhanced work environment improves the user experience and reduces context switching, which contributes to a lower development effort.

For more information, see Editing views in a case type.

Enhanced tables in Cosmos React UI

The Pega Platform™ Cosmos React UI environment now includes improved tables. The updated tables use a revamped graphic design and support a number of new run-time behaviors, including column freezing and advanced filtering. The added features improve the user experience by giving case workers more control over data in tables, while the revised architecture enhances efficiency and reliability.

More intuitive portal authoring

Pega Platform™ now features an updated portal authoring interface that provides you with tools to edit landing pages, case pages, and portal settings all in one place. The interface also includes a live preview section that speeds up prototyping, encourages experimentation, and makes the authoring experience more user-friendly.

For more information, see Enabling Cosmos React UI for landing pages.

Cosmos React UI is now available in Pega Platform

Pega Platform™ now provides you with tools to develop React-based applications in App Studio. This enhancement, which was developed as part of Project Fnx, uses components that rely on the ReactJS library to power the Cosmos design system. The updated UI technology improves application performance, creates a better user experience, and provides greater flexibility for front-end developers by drawing from a well-established open-source technology.

In Pega Platform 8.5, Cosmos React UI is an opt-in beta. For more information about using Cosmos React UI in your application, see Previewing Cosmos React UI.

To learn about Project Fnx, see Project Fnx.