Published Release Notes

PDF/UA support

PDF documents that you generate in Pega Platform™ are now in PDF/UA format. This enhancement improves accessibility for users who rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers.

For more information, see Setting PDF file versions.

Upgrade impact

With an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.4 and later, the underlying PD4ML library in Pega Platform changes from v3.10 to v4.x. Following an upgrade, most standard HTML-CSS conversions to PDF work seamlessly; however, if you use the following custom coding in their application to convert HTML to PDF, you may find that PDF generation works differently than expected or no longer works:

• Application layer Java in activities that directly link to the underlying PD4ML library
• A Rule Utility Function
• PD4ML tags in HTML fragments

For example, the following PD4ML proprietary CSS keywords are no longer supported in v4.x:

• pd4ml-page-break-border-top
• pd4ml-page-break-border-bottom

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

After you upgrade to Pega Platform 8.4 and later and find your PDF generation works differently than expected or no longer works, you should consult the latest documentation available at pd[4]ml support site. You may also consider using the Compact CSS instead of the application skin for PDF generation; for details, see Creating PDF files by using a compact style sheet.

Set a time zone for the DateTime control

The DateTime control now supports the selection of a specific time zone. Apart from the default local time zone, you can choose a Java-supported time zone or enter a property. For example, you can make it easier for a manager working in New York to schedule a task for a worker in London by configuring a calendar picker on user forms to show a date and time for Europe/London.

Beginning with this release, the calendar picker defaults to the current time in the time zone that is defined in the operator record. Previously, it defaulted to the local time zone of the system.

For more information, see Specifying a time zone for a DateTime control.

Upgrade impact

After a successful upgrade, the DateTime gadget displays the time in the current operator's locale, which is defined on the operator rule form or in the browser.  

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

If you need to display the system time from which the user has logged in, and if this is not the same as the time in the user's locale (based on the browser setting), set the Locale field in the operator ID to be blank so that the browser-based setting and the displayed time are the same as the system time.

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 case auditing in App Studio

In Cosmos UI, App Studio now supports expandable case steps. This enhancement helps users quickly navigate a case and provides deeper insight into the case flow. In addition, Cosmos UI also introduces an improved history view that helps you better meet your business auditing requirements.

For more information, see Managing Cosmos UI settings in case designer.

Upgrade impact

After an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.5 or later, the history and chevron designs change automatically. However, applications with custom history settings might still display the styling that you defined in the override.

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

If your application uses custom settings and you want to use the updated history, remove the overrides from the pyWorkCommonActions rule.

Tamper-proof Pega Web Mashup loading

To protect your application from hackers, Pega Web Mashup is now loaded in a more secure way. The system generates a channel ID in the mashup code for validation on the server, before passing the mashup request. 

For more information, see Creating a mashup.

Upgrade impact

After an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.5, existing mashups, which do not have the channel ID parameter in their code, cannot load and users see the access control warning.

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

If you need to maintain full availability of the mashup during the upgrade of the production environment, perform the steps in Migrating existing mashups.