Published Release Notes

Legacy rules removed to reduce Pega Platform installation size

The installation of Pega^® Platform 7.4 removes deprecated and unused rules. The smaller installation size decreases rule sync time and reduces the amount of storage required for Pega Platform. In addition, the smaller installation reduces the rule database size and shortens installation and upgrade times. You can access the legacy rules, if needed, in the PegaLegacyRules:01-01-01 in the Resource Kit on the Pega Platform media.

For more information see Finding legacy rules in sections.

VTable dispatch mechanism for HTML control execution improves performance

Pega® Platform now uses an optimized VTable dispatch mechanism to manage rule execution for the Text Input and Formatted Text Input controls. This change improves performance by eliminating the dependency between stream rules and HTML controls during rule assembly. Disabling this feature will have a negative effect on performance and is not recommended. However, you can disable this feature by adding the following configuration parameter:

Name: assembly/section/control/vtable
Value: false

Layout groups and design templates

On the Design tab of the Section form in Designer Studio, you can use a layout group to display closely related information by using accordion, menu, stacked, or tab navigation elements. You can then create a templated region that is based on the layout group. For example, you can use this type of region to enable users to add, reorder, or remove tabs from screens at run time in Pega^® Express.

For more information, see Creating a templated region based on a layout group and Creating a templated region based on a layout group.

Actions for included sections

On the Design tab of the Section form in Designer Studio, you can include a section inside another section. To enhance reuse possibilities, you can also add an action to an included section. For example, you might specify an action set that automatically displays a smart tip when a user hovers over the included section in one case, but specify a different action set for the same included section in another form or even in another application.

For more information, see Adding actions to included sections.

Specify styles at run time in Pega Express

At run time in Pega^® Express, you can now apply styling to many controls. Styling options vary from one control to another. For example, when you style a Dropdown control, you can specify text color, background fill and color, and border width and color. When you style controls directly in Pega Express, rather than switching to Designer Studio to modify the application skin, you can save development time.

For more information, see Styling controls at run time in Pega Express.

Preflight optimization extended to actions

The preflight optimization process now excludes JavaScript for actions that are not used in the application. To enable preflight optimization, click Designer Studio > User Interface > Application readiness > Preflight optimization.

For more information, see Optimizing application load time.

Custom mobile app assets file validation at upload

When you build a custom mobile app, and upload branding assets or custom modules within a compressed file, Pega^® Platform validates the file that you upload and displays confirmation and warning messages. For more information, see Uploading branding assets and custom modules.

New appearance of smart app banners

When you build a custom mobile app, you can use smart app banners to advertise your app. The look of these smart app banners has been modernized. Also, if you upload branding assets to customize the appearance of your custom mobile app, the smart app banners now display an icon that you upload as the main icon of your custom mobile app.

For more information, see Adding a banner for mobile app download.

Ability to delete the Mobile channel interface

When you build a Pega^® Platform application, you can create a mobile app for your users. When you no longer need the mobile app, you can now delete an existing Mobile channel interface, just like any other channel that is available from the Channels and interfaces landing page.

For more information, see Channels and interfaces.

Improved Back button support in custom mobile apps for Android

In a custom mobile app for Android, you can press the Back hardware button to go back, instead of exiting the app. Custom mobile apps now function in the same way as native Android apps. For example, you can close a dialog box, dismiss an overlay, or collapse an expanded section by pressing the Back hardware button. On the home screen, pressing the Back hardware button displays a confirmation message before you can exit the app.