Deprecation of EAR deployments in Pega Platform 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Starting with Pega Platform 8.6, EAR deployments of Pega Platform are deprecated. In the upcoming 8.7 release, EAR deployments will not be supported. The following rules that require EAR deployments will also be deprecated and no longer supported in Pega Platform 8.7:
- Connect EJB
- Connect JCA
- JCA Resource Adapter
- JMS MDB Listener
- Service EJB
With this deprecation, you can use the latest tools and keep your application up to date.
Upgrade impact
In Pega Platform 8.6, you can still create rules that require EAR deployments and update existing rules. However, after an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.7, rules that require EAR deployments are no longer supported.
What steps are required to update an application to be compatible with this change?
To prepare your application for this change well in advance of the Pega Platform 8.7 release, see the following table for a list of alternative rules and for guidance on modernizing your application.
| Deprecated rule type | Alternative rule type | Recommended configuration |
| Connect EJB | Connect REST | Substitute legacy EJB resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| Connect JCA | Connect REST | Substitute legacy JCA resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| JCA Resource Adapter | JCA resource adapters are data records that are used within the scope of a Connect JCA rule. If you replaced Connect JCA rules in your application with Connect REST rules, JCA resource adapters are no longer relevant. | No further configuration is necessary. |
| JMS MDB Listener | JMS Listener | Replace JMS MDB Listener configurations with standard JMS Listener configurations. |
| Service EJB | Service REST | Redefine your EJB services as a set of RESTful service APIs, and invoke them over HTTP/HTTPS. |
For information on the supported platforms that are affected by this deprecation, see Pega Platform 8.6 Support Guide.
Virtual questions deprecated in 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Following the improvements in Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA), the creation of virtual questions is now deprecated and planned for removal. To avoid additional effort during updates to future releases, do not use deprecated features. For optimal application performance and efficient development of conversation processes, you now collect information from users by using the Ask a question smart shape.
For more information, see Adding a case type conversation process for a conversational channel and Asking a question in a case.
Send event notifications in Pega Platform
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
You can configure applications to notify users of case changes or other significant events that occur in an application. Use notifications to engage application users by providing key updates that might be of interest to them.
You can deliver notifications over the default web gadget and email channels or use a custom channel that you created. You can configure multiple web gadgets to display different kinds of notifications. The email channel supports notification frequency of instant, daily, or weekly.
Application users can set their own notification preferences in the run-time portals or override the set preferences for a specific case type instance.
For more information, see Sending event notifications and Management of user notification preferences.
REST APIs for viewing Pega Platform configuration settings
Valid from Pega Version 7.4
New REST APIs in the Nodes category provide a view of the current configuration settings for any node in a cluster or for an entire cluster. You can also find a specific node ID by listing all the nodes in the cluster. To diagnose settings issues for a node, you can download the prconfig.xml file.
For more information, see Pega API for Pega Platform 7.4, Pega API, and Viewing the current configuration settings for a node or the whole cluster.
Pega Survey documentation refers to deprecated field
Valid from Pega Version 7.2.1
The documentation for Pega® Survey refers to the Answer Layout field on the Complex Question form, but this field is no longer supported. For more information about the question layout formats that Pega Survey supports, see Pega Survey.
CRM core data types included in Pega Platform
Valid from Pega Version 7.4
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) core data types are now included with Pega® Platform, making it easier to bring your data into your Pega application. You can either import your data into the data tables for the CRM data types or use integration to communicate with your own system of record. The database tables for these data types are non-Pega formatted, which gives you better performance and more control over your data.
For information about the database tables, see CRM data types in Pega Platform.
Survey rules are deprecated
Valid from Pega Version 7.4
Surveys that were created prior to version 7.4 of Pega Platform are now deprecated. As a best practice, recreate your survey by using the Survey Management landing page, and then reuse questions or question pages from your survey library.
For more information about creating surveys, see Improved survey authoring.
Deprecated survey APIs
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
APIs that were available in the PegaSurvey ruleset have been superseded by Pega® Platform APIs. Although older APIs continue to function in this release, it is recommended that you update your flows and flow actions to use the new APIs because they provide the latest survey capabilities, and deprecated features are not supported.
The following table maps deprecated APIs to their replacement APIs.
| Deprecated API | New API | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Work-.QuestionShape | Work-.pzQuestionShape | A flow that displays one simple question. |
| Work-.QuestionShapeScr | Work-.pzQuestionShapeScr | A screen flow that displays one simple question. |
| Work-.SurveyDriver | Work-.pxSurveyDriver | A flow that displays questions in a survey, which can be simple or complex. You can control whether the questions are displayed on one or multiple screens. |
| Work-.SurveySection | Work-.pxSurveySection | A section that displays questions in a survey. You can reference this section from a user action, such as a flow action or connector flow action, in a flow. |
Locatable pages are deprecated
Valid from Pega Version 7.3.1
Locatable pages are deprecated. Use a data page instead. Data pages provide improved performance. When you save a rule that has a Locate Page Activity or when you create an activity of type Locate page, a guardrail warning is displayed indicating that this feature has been deprecated.
For information about data pages, see Data pages.
Simplified process for JMS MDB listener deployment
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.8
The process for deploying a JMS message-driven bean (MDB) that represents a JMS MDB listener has been streamlined for new enterprise applications. It is now less complicated and can be performed in fewer steps.
For more information on deploying to WebSphere, WebLogic, and JBoss, refer to the PDN article Deploying a JMS message-driven bean (MDB) that represents a JMS MDB listener in Pega 7.