Published Release Notes

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).

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.

Connect to external REST APIs by using OAuth 2.0

You can now connect to external REST services that are provided by web applications, such as Twitter and Facebook, by using the OAuth 2.0 protocol client credentials grant. Your Pega 7 Platform application acts as an OAuth 2.0 client to access protected API resources. For example, you can connect to Twitter by using OAuth 2.0 to obtain a collection of tweets that match a specific query.

For more information, see Accessing protected API resources by using OAuth 2.0.

Access REST services and APIs by using OAuth 2.0

You can now allow external client applications to access REST services on your behalf by using the OAuth 2.0 protocol client credentials grant. The Pega 7 Platform acts as an OAuth 2.0 provider to grant trusted applications access to functions in Pega 7 Platform applications. Additionally, you can provide access to the Pega API by using OAuth 2.0.

Data page unit test case setup and cleanup

You can now use one or more data pages, data transforms, or activities to set up a clipboard page with the appropriate properties before you run a data page unit test case. You can also use activities to create any required test data, such as work or data objects.

After you run a data page unit test case, the data pages that were used to set up the test environment are automatically removed. You can now also apply additional data transforms or activities to clean up the clipboard.

For more information, see Setup and cleanup of data page unit test cases.

New assertions for data page unit test cases

You can now configure the following assertions for data page unit test cases:

• Result count assertions for page lists, page groups, value lists, and value groups
• Unordered list and ordered list assertions for page lists

The Pega 7 Platform now supports these assertions in addition to expected run-time assertions for the data page and property assertions for any property type.

For more information, see Data page unit test case assertions.

Stage-based revision and change request management enhancements

The revision and change request processes are based on the case management capabilities provided by the Pega 7 Platform. The customizable flows that controlled the behavior of the revision and change request management (pyManageRevision, pyManageChangeSet, pyApproveChangeSet, and pyDirectDeployment) are now part of the Revision and Change Request case types that govern the behavior of revision management. The change from flow-based to stage-based revision management makes the process more transparent and easier to modify.

For more information, see Stage-based revision and change request management.

Help now available for the Predictive Analytics Director (PAD) portal

Help topics for Predictive Analytics Director (PAD) are now available. The comprehensive PAD documentation helps you to understand how to develop and create predictive models that you can combine with other components in Decision Strategy Manager (DSM).

For more information, see Predictive Analytics Director (PAD) and Improvements to the Predictive Analytics Director (PAD) portal.

View external data entities in one location

The External Data Entities landing page provides a consolidated view of all the existing data entities in your product. You can access this page by clicking Designer Studio > Data Model > View external data entities. Use this landing page to identify the data sources that are readily available to use and the sources that need to be replaced with production data sources.

Enhanced data modeling

You can now create data types quickly in the Pega 7 Platform and in Pega Express. Use the enhanced Data Designer user interface to define the data model for your data types. More field types have been added, and they are categorized as simple, fancy, and complex to meet your data modeling needs.

For more information, see Data Designer enhancements.