Published Release Notes

Text analytics on the Pega 7 Platform

The Pega 7 Platform offers users the capability to analyze units of text, extract quality information, and translate it into business intelligence. The text analytics functionality aims to determine the positive, negative, and neutral polarities (tone) of subjective sentences. It also provides mechanisms for categorizing units of text and classifying text elements into predefined categories. You can use it to analyze text-based content including news feeds, emails, and postings on social media streams, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

For more information, see Introduction to text analytics on the Pega 7 Platform.

Verifying that a Pega 7 Platform instance is running

You can verify whether a Pega 7 Platform instance is up and running by entering this URL: http://<<hostName:port/contextName>>/PRRestService/monitor/pingservice/ping

The Pega 7 Platform Engine responds with HTTP Response Code 200 if the instance is available. The response contains JSON text in the format { "duration":"<time in milliseconds>" }. Any other response codes or timeout indicate that the instance is unavailable.

Encrypt sensitive case data by using a secure default Pega Platform cipher and AWS KMS keys

You can encrypt sensitive data within your application without having to write custom cipher classes. You can configure encryption on the Data Encryption landing page by using your own keys managed in your private Amazon Web Services Key Management Service (AWS KMS) instance. Pega^® Platform encryption uses keys that are stored in AWS KMS to support both time-based and on-demand key rotation. Technical issues can arise in some cases, for example, if a key is deleted from AWS KMS.

For more information, see Potential problems with keystores when using AWS KMS, Configuring a Platform cipher, Types of ciphers.

Simplified deployment of stand-alone Apache Ignite servers

You can now install or upgrade Pega^® Platform in client-server mode, which uses Apache Ignite in a simplified way. The new installation process for stand-alone Apache Ignite servers does not require that you provide database credentials in a text file to communicate with Pega Platform nodes (clients). You provide this information by using JNDI support instead.

For more information, see Apache Ignite client-server clustering topology and the appropriate Deployment Guide.

Integrated Application Security Checklist helps you deploy a secure application

Pega^® Platform now provides an Application Security Checklist that you can refer to when you prepare your application for deployment. By completing the recommended tasks in this checklist, you can track your progress, access instructional information for tasks, and verify that your configurations are secure.

For more information, see Preparing your application for secure deployment, Compliance Score tab, Designer Studio — Home page.

Change passwords from Pega Mobile Client

You can now change your Pega^® Platform password from a mobile device. After your password expires and you try to log in to a custom mobile app, Pega Mobile Client lets you define a new password and verifies it against active password policies.

For more information, see Enabling security policies.

Building a Pega Mobile Client with custom modules

When you build a Pega Mobile Client mobile app using the Pega 7 Platform, you can now include Android or iOS custom modules. The custom modules must be included in the assets.zip file that contains the Pega Mobile Client branding and customization details.

For more information, see Building a mobile web app into a hybrid mobile app.

Pega 7 Express is available on-premises

You can now experience Pega 7 Express by switching your enterprise application from Designer Studio to express mode. By default, users with access to the Developer portal can switch between these two development environments. You can also create an express application to work in express mode exclusively.

Trial versions of Pega 7 Express continue to be available on the cloud. To view the documentation for both the cloud and on-premises environments, see Getting started with Pega 7 Express.

Access to Pega 7 Express from within Designer Studio is not supported on mobile devices.

Internet Application Composer (IAC) renamed to Pega Web Mashup

The name of Internet Application Composer (IAC) has changed to Pega Web Mashup.

For more information, see Pega web mashups for embedding Pega Platform UI in external web pages.

Troubleshooting Pega Mobile Client on the login screen

An offline mobile developer can now troubleshoot issues that are not related to incorrect credentials when signing in to the Pega Mobile Client app. On the app login screen, an alert box displays where the user can click a link to examine current log files to troubleshoot the issue. The contents of the displayed log file can be filtered.

For more information, see Troubleshooting Pega Mobile Client.