Published Release Notes

Merge application-level test reports by using the Pega API service

A new REST API is now available so that you can merge test coverage reports at the application level without having to perform this task manually. This service accepts the application IDs for the test coverage reports that you want to merge and generates a consolidated report in the target application provided.

For more information about setting up your environment and making API calls with Deployment Manager, see the Documentation/readme-for-swagger.md file in the DeploymentManager04_08_0x.zip file, found in the Deployment Manager download package.

Improvements to scenario testing for increased efficiency

Several enhancements have been made to scenario tests for increased test efficiency. See below for a list of these improvements.

• Scenario testing now supports multiple actions per run, and all events that are configured as part of a scenario test are now triggered sequentially. Previously, only the first event was triggered, and the system ignored the rest. 
• If a scenario test encounters a JavaScript error at any point during the run, the system immediately stops the tests. Refer to the logs for a detailed description of the error. 
• Actions can now be configured and recorded on custom components in the scenario testing tool. 

For more information, see Creating UI-based tests with scenario testing. 

More flexibility for Date Time predictors in adaptive models

You can configure adaptive model predictors that indicate the amount of time that has elapsed since a particular event. In versions of Pega Platform™ earlier than 8.5, you could only specify the absolute date and time, for example, the date when a subscriber last visited one of your brick-and-mortar store locations. In Pega Platform 8.5, you can also indicate the amount of time that has passed, for example, the number of days since a subscriber purchased a new service plan.

For more information, see Adding a predictor to an adaptive model.

PegaWAI ruleset deprecated in 8.5

Accessibility functions that were contained in the PegaWAI ruleset are now integrated into the main Pega Platform™. Consequently, the user interface in your applications now features accessibility functions out of the box, so you no longer need to use the PegaWAI ruleset to ensure accessible behavior in your application.

For more information, see Building an accessible UI.

Post files and links with pxPostMessage API

The pxPostMessageAPI now supports text messages, file attachments, and hyperlinks. You can programmatically update Pulse streams using this API from activities or SLA rules.

Create, Save As, and Specialization forms

The familiar “New” and “Save As” forms have been streamlined to make record creation faster and more intuitive. You can easily target a specific layer in your application stack, interactively define the record’s configuration and select only those circumstance definitions that make sense for your use case.

While the underlying behavior for creating a record is not new for this release, the redesigned UI of these forms and new defaulting strategy for fields is worth noting:

To launch these forms, use one of the new options found in the action area of the form header:

Note that not all record types support the ability to specialize by circumstance.

For more guidance on how to use the Create, Save As and Specialization forms, please refer to: Intuitive record creation and specialization

Quickly create ad-hoc cases

The My Cases work area on the Case Manager portal introduces a Quick Create feature that lets users create cases and assign tasks that are not included in the processing of business cases (instances of case types defined in the Cases Explorer).  For example, a manager can create a case and a task to set up a phone conference with her staff, or a reminder to enroll in an online seminar. Users can also set up a series of tasks to represent all they work they need to do to accomplish a specific goal.

Extended currency control

The currency control can now display a different currency than the locale currency. This means a user in one country can view amounts that are designated in a foreign currency, using that currency's international conventions.  For example, a credit card transaction in Germany might need to be posted in US dollars. 

Responsive layout groups and grids

The Responsive UI was introduced in Version 7.1, and has now been enhanced in two areas, to create an entirely responsive UI.

PRPC 7.1.4 introduces the Layout Group control, which can render its contents as “tabs,” “accordions,” or as a “menu.”  The rendering choice is driven through the presentation layout (the skin), which presents the information responsively:  a “tab” at a certain breakpoint can turn into an “accordion” or a dropdown-style menu, depending upon what format would be most appropriate for the device/screen size being used.

The grid functionality has also been enhanced, so that grids may be displayed on a tablet or a phone without the need for horizontal scrolling, offering the optimum experience on a mobile device.  A PRPC Grid Layout now supports responsive breakpoints in the skin definition in which columns can drop off or be consolidated according to screen size.

Designers will be able to mark columns in the grid by importance, and at the first breakpoint, the columns marked as “less important” will be dropped off first.  At the second breakpoint, the grid turns into a “fat list,” with the most important column displaying as a heading for each item in the “fat list.”  Styling options can be associated with these breakpoints.

Improved accessibility support

PRPC support for accessibility has been enhanced to allow applications to better meet the standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), 2.0 AA.