Published Release Notes

Word merge support with Microsoft Silverlight plug-in

PRPC features that integrate with the Word merge capability are now cross-browser. ActiveX controls (which are only compatible with IE) have been replaced with Microsoft Silverlight. This plug-in must be downloaded separately from Microsoft, as it is not shipped with PRPC.

Some common PRPC features affected by this change include the Application Document Wizard, App Profile, Specifications Landing Page, Specification form, and Case Type Landing Page.

Prior to using these features, Users of PRPC 7.1.3 need to set up their client system(s) as follows:

1. Install Silverlight plug-in

Follow the PRPC prompt to install Silverlight when you attempt to use the Word merge feature:

Or download package directly: www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

2. Install PRPC prerequisites

Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) browsers automatically detect the need for PRPC prerequisites and will prompt for install:

Non-IE browsers will load a pop-up window when the user attempts to use the Word merge feature.  Use the link to manually download PRPC prerequisites:

Extract the .zip file, execute setup.exe and follow the install wizard:

Administrators setting up multiple clients at once may refer to the pzSLpreReqs.cab available in the PRPC 7.1.3 resource kit.

3. Restart browser

Log out of PRPC, close all open sessions and restart your browser.

The PRPC feature integrated with Word merge is now ready for use; Silverlight prompts are no longer displayed.

4. Troubleshooting

Silverlight installation requires access to your file system and a registry setting update to “trust” the associated Verisign certificate.  Contact your administrator if you encounter any security or permission errors during this process.

See the PRPC Developer Help for more information on browser setup requirements.

Organization Setup superseded by New Application Wizard

The Organization Setup Wizard has been retired in PRPC 7.1.3.  This feature was previously launched from the Designer Studio > Org & Security > Organization > Organization Setup menu. Users are encouraged to run the New Application Wizard (also known as Application Express) instead:

This tool quickly generates an application along with all of the artifacts previously offered by the Organization Setup Wizard. This includes, but is not limited to, the class hierarchy, application rule, organization/division/unit rules, and all relevant data instances.

See the following PDN article for more details on the New Application Wizard:

Create new applications quickly and easily with Application Express

Enabling security policies now requires current password

As part of Pega’s initiative to protect against malicious attacks, the change password dialog has been enhanced.  When Security Policies have been enabled for your system, new users or those with expired passwords will now be prompted for both their existing password as well as their desired new password.

For more details, review the Designer Studio > System > Settings > Security Policies landing page.

Support for encrypted traffic in a cluster

The Pega 7 Platform includes the Ignite platform, which supports encryption for intra-cluster communications. You can now configure encryption for intra-cluster traffic for compliance with regulatory or organizational security requirements.

For more information, see Enabling encrypted traffic between nodes.

Deploy revisions directly in target environments

As a revision manager, you can now directly deploy or migrate completed revisions to multiple Pega 7 Platform environments that were configured as targets by the system architect. The revision management process is faster because you do not need to package a revision as a JAR file, and then manually import that file to the Pega 7 Platform. Additionally, this solution gives business users more control over application rulesets and enables them to act more independently.

For more information, see Direct deployment of revisions.

Batch database processing improvements

Batch database processing has been enhanced to ensure that a constraint violation does not occur when you save transactions to a table with a foreign key dependency. Because batch processing changes the order of save operations, it is disabled for transactions with foreign key dependencies. Disabling batch processing ensures that a record with a foreign key dependency on another record will not be written before the record on which it is dependent.

For more information about how batch database processing works and how to enable and disable it, see Batch processing during database write operations.

Operator presence record tracks disconnected status of operators

The state attribute in the operator presence record now tracks the operator connection status of DISCONNECTED, in addition to tracking the operator connection status of ACTIVE, AWAY, or OFFLINE. Operators are disconnected if their browser crashes, if they close a browser session without logging out of the system, or if the network connection is down. The DISCONNECTED status helps prevent work from being routed to operators who are not online or not available.

When the operator restores the browser session or the network connection is restored, the Pega^® Platform updates the operator connection status to ACTIVE.

For more information, see Tracking the online presence of operators.

Chart drilldown capabilities extended to dashboard widgets

When the chart for a report is displayed in a dashboard widget, you now can click any part of the chart to drill down and view the subset of data for that part. This enhancement provides you with an accurate view of the data that determines the report results. Previously, this capability was provided only in the Report Viewer.

Designer Studio keyboard navigation

Keyboard navigation adds speed and convenience to Designer Studio. To open the command palette and search within or select from a list of Designer Studio menu options, press Ctrl+Shift+P (Command+Shift+P on a Mac). For more information, see Navigate Designer Studio menus with the keyboard.

Define and manage features during application development

You can now define and manage the features and child features that you want to implement in your application. A feature represents any capability in your application that you want to promote to stakeholders during the application development process. When you develop an application and design case types, you can link each case type to top-level features in Designer Studio. In addition, you can associate existing rules with features, which maintains traceability and makes it easier for you to extend the application because you can identify the rules that are associated with each feature.

For more information, see Features.