Published Release Notes

Split schema upgrade instructions missing properties

If you upgraded from 5.x, 6.x, or 7.x using the instructions in previous versions of the upgrade guide, you may have neglected to set the properties below in your migrateSystem.properties file when you migrated your upgraded schema to the source system:

pega.rules.objects.generate=true

pega.rules.objects.apply=true

If these properties were not set during an upgrade that splits the schema, your environment does not have the indexes, triggers, and primary keys on the rules tables.

To check for this issue, see if the pr4_base and pr4_rule rules tables in your existing rules schema are missing primary keys. If they are, use the SQL scripts in the ResourceKit\MigrationRecoveryScripts directory of the release to cleanup duplicate rules that were created due to this issue. Follow the steps below to run the scripts.

To run the scripts on Microsoft SQL, Oracle, or PostgreSLQ

1. Take down any app servers using the affected schema.
2. Backup your database.
3. Replace all instances of @RULES_SCHEMA in <database>_cleanDups.sql with the name of the schema that contains the pr4_base table.
4. Run the <database>_cleanDups.sql script on the database with vendor tools (sqlPlus, SQL Server Management Studio, etc).
5. Replace all instances of @RULES_SCHEMA in <database>_fix_vw_table.sql with the name of the schema that contains the pr4_base table.
6. Run the <database>_fix_vw_table.sql script on the database with vendor tools (sqlPlus, SQL Server Management Studio, etc).
7. Generate and apply the ddl using the command line generateDDL command. Check the installation guide for your database or the upgrade guide for details about how to use the generateDDL command line script.
8. Rebuild the indexes for the tables in your rules schema using vendor tools. This is necessary so that your system runs at an optimum speed.
9. Optionally upgrade to the latest release, at this point your database is ready to be upgraded or used depending on your needs.

To run the scripts on DB2 for LUW or z/OS

1. Take down any app servers using the affected schema.
2. Backup your database.
3. Run the <database>_cleanDups.sql script on the database with vendor tools (UDB CLP, Data Studio, etc) to create the CLEANSE_RULES_DUPS stored procedure.
4. Run the query Call CLEANSE_RULES_DUPS(‘<rulesSchema>’); where <rulesSchema> is the name of schema that contains the pr4_base table.
5. After the previous step is complete drop the CLEANSE_RULES_DUPS procedure.
6. Replace all instances of @RULES_SCHEMA in <database>_fix_vw_table.sql with the name of the schema that contains the pr4_base table.
7. Run the <database>_fix_vw_table.sql script on the database with vendor tools (UDB CLP, Data Studio, etc).
8. Generate and apply the ddl using the command line generateDDL command. Check the installation guide for your database or the upgrade guide for details about how to use the generateDDL command line script.
9. Rebuild the indexes for the tables in your rules schema using vendor tools. This is necessary so that your system runs at an optimum speed.
10. Optionally upgrade to the latest release. At this point your database is ready to be upgraded or used depending on your needs.

Updated Word merge support with Microsoft Silverlight plug-in

Starting in this release, Pega 7 features that integrate with the Word merge capability are now cross-browser. ActiveX controls (which are only compatible with Internet Explorer) have been replaced with Microsoft Silverlight. This plug-in must be downloaded separately from Microsoft because it is not shipped with Pega 7.

Common features that are affected by this change include the Specification form and Case Type landing page.

Prior to using these features, see the release note Word merge support with Microsoft Silverlight plug-in for more information about setting up their client systems.

Locatable pages are deprecated

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.

Rules Assembly cache is deprecated

Rules Assembly (RA) cache and custom settings for its corresponding fua/assemblyCacheModeprconfig.xml file setting are deprecated because they are obsolete. A warning is logged at startup if a custom (non-default) value is specified for fua/assemblyCacheMode in the prconfig.xml file. The functional behavior of the system is not affected.

Use of the @java function in expressions is deprecated

Use of the @java function in expressions is deprecated. Use a utility function or other product feature instead.

For more information about expressions, see Building expressions with the Expression Builder.

Interactions in flows are no longer supported by the Run Interaction shape

The Run Interaction shape in flows has been replaced by the Run Data Flow shape, which supports running a single case data flow with a strategy. Flows that include the Run Interaction shape continue to work; however, you must now use the Utility shape to reference any new interactions that you create.

For more information, see Running a decision strategy from a flow and About Interaction rules.

Use of PegaRULES_Extract_Marker.txt to delete cache is deprecated

The PegaRULES_Extract_Marker.txt file is deprecated. The system uses the presence or absence of the PegaRULES_Extract_Market.txt file to determine at startup whether to delete the static content, service export, and lookup list file system-based caches. In the rare situation that you need to delete these caches manually, use the System Management Application (SMA) ETier Static Content Management page. Using SMA does not require restarting the node.

Behavior changes when reporting on descendant classes

Report Definitions that use the Report on descendant class instances option with the Include all descendant classes option apply only to the Applies to Class. Join classes are not included as they were in previous Pega^® Platform versions. The following example shows what happens for each possible scenario for Report on descendant class instances when the report is defined on ClassA with a class join with Work-.

• If Report on descendant class instances is disabled, the report runs against ClassA and the join happens with Work-. The behavior is the same in Pega 7.3.1 as it is in previous Pega Platform versions.
• If Report on descendant class instances is enabled, and Include single implementation class is selected, the report runs against ClassA and the join happens with the MySampleClass implementation class. The behavior is the same in Pega 7.3.1 as it is in previous Pega Platform versions.
• If Report on descendant class instances is enabled, and Include all descendant classes is selected, the report runs against ClassA and its descendants and the join happens with Work-. In previous Pega Platform versions, the join happened with the MySampleClass implementation class.

Service Portlet rules are deprecated

Service Portlet rules are deprecated. Existing rules will continue to work, but you cannot create new ones. Use Pega Web Mashup instead. In addition, some changes might impact functionality. If you are using Portlet rules and plan to upgrade, contact your customer service representative.

For more information about Pega Web Mashup, see About Pega Web Mashup.

Deprecated metadata types in the Connector and Metadata wizard

The WSDL, SAP WSDL, and DTD metadata types have been deprecated in the Connector and Metadata wizard. For WSDL, use SOAP integration, and for DTD, use XSD.

For more information about SOAP connectors, see About Connect SOAP rules. For more information about XSD, see About the Connector and Metadata wizard.