Published Release Notes

Improving basic access control

Pega Platform™ has implemented a new basic access control (BAC) to protect your application from unauthorized server calls from otherwise authenticated users.

For more information, see Access Control Checks.

Upgrade impact

After you upgrade to Pega 8.5, all the functionality in the model configurations that use auto-generated controls and actions continues to work as before. However, you must secure any customized JavaScript in your application layer that makes AJAX (server) calls  by using registration or encryption mechanisms.

What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?

After upgrade, to migrate custom JavaScript functionality, see Access Control Checks.

Signature Capture control

The Signature Capture control allows you to capture a user's signature when using either a desktop application or a mobile app accessed from the Pega 7 mobile application. Once a user has input a signature, it is added to the work item as an image attachment.

Access the Signature Capture control from the Advanced dropdown in Designer Studio.

See How to use the Signature Capture control.

Address Map control

The Address Map control creates an instance of Google Maps in an application at runtime that can be used in both desktop applications and mobile apps that use the Pega 7 mobile application.

This control allows users to interact with multiple points on a map and see location details, and can display directions and distance between a current position and a specified address.

Access the Address Map control from the Advanced dropdown in Designer Studio.

See How to use the Address Map control.

New JWT access token format: Authorized Access Token

Pega Platform™ is changing from using opaque tokens to using JSON Web (JWT) tokens and the JWT access token format: Authorized Access Token (AAT). An AAT enables a client application to validate the server for user permissions and authorizes a specific application to access specific parts of a user’s data.

The major benefits to using the JWT format are:

• The JWT is a self-contained token that has authentication information, expire time information, and other user-defined claims digitally signed.
• A single token can be used with multiple applications.
• The tokens are short-lived and can minimize damage if transport security is compromised, as the token signature is verified.
• As the token is verified with the signature, there is no need to verify against a database, thus reducing latency (usually important for Web APIs).

For more information, see Understanding authorized access tokens.

DateTime control enhancements

The DateTime (calendar) control has been updated. You can now show week numbers on the calendar, disable weekends so that users cannot select them as working days, show minutes in intervals, and use spinners to facilitate navigating between months and years. These design-time options make it easier for users to select valid dates and times in your applications.

For more information, see Adding and configuring a DateTime control.

Attach Content control enhancements

You can now use the Attach Content control in Pega^® Platform to configure compression options that limit the size of files created on a mobile device. For example, you can choose from predefined settings to limit video duration or image size. These settings apply when the user records a new video or takes a new photo, but they do not apply to prerecorded media.

Also, when attaching content to a custom mobile app, users can now select any type of file from any source that is available in the device's native file picker component.

For more information, see Configuring file size options for the Attach content control.

Multi-Select list control

You can add a Multi-Select list control to a user form so that application users can select more than one value for a single field. These lists save time and ensure accuracy by supplying a list of valid values for an input field. You can source a Multi-Select list control from a data page, clipboard page, or report definition.

For more information, see Adding and configuring a Multi-Select list control.

Control group configuration for predictions

You can now configure a control group for your predictions in Prediction Studio. Based on the control group, Prediction Studio calculates a lift score for each prediction that you can later use to monitor the success rate of your predictions.

For more information, see Customizing predictions.

Limited access for end user portals

The following portals are only accessible from supported versions of Internet Explorer in “quirks” mode:

• WorkUser
• WorkManager

Improved access to Cosmos UI settings

The Settings tab in the App Studio case designer now includes tools for configuring Cosmos UI. With this enhancement, you can adjust design system settings without the need to specialize individual When rules in Dev Studio, which simplifies UI creation and saves development time.

For more information, see Managing Cosmos UI settings in case designer.