Published Release Notes

Improved rich user interface controls in IVA for Web Chatbot

In Pega Intelligent Virtual Assistant™ (IVA) for Web Chatbot, you can use additional rich user interface controls, such as the time and date picker or a simple form, to help users accomplish tasks more quickly and to limit errors. IVA for Web Chat can now also display a welcome message in the chat window, for example, to inform the user about the person with whom they are chatting.

For more information, see Streamline conversations in IVA for Web Chatbot with rich user interface controls.

Upgrade impact

The new Ul controls for Web Chatbot are enabled by default upon upgrade. If you do not want the controls enabled, you must disable them.

Also, if you have changed the styles for the welcome message, you may need to make changes to the welcome message to incorporate the new areas in the bot conversation area (such as quick replies).

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

Existing channels will behave as they did previously, so you should determine whether you want to use the new UI controls. If you want to use the new Ul controls, configure the new design-time options.

If you have changed the default styles for the welcome message, review the new settings to ensure that the welcome message is configured properly. 

Experimental high-speed data page support

An experimental implementation of high-speed, read-only data pages is available. This implementation is useful when data pages are used to hold static data that is used repeatedly. You can enable this feature for a specific read-only data page from the Load Management tab of the data page rule form by clicking Enable high-performance read-only data page. This feature does not support full clipboard page functionality; use with caution.

The following functionality is supported:

• Basic page and property access (read and write properties) for all normal data types
• Hierarchical data page structure (pages within pages)
• Dictionary validation mode
• Read-only data pages

The following functionality is not supported:

• Declarative rules
• Page messages
• Complex property references
• Saving pages to a database
• API access to the data page

View application quality metrics by data type

You can now view application quality metrics by data type on the Application Quality landing page. The new Data Types tab displays metrics for data types grouped by data objects, which enables you to more quickly understand the overall coverage of the application's integrations and interfaces.

For more information about data type metrics, see Application Quality landing page.

Property-level security for full-text search

Property-level security has been added to full-text search so that you can limit access to sensitive data. From the Search landing page, you can specify whether to include properties with access control policies in search results. In addition, for custom search, you can select which properties to include in full-text search by selecting options on the Search landing page and Custom Search properties instance.

For more information, see Specifying custom search properties and Excluding properties with access control policies from search results.

Monitor standard and custom security events

From the new Security Event Configuration landing page, you can select the standard and custom security events that you want the Pega 7 Platform to log automatically for every user session. The security events are grouped into the following types:

• Authentication
• Data access
• Security administration
• Custom

The API logCustomEvent() is provided so that you can create custom security events that are specific to your applications and that can be monitored by the Pega 7 Platform. For more information, see Security Event Configuration.

Security landing pages and features require privileges

Security-related landing pages and features are no longer visible and accessible to every user. To view and configure the following security features, you must have the appropriate privileges:

• Attribute-based access control (ABAC) policies require the pzCanManageSecurityPolicies privilege.
• The Authentication Services landing page requires the pzCanCreateAuthService privilege.

Simplified section property panels in Pega Express

When you edit sections in Pega Express, the sections display a simplified properties panel. This panel presents the essential section properties in an intuitive way to streamline the editing process. To access this properties panel in Pega Express, click the Pencil icon next to an editable object. For more information, see Runtime editing of sections in Pega Express.

Restrict visibility of scalar property values for certain users

You can use the Access Control Policy rule to mask individual scalar property values from specified users. You can restrict visibility for the following property types:

• DateTime
• Integer
• Text

For more information, see Masking property visibility for users.

Package caching is not supported in offline-enabled applications built with the UI Kit 7 (09-01-01) portal

When you create an offline-enabled application in Pega^® Platform, by default, it uses a portal with the UI Kit 7 (09-01-01) ruleset. In such a case, the package caching functionality cannot be used. You must either disable caching on the Advanced tab of the Access Group rule form, in the Offline Configuration section, or use an adaptive design instead of rendering different elements for different devices with the UI Kit 7 (09-01-01) ruleset.

For more information, see Access Group form - Completing the Advanced tab.

Disable inactive operators

As a system administrator, you can control access to an application by disabling Operator IDs. To disable an Operator ID, you can use one of the following options in Designer Studio:

• Call the Service REST: user.
• Change settings on the Operator Access tab on the System Settings landing page or on the Security tab on the Operator ID form.
• Define the number of inactive days in the security policies before an Operator ID is automatically disabled.

For more information, see System Settings - Operator Access tab, Enabling Security Policies, Security tab on the Operator ID form.