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.

Add custom controls to section palettes

You can add custom controls to the Basic or Advanced palettes in sections. With this enhancement, Pega^® Platform developers have easy access to custom controls. The Show in authoring menus check box is available in the HTML tab of the custom control rule. You can add a custom icon to display in the menu with the custom control.

For more information see Adding custom controls to the section palette in Designer Studio.

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.

Actions available for custom controls

All standard actions that are available for autogenerated controls are available on non-autogenerated custom controls as well. You can configure actions on custom controls by using the legacy actions options or the standard options that are available to custom and autogenerated controls. By using the standard options, developers can now configure multiple action sets for different types of events on a single custom control.

For more information, see Actions tab.

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.

Deprecated support for Microsoft ActiveX controls

Beginning with Pega Platform 7.3, Microsoft ActiveX controls are no longer supported in any version of the Pega Platform, and technical support for ActiveX is limited. It is recommended that you use HTML-based, cross-browser solutions for improved performance and greater security.

For more information, see Deprecation of ActiveX controls in Pega Platform.

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.

Ability to restrict access to the Import wizard

You can now restrict access to the Import wizard so that users implement an automated pipeline to deploy changes between environments such as staging and production. Deployment Manager is one method by which to create pipelines. By using pipelines to propagate changes, users can apply a standardized and automated deployment process for migrating their applications.

For more information, see:

• Ensuring that users migrate applications with a pipeline by restricting the Import wizard
• Understanding model-driven DevOps with Deployment Manager

Enhanced autocomplete control with combo box functionality

You can now add combo box functionality to an autocomplete control. You enable this functionality on the Presentation tab of the control. In the combo box, search results that match the search criteria are displayed in a list that you can scroll through by clicking the down arrow.

For more information about how to configure an autocomplete control as a combo box, see Autocomplete Properties — Presentation tab.

Tour IDs and Test IDs in UI controls

Many UI controls now support the Test ID and Tour ID fields in the General tab of the layout properties. The Test ID setting generates a data-test-id attribute to provide a fixed reference to a UI control for automated testing. You can use Tour IDs to create a guided tour of your user interface for users. For more information, see Test ID and Tour ID for unique identification of UI elements.

Test IDs and Tour IDs have been extended to the following UI controls.

Both Test IDs and Tour IDs are supported in the following types of controls:

• Autocomplete
• Button
• Check box
• Date time
• Drop-down
• Formatted text
• Icon
• Label
• Link
• Radio button
• Text area
• Text input

Test IDs are supported in the following controls:

• Grid
• Hidden text
• Tree
• Tree grid

Tour IDs are supported in:

• Dynamic layouts