Support for decision tables in offline-enabled applications
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
You can now use decision tables to reduce the implementation time of your offline-enabled applications. By using decision tables you can further automate case processing and derive the logic from the data model. Decision tables can be referenced in a flow rule as a type of decision shape or called from the declare expression rule. No additional configuration is required to use decision tables in offline-enabled applications.
For more information, see Decision table support in offline mode.
Application settings categorization and reuse
Valid from Pega Version 8.3
Application settings are enhanced so that you can categorize and reuse application settings in all rules. You can reference an application setting in a rule and specify separate values for each production level. At run time, the setting holds the correct value for the application's current production level. This functionality helps you manage your application settings more effectively.
For more information, see Creating an application setting and Categorizing application settings.
Naming pattern changed for file data sets
Valid from Pega Version 8.6.3
File data sets are used to import from and export data to a file repository. In case of data export, prior to version 8.6.3, the first file exported had the same file name that was provided by the user in the data set, and any subsequent file exported to the repository had a unique identifier appended to it. Starting in Pega Platform version 8.6.3, each file has a unique identifier, automatically generated based on the data flow node, thread ID, and timestamp.
Upgrade impact
If your process to consume output files expects files with a specific name, it may not be able to process the resulting files correctly.
What steps are required to update the application to be compatible with this change?
If you have configured the process before updating to Pega Platform version 8.6.3, but the exported files are no longer recognized by downstream processing logic after the upgrade, ensure that the downstream tool is configured to recognize the files by a pattern rather than the full name. For example, when referring to files exported to the repository, use the * character to indicate a pattern instead of using the full file name. For example, use Export*.csv to refer to the files.