Published Release Notes

Ability to test SELECT statements

When developing and debugging applications, you can test SELECT statements from the Query Runner landing page. You can run queries against non-BLOB columns in your database and view the results on the landing page or export the results to an Excel spreadsheet or PDF file. This functionality is available for Pega Cloud customers who use a Postgres database or for customers using an Oracle database on-premises or on the cloud.

To use this landing page, you must have the PegaRULES:DatabaseAdministrator role or the pxDBSelectQuery privilege in Data- and Rule- in your access group. You access the landing page by clicking Designer Studio > System > Database > Query runner.

For more information, see Query Runner landing page for testing SELECT statements.

Authenticate REST data sources by using OAuth 2.0

You can now authenticate the data sources that are created from your REST integration by configuring OAuth 2.0 authentication in the New REST Integration wizard. You can specify or create an OAuth 2.0 authentication profile in the wizard by using the client credentials or authorization code grant type.

For more information, see OAuth 2.0 in REST integration.

Elasticsearch 2.4.0 upgrade

The Pega 7 Platform has been updated to use Elasticsearch 2.4.0. You do not have to reindex immediately. You can reindex at your convenience by using the FullTextindexer utility, which provides a smoother transition to the next Elasticsearch library upgrade.

Rolling upgrades are not supported. Instead, after the upgrade has been completed, shut down all the nodes in the cluster, and then restart them beginning with the indexing nodes. For more information, see the Pega 7 Platform Upgrade Guide on the Deployment Guides landing page.

Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA) support for Pega 7 applications

You can use Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA) to integrate and unify processes that run on a user's desktop to streamline work and free your staff to focus on higher-value, customer-oriented tasks. You can use automations to retrieve information from applications that run on the desktop and send them to your Pega 7 application, and you can also use automations to send information from your application to applications that run on the desktop.

In an example Call Center application, you can use an automation to retrieve information from a legacy application running on a customer service representative's (CSR) desktop and display it in your application. You can also send information that users enter in your application (for example, an address change) to an automation to update the legacy application.

​For more information, see:

• Configuring Remote Desktop Automation
• Robotic Desktop Automation

New hashing algorithm for Password property types

To provide extra protection against brute-force attacks, a new hashing algorithm has been added to the Pega 7 Platform. Bcrypt is used as a default hashing algorithm for Password property types. The bcrypt key setup algorithm takes a long time to process. This means that potential attackers would have to spend a substantial amount of time testing every possible key.

For more information, see Using the bcrypt hashing algorithm for Password property types.

More efficient load management strategies for large data pages

The processing of large data pages on the Pega 7 Platform server during the packaging of offline apps is now faster and much more memory-efficient, especially in environments with many concurrent users. Server communication with the data source is now also optimized by reducing the number of data transfers to only what is needed. In addition, all types of refresh strategies are supported for large data pages.

For more information, see Tutorial: How to use large data pages to store large reference data in offline mobile apps.

Discovery features for access control policies

Access control policies now support discovery features that allow end users to view limited, customizable information about class instances that fail Read policies but satisfy Discover policies. Two types of Discovery gadgets are provided, and when discovery features are enabled, a Discovery gadget is included in the Report Viewer and in search results. Developers can customize these gadgets and include them in other parts of an application user interface.

For more information, see Discovery features for access control policies.

Performance enhancements to StringBuilderFactory pooling

StringBuilderFactory has been enhanced to eliminate most scenarios where errors in calling application logic can accidentally cause StringBuilder data contamination within and across JVM thread boundaries. StringBuilderFactory pooling is now thread-specific, which prevents errors in one thread’s use of StringBuilder from contaminating StringBuilder objects in other threads. Debug messages were also added to help diagnose potential problems.

Enhancement for specifying filter conditions in reports

You now have the option to select comparison values from a list of available values when you add or edit the filter conditions for a report in Pega Express. This option is available for all columns, except for numeric or text columns when the comparator setting is Greater than, Greater than or equal, Less than, or Less than or equal.

For more information, see Adding filter conditions.

Roll back system changes by using restore points

Restore points save the state of your system, including all rule and data instances. You can roll back to this restore point later if there is a problem. The Pega 7 Platform automatically creates restore points before any archive import. You can also use the prpcServiceUtils command-line tool to create and manage restore points and to roll back changes to your application. For more information, see Restore points.