Published Release Notes

Accessibility support using WAI-ARIA roles

The Pega 7 Platform supports accessibility by using Web Accessibility Initiative Accessible Rich Internet Application (WAI-ARIA) roles. WAI-ARIA roles are a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ontology that specifies roles, states, or properties for each user interface element. Roles provide semantic information about features, structures, and behaviors that assistive technologies use to convey information to users.

• The dynamic container is marked as the main content area by default. When a user tabs through a page, the user can choose to follow a skip to the main content link by pressing the Enter key.
• WAI-ARIA roles are included by default on screen layouts, and each panel of the screen layout is assigned a role that is based on its position.
• Dynamic layouts can be configured with a specific WAI-ARIA role, depending on the function of the layout in the user interface.

Updates to the Event Strategy rule

When you design event strategies, you can use the Filter shape for basic arithmetic and text expressions. You can also specify start conditions for the tumbling and sliding windows.

Support for custom pre- and post-JavaScript processing for offline flow actions

Developers of an offline-enabled mobile app can execute basic business logic before and after a flow action is rendered by adding their own JavaScript code into a custom user scripts bundle. Its functions must be called within a try/catch clause. The JavaScript code, to be executed before a flow action is rendered, is always called afterClientCache is called and before DisplayHarness is called.

Support for enterprise and express applications

When you run the New Application wizard, you can create two types of applications:

• Enterprise – A full-scale application that has access to all the capabilities in the Pega 7 Platform.
  
  By default, enterprise applications are developed in Designer Studio, but users have access to express mode.
• Express – A small-scale application that has access to a subset of the capabilities in the Pega 7 Platform.
  
  Express applications are developed in express mode, and are ideal for new users or for quickly testing functionality.

For more information, see Express applications.

Pega 7 Express is available on-premises

You can now experience Pega 7 Express by switching your enterprise application from Designer Studio to express mode. By default, users with access to the Developer portal can switch between these two development environments. You can also create an express application to work in express mode exclusively.

Trial versions of Pega 7 Express continue to be available on the cloud. To view the documentation for both the cloud and on-premises environments, see Getting started with Pega 7 Express.

Access to Pega 7 Express from within Designer Studio is not supported on mobile devices.

Report Browser removed from Designer Studio

The Report Browser and Access landing page have been removed from Designer Studio. In Designer Studio, developers can create, edit, and test reports by using the Report Definition rule form.

The Report Browser is still available in the Case Manager portal.

Conditional online and offline map display

The way an Address Map control behaves in a offline-enabled mobile app has changed. When a mobile app is online, a live Google map is loaded as expected. If the mobile app goes offline, a predefined image of a map is loaded instead.

FTP server records enhanced for SSH FTP

When using SSH FTP (SFTP) in an FTP Server record, you can securely transfer files by using SSH keys. You can enable and configure SFTP by opening the FTP server record and completing the fields in the Protocol section.

For more information, see SSH FTP for FTP server records.

Context-specific documentation is not available in express mode

Help topics that are opened from express mode display content that is specific to Designer Studio.

If your system is dedicated to applications that are developed in express mode exclusively, and you do not need Designer Studio help topics, you can set the Online Help URL field on the System Settings landing page to: https://pdn.pega.com/sites/default/files/help_p7e/procomhelpmain.htm. Alternatively, you can view the contextual help system for Pega 7 Express in a separate browser tab.

End of support for form-based rule forms in Pega 7.1.9

Rule forms that are configured to render as forms are no longer supported in Designer Studio or end-user applications. Form-based configurations are found on custom rule types that were created in earlier versions of Pega 7 and are characterized by pop-up windows that are rendered externally from Designer Studio.

Reconfigure Pega 7 applications that use such rule forms by using standard harnesses and sections.

1. Open the class form.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Select Harness from the Rule formmenu.
4. Create a new harness and new sections that implement the logic of the custom rule, using standard user interface layouts and controls.

Migrating custom rule forms to harnesses and sections offers the following benefits:

• User interfaces become HTML5 WC3 compatible and responsive to different screen sizes.
• User interfaces become cross-browser compatible, rendered consistently in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, and recent versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
• Rendering performance on modern browsers is dramatically improved.
• User interface pop-up behavior is eliminated; all windows are rendered inside Designer Studio and end-user applications.