Deprecation of EAR deployments in Pega Platform 8.6
Valid from Pega Version 8.6
Starting with Pega Platform 8.6, EAR deployments of Pega Platform are deprecated. In the upcoming 8.7 release, EAR deployments will not be supported. The following rules that require EAR deployments will also be deprecated and no longer supported in Pega Platform 8.7:
- Connect EJB
- Connect JCA
- JCA Resource Adapter
- JMS MDB Listener
- Service EJB
With this deprecation, you can use the latest tools and keep your application up to date.
Upgrade impact
In Pega Platform 8.6, you can still create rules that require EAR deployments and update existing rules. However, after an upgrade to Pega Platform 8.7, rules that require EAR deployments are no longer supported.
What steps are required to update an application to be compatible with this change?
To prepare your application for this change well in advance of the Pega Platform 8.7 release, see the following table for a list of alternative rules and for guidance on modernizing your application.
| Deprecated rule type | Alternative rule type | Recommended configuration |
| Connect EJB | Connect REST | Substitute legacy EJB resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| Connect JCA | Connect REST | Substitute legacy JCA resources with a REST API, and use REST connectors to interact with them. |
| JCA Resource Adapter | JCA resource adapters are data records that are used within the scope of a Connect JCA rule. If you replaced Connect JCA rules in your application with Connect REST rules, JCA resource adapters are no longer relevant. | No further configuration is necessary. |
| JMS MDB Listener | JMS Listener | Replace JMS MDB Listener configurations with standard JMS Listener configurations. |
| Service EJB | Service REST | Redefine your EJB services as a set of RESTful service APIs, and invoke them over HTTP/HTTPS. |
For information on the supported platforms that are affected by this deprecation, see Pega Platform 8.6 Support Guide.
EAR support for JBoss EAP 6
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.5
PRPC deployment in JBoss EAP 6 as an EAR archive is now supported.
If you need to deploy the JBoss EAR file, go to My Support Portal and submit a Support Request. GCS can assist you with the procedure.
Agents not running after update of EAR-based deployment
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
If you update an EAR-file deployment and your update meets both of the following criteria, you must redeploy the prpc_*.ear file for your application server after you complete the update to avoid agent-related errors:
- Updating from Pega 7.1.7, Pega 7.1.8, or Pega 7.1.9
- Updating to Pega 7.1.10, 7.1.11, 7.2, or 7.2.1
If you do not redeploy the prpc_*.ear file, you will see the agent-related issues that are described in the support article Agents are not running.
For information about redeploying, see the Pega 7 Platform Update Guide for your target version of the Pega 7 Platform.
Ability to deprecate a rule
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.6
You can deprecate any Rule- instance to indicate that it is no longer supported.
Users are warned when they open or reference a deprecated rule instance.
Ability to deprecate a class
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.6
You can deprecate any Rule- class to block users from creating new rule instances.
Users are warned when they open the class rule form or any instance of the class.
Existing collections are deprecated
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.7
The original implementation of the Collection form is deprecated. Legacy instances in your application remain functional; however, any new instance you create uses the redesigned Collection form. Use the Decision category in the Records Explorer to view all collections available to you.
For guidance on upgrade limitations, see the Deprecated Collection form.
Deprecated rule types
Valid from Pega Version 7.1.8
The following rule types have been deprecated as of the Pega 7.1.8 release:
- Form
- Hierarchy
- Service COM
- Service BPEL
- Connect BPEL
- Parse Transform
- Parse Transform Collection
- Parse Infer
For more information, including suggested alternate rule types, see the help topic Deprecated features.
Tab groups are deprecated
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
Beginning with Pega 7.3, tab groups have been replaced with layout groups, which offer better performance and flexibility. Tab groups are based on the Yahoo User Interface (YUI) library, which is no longer supported on the Pega 7 Platform.
User interface rule forms now use layout groups instead of tab groups to place layouts in forms.
For more information, see Adding a Layout Group.
Deprecated survey APIs
Valid from Pega Version 7.3
APIs that were available in the PegaSurvey ruleset have been superseded by Pega® Platform APIs. Although older APIs continue to function in this release, it is recommended that you update your flows and flow actions to use the new APIs because they provide the latest survey capabilities, and deprecated features are not supported.
The following table maps deprecated APIs to their replacement APIs.
| Deprecated API | New API | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Work-.QuestionShape | Work-.pzQuestionShape | A flow that displays one simple question. |
| Work-.QuestionShapeScr | Work-.pzQuestionShapeScr | A screen flow that displays one simple question. |
| Work-.SurveyDriver | Work-.pxSurveyDriver | A flow that displays questions in a survey, which can be simple or complex. You can control whether the questions are displayed on one or multiple screens. |
| Work-.SurveySection | Work-.pxSurveySection | A section that displays questions in a survey. You can reference this section from a user action, such as a flow action or connector flow action, in a flow. |
Locatable pages are deprecated
Valid from Pega Version 7.3.1
Locatable pages are deprecated. Use a data page instead. Data pages provide improved performance. When you save a rule that has a Locate Page Activity or when you create an activity of type Locate page, a guardrail warning is displayed indicating that this feature has been deprecated.
For information about data pages, see Data pages.