More about Properties

Standard properties

Standard properties—meaning all the properties in the Pega-RULES, Pega-IntSvcs, Pega-WB, and Pega-ProCom RuleSets—have names that start with px, py, or pz.

These three prefixes are reserved. You cannot create new properties with such names. You can override these standard properties with a custom property of the same name (without changing the mode or Type ).

Prefix Meaning
px Identifies properties that are special, meaning that the values cannot be input by user input on an HTML form.
py Properties with names that start with py are not special, meaning that values can be input by users on an HTML form.
pz Properties with names that start with pz support internal system processing. Users cannot directly manipulate pz properties. Your application may examine these values, but do not set them. The meaning of values may change with new product releases.

Changing property types

If you update or override a property of mode Single Value, Value List or Value Group, you can change the Type , but only to a narrower type. This does not cause any runtime conversions of property values.

This table shows which changes are allowed.

To type Date Time Date Time of Day Integer Decimal Double True or False Text
From type                
DateTime            
Date              
Time of Day              
Integer              
Decimal              
Double          
True or False              
Text  

Revalidation is necessary after certain property updates

If you override a property or update a property, you must take steps to ensure that saved instance data (if any0 conforms to the revised property definition. This may require development of a once-only conversion activity.

In addition, if you override a property or update a property by changing any of the following fields, rules of certain types that reference the property may not automatically reflect the change at runtime:

  • Property Mode on the General tab
  • Property Type on the General tab
  • Table types or contents on the General tab
  • Expected Length on the Advanced tab
  • Page Class on the General tab, for properties with mode Page List or Page Group
  • For properties with Property Type of Decimal and the pyDecimalPrecision qualifier, the decimal precision

The impacted rule types are validate rules and most stream rules (harness, section, paragraph, flow action, HTML, and HTML Fragment). Complete either of the following to ensure correct execution:

  • Open and save again all the rules of these types that reference the property. Recommended, when feasible.
  • Create a prconfig setting named fua/invalidation/filter/PropertyChange and set it to false. Clear the temporary directory and caches, and stop and restart the server(s). This has both a temporary and permanent adverse impact on performance.

Password types and encryption

Properties of type Password correspond to the HTML element <INPUT TYPE="PASSWORD" >, and so do not echo when typed into a browser form. However, on the clipboard, the value of a property of this type may be in clear text or encrypted, depending on how the value was set.

Normal assignments to a Single Value or Java Property property of type Password by the Property-Set similar methods create a clear-text value on the clipboard. To store an encrypted value, use the property of type TextEncrypted.

Deleting properties

Do not delete a property that is referenced in other rules. Check whether a property is the target of a Declare Expressions rule before deleting it.

About Property rules