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Pega Competency-PRPC Bullet points-2.0

Following things are must – Go through these at least one time…see help to get info
on these.

 All the flow shapes and its uses

 All the guardrails
 Smart build steps and sequence
 All directives, its usage and syntax
 All standard harness types
 All Decision types and its usages
 All Activity types and when they are used

1. PRPC is a combination of BPM ( business process management) and BRE (Business rules
engineering )

2. The Pega System’s Six “R” s are

1. Receive
2. Route
3. Report
4. Research
5. Respond
6. Resolve

3. Services are interfaces from other systems to PRPC. Standard services that come in with PRPC
are

1. Rule-Service-COM
2. Rule-Service-CORBA
3. Rule-Service- DOTNET
4. Rule-Service-EJB
5. Rule-Service-Email
6. Rule-Service-JMS
7. Rule-Service-JSR94
8. Rule-Service-MQ

4. Connectors are interfaces from PRPC to other systems. Standard connectors that come in with
PRPC are

1. Rule-connect-ejb
2. Rule-connect-dotnet
3. Rule-connect-SQL
4. Rule-Connect-Java
5. Rule-Connect-JMS
6. Rule-Connect-SOAP
7. Rule-Connet-MQ

5. Process Commander supports a three-level organizational hierarchy consisting of

organizations at the top level, divisions at a second level, and units as a third level.
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6. Organization: Organization is on top of the organization hierarchy. It is an instance of Data-

Admin-Organization. By Default PRPC is shipped with and Organization called Pega.com.

7. Significance of adding rulesets at Organization: We can add one or more rulesets to

organization for providing access to all the users belonging to that organization to the
specified ruleset. Assume an application like “leave application” which needs to be accessed
by all the employees of organization, and then perhaps we may like to add leave application’s
rulesets at Organization level.

8. Significance of adding top level class at Organization: You can optionally specify a top
level class when an organization is created. It does not have much significance except it is
used as default top level class when the users belonging to the organization uses application
accelerator to create an application

9. Division: Divisions is at a second level in the organization hierarchy right after the
Organization. It is an instance of the class Data-Admin-OrgDivision.

10.While you are creating a new division, you have to specify (Mandatory) to which organization
it belongs.

11.Significance of adding rulesets at Division: We can add one or more rulesets to division
for providing access to all the users belonging to that division. Assume an application like
“Loan application” of a bank which needs to be accessed only by the employees of Loans
division, then perhaps we may like to add Loan application’s rulesets at Loan division level, so
that other divisions in the same organization cannot have access the ruleset

12.Unit: Unit is at a third level in the organization hierarchy right after the division. It is an
instance of the class Data-Admin-OrgUnit.

13.While you are creating a new unit, you have to specify (Mandatory) to which organization and
division it belongs.

14.PRPC default organization structure looks as below

15.Access Group controls the security basing on the job functions. It is instance of Data-Admin-
Operator-AccessGroup. Various aspects that can be controlled through access group are

1. default and available types of works( also called as work pools ) ,

2. Primary rulesets ( Access Control to rulesets),
3. Assigned roles,
4. Portal layout
5. Default ruleset for making changes ( Default ruleset whenever the user creates/ saves
as the rule )

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16.Portal Layout: The Portal is the standard Internet Explorer-based user interface for Process
Commander Workers, managers, and developers. The Portal rule (Instance of Rule-Portal
class) defines the tabs, arrangement, and labeling of anchors and features, known as
gadgets. We can always create new portal layouts by defining new instances of the class
Rule-Portal. Later we can make use of these portals from operator’s access group.

17.Significance of adding rulesets at Access Group: We can add one or more rulesets to
access group when we think that security needs to be controlled basing on the specific job
function. Assume that an application like “Heart allocation request application” is being
developed for all the Project Managers in ABC Company for making resource requests for their
projects. Then we can think of adding this application ruleset in an access group called “PM”,
so that all PMs across all the divisions in ABC Company can access this application.

18.We can add rulesets at either at Organization or at Division or at access group, but not at
the unit.

19.It is not mandatory to add the rulesets either at Organization, division and the access group.
We can add at all these places, at the same time we can refrain by not adding at any of
these places.

20.Access groups are instances of the class Data-Admin-Operator-AccessGroup

21. Significance of “Default class group of work” and “all class groups” of work
fields in access group form : In “all the class groups”field, we need to add one or more
class groups so as to create the work pools in which users associated in this access group
are permitted to create the work objects. We can add one class group in the field “Default
class group of work”

22.Operators are created through instances of Data-Admin-Operator-ID class.

23.Important entries while creating the operators are

1. Organization ( Mandatory)
2. Division ( Mandatory )
3. Unit ( Mandatory )
4. Workgroup ( Mandatory )
5. Access Group ( Mandatory )
6. Allow Rule Check Out ( Check box ) ( Optional )

24.Checking the “Allow rule check out” check box in operator form , allows that operator to
update the rules from the rulesets that require check out

25.The PRPC jargon of security and organization hierarchy can be diagrammatically depicted as
below.

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26.Ruleset is a container for rules in our application building. And it is what we deploy in
production environment or ship to customer.

27.An instance of Rule-Ruleset-name is created when we first time create the rule set. An
instance of Rule-RuleSet-Version is created whenever the version is upgraded including when
the first version is created. The relation between Rule-Ruleset-name and the Rule-RuleSet-
Version is one to many.

28.All the rules that we create for our application should belong to one or other ruleset.
PyRuleSet property in the Rule- Class represents this

29.Though we know that all the instances of all the Rule- hierarchy classes will have versions,
instances of following classes will not have any version

a. Rule-Obj-Class
b. Rule-Ruleset-Name
c. Rule-Ruleset-Version
d. Rule-Access-Role-Obj
e. Rule-Method

30.RuleSet naming Conventions

a. Any Case is Ok but MixedCase is good practice

b. Max 32 characters and no spaces allowed
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c. Prefix of Pega or Pega- should not be used as these are restricted for use by Pega
Systems. ( Practically, for now Pega prefix is allowed but Pega- prefix produces
the error)
d. Special characters, quotes and + signs are not allowed
e. Dash and underscores are not recommended to be used

31. Process Commander is shipped with 4 standard rulesets viz,

 Pega-ProCom – Supports business Process Management

 Pega-InvSvcs – Supports integration services
 Pega-WB – Supports portal infrastructure
 Pega-Rules – Supports rules engine and rule resolution

32. RuleSet Format

LoanAppl:01-02-03

01- Version
02 –Minor release within the version
03 – Interim or patch release within minor release

33. Private Ruleset: Whenever application developer checks out the rule, it enters/ belongs to
private ruleset. Users who have the “Allow Rule Check Out?” check box (on their Operator ID
instance) checked can place copies of rule instances into a personal or private RuleSet. The
name of this RuleSet is the same as their Operator. System automatically creates the private
ruleset whenever required. No explicit instance of the Rule-RuleSet-Name exists for a private
RuleSet.

34. How a user’s ruleset list is formed (thelogic)? The system adds entries it finds from
following sources in the order listed. The system adds entries it finds from these sources in the
top of the list,

1. Requestor : (Data-Admin-Requestor class) — Usually this adds the RuleSets named Pega-
RULES, and Pega-IntSvcs and a version or version prefix for these
2. Division — As referenced in the Operator-ID instance
3. Organization — As referenced in the Operator-ID instance
4. Access Group : As referenced in the Operator-ID instance
5. Ruleset Versions — Prerequisite RuleSets and Versions to those already compiled
6. Operator ID: If this user has the ability to check out rules, the personal RuleSet (named the
same as the Operator ID key) is added last. Also called as private ruleset

35. Rule-Admin-Product: Rule-Admin-product instances can be used as a packaging and

deployment utility in PRPC. For example, you can specify what are all the rulesets and
respective versions, data/other class instances that should become part of the final deployment.
You can also specify a install file (html) and an activity (which will run up on installation of the zip
file on the target machine) on the product form. Once you define the product form you can click
the “Create Zip file” button, which would create the product’s zip file in “Service Export”
directory.

36. There are two important repetitive things that can be added in Rule-Admin-Product
Instance :

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i. One or more rulesets and their versions

ii. One or more Data- and other ( perhaps non Rule- )concrete classes and
respective When filters. The respective data class’s instances are picked up only when
these When filters (Rule-Obj-When) true.

37. Important options that we can do from “Move Rules Tool”

1. Export Rules option: Copies rules from rulebase to a zip file on a server. The typical screen
that appears on using this tool is

Unlike Rule-Admin-Product, you can only specify one ruleset here, but you can specify all
version or a particular version. Then you can give suggested name for the zip file and can
click “Export Data to Zip file” to keep the zip file in the “Service Export” directory

2. Load rules to rulebaseoption: This option can be used to load the rules from the zip file in
to your systems if the zip file is already in the Service export directory. The typical screen that
appears on using this tool is

You can select the required zip file and use “Import Data from Zip File” to load rules to the
rulebase

3. Upload zip file into the rulebaseoption:This option can be used when you want to transfer
a ZIP file created by the Move Rules tool or the Product rule from your workstation disk to the
ServiceExport directory on a target Process Commander system by using FTP. The typical
screen that appears up on selecting this option is.

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Remember that the source file must be on your system disk and you must be operating this
“upload zip file option” from your machine as client and Target machine as PRPC server

4. Download Extracted rules to PC Option: This option is used to download the zip file that
contains extracted rules to your workstation. The typical screen that comes upon selecting
this option is

For example you are connecting to a PRPC server as a client and you want to down load the zip
file from PRPC server’s “Service export“ directory to your workstation’s hard disk you should use
the above option

5. Skim to a new Version Option: Skimming creates rules for a major RuleSet version by
copying selected rules of lower numbered versions of the same RuleSeton the same
system. Skimming collects the highest version of every rule in the RuleSet and copies them
to a new major version of that RuleSet on the same system. The typical screen you will see up
on this option is

38. Remember that during skimming, we altogether get a new major version. It is not
possible to skim just to a higher minor version or patch version. For example if we are skimming
ABCLoanAppl : 05-06-07, the only options we have is 06-01-01, 07-01-01….. and so on, but you
can not skim to 05-06-08 05-07-07 or 06-02-01

39. Availability of the rules: Availability is an important aspect of any rule for it to be considered
by Rule resolution algorithm. pyRuleAvailable property represents whether a given rule is
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available or not ? At any point of time, this property can be set with either of the following four
values

i. YES : Indicates that this rule is available. Rules with a Yes value are visible
to rule resolution processing and executed.

ii. NO : Indicates that is rule is not available and become invisible to the
rule resolution algorithm for all users (including yourself). The No setting is useful in
experimentation and troubleshooting to assess the effect of two rule versions.

Ex : If you are setting “No” status for a rule of version 01-01-03, still 01-01-01, 01-01-
02, 01-01-04 of same rule are visible to rule resolution algorithm

iii. BLOCKED : The rule instance is ignored; when PRPC encounters a blocked
rule, it immediately stops the rule resolution process, and return an error to the user.
iv. FINAL : We need to set availability to Final if we want this rule to be
available (equivalent to Yes), but want to prevent others from overriding this rule in any
other RuleSet. A final rule can be superseded by a higher-numbered version (in
the same RuleSet), but not by any version in any different RuleSet.

v. Withdrawn : The rule instance is ignored; when PRPC encounters a

withdrawn rule, it skips any earlier version in the same class, and proceed to the next-
higher class in the hierarchy.

40. A rule is said to be available only when it’s availability is either “Yes” or “Final”

41. Circumstance: A circumstance is an optional qualification and refinement of the rule

resolution algorithm. Different variants of a rule within same version can be created with
different flavors to suit for different situations. A rule that references a property in the
Circumstance Property field is known as a "circumstance-qualified" rule instance. The one
which does not have any circumstances specified is called as “Unqualified rule”

42. How does circumstance works during rule resolution: At run time, the system first finds
rules based on the class hierarchy and then searches for the rules that a requestor session
needs, it compares the values of the RuleSet, Version, and Availability fields with a
requestor's own RuleSet list to determine which rule to execute. This part of the rule resolution
search may result in multiple candidate rules to execute (there could be one non-circumstance
qualified and more than one circumstance qualified rules of same version). The rule resolution
algorithm then tests the property values defined in the circumstances fields against the property
values on the clipboard. If a match is found, it selects the circumstance-Qualified rule and if no
match is found, then unqualified rule is selected

43. You can't use circumstances with declarative rules. ( IMP )

44. You can't use circumstances with a final rule. ( IMP)

45. All rule classes will not have the “circumstance” feature on. Only those rule classes which
were created with the option “Allow Selection based on property rules” is checked in

46. The circumstance qualified rule looks as below

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47. Time qualified rules: A time-qualified rule is the one which is qualified with a start date
and an end date. Regardless of other rule resolution logic, time-qualified rule instances are found
and used only between the start date and time and the end date and time. Before or after these
moments in time, they are invisible to rule resolution.

48. After you've saved a time-qualified rule, a clock appears on the rule form near the Availability
check box. To view the start and end times in a ToolTip, hold the pointer over the clock icon. Here
is the feel.

49. All rule classes will not have the “Time qualification” feature on. Only those rule classes which
were created with the option “Allow rules that are valid only for a certain period of time”
is checked in.

50. Note on circumstance and time qualified rules: We know that the rules which are
qualified either through the Circumstance or through the Time ranges are called “Qualified
rules”. We should realize that qualified rules can be created only after a base unqualified rule is
created. You can't delete the base-unqualified rule when a qualified rule of the same rule exists.

51. Special note on time qualified rules : At any given time, if there are two or more time-
based rules, all valid at the current time and date, the system selects the ones with the soonest
end date. If there is more than one candidate with the same end date, it picks the one with the
most recent start date

52. Steps of Rule Resolution algorithm look up:

1. Match Class Hierarchy : Algorithm first looks for appropriate class up the hierarchy

2. Filter by RuleSet List and availability: Algorithm then matches RuleSet and Version
associated with the rule instance against the RuleSet list of the user. Also the availability of
the rule is taken into consideration at this point. If the rule is not available, rule resolution
algorithm cannot consider that rule

3. Filter based on time : Algorithmthen filters the rules, if they are time qualified versions of
the rule

4. Qualify on circumstance : Algorithmthen qualifies and selects the appropriate

circumstance qualified rule

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5. Enforces access roles and Privileges : Algorithm then excludes rules that the user (or
requestor process) cannot execute for security or access control reasons

6. Execute the Survivor Rule : If no rule instances survive the above five phases, the user
process is notified of the "not found" condition

53. Work List: A work list is an outstanding (notcomplete) assignments (workobjects) waiting for
a user to perform them.

The worklist appears in the My Work In Progress area of this workspace for every operator.

54. Work Group: A work group is an instance of Data-Admin-WorkGroup. Workgroup is logical

collection of operatorsand usually workgroup will have a manager. Operator ID data
instance (Data-Admin-Operator-ID class) usually identifies a work group to which the user
belongs. Also workgroup facilitates for better monitoring and reporting of tasks

55. While we define an operator, if the work group is left empty, that operator can enter work
objects but not access a worklist or workbaskets.

56. Work Basket: A workbasket is an instance of the Data-Admin-WorkBasket class. As work

objects progress through a flow execution, the system creates assignments. Assignments may be
associated either with individual users (and appear on their worklists) or with a workbasket. All
users who are qualified to remove work objects from that work basket may remove an
assignment from the workbasket to process the assignment.

57. Work pool: Different work types (classes derived from the Work- base class) are grouped in
to one class group and when this class group is added to a user in his access group, user can
work on through each work type of each class groups. Class groups so added are called as
Work pools.

58. Instances of Data-Admin-DB-Table are used for mapping the classes and class groups with
DB tables. At any point of time, if a class is not mapped to any DB table, its instances are stored
in its super class’s mapped table. The principle is recursive.

59. How are the calendars defined in PRPC? : Calendars can be defined as instances of
Data-Admin-Calendar and then these instances can be added at Organization or at
Operator level. For example we can define a calendar called “ABC-2005” ( where we define
what are working hours on each day, and what are the holidays and all ), then we can add this
calendar ( ABC-2005) when we define the Organization called “ABC”

60. Work Parties are interested in the progress and resolution of a particular work object, but they
need not necessarily perform work on the application. Typical types of work parties are
customers (typically the primary party), staff members that are interested in the progress of the
work object, but don’t directly act upon the work object and external organizations etc.

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13. Process commander comes with various standard work party classes. Eligible standard
classes include:

 Data-Party-Gov

 Data-Party-Operator

 Data-Party-Com

 Data-Party-Org

 Data-Party-Person

You can use these classes as it is, or you can create a new class that inherits from Data-Party

61. The standard HTML rule “partyDisplay” in work party classes determines which fields
appear for each party role

62. The Portal always contains two main sections one on left side and another on right side. Left
side section is called “navigation panel” which contains expandable navigation bars. Right
side section is called “Work Space” and is context sensitive in the sense the contents
change based on the selected section on left hand side navigation panel
63. The show-java feature on each rule form displays the underlying Java code for the rule

64. “Where Am I” feature shows you, at which assignment you are in the flow currently.

65. The Initial Setup wizard is usually run by your system administrator to prepare the
environment for the application development. He creates the skeleton organization hierarchy,
core set of operators and access groups, base ruleset and the top-level class by running the
initial setup wizard.

66. The application accelerator automates the process commander design methodology. The
application accelerator creates the basic components required for any Process Commander
application tailored for the business processes. The whole idea is – First use the application
accelerator to create the foundation for your application, then use the process commander portal
to add further components as the design progresses

67. Work- . CorrUpdate activity updates the correspondence

68. The application accelerator’s capability includes the creation of

1. initial ruleset,
2. simple class structure including covers and work-related classes,
3. class group( work pool ),
4. prefixes for work objects and cover classes,
5. properties, models
6. work parties,
7. user interfaces,
8. basic flows,
9. workbaskets, worklists and workgroups

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69. Application accelerator includes following wizard steps

1. Step 1 : define Application name and ruleset name

2. Step 2 : Define Various types of works possible and respective prefixes for work IDs
3. Step 3 : Define the work parties
4. Step 4 : Define properties, default values for properties, display mode for properties
5. Step 5 : Design the UI by choosing the display properties and the section
6. Step 6 : Select the standard flow, create workbaskets, worklists and workgroups

70. Application accelerator automatically adds the newly created ruleset and the work pool to
your access group. Only thing you need to do is re login to the application so as to see the new
work pool in the list

71. pyRuleSet property in Rule- class represents, to what ruleset a given rule belongs

72. pyRuleSetVersion property in Rule- class represents, to what ruleset version a given rule
belongs

73. An instance of Rule-RuleSet-Name is created when the first version of ruleset is created

74. Work- . AddCovered ( Activity ) creates a new covered work object

75. Work-. AddToFolder adds the work item to the folder.

76. Flow actions specify thechoices that user have when performing an assigned work
object. Flow actions are mainly of two types i.e., connector actions and local actions.

77. Connector actions advance the flow. They are associated with the connector that exists at the
assignment, so selecting them causes the flow to advance along with the path.

78. Local actions allow the user to update the work item, but don’t advance the flow. After
the assignment was committed, the flow remains at the same assignment from which the local
action was performed.

79. A when condition is a Boolean expression based on the values in the clipboard.

80. The utility activity can return a status value throughthe TaskStatus-Setmethod, which
can be used for talking paths in the flow.

81. Work-.ActionNotifyQuick activity creates simple correspondence.

82. Work-. Add activitycreates a new work object ( without a cover object) ( IMP )

83. Various standard (ready to use) flow actions are defined at work- Class.

84. Most of the standard flow actions can be used either as a local action or as a connector
action. However some flow actions are valid to be used as only one type. Unless otherwise
specified, you can use in either way.

85. Some of important standard flow actions that come with PRPC are

1. AddToCover(Local only) – Includes the work object as sub task of cover

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2. AddToFloder( Local only ) – Adds the work object to the folder

3. Assign ( Local/ Connector ) – Assigns the work object to the cover
4. AttachAFile ( Local only) - Attaches a file to the work object
5. AttachANote ( Local Only ) – Attaches a note to the work object
6. AttachAURL ( Local Only) – Attaches the URL to the work object
7. CancelAssignment ( Connector only ) – Cancel the current assignment
8. ChangeAssignmentSLA ( Local only ) – Update SLA and related( goal, deadline and urgency)
fields for current assignment
9. ChangeWorkSLA ( Local only ) – Update SLA and related( goal, deadline and urgency) fields
for current assignment and also for work object
10.Finish ( Local / Connector ) – Update the status with notes and then save and close the work
object
11.Notify ( Local / Connector ) – Generate correspondence (notifications ) from the list of
templates
12.NotifyExternal ( Connector only) – Generate correspondence ( Notifications ) to a party
external to process commander
13.NotifyQuick ( Connector only ) – Initiate correspondence ( Notifications) using quick
template for rapid text entry
14.Reject (Connector only) – Reject work object from further consideration, resolving it with
Rejection status.
15.RemoveFromCover ( Local Only ) – Remove work object from cover
16.RemoveFromFolder ( Local Only ) – Removes work object from folder
17.Resolve ( Connector only ) – Complete current assignment, resolving work object
accordingly
18.Save ( Local Only ) – Update the work object without resolving it , saving the changes to the
field values

86. Assignment is a pause in the flow and it signifies that a person or external system must act
on a work object before the flow can progress. In certain situations assignments can be
processed completely or in part by a Process Commander agent rather than by a person

87. Assignments are created by a flow operating on a work object, but they are not themselves
part of the work object. The system saves data relating to an assignment in instances of
the Assign-Workbasket class, Assign-Worklist class, or other subclasses of the Assign- base
class. Means whenever a workobject reaches an assignment, it creates an instance of respective
Assign-* class. This instance stores all the assignment pertaining information rather than work
object itself

88. Some of the important properties in the Assign- class, which are used for each assignment.

1. PyAssignmentStatus : A user defined status, initially blank or new

2. PXUrgencyAssign : Urgency value for the assignment. This is not same as the pyUrgency
property which is urgency of work object as a whole

89. pxUrgencyWork is for whole work object

90.
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91. Important shape properties in the assignment are

1. Assignment rule to use: Name of the assignment activity. Currently 4 types available. You can
create your own by making an activity as type of assign
i. WorkList: Causes the assignment to be placed on the worklist of current
operator
ii. Workbasket : Causes the assignment to be placed in a work basket,
determined by an associated router shape

iii. External : Starts the direct web access feature

iv. Agent : Sends the assignment to the background process rather than to a
person

2. Instructions : The text entered may later appear on the worklist or the Review form for the
work object

3. StatusWork: We may enter a work object status value that is to appear when the assignment
first appears on the worklist or in the workbasket. If you leave this blank, the status value is
unchanged as this assignment is created.

4. StatusAssign: Status at this assignment. This is not work object status

5. Confirmation Note: Optionally we can enter the confirmation note. This note appears on the
confirmation form presented to the user when the flow action is completed

6. HarnessPurpose : We can enter the Purpose key part of a harness rule (Rule-HTML-Harness
rule type) the system is to use to present this assignment

7. Local actions : you can add one or more local flow actions

8. Service Level: You can assign a service level (Rule-Obj-ServiceLevel) rule to this assignment.

92. You can assign activities at goal and deadlines of each service level, and these activities will
be fired when goal and deadline times are passed on

93. Likelihood field appears for connector only when connector type is selected as “Action”
or “Status” ( IMP)

94. When an assignment is given a service level, it takes precedence than the flow’ s service rule
only for that assignment

95. The symbol for comments shape is . You can add this at any stage of the flow. It does
not have any impact on processing of the flow.

96. Connector arrows show as either red or blue. A red arrow indicates that the "from" (tail) or
"to" (head) end of the connector is not yet connected to a task shape. A blue color indicates a
properly connected connector (Not sure on this .. Need to test )

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97. PRPC comes with certain standard built in flows which u can use as it is or customize. Some of
such flows are
1. Work-Cover-.NewWork
2. Work-. FlowProblems
3. Work-Folder-. NewWork
4. Work-. NewWork
5. Work-.VerifySendCorr

98. By default the assignment normally appears on the worklist of the user running the flow. We
can add a router task later if you want the assignment to be sent (at least under some
circumstances) to any user other than the current user, or sent to a workbasket.

99. Important shape properties for connector are

1. Connector: There are five options available here. “Always”, “Action”, “Status” , “Else” and
“When”

i. All of the choices may not be available always. It all depends on the shape
from which the connector emanates. For example
a. When the connector is from assignment, you will have only “Action”.
b. When the connector is from utility, you will have four options i.e., all
except “Action”
c. When the connector is from the decision you will have only Status
and Else.
d. When the connector is from fork, you will have four options i.e. all
except “Action”

ii. Always: When there is to be only one possible path from the connector.

iii. Status: If the connector is from a Utility task shape, a Fork task shape or a
Decision task shape and you want to perform a comparison. The flow proceeds on this
connector only if the value returned at run time matches the value in the text box

iv. Action: For a connector that is to be associated with a flow action. In the third
box, enter the name of a (non-local) flow action

v. When: The work object is permitted to flow along this connector when only
when a certain when condition rule evaluates to true. In the third box, enter the name
of a when condition rule.

vi. Else : To define a none-of-the above connector that the flow is to use when no
other connectors are valid

2. Flow action / When / Status : Whether it is “flow action” or “when” or “Status” depends on the
choice in the previous field

i. Flow Action : If you choose “Action” in the connector option, you need to
enter the flow action name here

ii. Status: If you choose “Status” in the connector option, you need to enter a
text value to match the text value returned at run time by the decision task (a map
value, decision table or decision tree) or the utility activity.

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iii. When : If you chose “When”, we need to enter the “When” Condition rule
name or you can do a property comparison

3. Set Properties ( Optional ) : You can choose to update some properties whenever the work
object follows this connector in the flow rule
4. Add to Audit trail (Optional): Click the plus sign to access a text box. Text entered here
appears as a history instance for the work object, recording that this connector was followed

100. The summary of actions for connectors when they are coming out of different shapes is

Connecto Assig Decisio Utilit Fork Spin-Off/ Integra

r action n n y Called tor
ment flow
/Spilt-join
/Split for
each
Always No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Action Yes No No No No No
Status No Yes Yes Yes No No
When No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
Else No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

101. An integrator task in flow is an activity that connects your Process Commander system
to an external system to send or receive data.

102. Integrators on flows use activities (with Connect as the activity type) that call connector rules
(Rule-Connect- rule types).

103. In decision shape on flows we can refer any of the flowing

1. Map Value
2. Map value pair
3. Decision tree
4. Decision table
At run time, the system evaluates the decision rule based on inputs from the flow and the work
object, and chooses one of the outgoing connectors based on the result. No user interaction or
input is required.

104. If a map is selected on the decision of flow, we need to enter only the row input where as if
map value pair is selected, we need to supply both row input as well as column input

You can perhaps use the map value as in the following example in the decision of a flow

Assume you need to move in different directions basing on a grade of a student. You can
supply the marks and then get the Grade equivalent from the map. If the map value returns
values "A", "B", and "C", the flow could include four connectors flowing from the Decision task
shape, all corresponding to Status comparisons. One connector compares the returned value
to “A”, one to "B", one to "C", and a fourth could become the default (Else) connector

You can optionally store the value of output of map in a property by using “Store Result Field“

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105. Fork shape in the flow: We need to use the fork shape in the flow when we want to represent
a point where the flow execution chooses one of the few different paths (Connectors) based on
the tests on the work object. At run time the system evaluates the conditions on each connector,
starting with the connector assigned the highest likelihood.

106. Notify shape to an assignment will cause our application to send correspondence to a work
party in the work object reflecting the assignment. (The system creates this correspondence as
the assignment is created, not when it is performed.). You need to supply one of the notify
( activity of type notify) to the notify shape.

107. The difference between the notify, router and comments symbols in flow is very narrow. Be
careful ( they look same to some extent)

108. The various standard activities that can be used in the flows are

1. Assignment Task activities

i. External : Creates an external assignment, an instance of the Assign-External

class (or a subclass of this class), part of the Directed Web Access facility
ii. Worklist : Creates a normal assignment (Assign-Worklist class) added to a
user's worklist.

iii. Workbasket :Creates a normal assignment (Assign-Workbasket class) added

to a workbasket. If the workbasket doesn't exist, the assignment can be routed to the
current user

2. Integrator Task activities : Because these tasks involve external systems, there are no
standard rules with this type

3. Notify Task Activities : ( Referred from notify shape )

i. NotifyAll : Send correspondence to each workparty identified in the work

object

ii. NotifyAssignee : Send correspondence to the user who received the

assignment

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iii. NotifyParty : Notifies specified party

4. Routing activities : ( Referred from Routers )

i. ToAgentWorkBasket : Routes the assignment to the workbasket belonging to

an agent
ii. ToCorrPartyRole : Route the assignment to the party referenced by the
correspondence
iii. ToCreateOperator : Route the assignment to the user who entered the work
object

iv. ToConstCenterManager : Routes the assignment to the worklist of the Cost

Center manager (not the manager) of a user's organization unit.
v. ToCurrentOperator : Routes the assignment to the worklist of the user who
owns the work object.
vi. ToCustomer : Routes to a work party who is identified as a customer
vii. ToDecisionMap : Route to the result of decision map
viii. ToDecisionTree : Route to the result of the decision tree
ix. ToDefaultWorkBasket : Routes the assignment to the workbasket of the work
group that this user belongs to.
x. ToOrgUnitManager : Routes the assignment to the worklist of the manager of
a user's organization unit.
xi. ToOverAllSLA : Routes the assignment to the workbasket named
default@xxxx.yyy, where xxxx.yyy identifies the name of the organization that this
user belongs to
xii. ToWorkbasket : Routes the assignment to a workbasket identified in a
parameter.
xiii. ToWorkGroupManager : Routes the assignment to the worklist of the manager
of the work group that this user belongs to.
xiv. ToWorkList : Routes the assignment to the worklist of a specific user,
identified in a parameter
xv. ToWorkParty : the assignment to the worklist of a work party in the work
object, identified through a parameter

5. Utility Task activities : ( Referred from Utilities )

i. AddHistory : Add a history instance to the history of a work object

ii. CheckIfNew : Check whether a work object has an ID assigned
iii. CorrNew : Send correspondence (that requires no user interaction), and save
it as an attachment to the work object
iv. DuplicateSearch : Search for other work objects that might be duplicates of
this work object
v. GenerateID : Computes a new work object ID for a new work object
vi. RaiseTicket :Sets (turns on) a ticket rule. Identify the ticket name as a
parameter
vii. Resolved : Updates various properties needed for reporting, when a work
object becomes resolved

viii. UpdateStatus : Changes the status of a work object (not the status of an
assignment), and adds a record of this change to the history of the work object

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 - 19 –

109. The main difference between fork and decision in the flow – Decision executes a decision rule
( like map, map value pair, decision tree and decision map ) and then basing on the output it
takes appropriate branch ( basing on the status ). Where as fork does not execute any decision
rule, it branches the flow basing on the when condition embedded in the connectors emanating
from the fork

110. Various portal layouts and the available navigation bars are

Administ Dashboar Monitor Manag Process Tools

er d activity e rules work
Work No No Yes No No No
Manager
Layout
Process No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Architect
System No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
architect
Administra Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
tor Layout

111. Process Architect typically creates and maintains the flows

112. Spin off Task : When a work object advancing through a flow reaches the Spin-off shape,
Process Commander starts execution of a different flow, using the current or a different work
object. Processing in the current flow rule continues in parallel, without waiting for the other flow
to complete
113. There are 11 modes of properties. These 11 modes are broadly categorized to 3 broad
categories viz, Values, Pages and Java Objects

114. Property Matrix

Type Single Array Group

Value Mode Single Value Value List Value Group
Page Modes Page Page List Page group
Java Object Java Object & Java Object List Java Object Group
Java Property & Java property
List

115. All of the except one ( Single value ) is considered to be aggregate properties

116. Difference between Value list and value Group - In Value List value is an ordered, indexed list
of strings, sometimes called an array. In Value Group value contains one or multiple strings,
unordered, each identified by a unique text index.

117. Value modes can take any of the flowing types

a. Text
b. Integer
c. Identifier
d. Password
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 - 20 –

e. Double
f. Decimal
g. DateTime
h. Date
i. TimeOFDay
j. TruleORFalse

118. A Class group is an instance of the Data-Admin-DB-ClassGroup A class group instance causes
the system to store the instances corresponding to two or more concrete classes that have a
common key format in a single database table. Class groups are commonly used to cause the
system to store instances of similar or related Work- concrete classes together in one relational
database table

119. Every work object has a unique ID (property pyID), an urgency value, and a status (property
pyStatusWork)

120. Operator ID data instance (Data-Admin-Operator-ID class) usually identifies a work group to
which the user belongs

121. A property of mode Java Object can contain any Java object while on the clipboard. If the Java
class supports the Serializable interface, a page containing this property can be saved into the
Process Commander database

122. For value list , page list modes the index is integer and starts from 1 , not from 0 like in java

For example you can refer in the following way

1. Budget( 7)
2. Budget( "4")
3. Budget ( .RowNumber)

Note that a String that fits to integer can also be used as example 2 above

123. For Value group, page group modes, the index is string.

For example, you can refer in the following way

1. Student( “James”)
2. Population ( "USA")
3. Population (.StateCode)

124. <APPEND> index can be used to add the element at the end of the Value list or Page list
properties

For example in property set u can add a value to page list as below

125. <LAST> index can be used to set or retrieve the last element( Highest indexed number
element) for Value list or Page list properties

For example you can set last element value of a page list as below
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 - 21 –

126. <INSERT> index followed by an integer can be used to insert a new element and it’s value
into a Value list or Page list properties. Any elements with the same or higher index value are
"pushed down" by one.

For example you add an element in the page list at index 2 as below

If the integer is larger than the size of the list by 2 or more, Process Commander
creates an exception.

127. Html Property rules (Rule-HTML-Property) control how properties appear on work object forms,
correspondence, and other HTML forms, for both display and for input.

128. If you leave the Property Stream field on the Property form blank, the system uses HTML
Property rule called “Default”.

129. A service level rule is an instance of the Rule-Obj-ServiceLevel rule type. Each service level
rule defines one or two time intervals, known as goals and deadlines, that indicate the
expected or targeted turnaround time for the assignment, or time-to-resolve for the work object.
Process Commander detects service levels not achieved — unmet goals or deadlines — promptly.
If an assignment isn't completed before the time limit, the system can automatically notify
various parties, escalate the assignment, cancel the entire flow, and so on

130. A developer can assign the SLA to either the assignment or for entire flow.
131. The assignment icon changes to include a clock icon, when you add a SLA at the assignment

132. What happens on SLA escalation (When goal or deadline time is reached)?
1. Adds corresponding goal or deadline urgency to original initial urgency
2. Executes the activity in the Activity If Locked field if the work object is locked, or the
Activity Name field if the work object is not locked

133. If we want to associate the whole SLA for entire work object we need to add the SLA at Model
level

134. How can we debug / test whether the SLAs are working fine or not?

135. Important fields in service level from are

1. Initial urgency ( Optional ) : To set the initial urgency for a work object
2. Assignment is ready for work : Represents when from the time count
to consider SLA, most of the cases it would be immediately. At times, it is beneficial to create
an assignment but not expect a user to start work on the assignment for a while. In these
cases this field is useful There are 3 options available

i. Immediately : Immediately
ii. Define from Property : You can take from property
iii. Interval from assignment creation : You can directly set the timing
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 - 22 –

3. Escalation Event timing :

i. Goal : Goal time details ( Not sequential)
ii. Deadline times : Deadline time details( Not Sequential )
iii. Repeating interval from deadline : Repeats several times after
Deadline (Sequential)
4. Activities( When work object not locked )
i. Activities to get triggered on goal, deadline and repeat
5. Activities ( When work object locked )
i. Activities to get triggered on goal, deadline and repeat, when work object is
locked

136. For every class that is created as a class group is also created as instance of Data-Admin-DB-
ClassGroup.
137. Every work object has a unique ID ( property pyID), an urgency value, and a status ( property
pyStatusWork)
138. By Default PRPC is shipped with one work basket called default@pega.com
139. A work basket is an instance of Data-Admin-Workbasket.
140. A work group is an instance of the Data-Admin-WorkGroup class. A work group can identify a
user who is, for purposes of your application, a supervisor. Work groups are a primary unit of
summarization in standard management reports on the Monitor Activity workspace.
141. newDefaults (activity) get’sautomatically called ( if exists in a class ), when its instance is
created.
142. Procedure to create a cover
1. Initialize AddCover activity
2. Create cover ID – by calling Work-Cover.Add activity
143. Each connected Process Commander requestor (including all browser-based users, even if
guests) has an associated temporary memory area on the server known as the
clipboard
144. One individual page can govern an activity and is known as the primary page. If for one step
in an activity, a different page is identified, it is known as the step page
145. Top level classes are always abstract and inherit from the @baseclass
146. An embedded page is a clipboard page that is not a top-level page, but rather is the
value of a property of mode Page.
147. @baseclass is called as the ultimate base class. And its immediate child classes like Data-,
Work-, Assign-etcare called as base classes
148. Concrete classes under Rule- and Data- hold the instances of rules and data that the
application developers create as a building blocks of the application
149. Concrete classes under Assign- and Work- hold dynamic transaction instances that are
created during the actual operation of built application
150. History- classes are created automatically ( IMP )
151. Embed- Classes define the structure of pages embedded within other pages. Pages belonging
to classes derived from the Embed- base class cannot be renamed or saved. Often it is a design
level decision to choose between the Data- classes and the Assign- classes when want to use the
pagelists. If we choose the Data- class, it stores the instances and if we choose Embed- class, it
prevents in stances being stored in the process commander
152. Index- Classes provide the Secondary access keys defined to provide fast retrieval of other
instances
153. Top level class is an abstract class that has the ultimate base class @baseclass as parent
but is not one of the standard base classes.

154. Use following kind of access control by adding the Ruleset as below
1. General use – add at Organization

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 - 23 –

2. Business Group wise – add at Division

3. Job Function wise – Access Group

155. By Convention, abstract classes end with a dash ( - ). Concrete classes must not end with
dash. Ex YourCo- , MyCo-
156. Normally it is a practice to have a unique top level class for each company/ product that
serves as a starting place for the class structure
157. While Creating the class, mentioning the direct inheritance is inevitable. Pattern
inheritance is optional. If pattern inheritance is mentioned by checking in the check box, Pattern
inheritance takes the precedence.
158. The server can run two or more process commander systems at a time. The “System Name”
uniquely identifies the each process commander system. It’s default value is “wfe”. This is an
instance of Data-Admin-System
159. While Work- instances are stored in the PegaRules Database, Data- instances can be
stored either in PegaRules database or in External database
160. Work Objects are the basic units of work. Covers tightly coordinate processing on
several distinct (but closely related) work objects. Folders loosely package many related work
objects, covers, and other folders.
161. The PRPC standard activity “GenerateID” is responsible for creating the work object ID.
We can override this activity, if we want to have different kind of sequencing for work object Ids
162. Typically you should use different Work object prefixes for each workpool
163. PRPC uses the W- prefix by default. You change this even. Use the meaningful prefixes
such as LW-, LC-, LF-, for work object, cover and folders of a leave application
164. Don’t confuse work parties with the actors of the system. Work parties are those who are
interested of knowing the execution / progress of the work object, or who should be notified when
something happens to the work object.
165. Three important aspects that we must specify while we define the work parties are
i. Name of the party role ( Such as originator, contact )
ii. Party Type ( Such as person or commercial entity)
iii. And data source ( the party class that describes the party)
166. PRPC allows to have one work party in repeating mode in a work object
167. There are two important parameters in the restrictions tab of the class definition, worth
noting.
i. Prevent subclassing in other rulesets: Prevents classes in other rulesets from
inheriting from this classes.
ii. Limit Rules applied to this class to these rulesets : Restrict the rules creation
for this class to one or more rulesets
168. Always use the pyID as the key for the class definitions that belong to work-.
169. All the classes belonging to the class group will have the same keys of the class group and
hence there will be no provision of specifieng these sub classes.
170. Process Commander comes with a standard flow called “newWork” ( defined in Work- class )
to use as a starting point
171. PRPC standard properties are prefixed either with px or py or pz
i. Px – Computed properties that users can see on a form, but can’t directly
enter or change( Such as pxCreateDateTime). To alter this values activities can use a
step method called Property-Set-Special metod
ii. Py – Properties that users can enter or change via direct input( such as
pyDescription ) . To assign these values programmatically, activities can use step
method called Property-Set method
iii. Pz – Properties that are reserved for internal use( such as pzInsKey). User
can’t see, enter or change these properties
172. Some specific entries while defining the properties are

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 - 24 –

i. Override Sort Function – Specifies a sort function ( a rule type of Rule –Obj-
Function ) to use instead of the natural sort sequence for the string type ( Optional )
ii. Special – If checked, property ids for display only and it requires activities for
changes. It prevents sensitive e and calculated properties from being changed by UI
iii. Edit Input Value: You can specify the Rule-Edit-Input instance here. Rule Edit
inputs are basically custom Java routines for converting user input to an internal
system format. For example Rule-Edit-Inputs can contain code segments like as below
if (theValue.length() > 0)
{
theValue = theProperty.getStandardText(theValue);
}

theValue is the key in point at Rule-Edit-Inputs

iv. Edit Validate: Specifies an Edit validate rule (of type Rule-Edit-Validate) to use
in addition to the basic data format check. It validates the format of the use input and
works on the value after Rule-Edit-Input has already worked
v. Property Stream: Specifies the HTML formatting ( a rule type of Rule-HTML-
Property) to use when we are displaying the property in forms. If left blank, PRPC uses
the default stream called “Default” property Stream.
vi. Type of table : Defines the list of valid values for user input
a. Local List : Store the text values on the property form itself
b. Field Value : key to the Rule-Obj-Field rules that store the values
c. Remote List : Class with instances that contain the values for the
properties, typically a class that inherits from Data-
d. Prompt List: Store the list values on the property form,
Specified as a pair of values. One to display as selection and another to
store as value.
173. For Short to medium sized lists that don’t change frequently, choose local list option in the
property table edit for defining possible values
174. For Short to medium sized lists that change frequently, choose “Field Value” option in the
property table edit for defining possible values
175. For Long sized lists (such as product catalogues), choose “remote list” or “Class Key Values”
option in the property table edit for defining possible values.
176. Property qualifiers ( Rule-Obj-Property-Qualifier ) are used for applying additional facts to the
value of the property apart from Rule-Edit-Input and Rule-HTML-Property
177. Property Aliases can be used to give more meaningful names to the properties. You can
create an aliasfor a property to establish an alternate name more recognizable to the
user community for your application.
178. Every node has a page called “pxProcess”, which contains the properties that describe the
system on which the user is operating. The class for this page is Code-Pega-Process
179. Every user that is currently logged in to the process Commander has several user pages to
identify the person and organizational affiliation
i. PyPotal
a. PyCommonParams ( All org details)
b. PyGadget ( All gadget details)
c. PyPortalPages ( All portal Pages )
180. Every user or an external process that is in the process of making a request to process
commander has a page called “pxRequestor”. Class is Code-Pega-Requestor. This page
basically identifies the requestor and what it is allowed to do
181. For every user, Process Commander Captures the details about the current operations being
performed on the “pxThread” page, and the respective class is Code-Pega-Thread

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182. Activities may use the logical page names, which may not actually exist as they are called in
the clipboard. For example Activities may use a working page called “Primary”, a parameter page
called “Parameter” and a local parameter page called “Local”
183. The current page on which you are operating is called “primary page”. Think of primary page
as this page
184. In many situations we may be interested to operate on another page in parallel to the primary
page. This page is called secondary page or interest page. By using interest page, activates
can have different primary page other than the work object page. Interest pages are useful for
operating on the objects that are part of repeating group embedded in the work object. When
coming to flows, flows use interest pages for supporting branching. Flow processing normally
operates on the properties on the primary page, but you can specify a separate interest page to
operate on when splitting off to another flow.
185. When we refer the properties in HTML, activities or declarative rules we need to include the
page name before the property name except for primary pages. When you refer the
properties for primary pages, Primary.xxx and the .xxx are same
186. It is good practice to omit the page name, if we are operating in the context of primary page.
187. A class can have many models. But we can designate only one model while creating the
object. But you can chain together models of the same name in the direct inheritance hierarchy
for your class to achieve the cumulative model for the class.
188. PRPC comes with a standard model called pyDefault
189. Harness ( Rule-HTML-Harness) rules define the form structure and the layout , specifying the
sections that include in the harnesses and other elements to be added
190. Section ( Rule-HTML-Section) rules define the form content, consisting the discrete section
that you include in the harness
191. Streams define the class specific content to be included in a section ( Such as dynamic HTML
and repeating group ), as well as supporting forms for filed specific user input
192. Fragments (Rule-HTML-Fragment)are supporting pieces of HTML that you include in the
sections, streams, or other fragments. We need to use fragments if we want to share the html
across classes, such as buttons for performing the actions.
193. Text files (Rule-File-Text)contain static text that we will include in the streams of fragments
such as style sheets and Java script files. They are conceptually same as that of fragments, but
rule resolution does not apply for text files.
194. Model chaining works only with direct inheritance
195. Text files ( CSS and JS etc ) are not subjected to rule resolution where as the binary files ( JPG,
JPEG, images etc ) are subjected to rule resolution
196. For harness and section rules, process commander automatically generates the HTML
source( Which we can tailor as we need ). But we write the HTML for other html rules
197. Any class that inherits from Work-Object-, Work-Cover- or Work-Folder- also inherits all the
harnesses. When we enter a new work object or review, the harness automatically presents the
appropriate form for the object type
198. Standard harnesses are,
i. New - For creating new work objects
ii. Perform – Performing assignments on existing objects
iii. Confirm – Confirming object resolution
iv. Review – Reviewing the closed objects
v. Reopen - Reopening the closed objects
vi. NewCovered – To open a cover object
199. Harness rule basically assembles all required sections, streams and fragments
200. Sections typically include other sections, for
201. Page-new is used to create a new page in the clipboard. The page-new may be a top-level or
embedded page.
202. Page-new takes the following parameters

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 - 26 –

i. Model ( Optional )
ii. PageList ( Optional)
iii. New Class (Optional):
You can specify the class of for which new page is to be created. If left blank, it creates
for class of the step page that is mentioned in the activity step ( it retrieves the
respective class from pages-classes tab). If step page filed is also blank, the system
creates the new page of the class that is first key of the current activity, which is
nothing but primary page
203. When using the page-new, if the system finds the page already in the clipboard, it
deletes the old one and creates the new one
204. pxMethodStatus is the property that can be used to find out the status of a method step
1. Page-Copy method copies the contents of a source clipboard page to a new or previously
created destination clipboard page. The source page is not altered. After this method
completes, the destination page may contain properties it contained before, plus
properties from a model, plus properties copied from the source page. The various
parameters are,
i. CopyFrom( Optional ) : If left blank, system uses step page of the current step
ii. CopyInto :
iii. Model ( Optional )
iv. PageList ( Optional ) :
205. Page-Copy method works as below
i. If the source page cannot be found, the method does not fail. It does
not alter any pages. The resulting method status value is Good
ii. If the destination page (identified in the CopyInto parameter value) does not
already exist, the system creates a blank page of the same class as the source page. It
may be a top-level page or an embedded page
iii. IF the Model parameter is not blank, the system finds the model (using rule
resolution) and applies the model to the destination page. Properties already on the
destination page are never affected by the application of the model
iv. Next, the system copies properties from the source page into the destination
page. This copying may create new properties on the destination page or update the
value of existing properties — both those originally on the destination page and
those created through the model. As the copying occurs, each property is validated
against its definition (its Rule-Obi-Property instance). If a property value fails validation,
the system adds a message to the destination page
206. Page-Rename method can be used to rename the existing page to a new name. The
parameters are
i. PageNewName : Enter the new page name
207. Page-rename works in the following way
i. The system renames the page identified on the Step Page column of the
current step to the new name specified in the parameter
ii. Page names are unique within the clipboard. If another page with the new
name is already present, the system deletes it and replaces it with the renamed page
208. Page-Remove method is used to delete one or more pages from the clipboard. The
contents of the database are not affected. The method accepts array of one or more pages.
This method works in the following way
i. The system finds the pages (top-level or embedded) on the list and deletes
them. This method does not alter the contents of the database
ii. If a page you specified is not found on the clipboard, the Page-Remove
method reports a warning error but does not fail

26
 - 27 –

209. Page-Set-Message is used to add a message to a clipboard page. Like a message associated
with a property, a message associated with a page normally prevents the page from being saved
into the database. This method has two parameters
i. Page : ( Optional ) : If you leave this blank, the system uses the step page, or
the primary page if the Step Page column is blank
ii. Message: Enter literal text within quotes, or the name of a message rule
(Rule-Message rule type). Smart Prompt is available
210. Checking the step status: Method status is stored after each step. ;Methods update the
.pxMethodStatus property with a status such as Good, Warn, or Fail. Often, additional
information is stored in the property named pxMethodStatusInfo. As a sound development
practice, test this status value against Good in those activity steps that may fail. In the Transition
area, reference a when condition rule, and branch or jump to handle the failure. You can use two
standard when conditions named @baseclass.StepStatusGood and @baseclass.StepStatusFail in
transitions
i. StepStatusFail condition returns True when the status is Fail
ii. StepStatusGood condition returns True when the status is Good
Enter a when condition in the transitions as below for proper error handling of the step.. In
the If True field, indicate what the processing is to occur when the condition is true.

211. Page-Validate method forces validation (or revalidation) of the value of all properties on the
step page. The system adds a message to each clipboard property that fails validation against
the restrictions in its property rule. If the page has hundreds or thousands of properties, this
method can be expensive in terms of system resources. Use the Obj-Validate method, not
the Page-Validate method, to validate specific properties identified in a Rule-Obj-
Validate rule. The Page-validate method works in the following way.

i. system validates each property on the step page against the constraints
imposed by that property's definition, such length, type, validate rule, table edit values
etc.

212. Obj-Open method is used to open an instance stored in the rulebase and save it as a
clipboard page. If it finds the specified step page, the system clears any data that is on it and re-
uses the page. If no existing page has a name matching the specified step page, the system
creates a new page as part of the Obj-Open method. When used on a primary page, the Obj-
Open method always clears any data on the page and reuses its name. If the key supplied does
not match the key of an object in the database, the system creates a page of the indicated class
that is empty except for the pxObjClass property, and indicates failure in the pxMethodStatus
property. The parameters for this method are
i. Open Class : Identify the class of the instance to be opened
ii. Lock : Check this box to acquire a lock. Lock the instance if you plan to
change and save the instance or delete it
iii. RleaseOnCommit : Check this box if you checked the Lock box and want the
system to release the lock whenever the next Commit method occurs for this instance.
iv. PropertyName and PropertyValue :Enter in this array the name of each
property or properties and the associated values that together make up the key of the
instance to be opened. Type a period before the property name
213. What is handle? : Handle of an instance is a unique key, in an internal format, assembled by
the system that identifies an instance. It differs from the visible key generally used to identify
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instances. The handle includes system-generated identifying values (including the create date
and time) that make it unique. Every instance has a unique handle, but more than one instance
may share the same visible key.
214. Obj-Open-By-Handle can be used to open the instance , only if you know the unique handle
that permanently identifies which instance to open. Otherwise, we need to use the Obj-Open
method. Obj-Open-By-Handle method has 3 parameters
i. InstanceHandle :
ii. Lock :
iii. ReleaseOnCommit :
215. Some of the methods, overwrite the existing clipboard pages, if they already exist. If you want
the activity to check whether a page with a certain name exists before you open a new page, you
can use the following precondition in the step.
i. @PageExists("myPage", tools)
216. Obj-Save method requests that the system save a clipboard page to the database. The Obj-
Save method uses properties on the page to derive the internal key under which it is to be saved.
This method can create a new database instance or overwrite a previous instance with that key.
An object that is stored in the database is persistent. method does not always cause the object
to be written immediately to the database. Often this method is used to perform a "deferred
write" operation. We can use the WriteNow parameter to force this page (and only this page)
to be written to the database as part of the Obj-Save method. The whole idea is you can
reverse the effect of an Obj-Save method — if it has not yet been committed — with the Obj-
Save-Cancel method. The parameters for this method are
i. WriteNow
ii. WithErrors : Check this box if the instance is to be saved even when it
contains messages, indicating validation errors
217. Obj-Save-Cancel method is used to cancel an earlier Obj-Save method or obi-delete
method , so that the instance is not written or deleted as part of a subsequent Commit. This
method does not take any parameters. This method can be applied only if the previous
obj-Save or obj-delete does not use Write-Now option.
218. Obj-delete method can be used to delete a database instance corresponding to a clipboard
page and optionally to delete the clipboard page too. You can cause the deletion to occur
immediately, or defer deletion until a later execution of a Commit method. Unless you check the
Immediate check box on the activity form, the database deletion does not occur until the
system next processes the Commit method. This method uses the flowing parameters
i. Remove : If checked, it deletes the respective clipboard page also
ii. Immediate : If checked the system deleted the DB instance immediately

Word of caution:You can't delete an instance without opening it first (usually

with the Obj-Open method). You can't delete an instance while it is locked by another
requestor

219. Commit method is used to commit all the DB changes. This method writes all the
instances specified by one or more earlier Obj-Save methods to the database. The Commit
method operates on thread pages that can operate across multiple instances. There are no
parameters for this method and all previous pending Obj-Saves and Obj-Deletes will be
considered

220. Obj-List method is used to retrieve data to the clipboard as an array of embedded pages . You
can use this method in two modes.
i. Complete instances as embedded pages
ii. Selected properties from the instances placed in embedded pages with
shortcut characteristics. Shortcut pages contain only partial instance data and so

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cannot be re-saved to the database. A rule-Obj-List is used for this purpose of obtaining
the partial list of properties

221. Various parameters for obj-List :

a. PageName: destination page to contain search results( usually of type

Code-Pega-List)
b. ObjClass: Class name that it should search .When this method
references a list rule, it uses this value as the Applies To field (first key part)
with rule resolution to find the list rule
c. RuleObjList: (Optional): name of a list rule that specifies which
properties are to be retrieved.
d. Max Records: Optional: maximum number of instances in the list at run
time. The default is 50 instances, if not specified
e. SelectionProperty, SelectFrom, SelectTo, Like are used as
search criteria : Like can be used only if the columns is exposed in the DB, But
SelectFrom, SelectTo can be used even if we have not exposed the columns in
the DB
222. Obj-List method also assign the following important properties to the result page
a. pxResultCount— A count of the instances retrieved by this search
b. pyMore — Indicates whether there are more instances not returned.
Values are Y or N
c. pxNextKey — indicates the key of the first row (instance) not returned,
if pyMore is Y.
d. PyTimeElapsed : Milliseconds of elapsed time spent executing the
request
223. Obj-Validate method can be used to apply a Validation rule (an instance of the Rule-Obj-
Validate rule type) for the object identified on the primary page or step page.
224. Page-Validate, validates all the page where as the obj-validate validates as per the
validate rule( Rule-Obj-Validate) ( V. IMP)
225. How does the user validation works for properties in PRPC :
A property value that is supplied by user may be valid or invalid. Pages containing one or
more invalid values can not be saved to the database. When process commander detects an
invalid value, it adds a message to the page to mark this discovery. Two important points here
are,
1. The invalid values remain on the clipboard
2. The user is not automatically notified of the invalid value

Five kinds of rules basically support the user validation( V. IMP )

1. Property Rules ( Rule-Obj-Property ) : It can serve the purpose of validation in

3 ways
a. Table edits constrain the allowable values.
b. Type of property will restrict the format
c. Max allowable length
2. Edit Input values ( Rule-Edit-Input ) : These can convert the user entered
input values into an internal format
3. Edit Validate Rules ( Rule-Edit-Validate ) : these are custom java routine
functions which can further test the format of the input
4. Field Values ( Rule-Obj-FiledValue ) : These provide configurable list of
acceptable values

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5. Multii property Validation rules (Rule-Obj-Validate): These rules are used to

apply multiple edit validate rules to act at once. If a value fails any of these
validations, the system notes this in a message associated with the property or with
the clipboard page containing the property

226. How to make use of the harnesses :

i. We can specify the name of the harness rule for creating the new work object
on the process tab of the flow form in the field “ Harness for work object creation “
ii. At each assignment of the flow also we can specify the harness to be used for
presentation to user
227. We can specify the model name for work object creation on each flow, while defining the flow.
As we specify the model name in Page-new step of activity for other classes, we can specify the
model name in the flow for work classes
228. Binary files are subjected to rule resolution where astext files are not ( IMP)
229. It is not good practice to hardcode the list of field values inside the Rule-HTML-Property,
Instead we have to use Rule-Obj-Field value or Table edit of the property

230. Some of the important property streams are

i. CurrencyAmount : Formats the number as currency based on the default
locale
ii. Date-Time-CalanderHarness : dd-MMM-yyHH:mm format plus calendar control
iii. FixedSize : Accepts the input for the no. of characters specified in
pyMaxLength
iv. TextAreaWithExpand : Default is closed, expandable region.
v. TextAreaWithExpandExpanded : Default is open with two lin e expandable
region
vi. PickCorrPreferences : Select from list of correspondence preferences
vii. PickCountry : Select from list of countries
viii. PickResponseMode : Select from the list of preferred ways to be contacted
ix. PickState : Select fro list of states
x. CheckBox : Displays an HTML check box reflecting the property value
xi. Default : If you leave the Property Stream field on the Property form blank,
the system uses this HTML Property rule
xii. PickOperator : Displays a drop-down list of all Operator-IDs, for selection.
xiii. PromptSelect : On input, allows the user to pick from a drop-down list defined
in the Table Edit tab of the property form as a Local List or Prompt List. On output,
displays the value selected by the user
xiv. PromptFieldValue : On input, allows the user to pick from a drop-down list
defined by Field Value rules.
xv. TextArea : Displays an HTML textarea containing the property value
xvi. TextAreaSmall : Displays a smaller HTML textarea containing the property
value
xvii. Date-Calendar : Date format with calendar control

231. The various standard attachments PRPC supports are

a. File ( Data-WorkAttach-File)
b. Note ( Data-WorkAttach-Note)
c. Scanned document ( Data-WorkAttach-ScannDocument)
d. Screenshot ( Data-WorkAttach-ScreenShot)
e. URL ( Data-WorkAttach-URL)

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232. ToUpperCase is one of the frequently used Rule-Edit-Input for properties

233. To work with properties, we can use the flowing directives in the HTML.
i. Reference
ii. Lookup
iii. With
iv. Save

234. To add with the HTML rules that provide parts of the form , we can use include directive
235. To work with script files and style sheets in HTML, following directives can be used in the
HTML
i. Literal
ii. Delimiters

236. Reference directive is used to display the values of the properties, to allow the users to enter
the values for the properties and to insert the parameter values. Syntax for reference directive is
{[REFERENCE][[page].]property[(index)][AS [=]][option]}

237. The various ways we can use reference directive is( V V IMP)
i. To display the value of single value property on primary page
{.myProperty}
ii. To display the value of single value property on another page
{anotherPage.myProperty}
iii. To display the value list or value group
{myPage.myProperty(1)}
{myPage.myProperty(mySubscript)}

iv. If user has to input the property

{.myProperty INPUT}
{.myProperty AS INPUT}
{.myProperty AS = INPUT}

238. Lookupdirective can be used retrieve and display a property value of an instance that is
stored in the database, but that is not open on the clipboard. If the value is already in the
clipboard, we can better use the reference directive. The complete syntax of Lookup directive
is, ( Ref : Clipboard Lookup : Database) ( IMP )

{LOOKUP propertyclass-namekeyName=keyValue}

For example,
{LOOKUP pxCreateOperator Rule-Obj-HTML pyClassName=Work- pyStreamName=New}

239. With directive can be used in following cases

i. When we want to replace the primary page with a different page (the base
page) throughout a segment of the HTML as an HTML coding convenience
ii. To Set the current embedded page
iii. Define the active property reference
iv. Override an HTML Property rule

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Here is an example
{with PAGE myPage}
Enter your HTML and/or directives here.
{end}
240. Include directive can be used to include six rule types
i. Fragments ( Rule-HTML-Fragment )
ii. HTML Rules ( Rule-Obj-HTML)
iii. Correspondence Rules ( Rule-Obj-Corr rule type )
iv. Correspondence Fragments ( Rule-Corr-Fragment rule type )
v. HTML Property rules ( Rule-HTML-Property)
vi. XML rules ( Rule-Obj-XML )

241. Literal directive: Use the Literal directive around JavaScript, VBScript, or Cascading Style
Sheet text that contains curly brace characters. The Literal directive identifies a part of the
source HTML that is to be copied to the generated stream exactly as entered. The system does
not process the text within the directive, except to find the end of the directive.

Example:
{= style sheet or script goes here =}
Optionally you can also add key word called LITERAL
{LITERAL [comments] }
style sheet or script goes here
{/LITERAL [comments] }

242. Summary of directives

Assert Use to make processing more efficient when working with

one or more concrete classes and the Obj-List method
Comment Use for troubleshooting and debugging, to inhibit directive
processing within the scope of the comment. This is not a
replacement for HTML comments
Delimiters Change the syntax used for all the other directives
ForEach Looping and iteration
Include Incorporate another HTML text instance into the current
HTML text
Java Inline Java, which is to be executed to produce the final
HTML
Literal Bypass curly brace characters when preprocessing HTML
Lookup Retrieve a property value from an instance not present on
the clipboard
Reference Incorporate a property value on the clipboard as output
text

save Copy a name and value pair to temporary scratchpad

during HTML processing
URL Support <Submit > and Back form navigation
When Test a true-false condition and include one of two HTML
text segments based on the outcome.

With Designate a clipboard page other than the primary page

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for a portion of HTML

243. Example for a when directive

{whenHasBeenResolved}

<font class="dataLabelStyle">Resolved by</font>&nbsp{.pyResolvedUserID}&nbsp

{/when}
244. Flow can optionally take the parameters which can be specified in the flow definition form
245. “Work Class” fields in Flow definition is to identifywork type( a concrete class derived
from Work- class ) that this flow rule usually uses . Except in rare cases this is the same class
where the flow is defined.( IMP )
246. “Can be added to work object “ field in flow definitions is used for : This flow rule can be
associated with and started for an existing (unresolved) work object created by another flow.
247. The other important fields in flow form are

i. Create a new work object: Check if this flow rule when started creates a
new work object. Informally, flow rules which create new work objects are called
starter flow rules. If checked, the Short Description field of this flow rule becomes
visible on the Process Work workspace
ii. Harness for work object creation : You can specify a harness rule that
the system is to display when a user begins to enter a work object for this flow rule.
This is an optional field. IF left blank, system uses the “New” harness

248. There are basically four ways to get into another flow from current flow. These are
a. Called Flow
b. Spin-off Flow

c. Split for Each

d. Split Join

249. The “Called Flow “ Shape can be used if we want the current flow to pause until the Called
flow ( Sub flow ) is completed

250. Spin Off: Process Commander to starts execution of a different flow (Sub flow), using the
current or a different work object. Processing in the current flow rule continues in parallel,
without waiting for the other flow to complete. Important fields are

i. Define Flow on:Choose Current Object to cause the current work object to
start along another flow rule. Choose Different Object to start another flow rule, but for
a different work object
ii. Flow Type :Mention the flow name either current or different
iii. Object class: only applicable when different object is selected. Mention the
name of the class of the work object for which new flow should operate

251. Split Join guarantee that "sub flows" of your flow are completed before continuing with the
current flow. Important fileds are
i. Join When.. Flows are Finished: Choose any or all, to resume your main
flow. If all is specified, your main flow will resume only when all sub flows are
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completed. If any is selected, your main flow will resume when any one of the sub flows
are completed
252. Split for Each shape is used to send a work object through another flow based on
information in the pages of a Page List or Page Group property. Important fileds are
i. Join When. Flows are Finished: Choose any or all, to resume your main
flow. If all is specified, your main flow will resume only when all sub flows are
completed. If any is selected, your main flow will resume when any one of the sub flows
are completed
ii. Property Reference:the property of mode Page List or Page Group that is
the basis of the split.
iii. Object Class:the work type of the for-each work objects.
iv. Flow Type :flow rule for the for-each work objects

253. Use the Ticket shape ( ) to mark the starting point for exceptions that may arise at any
point in the flow, such as a cancellation. The ticket is a label for a point in a flow, much like a
programming "GOTO" destination.

254. Activity-End method in activity can be used to cause the system to end the current activity
and continue with the next activity on the requestor's activity list. For example, you can use the
Activity-End method to end an activity conditionally in mid-processing and cause the system to
start the next activity on the pxActivityList.

Word of Caution: If one activity calls another activity that contains the Activity-End method,
both activities end, and the system does not return to the calling activity.

255. Branch step method can be used to cause the current activity to find another specified
activity and branch to it without a return. When the system executes a Branch step, control
transfers to another activity found through rule resolution. To use this method we need to type
Branch, a space, and the activity name to branch to. The step page of this step becomes the
primary page of the target activity.

256. Call step method can be used execute an activity based on the class of the step page being
passed to the called activity. When that activity completes, control returns to the calling activity.
The calling activity can provide input parameters to the called activity, or or it can share its own
parameter page with the called activity, an approach known as call-by-reference.

How to pass pages to called activity

1. The preferred means for passing a single page from one activity to another is to identify the
page in the Step Page field of the calling activity. The called activity receives this page as its
primary page
2. Use the following steps if you want to pass more than one page
i. In the calling activity, identify an indirect page by the keyword prompt as the
Mode field in the Pages & Classes tab.
ii. In the steps of the called activity, refer to these pages using the syntax
promptpagename. No corresponding entry is required in the Parameters tab.

257. The difference between the branch and class is, branch completely branches to new activity
and never returns to calling activity, where as call method returns the control to calling activity
once called activity is executed

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258. The Exit-Activity method ends the current activity and returns control to the calling activity.
If there is no calling activity, the system starts the next activity in the pxActivityList property.
Where as the End-Activity also closes the calling activity

259. Show-HTML method to cause the activity to process an HTML rule and send the resulting
HTML to a user for display by Internet Explorer. Note: Use the standard activity @baseclass.
Show-Harness, not this method, to display a work object form defined by a harness rule (Rule-
HTML-Harness rule type).

260. Show-Page method is used to send an XML representation of the step page to a user's
Internet Explorer browser session, as an aid to debugging or to populate the values in a select
box in HTML dynamically

261. Show-Property method to send the value of a single property on the clipboard page identified
in the Step Page column to a user's Internet Explorer browser session, as an aid to debugging

262. Property-Set property is used set the values to the properties on the clipboard
pages

263. Property-Set-Special is used this method to set the value of one or more special properties.
Standard special properties have names that start with the prefix px. The value of special
properties cannot be modified through direct user input in an HTML form, nor by the Property-Set
activity method

264. Property-Set-XML method is used to save the contents of an XML rule (after stream
processing) as the value of a Single Value property

265. StartNewFlowactivity from the Work- class can be used from to start a new flow from an
activity

266. Flow-New step method can be used to start new flow execution , referencing a flow rule

267. RDB-List method can be usedto retrieve rows from an external relational database and
place the results as embedded pages in a specified step page of class Code-Pega-List. This
method references an Connect SQL rule instance, and executes SQL statements stored in the
Browse tab of that rule instance. Specify a page of class Code-Pega-List as the step page of the
RDB-List method. Also identify this page and class on the Pages & Classes tab of the Activity
form. The important parameters are

i. RequestType : Name of Rule-Connect-SQL instance( third key part of the

SQL instance

ii. Access : Enter the second key part of the Connect SQL rule (by convention
MSSQL, Oracle, DB2, UDB, or Sybase, but not restricted to these values)

iii. Class Name:Class name where the SQL is defined. We need to identify
exact class of the rule. The system does not use class inheritance to find the Rule-

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Connect-SQL instance. Also this class is different from the class on which you want to
perform the search, which you enter in your SQL code

iv. Browse page(Optional): Identify the top-level page into which the search
results are to be returned. The pxResults pages are embedded in this page. If left
blank, the system uses the step page you specified for the RDB-List method in the
activity step.

Note: Connect SQL rules only with an external database. Do not use Connect SQL rules or
RDB methods for the Process Commander database(s). Because not all properties in the
Process Commander databases are individual database columns, you must use the Obj-Open
and Obj-Save methods, not the RDB-* methods

268. Rule-Connect-SQL converts table, class, and property references on the Browse tab of this
rule using clipboard data, and sends the resulting SQL to the external database

269. RDB –Open Step method is used to retrieve a single row (record) of data from an external
relational database and add the retrieved data into a specified clipboard page as property names
and values. You can use this method with rule-connect-SQLs having select statements in the
Open tabs. The parameters are pretty much same as that of the RDB-LIST

270. Each RDB-Open, RDB-Save, and RDB-Delete method involves an SQL database commit
operation. You can't implement SQL transaction commit operations spanning two or more
Connect SQL rules.

271. RDB-Save method can be used to save the contents of a clipboard page into a row of a
relational database. The system saves the properties on the specified step page to the specified
table in the database. This method works in conjunction with a Connect SQL rule that contains
SQL statements such as INSERT, UPDATE, and CREATE statements on the Save tab. The
parameters of this step method are pretty much same as that of RDB-List
272. RDB-Delete method can be used to delete a row or rows from an external relational
database using SQL. This method operates in conjunction with an SQL statement in the Delete
tab of an Connect SQL rule (Rule-Connect-SQL rule type) which contains the DELETE, TRUNCATE
or DROP SQL statement. The parameters of this step method are pretty much same as that of
RDB-List

273. How set break points in tracer

Use break point button to access the break point configuration. After that what you see is

To see a list of activities, select a class. select the step before which you want processing to
pause. Select at entry or 1 to break when the activity starts. To break for each step, choose all
step.

Click Set Break, and you see the following:

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To remove a break, check the Remove box and click the Remove button.

274. Watch values can be set on tracer for various properties on the clipboard pages, pretty
much in the same way as we set the break points. But break points are set to activity steps
and the watch values are set to properties in the clipboard( IMP).

275. A declarative rule describes a computational relationship among property values

that is expected to be valid "always" or "often" or "as needed". Declarative rules will be in force
automaticallyand hence you need not call these rules explicitly

276. Declarative rules need / should not be refereed from any rule.They are always in
force. The primary benefit of declarative processing is that the system, rather than the
developer, controls when computations are processed

277. There are five types of declarative rules

i. Constraints rules (Rule-Declare-Constraints rule type)

ii. Declare Expression rules (Rule-Declare-Expressions rule type)

iii. Declare Index rules (Rule-Declare-Index rule type)

iv. Declare OnChange rules (Rule-Declare-OnChange rule type)

v. Declare Trigger rules (Rule-Declare-Trigger rule types)

278. Remember that other than above five rules , any other rules are not really declarative rules,
though containing “Declare” keyword. For example, following are not declarative rules

Rule-Declare-DecisionTree
Rule-Declare-DecisionTable

279. Rule-Declare-Expressions: R-D-E (Rule-Declare-Expressions) can be created for properties

and will have typically same name of the property. R-D-E facilitates automatic computation of the
property value, basing on changes of other property values. For example, we can declare a R-D-E
for property called “Area”, so that whenever it’s value is accessed from clipboard, it’s value is
equal to the product of properties, Length and Width. Once the R-D-E is saved for the property
“Area”, any change to a Length or Width value, regardless of how it occurs, causes an immediate

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recomputation of the value of the Area property. For example following is the R-D-E created for
gross salary property

Idea is, Whenever value of any property from Basic, HRA, SpecialAllowance, ITax and PTax
is changed, The value of GrossSalary in clipboard automatically changes. For example, if an
activity which has Property-Set method for property “Basic” and if this activity is executed, the
clipboard value of GrossSalary automatically changes

280. Declarative rules are not referenced explicitly in other rules. If you use of an property
that is referenced in the declarative rule, it automatically causes the declarative rule to run.
( IMP )

281. Forward Chaining :Forwardchaining provides the automatic calculation of the property by
executing the declarative rule, when any one of the input property value is changed. For
example, if the Area property depends on the Length and Width property, then forward chaining
causes the Area property to be recomputed each time either Length, or Width value changes

282. BackwordChaining : Forward chaining provides the automatic calculation of the property
by executing the declarative rule, when a value is needed for a property, rather than when
inputs change. For example, if the Area property depends on the Length and Width property,
then backword chaining causes the Area property to be recomputed each time the Area property
is required/ referred

283. What decides the forward chaining / Backwordchaining? : The “Target Property
Data “ field in declare expressions decide this ( IMP )

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In the above options,

Whenever inputs change – Forward Chaining

When used, if no value present – Backword Chaining
When used, if Property is missing – Backword Chaining
Whenever used – Backword Chaining

284. You can use when conditions in the R-D-E. For example we can change the formula for
grossSalary for regular employees and contract employees as given below. Contract employees
will not have the Special allowance

285. You need to give the page context value, if the R-D-E is declared for a target property which is
embedded in page-List or a page-property . You can leave the page context value as blank, if
your target property is of mode single value.

If you give the page context, if you specify the page context, you need to specify the class for
this page context, in

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For example, the following may be valid values for page context

wageBill.Employee(“Murali”)
wageBill.Employee(4)
wageBill.Employee()

Assuming, Employee is an embedded page in which we have the GrossPay property for which
we are declaring R-D-E

Also, If you give the page context, you need to specify the class for this page context, in class
field as given below

286. Rule-Declare-Constraints:Constraints rules can provide an automatic form of property

validation every time the property's value is "touched", in addition to the validation provided by
the property rule or other means. The system evaluates constraints automatically each time a
property identified in a Constraints rule is changed. This technique is known as forward
chaining. Constraints use the forward chaining. For example we can create a constraint for
multiple properties to see that all amount are positive as given below

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287. Same as Declare expressions, we can also declare constraints for the properties inside the
embedded page. In that case, we need to specify the page name and it’s class in the pages and
classes tab as given below

288. Rule-Declare-Index: Declare Index rule are defined for defining criteria under which Process
Commander automatically maintains index instances for faster access.

289. Rule-Declare-OnChange: Declare OnChange rules can be used to run an activity

automatically at activity step boundaries whenever the value of a specified property changes.
This capability provides a form of automatic forward chaining. If you specify more than one
property, they all must be on same page. For example, we can create a declare onchange to call
an activity that send a mail to employee whenever either HRA or Basic or SpecialAllowance are
changed as below

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290. Same as Declare expressions, we can define declare OnChange rules for the properties inside
the embedded page. In that case, we need to specify the page name and it’s class in the pages
and classes tab as given below

291. Rule-Declare-Trigger: A trigger rule identifies an activity that runs automatically whenever
an object of a particular class is saved in or deleted or updated from the database.

292. Triggers implements forward chaining

293. Almost all the declarative rules implement only the forward chaining, except the R-
D-E. In R-D-E, we have a choice to decide either we should go to forward chaining or backward
chaining

294. A Decision Table is an instance of class Rule-Declare-Decision Table. A decision table to

derive a value that has one of a few possible outcomes, where each outcome can be detected by
a test condition on value of the property. A decision table rule lists two or more rows, each
containing test conditions on a property value and a result. For example, following is a decision
table defined to get the tax rate basing on the HRA

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295. How to refer the decision table? Decision table can be referred from three other rules
1. From decision shape of flow rule
2. In an activity you can evaluate the decision table using Property-Map-DecisionTable. By
doing so, we can set a property value with the return value of the decision table
3. Decision table can be referred from R-D-E

296. A decision tree is an instance of Rule-Declare-DecisionTree. Decision tree can be used to

record the complex if—then—else logic. For example following is the standard decision tree
defined in the Procom ruleset for returning right email address basing on the complex if else
conditions

297. How to refer the decision tree? Decision table can be referred from three other rules
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1. From decision shape of flow rule

2. In an activity you can evaluate the decision tree using Property-Map-DecisionTree. By
doing so, we can set a property value with the return value of the decision table.
3. Decision tree can be referred from R-D-E

298. Significance of Default input property in decision tree is: This is an optional field. At run time
when the decision tree is referred, if the value of the third parameter to the Property-Map-
DecisionTree method is blank, the system evaluates this field and uses the result as the value for
comparisons.

299. Map Value: We can think of a map value rule to create a table of number, text, or date
ranges that converts one or two input values, such as latitude and longitude numbers,
into a calculated result value, such as a city name. Map value rules greatly simplify
decisions based on ranges of one or two inputs. ( IMP )

Though we can use map value to take a maximum of 2 inputs, through cascading — where one
map value calls another — map value rules can provide an output value based on three,
four, or more inputs

300. Normally maps can be defined in two ways. We can give a row input only which is referred as
simple map. The following is example of simple Map

Also we can think of creating a map which takes both row input and column input
which is normally referred as Map value pair. Following is an example of map value pair.

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301. How and where the maps are referred?

1. From decision shape of flow rule.

2. In an activity you can evaluate the map value usingProperty-Map-value (Where you have
only row input) or Property-Map-ValuePair (When you have both row and column inputs).
By doing so, we can set a property value with the return value of the map value.
3. Map can be referred from R-D-E
4. A Map value can be referred from other map values.

302. Important flow symbols ( ** Symbols are very important for exam )

a. Branching to another flow: can branch to start another flow

execution anywhere in your current flow. Flow symbol looks as
b. Assignment:Assignment is the place the work object requires some
user action and typically assignment can include both local and no local flow
actions. Assignment looks as
c. Comment :Comment symbol looks as , where u can add some
comments in the flow.
d. Connectors : Connectors look as
e. Integrator :Integrator task is an activity that connects your Process
Commander system to an external system to send or receive data. Integrator
shape looks as

f. Decision :We can use decision task to reference a map value rule,
decision table rule, or decision tree rule that when evaluated produces a value
that is the basis of branching in the flow. Decision shape looks as

g. Flow End Shape :Defines the end of the flow. Shape looks as

h. Fork :Fork represents a point where the flow execution chooses one of
a few different paths (connectors) based on tests on the work object. fork shape
looks ad

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i. Notify :Connect a Notify shape to an assignment to cause your

application to send correspondence to a work party in the work object reflecting
the assignment. The notify shape looks as

j. Router :A router activity computes which workbasket, worklist, or

agent is to receives an assignment. The shape looks as .

k. SpinOff :When a work object advancing through a flow reaches the

Spinoff shape, Process Commander to starts execution of a different flow, using
the current or a different work object. Processing in the current flow rule
continues in parallel, without waiting for the other flow to complete. SpinOff
shape looks as

l. Spilt-Join : We need to use Split-Join shape to guarantee that

"subflows" of your flow are completed before continuing with the current flow.
The shape looks as .

m. Split-ForEach : Split-ForEach shape to send a work object through

another flow based on information in the pages of a Page List or Page Group
property. The shape looks as

n. Utility :Utility task is an activity that can update a work object

without human input. It may perform computations, searches, retrieve data
from another system, make a decision affecting the course of the flow, and so
on. Utility task looks as

304. Important classes

1. Ruleset - Rule-Ruleset-Name
2. Ruleset version - Rule-RuleSet-Version
3. Class - Rule-Obj-Class
4. Property - Rule- Obj-Property
5. HTML Form - Rule-Obj-HTML
6. Harness - Rule-HTML-Harness
7. Harness Section - Rule-HTML-Section
8. Flow - Rule-Obj-Flow
9. Organization - Data-Admin-Organization
10. Division - Data-Admin-OrgDivision
11. Unit - Data-Admin-OrgUnit
12. Flow action - Rule-Obj-FlowAction
13. System - Data-Admin-System
14. Operator - Data-Admin-Operator-ID
15. Access Group - Data-Admin-Operator-AccessGroup
16. Work Object - Work-Object-
17. Cover - Work-Cover-
18. Folder - Work-Folder-
19. Party types - Data-Party
20. Work parties for work class - Rule-Obj-WorkParty
21. Class Group - Data-Admin-Db-ClassGroup
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22. Mapping class/ class group

to a table - Data-Admin-DB-Table
23. DB Connection - Data-Admin-Db-Name
24. Field Value lists - Rule-Obj-FieldValue
25. Custom display options
for properties on the form - Rule-HTML-Property
26. Converting user input into
internal format - Rule-Edit-Input
27. Model - Rule-Obj-Model
28. Fragment - Rule-HTML-Fragment
29. Text file - Rule-File-Text
30. Binary File - Rule-File-Binary
31. Property streams ( to - Rule-HTML-Property
control the appearance of
properties on UI )
32. Custom routines for
formatting the properties - Rule-Edit-Input
33. Maintain value lists for
the property - Rule-Obj-FiledValue
34. To validate a property - Rule-Edit-Validate
35. To validate multiple
properties in a page - Rule-Obj-Validate
36. To create calendars - Data-Admin-Calendar
37. Packaging/ shipping - Rule-Admin-Product
products
38. To Contain report structure – Rule-Obj-SummaryView
31. Decision tree - Rule-Declare-DecisionTree
32. Decision table - Rule-Declare-DecisionTable
33. When conditions - Rule-Obj-When
34. Maps - Rule-Obj-Map
35. Declare Expressions - Rule-Declare-Expressions
36. Constraints - Rule-Declare-Constraints
37. Declare onChanges - Rule-Declare-OnChange
39. Declare Indexes - Rule-Declare-Index
40. Delcare Triggers - Rule-Delcare-Triggers

305. An Access Role is an instance of the Rule-Access-Role-Name class. An access role can
be assigned to individual users (or requestors) to influence their access control. These roles
determine what operations they can perform on what CLASSES. Don't confuse access roles
with access groups, which affect RuleSet and Version visibility. Access groups are data
instances (of the Data-Admin-Operator-AccessGroup class), while access roles are
rules.

306. A Privilege is an application-specific access control element associated with a class

and access role. A privilege is a name that corresponds to a Rule-Access-Privilege instance. That
class provides a name (and class) for each privilege, but does not cause the system to grant
privileges. Use of privileges is optional, but can offer finer tuning of access control than access
roles alone. To have access to a privilege, you must have at least one of the access
roles that grant access to the privilege in your access role list. The association between
access roles and privileges is established in instances of the Rule-Access-Role-Obj class.

308. PRPC model users

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a. Business Users

1. Business User : End user of the application

2. Business Manager : Who monitors the performance of users or user

groups

b. Developers and Implementers

1. Process Architect : A business analyst who defines and maintains

business rules, service levels, and flows

2. System Architect : An application developer who creates class

structure for the application and who builds the interfaces with external systems

3. System Administrator : System engineer who is responsible for

installation and setup, security, and high level configurations

309. Portal layouts can be configured as instances of Rule-Portal

310. Guardrails
1. Adopt an Iterative Approach
2. Establish a Robust Foundation
3. Do Nothing That Is Hard
4. Limit Custom Java
5. Build For Change
6. Design Intent-Driven Processes
7. Create Easy-To-Read Flows
8. Monitor Performance Regularly
9. Calculate and Edit Declaratively, Not Procedurally
10. Keep Security Object-Oriented Too

311. SMART BUILD

Smart build is the design and development process for PRPC.
It contains 14 sequential steps.

Smart Build Steps:

1. Review Road map and Develop Plan

2. Analyze Requirements
3. Prerequisites and set up
4. Design the class structure
5. Create and evaluate sample work objects
6. Identify missing properties and data classes
7. Tailor the user interface
8. Design flows and Identify Flow Actions
9. Create Flows and Process Details
10.Add Communications Capabilities
11.Set up Access and Security
12.Configure Interfaces and Data Sources
13.Business Review and Deploy

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14.Continuous Improvement

312. Standard Rule-Methods

Method Description

Activity-End End the current activity.

Activity-List-Add Add an activity to an internal dispatch list.

Apply-Parse-Delimited Execute a Parse Delimited rule in an activity.

Apply-Parse-Structured
Execute a Parse Structured rule in an activity.

Assign-Delete Delete an assignment.

Assign-EstablishContext Retrieve the flow and work object for an assignment.

Commit Commit all database changes in the thread.

Connect-dotNet Start a connector to a Web service based on the Microsoft .NET

framework

Connect-EJB Start a connector to an external Enterprise JavaBean.

Connect-Java Start a connector to call an external Java class or JavaBean.

Connect-JMS Start a connector to an external system using the Java Message

Service application programmer interface.

Connect-MQ Start a connector for a WebSphere MQ connection.

Connect-SOAP Start a connector to invoke a Web service.

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Connect-Wait Block (pause) for a time interval to synchronize with child

requestor.

End-Validate End compilation of referencing rules, for a custom rule type.

Exit-Activity End the current activity.

Flow-New Start a flow execution instance.

Flow-End Terminate a flow execution instance.

History-Add Record your changes to work objects or activities

History-List List instances of a class.

Link-Objects Link objects together.

Obj-Delete Delete an instance from the database, or mark it for later deletion
with the Commit method

Obj-List Search through instances of a class and extract selected properties

Obj-Open Open an instance stored in the database

Obj-Open-by-Handle Open an instance using a permanent unique key.

Obj-Save Save page data to the database, or mark it for saving (commit)
later.

Obj-Save-Cancel Reverse a previous Obj-Save or Obj-Delete method, not yet

committed to the database.

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Obj-Set-Tickets Set or reset tickets, interrupting the normal sequential processing

of a flow.

Obj-Validate Run a Validate rule on a set of properties, typically representing

user input.

Page-Change-Class Change the class of a page.

Page-Copy Copy contents of one page to another page

Page-Clear-Messages Remove page messages from the step page.

Page-Merge-Into Merge two or more pages into one page.

Page-New Create a page.

Page-Remove Delete a page from the clipboard.

Page-Rename Rename a page or name a primary page

Page-Validate Validates all properties on a page.

Page-Set-Messages Associate a message with a page.

Parse-Byte-Pos Used only in Parse Structured rules.

Parse-Char-Pos Used only in Parse Structured rules.

Parse-Fixed-Binary Used only in Parse Structured rules.

Parse-Packed-Decimal Used only in Parse Structured rules.

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Privilege-Check Determine whether a user or requestor has a specified privilege.

Property-Map-DecisionTable Evaluate a decision table rule and assign the result to a property

Property-Map-DecisionTree Evaluate a decision tree rule and assign the result to a property

Property-Map-Value Set the value of a property based on a one-dimensional map value

rule.

Property-Map-ValuePair Set the value of a property based on a two-dimensional map value

rule.

Property-Remove Delete a property from a page.

Property-Seek-Value Use backwards chaining to obtain a value.

Property-Set Set the value of one or more specified properties

Property-Set-Corr Save the contents of a correspondence stream as the value of a

property.

Property-Set-HTML Save the contents of an HTML stream as the value of a property.

Property-Set-Messages Associate a literal text message with a property or a step page.

Property-Set-Special Set the value of one or more-reserved (px) properties.

Property-Set-Stream Save the contents of a JSP, XML, or HTML stream as the value of a
property.

Property-Set-XML Save the contents of an XML stream as the value of a property.

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Property-Validate Apply an Edit Validate rule to test user input.

RDB-Delete Delete an instance from a relational database.

RDB-List Retrieve rows from an external relational database.

RDB-Open Open an instance from an external relational database.

RDB-Save Save the contents of a clipboard page to a relational database.

Requestor-Stop Stop processing of the requestor.

Show-HTML Assemble and send an HTML page to a user's browser

Show-Page Send an XML representation of a page to the browser.

Show-Property Send a single property value to the browser.

Apply stream processing to a JSP, HTML, correspondence or XML

Show-Stream rule.

Start-Validate Compile referencing rules for a custom rule type.

StringBuffer-Append Manipulate string buffer containing local variables

StringBuffer-Insert Manipulate string buffer containing local variables

StringBuffer-Reset Manipulate string buffer containing local variables

TaskStatus-Set Convey results of activity processing to a calling flow

Thread-Clear Clear the thread page.

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Thread-Stop Stop the current thread.

Wait Pause a thread for a specified time interval.

313. RULE-OBJ_CORR
Create correspondence rules to define, in HTML, templates for the content of outgoing
correspondence. We need to select the Correspondence type.

RULE-CORR TYPE
A correspondence type rule indicates whether a piece of correspondence is a printed letter,
fax, e-mail, or phone text

RULE-CORR-FRAGMENT
Create a correspondence fragment rule to define reusable or boilerplate HTML text for
correspondence. Through the include directive or the equivalent include JSP tag, this text
can be incorporated into multiple correspondence rules during stream processing.

314. RULE-DECLARE-INDEX
Indexing can improve performance and facilitate reporting. These rules are stored in
index_base table of pega rules.

315. RULE-UTILITY-LIBRARY
A library rule is a container for a set of related function rules.

316. RULE-UTILITY-FUNCTION
It defines a java function that can be accessed through rule resolution. These rules can be
referenced in expressions or java step in an activity. For example,
Exprerssion
@(MyRuleSet:MyGeoLibrary).MyGeographicFunction( Latitude, Longitude)
Java step
myruleset_mygeolibrary.MyGeographicFunction(Latitude, Longitude );

317. RULE-PARSE-DELIMITED
Use the Parse Delimited rule to upload data into your Process Commander system from
an external file or files. Within an input record, a comma, tab, quote, or other character
may separate fields. The rule extracts the text between the delimiter characters and
stores it in a Single Value property or as one element of a Value List property.

RULE-PARSE-STRUCTURED
Use a Parse Structured rule in conjunction with a Service File rule or the Apply-Parse-
Structured method to import structured data to the clipboard. For example, you can import
fixed-format flat files from a variety of external sources and platforms.

RULE-PARSE-XML
Use Parse XML rules with services and connectors to map data from an XML text message
into clipboard property values. Each Parse XML rule contains an array of parsing
instructions that let Process Commander interpret an incoming XML document or
message. The incoming message may arrive using an e-mail protocol or by SOAP over
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HTTP protocol. The message may be a request for service or a reply from a connector.
Within a Parse XML rule, the notation for finding elements and attributes is similar to the
World Wide Web Consortium's XPath notation.

318. DATA MAPPING IN SOAP

We have two types of mapping mechanisms in PRPC depending on the request/response

forms.

For mapping data in SOAP Service

Request  MAP TO  Data from external source to PRPC

Response  MAP FROM From PRPC to External Source

For mapping data in SOAP Connector

Request  MAP FROM From PRPC to External Source

Response  MAP TO  Data from external source to PRPC

319. JAVA SERVER PAGES TAGS

The Process Commander JSP tag library provides a functional equivalent to a directive, or
part of a directive.

Reference tag
<pega:reference name="myPage.myProperty" />

Look up Tag
<pega:lookupclassname="Rule-Obj-HTML" property="pxCreateOperator" />
<pega:key name="pyClassName" value ="Work-" />
<pega:key name="pyStreamName" value="Newbook" />
</pega:lookup>

With Embedded
<pega:withEmbedded name="embeddedpagestring" >
Enter <pega:reference name=".Surname" /> here.
</pega:withEmbedded>
With Page
<pega:withPage name="pagename"">
<!-- HTML and/or tags here with pagename as the base page -->
</pega:withPage>

Include
<pega:include
[name="name"]
[ref="indirect reference "]
[type="rule type"]
/>
When
<pega:when
[name="When rule ]

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[java="<%=expression=%>"]
[test="keyword"]>
HTML segment to include if true
</pega:when>

For Each
<TABLE>
<pega:foreach name="Operators.pxResults">
<TR><TD>
<pega:reference name="$THIS.pyUserIdentifier" />
</TD></TR>
</pega:foreach>
</TABLE>

320. RULE-OBJ-LIST VIEW

Use a List View rule to define a custom report or personal version of a report. This rule
generates HTML that provides an attractive interactive display. Following are the steps to
create one.

1. Use the New dialog to record the rule key.

2. Complete the Display Fields tab to record the layout of an HTML <TABLE> display of
results.

3. Complete the Content tab to define a search of the Process Commander database and
exploit
the retrieval, filtering, and sorting power of database software.

4. Use the Organize tab to apply further filtering and sorting, and buttons.

5. Define interactions and advanced interactions on the Format tab

321. RULE-OBJ-SUMMARY VIEW

Use the Summary View rule form to define a simple custom or personal query. This rule
generates HTML that provides an attractive, custom interactive display.
Here we can have drilldown options as well.

[***** END *****]

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