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Offline mobility guidelines in Pega 7.1.8

Updated on September 3, 2019

Developers of Pega 7 Platform mobile apps must follow certain guidelines and be aware of some special considerations to enable mobile apps to work in offline mode.

For more information, see Offline mobility.

Enable offline in your access groups and cases

To enable offline capability for your access groups and cases, keep the following points in mind:

  • You enable offline capability for an access group by selecting the Enable offline support check box on its Advanced tab.
  • You must enable offline capability for each case. Select the Enable offline support check box on the case's Advanced tab.
  • After offline capability is enabled, you can perform individual assignments within that case while working offline. Screen flows that are a part of the case can also be performed while offline. For more information, see Flow processing considerations.
  • The following restrictions apply:
    • All cases accessible to an offline user must be enabled for offline. You cannot have a mix of cases that are offline-enabled and cases that have the offline capability disabled.
    • Case stage transitions are not supported while working offline.
    • Circumstanced application rules are not supported.
  • You must build a mobile app by using the Mobile tab of the application rule form - see How to build and brand a hybrid mobile application.
  • You must add a new access class called Pega-OfflinePack to existing access groups. Set level 5 access for all rules except for the write and delete rules.

You can create your own portal for offline capability, as long as it uses some of the key principles and design of the pyCaseWorker portal. See also composite portal and How to create a composite portal for more information. A portal based on the Case Worker portal (such as pyCaseWorker) has the following requirements:

  • Must be set as the default for every access group whose users access the offline-enabled application.
  • Must use a frameless dynamic container.
  • The harness in the portal must be defined in the Data-Portal class.
  • Must adhere to the following additional guidelines.

Use supported controls

When developing a mobile app for offline capability, you must use modern layouts and lists to build every screen. Refer to the Supported controls while working offline help topic for a complete list of supported controls that you can use when you create the user interface.

Use supported actions

Buttons, links, icons, and menu items must use only the supported set of actions. The complete list of actions that are supported while working offline is described in the Supported actions while working offline help topic.

Flow processing considerations

You must use cases in flows. Case step flows can be used to perform assignments when offline:

  • Case steps can be performed offline.
  • Back-to-back case steps also can be performed offline.
  • Case step flows can be expanded. Only assignment shapes can be performed while offline. If any other shape is reached, the flow processing stops when offline.
  • Subflows are not supported.

Screen flows can be used to perform back-to-back assignments when offline:

  • Screen flows can contain only assignments shapes. If the flow contains any other type of shape, the user, while offline, cannot continue past the assignment that precedes the unsupported shape. In addition:
    • Utility shapes can be present at the end of the screen flow. The utility does not run when offline, but becomes available online when the completed assignments are synced to the server.
    • Only assignment shapes can be performed while offline. If any other shape is reached, the flow processing stops when offline.
  • Pre-activities and post-activities do not run on any flow actions while offline. However, they run when the flow is syncing to the server. It is a best practice not to use these activities because the rules running on the server are different from the rules that ran on the client when the user went through the flow.
  • Back-to-back assignments are supported, but you must use the default Back button in the screen flow harness. The Back button returns you to the previous assignment as defined in your screen flow.
  • The completed datetime recorded in the audit trail is the datetime that the assignment is completed on the server when the item is synced after it is back online.

Other general flow processing notes:

  • The worklist displayed in an offline app must be of Assign-Worklist type.
  • pyWorkParty is not supported while working offline.
  • The confirm harness used is the confirm harness that is set on the pyStartCase flow.
  • When building an application on top of another application, you cannot reuse flows from the built-on application in offline cases. To solve this issue, save the flows again into the class of the current application.

Other considerations

The following information is important to know while using mobile offline capability.

  • Pega Mobile Client and data sync limitation:
    • The data page size cannot be larger than 8,000,000 characters.
    • Because the string is UTF-8 encoded, this size represents approximately 7.6 MB if all the character codes are between 1 and 128 (for languages such as English, German, or French).
  • You can extend the app by using a CallActivity extension point. Refer to the CallActivity action as an extension help topic for details.
  • You can include external scripts in one of the following ways:
    • Add a custom script by saving the pypega_ui_userscripts_offline script bundle to the application ruleset, and then add your script files to this bundle.
    • Save the script as a JavaScript file named pypega_ui_userscript_offline to the application ruleset, and then add custom JavaScript functions to it.
  • When using defer load support:
    • The defer loaded sections or layouts are loaded on the initial load, and the defer load pre-activity is always ignored.
    • Defer load is not supported in tabs. You must use a layout group instead.

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