Customization to configuration

In an example of this section-based approach, a user drops a button from the palette into a dynamic layout in a Section rule, and the developers then use Action Sets to specify the behavior of the button. This requires deep knowledge of Pega front-end concepts, including accessibility rules.  

Now, to promote faster development time, the Constellation design system provides typical, high-value case management patterns out of the box. Constellation also offers consistency across the application stack, seamless UI upgrades, and less need for duplicate code and Pega front-end expertise. You can now use App Studio to configure the UI outcomes that you need, and Constellation generates the end-to-end experience for each channel.

Configuring form instruction text 

To illustrate this shift from section-based to view-based development, consider a typical outcome that Pega applications need: instructional text in forms. Traditionally, developers used the Paragraph rule to place instruction text in a Dynamic Layout. In Constellation, instruction text at the form level, field group level, and field level is configured in the model - specifically, in the View. End users benefit from consistency, and developers benefit from less rule maintenance and faster configuration.   

Configuring a search and select pattern 

As another example, consider a Service Call case that manages the workflow for a customer calling to report a problem. The back-office case worker needs to relate the Service Call case to a customer by searching for and selecting the customer in their database. In traditional UI architecture, developers repeatedly built this 'search and select' pattern with the following steps: 

• Drag and drop the search fields, such as for first name and last name,
• Drag and drop a button control,
• Configure the Action Set to invoke the service call, passing search parameters and refreshing the results,
• Drag and drop a table to render the results, and configure a column for a checkbox for the selected customer.

While this approach might let you create a highly customized experience, it brings multiple challenges: you must repeatedly build the pattern, handle inconsistencies in the same pattern across the app stack, face slower time-to-value, and have a deep understanding of Pega UI. 

In the Constellation design system, developers achieve the 'search and select' outcome by configuring a Data Reference field and a Data Page. The entire experience, including the search fields, search button, and results, is automatically generated and consistent across all Constellation applications. With Constellation, typical outcomes such as this, and the ability to add a new record to a data set, are easily configurable in App Studio. 

Check your knowledge with the following interaction: