Data pages

A data page defines the contents of a clipboard page and enables the system to access
data from a range of
sources on demand.

For example, a section that displays information for a customer can reference the
D_Customer data page instead of
getting the information directly from the
database.

When the system references a data page, the data page creates an instance of itself on the
clipboard and loads the
required data. Data pages are created when they are first accessed and
are not saved to the database. A data page
is valid for the period that you define, and the
data is reloaded when you access the data page after it has expired.

The name of a data page starts with the prefix D_. The Data Explorer in
Dev Studio lists all the data pages that are
available for your
application.

For more information about data pages, see Data pages on Pega Community.

Scope of data pages

The scope of a data page defines the thread that can access the data page. You can select
the scope on the
Definition tab of the data page.

A data page scope can be node, thread, or requestor:

Thread – The page is created in a single requestor thread and can be accessed as often
as needed by
processing in that thread.

Requestor – The requestor can access the page(s) loaded across all threads.

Note: For
Customer Service chat interactions, associate requestors have their own copy of
requestor-
level pages. For editable requestor-level pages, changes made in one chat
interaction are not seen by other
phone and chat interactions.

Node – Any requestor executing on the current node can access the pages.

For more information, see Page scope types for data and declare pages on Pega Community.

Types of data pages

There are three types of data pages:

Read-only – This is a read-only page available to only one thread, a requestor, or

multiple requestors (on one
node) in your application. Read-only data pages can be
modified only during page load and post-activity
processing. These data pages are
displayed in the data page list on the clipboard.
Editable – This page contains initial contents that can be accessed in read-write mode.
Editable data pages do
not have a refresh strategy or save plan and cannot be node-level
in scope. These data pages are displayed
in the user page list on the clipboard.
 Savable – This page provides a save plan through a database source or an activity so
that users can update
data and write to a system of record. Only savable data pages can be
referenced in save data page locations,
which are areas in the application where you can
list data pages to save. For example, you can list the pages
to save in flow actions
during postprocessing, the Save Data Page shape to use in Case Designer or the Flow
form,
and the Save-DataPage method to use in activities.

Benefits of using data pages

Data pages can improve performance and reduce memory requirements when many requestors in
an application
need to access the same information. For example, a data page can hold last
night's closing U.S. stock prices in a
Value Group property indexed by
ticker symbol, so that the property reference D_Stock.Price("IBM") is the
closing price for IBM shares. The first time each evening (after the 4:00 P.M. New York
stock market close) that a
requestor attempts to access the page, Pega Platform automatically loads the page with the latest end-of-day prices.
The page can remain
unmodified in memory until the next day's closing.

Data pages create only as many instances as requested. When you reference a data page by
using parameters, the
data page creates a unique instance of itself for each unique
reference, which is identified by a parameter value. For
example, a single data page,
D_Customer, can create as many instances of itself on the clipboard as
your
application requires. Each instance has exactly and only the information about one
particular customer.

Data pages refresh the data only when required. Pega Platform automatically
checks the data page contents (by
using a when condition rule) before each property access
to see whether a fresh recomputation is needed. For
example, a page might list the part
numbers or SKU numbers of items that are out of stock, extracted from an
inventory control
system. Recomputation is needed only when an out of stock condition begins or ends, not each
time the inventory changes.

Refresh strategy for data pages

The refresh strategy for a data page determines the time period for which the data page is
valid. You can define the
refresh strategy on the Load Management tab
of the data page.

You can define the following refresh strategies for a data page:

Reload once per interaction – The system refreshes the data page exactly once per user
interaction. This
option is available only for data pages with a scope of thread or
requestor.

Do not reload when – You can define a when rule for this refresh strategy. If the when
rule evaluates to false,
the data page contents are refreshed, but never more than once
per user interaction.

Reload if older than – You can define the amount of time after which the data page is
considered expired.
Restricted feature set for high throughput – When high-speed read-only data pages are
impacting system
performance, you can use a restricted feature set to improve
performance.

For more information, see Refresh strategy for data pages on Pega Community.

Access restriction while retrieving data from data pages

You can assign access control policies to classes which restrict retrieving data from those
classes. If a node-scope
data page is defined on such a class, a severe guardrail warning is
shown. Also, if a node-scope data page is
populated and the data page object class has
access control policies assigned to it, a severe security alert is shown.

Data pages (known previous to Pega 7 as "declare pages" and "declarative pages") store data
that the system
needs to populate work item properties for calculations or for other
processes. When the system references a data
page, the data page either creates an instance
of itself on the clipboard and loads the required data in it for the
system to use, or
responds to the reference with an existing instance of itself.

Both UI and non-UI elements (like data transforms) can reference data pages, without the
use of an activity.

Data page reference

Rules can reference data pages directly or by using auto-population properties to obtain quick access to data.

Creating a data page

To enable your system to access data from a range of sources on demand, create a data page. Data pages
can improve performance and reduce memory requirements when many requestors in an application need to
access the same information. For example, a data page can hold last night's closing US stock prices in a
Value Group property that is indexed by a ticker symbol, so that the property reference D_Stock.Price("IBM")
is the closing price for IBM shares. The first time each evening (after the 4:00 P.M. New York stock market
close) that a requestor attempts to access the page, Pega Platform automatically loads the page with the
latest end-of-day prices. The page can remain unmodified in memory until the next day's closing.

Configuring parameters for loading data pages

Define the behavior of data pages in your Pega Platform application when the cache is no longer valid. For
example, you can indicate that the data is no longer valid after a certain amount of time, or set Pega Platform
to reload the page the first time a user interacts with it.

Data page rules - Using the Pages & Classes tab

Leave this tab blank unless you entered a fully qualified property reference as the value of a parameter for the
activity specified on the data page's Definition tab in the Activity name field.

Data page rules - Using the Usage tab

This tab displays rules that are currently using the data page. The scope of this list is all applications in your
application's stack.

More about data page rules

Benefits of using data pages

Savable data pages

Use a savable data page to save data to a system of record without using an activity.

Robotic automation as a data page source

Robotic process automations (RPAs) are automations that run in the back office. For example, you can use an
RPA to obtain a credit score from a legacy system that you can then display on a Pega Customer Service
application account overview dashboard.

Robotic desktop automation as a data page source

A robotic desktop automation (RDA) runs on client desktops and automates tasks and workflows. You can use
an RDA as a source for a data page when the data page is requested from a browser on a Microsoft Windows
client that is running Pega Robotics™ Runtime.
 Unit testing a data page

Test a data page to ensure that you get the expected results by using the Run Rule feature before testing it in
the context of the application that you are developing. Additionally, you can convert the test run into a Pega
unit test case for reuse.

Read-only data page instance limit management

Change the maximum number of read-only data page instances to manage when older instances are deleted.

Loading data pages asynchronously

Allow users to take action on a work item while other content is still being loaded by loading data pages
asynchronously.

Data pages and parameters

Parameters can be passed to data pages from several sources:

Removing a data page

Cause a data page to refresh the next time it is accessed by removing or forcibly expiring the data page.

Viewing declarative processing with the Tracer tool

The Tracer tool is used to display information about when a load activity starts and about each reference to a
data page. To view declarative processing (by your own requestor session) with the Tracer tool:

Assessing the effect of data page processing on performance

To assess the effect (in your own requestor session) of data page processing on performance, access the
Performance tool and review the Full Details display. This page includes three elapsed times statistics, three
counts, and three CPU time statistics:

Overriding the default load activity for a data page rule

The standard data page rule Declare_CachedDataSystemSettings creates a Node-scope declare page
containing your system settings that is refreshed every 10 minutes. Because no database accesses are
required, fetching a value from this in-memory page by referencing a property is faster than using PublicAPI
functions.

Related information:
Creating a data page
Rules development
Page names and reserved pages
Saving data in a data page as part of a flow
Saving data in a data page when running an activity