Managing data for offline use
Managing data for offline use
A mobile app can access rules on the server only when it is online. Users need to access these mobile app rules to complete assignments. Data synchronization between the mobile app and Pega application supports rules access. You use whitelists and blacklists to identify and manage the rules specific to the mobile app.
A whitelist is a set of rules requiring synchronization between a mobile app and the server. A blacklist is a set of rules that are not synchronized between a mobile app and a Pega application. You update the whitelists and blacklists for an application on the Offline rules tab of the Mobile: Offline Configuration page. To access the Mobile: Offline Configuration page, in Dev Studio, from the Configure menu, select Mobile > Offline.
Manage whitelists to synchronize data rules
By default, offline mobile app synchronization includes the rules that are explicitly referenced in the UI or process and excludes rules with obscured references. The following table lists other rule types and if they are included in synchronizations.
| Whitelist entry required |
|
| Included in synchronization |
|
Excluded rules may impact the functionality of the mobile app. To include rules in the synchronization, add the rules to a whitelist. Pega provides a set of five customizable whitelists for your applications. Each whitelist manages instances of a specific rule type: data page rules, field value rules, data transform rules, validate rules, and when rules. For more information on when rule support in offline mode, see the Help topic When rule support in offline mode.
To add or delete a rule from a whitelist, select the appropriate link to open an HTML record that lists the rules to include.
Copy each record to your application ruleset. The record must be applied to @baseclass.
In the HTML Source field, enter the rule value pxInsName to add a rule to a whitelist.
| Data type | pxInsName | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Data page | data page rule name | D_UITemplateMeta |
| Other rule types | class and name of the rule, separated by an exclamation point | MY-SAMPLE-WORK-DATATRANSFORMS!SampleDT |
Add each rule in the whitelist on its own line. List only one rule on each line.
For more information about adding data transforms, see the Help topic Adding data transform rules to a whitelist for offline use.
Manage blacklists to exclude data pages from synchronizations
You use a blacklist to exclude specific data pages from mobile app and server synchronization. You can list data pages used on either the mobile app or the server only. Data pages on the blacklist do not require synchronization.
To update the blacklist, select the Modify blacklist link to open the HTML record that lists the data pages to include in the blacklist. Save a copy of the record to your application ruleset. The record must be applied to @baseclass.
You must enter each data page on its own line.
Note: Data pages used on both the mobile app and the server require synchronization. Those data pages belong on the whitelist if appropriate.
Manage delta-sync blacklists
By default, a mobile app performs a full synchronization when users log in for the first time, and when an application developer forces a manual sync to push changes to mobile users. A full sync forces the mobile app to overwrite an entire rule or data record.
After an offline device comes back online, the mobile app performs a delta synchronization, or delta sync, with the server. A delta sync incrementally exchanges smaller amounts of data to reflect user activity, such as performing assignments or creating cases. Delta syncs improve the performance of the mobile app by reducing the data exchanged between the mobile app and the server.
You can further improve performance of the delta sync by exempting data pages that contain a large amount of data that changes infrequently. Use the delta sync blacklist when record to specify the data pages you want to exempt. Pega Platform™ skips analysis of blacklisted data pages during the sync.
For example, you may add a data page listing countries of the world to a delta sync blacklist.
To update the delta sync blacklist, select Modify delta-sync blacklist on the Offline rules tab to open the when record. Save a copy of the record to your application ruleset. The record must be applied to Embed-SIIP.
Add a condition for each data page to exclude from the delta sync on the Advanced tab of the when rule.
You can also choose to skip backward chaining to increase the sync speed. Select Skip backward chaining on the Advanced tab of the delta-sync blacklist when rule.
For more information about how to use the blacklist, whitelist, and delta sync blacklist settings, see the Help topic Offline configuration page.