As the Constellation UI continues to gain traction, a variety of myths and misconceptions persist despite the wealth of knowledge articles and training materials available.

This article aims to debunk some of the most common myths surrounding Constellation UI and provide clarity for developers.

Myth #1: "I MUST use App Studio to build a Constellation application."

While App Studio is the recommended development environment for Pega applications, it's important to understand that its use is not mandatory for all development tasks. A balanced approach, leveraging the strengths of both App Studio and Dev Studio, can often be the most efficient strategy.

The core of your application (case and data design, along with channels and landing pages) can be effectively developed within Dev Studio. This allows developers familiar with Dev Studio to continue working in a comfortable environment for these fundamental aspects.

App Studio shines with its streamlined user experience and unique capabilities, offering advantages in specific areas. These include:

• Persona Creation: App Studio simplifies the process of defining and managing user personas, leading to more user-centric application design.
• Data Visualization and Integration Wizard: This wizard significantly simplifies complex data integration and visualization tasks, reducing development time and effort.
• Centralized Settings: App Studio provides a centralized location for managing application settings, simplifying configuration and maintenance.
• Localization and Theming: Managing localization and theming is more intuitive within App Studio, facilitating the creation of applications that cater to diverse audiences.

Therefore, the recommended approach is to utilize App Studio for both Constellation and Traditional UI development, particularly for leveraging its specialized features. While Dev Studio remains a viable option for core application development, strategically incorporating App Studio for the functionalities listed above will result in a more efficient and enhanced development process. This hybrid approach allows teams to capitalize on the strengths of both environments.

The key requirement for Constellation is that you must use the Case Designer to define your workflows (i.e., stages and steps). Additionally, to configure views, you need to select either a case type or a data type, both of which can be done in either App Studio or Dev Studio.

When editing views in Constellation UI, there are two additional considerations:

1. Fields must be marked as relevant records.
2. Views are saved using the "Choose Best Ruleset" (CBR) algorithm, which eliminates the need to provide a class or ruleset name manually. This approach supports branch development, making collaboration seamless. Learn more about branch development in App Studio.

Myth #2: "Without action sets, I cannot build a complex UI."

Fact: Action sets, such as "Refresh Section", are often overused, leading to inconsistent UI designs, complex business logic, maintenance challenges, and accessibility issues. Constellation UI takes a more prescriptive approach with built-in patterns that reduce the need for custom action sets.

This design philosophy ensures consistency, simplifies maintenance, and improves accessibility. You can still build complex applications without action sets by leveraging built-in patterns. Not convinced? Check out these resources for more details:

• Goodbye to action sets in Constellation? Yes, but for good reason.
• Who Took My Action Sets?
• Pega Infinity '23 and Constellation UI Innovations
• Center-out configuration in Constellation
• Best practices for Constellation UI

Myth #3: "I am forced to use the Constellation Design System."

Fact: While the Constellation Design System is recommended for back-office applications to leverage out-of-the-box features and focus on case types, you are not locked into it. For self-service experiences, where brand alignment and custom design systems are critical, Pega provides flexibility through React and Angular SDKs.

With an open architecture powered by the Constellation DX API, front-end developers can use any web technology or framework to render applications with the desired UI and design system. You can also extend the Constellation Design System by developing Constellation DX Components to add functionality:

For more details: Extending Constellation

Myth #4: "I need to be a React developer to build a Constellation application."

Fact: Becoming a React developer is not a prerequisite for adopting Constellation UI. Instead, a strong foundation in data modeling and using the Case Designer is far more important.

In Traditional UI, most teams cannot extend CSS/JS without having a Front-end Architect involved in the project. Similarly, for edge cases where out-of-the-box functionality is insufficient, Constellation allows a front-end developer to extend capabilities by writing complex Constellation DX Components.

Why not give a try to the newly released Constellation DX Component Academy mission?

Myth #5: "I need to upgrade to the Common Data Model (CDM)."

Fact: The Common Data Model (CDM) is a framework designed to standardize data models and provide pre-configured entities, primarily for enterprise applications like Sales Automation and Customer Service. While CDM can save development time and promote data reuse, it is not mandatory for Constellation applications.

If you're not using applications like Sales Automation or Customer Service, or if you don't need to adopt CDM entirely, you can simply reference the new data classes as needed. There’s no need to overhaul all your case types to conform to CDM.

Myth #6: "Constellation is hard to debug."

Fact: Debugging in Constellation is supported through a range of tools, including Tracer and various browser extensions like the React and Redux devTools. With the Constellation DX API, which is a well-defined API with published endpoints, developers can easily debug interactions between the server and client using the browser’s network tab.

Additionally, Performance Analyzer (PAL) is supported in Constellation starting from version 24.2. While developer tools for Constellation continue to evolve, current debugging options are already robust and effective and Constellation UI hardly needs debugging 😊.

Deep dive into the following articles and videos:

• Troubleshooting Constellation
• Debugging Constellation applications
• CLSA Community: Advanced Constellation

Myth #7: "Constellation does not support page groups."

Fact: This is not a myth—it’s true 😊. Constellation relies primarily on list-type data pages, where the returned property is .pxResults. As a result, page groups are not fully supported in Constellation but you can continue to use page groups on the back-end as a data storage mechanism.

However, there is a workaround: you can copy the page group into a list data page and store the page name within the label field. Pega is actively working to address limitations around embedded page groups in future releases. Nevertheless, page lists will remain the primary method for handling lists of objects in Constellation.

Conclusion

The Constellation UI offers a modern, efficient, and developer-friendly approach to building applications. While some myths persist, it’s clear that many of them are based on misunderstandings of the platform’s capabilities. By embracing Constellation’s prescriptive design patterns, open architecture, and evolving tools, developers can build scalable, consistent, and complex applications without unnecessary hurdles.

For further reading, check out the official Pega Community for the latest updates, guides, and best practices.