Question
Lanit
RU
Last activity: 27 Sep 2017 20:41 EDT
Difference between using multiple built-on applications and components
Hello everyone!
In Pega 7 we have multiple built-on applications functionalty (info). And we have components which are also applications in fact.
When we have an application A and we want to separate some functionalty into a reusable part, we can do two things:
- Create a separate application B, which will include needed rulesets. Then build our application A on PegaRULES and application B.
- Create a component Comp, which will include needed rulesets. Then include Comp in our application A.
Are these two ways equal? I can see one difference: all rulesets that are contained in all components are located lower in ruleset stack than application rulesets.
Any other differences? Is there any best practice when to use multiple built-on applications and components? Do we really need such similar functionalty?
Pegasystems Inc.
US
Best practice is to say an "application" is a collection of rulesets that contain at least one case type.
A Pega "component" makes more sense as being a collection of rulesets that do not contain case types.
That is, an "application" is something you use to create cases whereas a component tends to be "utility code".
Regarding component limitations, you cannot PegaUnitTest a component by itself -- you need an application to do that.
There are limitations to using components at application design time but you can easily work around them by temporarily adding a component-specified ruleset to the application's stack, save, then remove the redundant application-specified ruleset when no longer needed.