Month: February 2007

Registration Reference

In teaching my classes, the component registration has always caused the most trouble. First, the new PeopleSoft programmers have trouble remembering the steps. Second, something always seems to go wrong, and the students don’t know where to start looking. Hopefully, this reference should help.

Three Parts
1. Menu — add the component to the menu
2. Portal — add a link to the online menu system
3. Security — add the component/menu to a permission list


Manual vs. Registration Wizard

PeopleSoft added the “Registration Wizard” to Application Designer to create a quick easy to register a new component. The key concept is that it exists for new registrations and does not help when fixing problems or changing the registration.

You can use the wizard for all three parts, just one part, or any combination in between. The first page of the wizard will ask you which steps you want to perform, and you just check the parts you want.

Things you can do with the wizard:

  • add a component to an existing menu
  • add a component to the portal menu if it is not already on the portal
  • add a component to a permission list

Things you cannot do with the wizard (can be done manually):

  • change or set the label on a menu item
  • move a component from one menu to another
  • create a new menu and add a component
  • change the folder or edit portal content references
  • add a component to a new folder in the portal that does not exist
  • add the component to the portal a second time

Bottom Line: the wizard is for new registrations, not fixing or changing

Registration Wizard Pages
Page 1: Select which parts you want to perfom
Page 2: Select the menu — either the menu to add it to or the menu it is already on
Page 3: Enter the Portal information — for creating the content reference; optional
Page 4: Pick the permission list — adding the component to the permission list; optional
Page 5: Review/add definitions to the project

Part 1 — Menu
Manually, this is done in Application Designer.

  • Add to an existing menu: Ctrl + O, pick menu for the type, and enter the menu name
  • Add to a new menu: Ctrl + N, pick menu for the type

In either case, you drag the component from the project to the menu. Hold the component over the bar item and wait for it to expand, then, drop the component on the box with the dotted line. Or, you can double click on the box with the dotted line, and fill out the information manually.

In the wizard, you much select the menu that you want to add the component to and the bar on that menu where the component should go. The menu must already exist to use the wizard — the wizard will not create a menu and you cannot create an empty menu first (the menu must have at least one component on it).

Also, remember if you use the wizard, but you choose not to add the component to the menu with the wizard, it will still ask you for the menu name. Both the portal registry and the permission list require a menu-component combo. The wizard will only use the menu name on the portal and the permission list rather than add the component to the menu.

Part 2 — Portal Registry
Manually, you must place the component in the registry online.
Navigation: PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content
First, navigate to the folder where you want to add the content reference. Then, click “Add Content Reference” at the bottom of the page.

If you are editing a content reference, you must click on the “Edit” link next to the content reference to change any information.

Warning — pay special attention to the spelling of the menu name and the component name. The page will not tell you if you spell it wrong. It just won’t work.

Using the wizard, first you must know the name of the folder where you want to add the component. If you don’t know the name, you must use the manual method to find the folder, and click the “Edit” link to get the name.

The other information in the wizard is the same as the manual method.

Part 3 — Permission Lists

Manually, you must also do this step online.
Navigation: PeopleTools > Security > Permission Lists & Roles > Permission Lists
First, search for the permission list that you want to add to the component to. Then, go to the pages tab (although it shows a list of menus, you will eventually pick the pages the user has access to). Either find the menu in the list, or add the menu to the list. Then, click the “Edit Components” link for that menu. Next, find the component, and click the Pages link. Finally, select the pages and the actions to grant security.

Additional Pieces
Note: none of these can be added with the registration wizard

  • User Profile (user name that the user logs in with):
    PeopleTools > Security > User Profiles > User Profile
  • Role (links the User profile to the permission list):
    PeopleTools > Security > Permissions & Roles > Roles

In the wizard, you simply pick the permission list and choose the actions to give security. The wizard gives access to all pages in the component.