Great Link: Learning Documentation From a Croissant

I couldn’t even spell croissant without looking at the title of this article, but now I am going to learning something from it!

Opensource.com: I can’t bake croissants: a fable on project documentation

This is a great link to remind you how to approach documenting.  If I could add one thing — a picture is worth a thousand words!  For me, that means use Shutter like crazy.  The pictures help clarify things for users who are not as familiar with the topic yet they don’t slow down users who are more familiar with the topic.  It’s a win-win situation.

Furthermore, these principles apply both to traditional documentation and blogging.

HEUG: TAG First Look at the Test Framework Review

This is a little late, but better late than never.  This is the last review of the sessions that I attended.  This session was given by Tony Neaton from Griffith University in Australia.  I saw several different sessions on the test framework, and each one added a little bit more.  They didn’t completely overlap, which was very nice.

Here’s one quote that stood out at the beginning on of the session: “Testing is one of the biggest pains in the upgrade process.”  This caught my attention because I really think the test framework will make a huge impact if we can just implement it.

The list of the “things the framework is not” helped explain what it is:

  • not a load testing tool (because it doesn’t support logging in as multiple users)
  • not a Robot scripting tool
  • Not a test case management tool

Tony pointed out that the distinguishing feature is that it understands the PeopleTools framework and metadata.  Other tools by contrast are either position-based (work off of x,y coordinates) or HTML tag based.  As a result, the tests are not as fragile and require less maintenance.

He also pointed out that you can use the Test framework to test older tools versions.  This feature is not supported by Oracle, but I understood they have been using it.  They set up a Tools 8.51 instance solely for the test framework.  Then, they pointed the testing at an older 8.48 system.  In my opinion, the test framework provides ample benefit to justify upgrading the tools in your current environment right now.

What stood out to me is that Tony did a good job of showing off the Test framework.  I think out of all the sessions, I got a better feel for the setup and use of the tool in this one.  He even showed the Integration Broker setup and things that must be configured to make it all work.  He discussed the Security Roles for the framework: PTF Administrator, PTF Editor, PTF User.

Another thing I thought was cool is that he showed how you can click on certain fields that you want to verify to make sure a particular value is in that field.  Then, he also showed in the testing tool how you can edit the test and change things like what value it is expecting.  One of the coolest things he showed is how you can change the test to loop through all the rows in a grid looking for the value.  This way, other unrelated data in the grid doesn’t break the test.

All in all, I really liked this session for showing me how the framework worked.  A picture is worth a thousand words, and a demo must be worth a million.  The demos were all videos, and I think a live demo might be have been slightly nicer.  But, you can go and download the demos since they were prerecorded.

Troubleshooting Report Repository Error

I thought I had my environment built, but I keep finding little problems.  Well, this time it was the report repository.  I got the reports posting, and I thought I was home free.  The solution ended out being simpler than I thought.

Let me just walk you through some of the things I checked to see if it helps any of the problems you may be having.

My specific error was: “Site name is not valid“.

The cause was that my Report Repository path was not configured.  PeopleTools > Web Profile > Web Profile Configuration

Blank Report Repository Path

The catch was that somehow I got mixed up on which Profile I was using.  You can check your profile easily from the Web Profile History:

Determining Current Web Profile from Last Loaded

On the search page of the Web Profile History, you can see which profile was loaded last.  You can sort the list by clicking on the “Profile was Loaded” heading.  If you click a second time, it will sort it descending.  Notice that previously I was using the Dev profile on port 8000.  When I last installed PIA, I must have configured it for the Prod profile on Port 80.  So now, I need to configure things on the Prod profile.

Here’s some other things you can check.  Make sure your distribution node is connected to your server:

Report Node connecting to Server

Then, check the Report Node.  Make sure the URL matches the URL you are using to connect to the Portal.  The domain name and port should match.  If there is no port number like mine, you are using port number 80.  Then, check the portal domain name.  For me, I am using the default “ps”.

According to this post, you also need to check the local node.  In PeopleTools > Portal > Node Definitions, look for the node with Local Node set to “Y”:

Default Local Node Search

Now, make sure the node is set to password authentication.  I am not sure what else to check here.

Node Options

Finally, check your configuration.properties file for the path.  I am not sure what this setting controls because mine was wrong just now, yet it seemed to be working.

Look in <PS Home>\webserv\<domain>\applications\PORTAL.war\WEB-INF\psftdocs\<domain>\configuration.properties.

configuration properties location

The Repository path is in that file:

Repository Setting in Configuration.Properties

Resources

Deleting Projects from PeopleSoft

Have you ever needed to delete a project with all of its objects from an environment?  I don’t know if this necessarily something you would do in a real production environment, but maybe some of the thoughts will help someone out.

I wanted to get all of my little development projects out of this environment to return it back as close to a clean demo environment as possible.  Here’s what I did:

Step 1: Security

If your project contains any Roles or Permission Lists, you need to remove those from the User Profiles first.
A Role in a Project

I learned this the hard way. My user was connected to one of the roles that I deleted via the project. All of the sudden, I couldn’t get to anything inside PeopleSoft Online. I couldn’t log back into App Designer anymore. I had to remove the role from PSROLEUSER manually in the database before I could do anything.

You can use this query to check any roles:

SELECT ROLEUSER, ROLENAME
FROM PSROLEUSER
WHERE ROLENAME = '<role name>';

If it is a permission list, you may want to check this query:

SELECT R.ROLEUSER, R.ROLENAME, C.CLASSID
FROM PSROLEUSER R, PSROLECLASS C
WHERE C.CLASSID = '<permission list name>'
AND R.ROLENAME = C.ROLENAME;

Here’s where I am deleting the Role from my user:
Deleting the Role

Step 2: Check your project

Make sure you know what you are deleting! You can’t get these objects back unless you have a backup.

Click on the Upgrade tab and just go through all the folders to make sure you know what objects are included. You want to watch for any delivered objects that you had modified that you don’t really want deleted.
Clicking on the Upgrade Tab in the Project

Step 3: Change the Upgrade Action

Now, you need to change the upgrade action for each of the objects. If this is a large project, you will want to do this from the database:

UPDATE PSPROJECTITEM
SET UPGRADEACTION = 1
WHERE PROJECTNAME = '<project name>';

You can see it from the Upgrade tab in the project:
Upgrade Action set to Delete

Step 3: Export the Project to file

Use the menu Tools > Copy Project > To File… Make sure all the object types are selected, and key in the path to a temporary folder.
The Copy to File Dialog

Step 4: Import the Project back from File

Use the menu Tools > Copy Project > From File … Browse to the same path where you save the project. Select that project and import it:
Selecting the Project

Make sure that you select to use the project definition from the File:
Selecting to use the project from the file.

Again, select all the object types and hit copy:
Copy Project From File dialog

Step 4: Confirm Objects Deleted

Now, try to open a few of the objects from the project. You should get a message that it doesn’t exist:
Object Does Not Exists Message

Step 5: Clean up the Database

Here is some SQL that should generate the Drop statements for all of the tables involved in the project. This is the Oracle version:

SELECT 'DROP TABLE ' || TABLE_NAME || ';'
FROM DBA_TABLES A, PSPROJECTITEM B
WHERE B.PROJECTNAME = '<project name>'
AND B.OBJECTTYPE = 0
AND 'PS_' || B.OBJECTVALUE1 = A.TABLE_NAME;

SELECT 'DROP VIEW ' || VIEW_NAME || ';'
FROM DBA_VIEWS A, PSPROJECTITEM B
WHERE B.PROJECTNAME = '<project name>'
AND B.OBJECTTYPE = 0
AND 'PS_' || B.OBJECTVALUE1 = A.VIEW_NAME;

This is the SQL Server version:

SELECT 'DROP TABLE ' + TABLE_NAME + ';'
FROM DBA_TABLES A, PSPROJECTITEM B
WHERE B.PROJECTNAME = '<project name>'
AND B.OBJECTTYPE = 0
AND 'PS_' + B.OBJECTVALUE1 = A.TABLE_NAME;

SELECT 'DROP VIEW ' + VIEW_NAME + ';'
FROM DBA_VIEWS A, PSPROJECTITEM B
WHERE B.PROJECTNAME = '<project name>'
AND B.OBJECTTYPE = 0
AND 'PS_' + B.OBJECTVALUE1 = A.VIEW_NAME;

Step 6: Delete the Project

Now, you are done with your list of definitions, and you can just remove the whole project using App Designer. Use the File > Delete … option.
Deleting the Project

Step 7: Check your system.

Run the DDDAudit and the SysAudit and make sure that you haven’t left anything broken. You can run those from PeopleTools > Process Scheduler > System Process Requests.

Troubleshooting Report Distribution

I have been having trouble with my newly upgraded PeopleTools 8.51 environment.  The problem was that I had not set the PS_CFG_HOME environment variable plus I also did not have the report node configured for the Process Scheduler server definition.

So, my process monitor was showing everything hung in “Posting” status:
I found the error messages in the c:\documents and settings\\psft\pt\8.51\appserv\prcs\HR90DMO\LOGS\stdout.

=================================Error===============================
 Message:  Database error encountered
 Info:
 Section:
 Info:
 SQL Stmt: SELECT R.PRCSINSTANCE ,R.ORIGPRCSINSTANCE ,R.RECURORIGPRCSINST,R.MAINJOBINSTANCE ,R.PRCSJOBSEQ ,R.PRCSJOBNAME ,R.PRCSNAME ,R.PRCSTYPE ,R.RECURNAME ,R.TIMEZONE ,R.PT_RETENTIONDAYS ,R.PTNONUNPRCSID FROM PSPRCSQUE R ,PS_PRCSRECUR S  WITH (READUNCOMMITTED)  WHERE ((R.RUNSTATUS IN ('9', '17')  AND S.INITIATEWHEN = 1) OR   (R.RUNSTATUS IN ('3','6', '7', '9','10','12', '17')  AND S.INITIATEWHEN = 0))  AND R.INITIATEDNEXT = 0  AND R.RUNLOCATION = '2'  AND R.RECURNAME > ' '  AND R.PRCSJOBSEQ = 0  AND R.RECURNAME = S.RECURNAME
 Explain:  [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0]Communication link failure
=====================================================================
=================================Error===============================
 Message:  Database error encountered
 Info:
 Section:
 Info:
 SQL Stmt: SELECT  Q.PRCSINSTANCE ,Q.JOBINSTANCE ,Q.MAINJOBINSTANCE ,Q.SESSIONIDNUM ,Q.OPRID ,Q.OUTDESTTYPE ,Q.GENPRCSTYPE,Q.PRCSTYPE,Q.TUXSVCID,P.PRCSOUTPUTDIR FROM PSPRCSQUE Q  ,PSPRCSPARMS P  WITH (READUNCOMMITTED)  WHERE Q.RUNSTATUS = :1  AND Q.SERVERNAMERUN = :2  AND Q.PRCSINSTANCE = P.PRCSINSTANCE
 Explain:  [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0]Shared Memory Provider: No process is on the other end of the pipe.

=====================================================================

I knew about the PS_CFG_HOME variable, but I had just skipped it in my rush to just get something working. What I didn’t realize is that it would prevent me from seeing even an SQR. So, I fixed my PS_CFG_HOME variable:

I also copied the files from the appserv directory under documents and settings to the one in my PS_Home where I configured my PS_CFG_HOME. See this post for more information. That part is important because it needs the configuration files in the new locations. Then, I deleted the Cache, the logs, and the log_output to clean things up. The app server still wouldn’t start, so I tried to reconfigure it. That’s when I received this error:

Enter selection (1-26, h, or q): 13

Warning:  no changes detected, some configuration files will not be updated.
Loading configuration...

CMDTUX_CAT:111: ERROR: TUXCONFIG (C:\Documents and Settings\psadmin\psft\pt\8.51
\appserv\HR90DMO\PSTUXCFG) of machine SKPHCM90 must be the same as the TUXCONFIG
 environment variable (E:\psoft\HR90DMO\appserv\HR90DMO\PSTUXCFG)

CMDTUX_CAT:867: ERROR: tmloadcf: Above errors found during syntax checking

==============ERROR!================
Unable to load the configuration! Check the TUXEDO log for details.
==============ERROR!================

==============ERROR!================
Unable to load the Domain configuration! Check the TUXEDO log for details.
==============ERROR!================

This thread claims that you have to set the TUXCONFIG variable. I didn’t think that you did have to set it, so I did a little more experimenting.

In the config file, I found the Log/Output Directory was still set to the “Documents and Settings” directory:

I changed this to the PS Home directory:

So, that fixed it so that I could reconfigure the process scheduler via psadmin, but I still had trouble with the report distribution. Process Monitor said it was running without a report node:

I went to check the Report Node (PeopleTools > Process Scheduler > Report Node). The port number was wrong on the URL, so I had to fix that (it should probably match the port number on your browser as you are logged in):

That still didn’t fix the problem, so I checked the server definition (PeopleTools > Process Scheduler > Servers). Sure enough, the report node was blank!

So, I entered the report node and saved the page:

Then, everything started working!

HEUG: Moodle Integration Bolt-On Review

Again, for a sense of completeness, I can’t leave off the Moodle Integration Bolt-On session that I attended.  Actually, I attended it up front (co-presenting).

The presentation went well from my point of view.  I thought my material went rather fast, but on the other hand, I hope that it communicated everything in a short amount of time without waisting the attendees time.  I’ll be interested to hear any feedback.  Hopefully, they got the information from the session they were looking for.

One of the things that stood out to me was the fact that many people seemed to have trouble on the Moodle side.  They were doing different  kinds of batch integrations and such.  Hopefully, Sean’s presentation of using the plugin to configure Moodle to come get the data really helped them.

Another thing I enjoyed was having a couple of the people from the Student Administration Integration Pack attending.  They helped me understand their product more.  Our solution was very simple, easy, and cheap.  But, their solution is much more complete.  They pointed me to IMS Global.org where they are working on a standard for this kind of data.  They are including more information than just the data elements that we are interfacing, and in addition, they are including outcome information, which would entail interfacing the grades back into PeopleSoft.

HEUG: PeopleTools 8.51 in Action

This afternoon, I attended Jim Marion’s PeopleTools 8.51 in Action session.  I understand that someone else was supposed to present it, but Jim did a great job.  I left excited to delve into the new tools features.

The intro was kind of fun again.  I felt like I just missed the book give-a-way — the winner was directly in front of me 4 rows!  Oh well.  Also, I noticed that Jim is a hard core HTML guy: it’s obvious when someone uses a web page with check boxes to show and check off topics covered.  I thought it was cool.  Is that the cheese grater showing through?

First, he mentioned again the different between tools 8.50 and 8.51 in the drop down menu.  In tools 8.51 you have to click on each menu item whereas tools 8.50 only required you to click on the first item that opened the menu.  As a result, in tools 8.50, the menu is called a hover menu, and in tools 8.51 it is called a drop down menu.  Jim showed how you can change the navigation type in PeopleTools > Portal > General Settings.

One great point that Jim made was that you need to pay attention to documentation.  When you switch your stylesheet / look, your documentation screenshots will not match.  Just something to think about.

Next, Jim talked about the SWAN styles sheets.  I think I did this part wrong when I did my tools upgrade steps (and no one said anything!) because I was modifying stylesheets in App Designer.  I was following the directions in the tools upgrade document.  Jim simply went to PeopleTools > Utilities > Administration > PeopleTools Options.  Then, he changed the stylesheet name to PTSTYLEDEF_SWAN (if I remember the name right).

Type-ahead was another topic.  Someone asked a question about the chatter/network traffic caused by the type ahead.  Jim pointed out that it may break even considering you don’t have to reload the whole page.  So, you are sending less data more often, which makes for more consistent traffic rather than spikes.

The Work Center is another new feature to PeopleTools 8.51.  It seems to work similar to Related Content except that the extra information displays to the left of your main content rather than at the bottom.  A great example is to add a navigation collection to allow easy navigation within a group of related screens.

On a side note, Jim pointed out the new operational dashboard feature.  In structure and content, you can open up homepage tabs under portal objects.  When you create a new content reference, you can change the Usage Type to Homepage Tabs.  Then, you see a new option call Operational Dashboard.

Persistent Search is another new feature to Tools 8.51.  You have to enable it on the Web Profile, and it is the Recent Search Results on the bottom of the Caching tab.  The local cache uses the browser’s HTML5 local storage to save search results.  Once you search, you will can reopen the search results from the bread crumbs bar without generating another query to the database.

One of the questions asked at the end caught my interest.  The person asked if persistent search created a security concern since it was storing information on the user’s computer.  Jim referred her to another person for the answer, and I wouldn’t mind seeing the answer.  From what it looked like in the session, the search results only persisted during life of the user’s session.  When Jim logged out and back in again, the search results were gone.  So, that doesn’t seem like much of a security concern to me.

Jim talked about a few other features.  He pointed out that pagelets load independently via AJAX.  So, even if you have many pagelets, you see the homepage immediately, and the pagelets slowly load as the info comes across.  He also mentioned embedded help, which is something you have to turn on from the page in App Designer.  Finally, he pointed out the way you can pop grids out of the page, modal messages show as AJAX dialogs, and secondary pages are modal.

So, this was a great session, and I have a bunch of new features to blog about!

HEUG: ACE Presentation Review

I have been very careful to keep my work life separate from this blog because it is really a personal blog.  At the same time, I made it a goal to blog what I learned at HEUG, and so, there is a conflict.

Let me just simply say that this morning I had the opportunity to sit in on the Continuing Education session where my company presented our new ACE product.  The tool automates the Enrolling, Admitting, and Paying for non-credit courses.  Since I have done some development on the product, I was able to answer a few questions, and the session went very well.  I enjoyed seeing the high level of interest from the attendees.

If you have a chance, check out the information on the company website.  Also, please let me know if you have any questions or comments so that I can pass them on to our team at MIS.

HEUG: PeopleSoft Test Framework Review

Today, I also attended the PeopleSoft Test Framework: Simplifying Upgrade and Maintenance session by Scott Schafer.  Again, I was very impressed with the tool.  I think this is going to revolution implementation projects in PeopleSoft and routine maintenance for systems.

Scott listed many of the advantages of PTF as the test framework is frequently called.  The PTF has a record and playback feature that allows a power user to easily generate a test by recording his actions in the system.  One of the key features is that PTF understands PeopleTools metadata.  It does not just record clicks on the screen at a specific coordinate but clicks on a particular record, field on a particular row.  Also, because they are managed as PeopleTools objects, the tests are comparable between environments and migrate-able to another environment.

First, Scott discussed the Usage Monitor.  He said it was an extension of the Performance Monitor.  I need experiment some more with this because I didn’t quit understand whether or not a full implementation of Performance Monitor is required.  Basically, this tool tells you which of the delivered objects you actually use.  You turn the monitor on in production, and it records which objects get touched by your every day use.

One of the questions I would have is how accurate is this list of objects?  I mean what about periodic events such as year-end processing?  Unless you keep your monitor on for a full year or you happen to build your list during the year-end time frame, you are not going to get objects specific to that process.

Next, Scott mentioned a new feature of App Designer.  Now, it stores the compare report data in the database.  So, you can build your own tools to automate processing the compare results.

Then, Scott demoed the product.  He showed how you can click a record button.  The browser would open and you could perform a basic activity in PeopleSoft.  The client tool would list the steps that you went through to make the activity happen.  Then, he clicked the play button, and he showed how it would step through those actions rather quickly to reproduce the activity.  Finally, he showed how an error would stop the test and show the problem.

The cool part is the object tracking.  Each test represents a business process.  PeopleTools tracks the objects related to the test.  Therefore, you can tie an object to a business process.  Also, your usage data shows you which objects you use, and you can make sure that you have a test for each one of those objects.  Finally, you can compare the objects included in a bundle or maintenance pack with your usage data to see which part of it affects you.  Again, you can then tie that back to the tests and see which business processes gets affected by the new code/objects.

All in all, I think this is the first iteration of a cool tool that will revolutionize PeopleTools.

HEUG: PeopleTools Tips and Tricks Review

Today, I attended Jim Marion’s PeopleTools Tips and Tricks session at the HEUG Alliance 2011 conference.  I really enjoyed the session, and now I need a client who wants one of the features that Jim discussed in the session.  I’m eager to try this stuff out!

First, I learned that I have the personality of a cheesehead!  But, that’s okay.  I can admit to the geek label.  Also, I was only 4 chairs away from getting the free book!  Oh well, I am going to have to quit being cheap and just buy it.  After hearing the session, I really want it now.

The first topic presented was the use of Pagelets.  One of the cool parts about them is that they aren’t a customization.  Rather, they are considered configuration.  So, they are a great way to add to your system without having to customize and worry about upgrade costs.

One of the examples was to take a YouTube video and get the embed HTML to include in a Pagelet.  Another example was to place a navigation collection on the home page.  Then, I thought it was really cool to see how the XSL Template was used to make the collection a accordion style menu.

In passing, Jim pointed out the differences in the tools navigation between 8.50 and 8.51.  I think I read this on the Grey-Sparling blog but didn’t understand it.  In 8.50, you just hover over the folder in the menu to open it, but in tools 8.51, you have to click each folder to open it.  Something to watch out for…

The related content is a great tool.  Two of the cool examples were to take the title of a page and display Google search results next to the PeopleSoft page.  Similarly, the other example displayed search results from Amazon based on the page title.  I have a scenario where I would like to display a customized data page beside the delivered data without customizing the delivered component.  Related content solves that problem.  I wish Jim would have had the time to delve into how he set up the Related Content.

Integration Broker Ajax was another topic that was great to see.  Again, I wish he would have had time to show how he was able to make it work.  I know that Integration Broker is a complicated topic, and it would have taken way too long.

The Mobile app idea was quite interesting.  I know how to create a native Android application, but I didn’t realize that you could create an HTML 5 app that would run across the different mobile platforms — something to look into.  Then, using Integration Broker to power it was a great idea.

Finally, Jim suggested using Fiddler and Wireshark as troubleshooting tools because you can see what data passes between systems/clients.  It was nice to see that work and you can use it to troubleshoot setup.