PeopleTools 8.54: Looks Exciting

digitaleagle Great Links, PeopleTools, PeopleTools 8.54, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I’ve been a bit behind on reading my news.  Back in April, PeopleSoft released their “Release Value Proposition” for PeopleTools 8.54, and it’s got me excited about it.  Then, a week or two ago, PeopleSoft published the pre-release notes.  I don’t have any inside information, but I thought I would list the features that looked exciting to me…

  • Code Completion:  HUGE — this is a feature I have been looking for for years!
  • 64-bit developer client:  Application Designer, etc. is going 64-bit.  So, a developer must run a 64-bit machine to develop, and now no 32-bit database drivers are required.
  • Automated Configuration Manager: looks like tools that will make automating refreshes much easier
  • %SelectDummyTable: allows for a better way than using the DUAL table for Oracle or PS_INSTALLATION for platform independence
  • Mobile Application Platform: new interface for smart phones
  • Fluid Layout: Creating interfaces with CSS positioning rather than fix positioned pages.  It will be a learning curve for developers
  • Application Designer: PNG files supported for images in Application Designer
  • Application Engine changes: it will now split the trace file into multiple files if it gets too big, you can now choose not to commit at the end of the program
  • Branding Framework: tools to allow customizing the look and branding without needing to code; it looks like it is all in the PIA
  • Query: Default values for prompts and support for images in Query results
  • BI Publisher Updatable PDFs: users can update the report and submit the content back into PeopleSoft
  • Global Temporary Tables (for batch App Engines): supporting in-memory tables
  • Materialized Views: for Oracle — App Designer will create views that store their data in the database for quicker retrieval
  • Portable PS_HOME: On Unix the psadmin binary is only located in the bin directory, paths are not saved in configuration files to moving and cloning the directories easier, and the PS_HOME variable is not set by the psconfig.sh script (you set that before calling the script and everything is relative to PS_HOME)
  • Push Notification Framework: looks like it allows the PIA/Web Server to initiate messages to the browser
  • PIA-Based Definition security: ability to secure App Designer definitions using the online pages plus additional new features
  • Query Security: new advanced option to allow up to 5 security records for an individual record
  • SQR: new XML output option
  • Component Interface: new errors sheet to consolidate errors

As I went through the documents,  I noticed a couple of features that are already released and that I need to do some learning and catch up.  Do you mind if I just take some notes out loud here?

  • Activity Guides: “Activity Guides are a useful PeopleTools feature that helps guide users through complex or infrequently performed processes.”  What’s new: “With PeopleTools 8.54, Activity Guides will be even easier to create and manage because PeopleTools includes an Activity Guide Management WorkCenter.”
  • Data Migration Workbench: “Data Migration Workbench is a lifecycle management tool first delivered with PeopleTools 8.53 that enabled customers to move and compare configuration data easily and securely between PeopleSoft application instances such as DEV, TEST, and PROD”
  • JSON: The PeopleSoft Documents Technology mentions using JSON, and I hadn’t kept up that JSON was available.
  • Oracle Secure Files: mentions that Report Repository files can be exposed as a “virtual mount point”

64-bit History:  The 64-bit requirements have been of notable interest to me because I spent some time working for a client who had challenges switching away from 32-bit hardware.  One of the documents listed the history of the migration of PeopleSoft from 32-bit to 64-bit.  Here’s a nice summary:

  • PeopleTools 8.48 — Unix Application server converted to 64-bit
  • PeopleTools 8.50 — Linux Application server
  • PeopleTools 8.51 — Web Server
  • PeopleTools 8.53 — Windows Application server
  • PeopleTools 8.54 — Developer Tools

Resources

 

Installing PeopleTools Client on Ubuntu Linux Host

digitaleagle Linux, Oracle PeopleSoft VM, PeopleTools, Uncategorized 10 Comments

Ubuntu has been my choice of OS for some time now. It works great for the most part until I start trying to interact with the Microsoft-centric business world. App Designer is one of those pressure points. Normally, my clients give me a Windows-based remote desktop, but for playing around with things outside a client, I needed a way to run App Designer locally on my laptop.

I finally figured out how to install App Designer for Oracle’s PeopleSoft VM images directly in Ubuntu. Here’s what I did…

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Ben Admin Snapshot Error

digitaleagle Troubleshooting, Uncategorized 1 Comment

I ran into this error with the Ben Admin Snapshot process. It was the second time I ran into it, so I thought that I had better make sure that I got this in my notes so I would remember it.

Here’s the error…

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Costs Not Found For Pgm/Plan/Optn: <benefit program>/<plan type>/<option code>.
  
Application Program Failed
 In Pgm Section  : MOVE-TO-PDEFN                                                                                                                                              
 
Application Program Failed
 In Pgm Section  : TABLE-ACCESS(PSPBATBL)                                                                                                                                     
  
  
Application Program Failed
 In Pgm Section  : MAIN(PSPBASCH)                                                                                                                                             

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Changing Records in Queries

digitaleagle PeopleTools, Query, Uncategorized Leave a comment

This isn’t best practice, but I found a way to switch out a record in a query without redoing the criteria. Here’s the situation: I have a query in which the row-level security is causing problems. It is slowing down the query and also eliminating future-dated rows from the results. So, I created a view of the table which would select all of the rows from the original table. It was basically a copy with the query security view removed. The next challenge was to change the query to use that new record. If I remove the old record and add the new, I would have to redo the whole complicated query just about.

So, I found that I could update two records in the database:

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UPDATE PSQRYFIELD
SET RECNAME = '<new record name>'
WHERE QRYNAME = '<query name>'
AND RECNAME = '<old record name>';
 
UPDATE PSQRYRECORD
SET RECNAME = '<new record name>'
WHERE QRYNAME = '<query name>'
AND RECNAME = '<old record name>';

After that, I found that I needed to open the query online in query manager, make a small change, and save it. After that, it worked fine with no problems.

Warning: use at your own risk. This isn’t the intended way to edit queries.

Null Date in PeopleCode

digitaleagle Great Links, Meta-SQL, PeopleCode, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Just the other day, I needed to set a Date to null or blank, and I couldn’t remember how to do it.  Here’s my notes so that I can remember next time.  Javier’s blog came to the rescue:

Javier’s PeopleSoft blog: Setting Date Variables to Null in PeopleCode

The short version is: use the Date(0) function:

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Local Date &hireDate;
 
&hireDate = Date(0);

Here’s some more information to explore a little more in depth…

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