Using Regular Expressions in PeopleCode

Where are the PeopleCode Regular Expressions? They don't exist. Fortunately, since PeopleCode supports Java, we can "borrow" them for use in our PeopleCode. Here is an example similar to the BSF example I posted earlier:

Function get_site_name() Returns string
   Local JavaObject &patternClass = GetJavaClass("java.util.regex.Pattern");
   Local JavaObject &pattern = &patternClass.compile("/??(\w+?)(?:_\d+?)?/.+$");
   Local JavaObject &jstring = CreateJavaObject("java.lang.String", %Request.PathInfo);
   Local JavaObject &matches = &pattern.matcher(&jstring.subSequence(0, &jstring.length()));

   If (&matches.matches()) Then
      Return &matches.group(1);
   Else
      Return "";
   End-If;
End-Function;

Where is Jim?

Just in case you are wondering why I haven't been posting fantastic PeopleSoft tricks the past few months, it is because I was spending my off hours helping out at home while anxiously awaiting the arrival of Esther May Hope, our third child. She arrived May 17^th. She is "healthy as an ox" and "eats like a horse."

Scripting PeopleSoft

In many organizations, the IT programmers are divided into two groups: those that program in the language of the enterprise system (PeopleSoft) and those that don't. Those that don't may prefer scripting languages like Python or Ruby. Whatever the language, the two groups will occasionally have to work together.

There are a couple of ways to execute scripts from PeopleSoft. If the target scripting language's binaries exist on your app or process scheduler server, then you can either call the script through the PeopleCode exec function or setup a process definition.

What if you want to pass data between PeopleCode and a scripting language? If your scripting language has a Java implementation, then you can actually pass objects between PeopleCode and that scripting language using the Apache Bean Scripting Framework (BSF). BSF supports Javascript, Python, Groovy, Ruby, NetRexx, TCL, XSLT, PROLOG, Java, JudoScript, ObjectScript, and ooRexx through Java implementations of those languages.

Here is a basic example of executing a PeopleCode generated Javascript. The script declares a regular expression object and extracts the site name from the PeopleSoft URL.

Local JavaObject &manager = CreateJavaObject("org.apache.bsf.BSFManager");
Local string &script;
Local string &siteName;

&script = "var re = /\/??(\w+?)(?:_\d+?)?\/.+$/;";
&script = &script | "var a = re.exec('" | %Request.PathInfo | "');";
&script = &script | "a[1];";

&siteName = &manager.eval("javascript", "site_name.js", 0, 0, &script).toString();

Where would I use this? Anywhere that I needed to pass objects between a scripting language and PeopleCode. My favorite example is using BSF inside an Integration Broker custom target connector. This allows the programmer of the non-PeopleSoft system to code the integration using a more familiar language.

To use the example above, place rhino-js-1.6r5.jar, bsf-2.4.0.jar, and commons-logging.jar in your app server classpath. To use a different scripting language, place the appropriate language jar in your classpath. See the BSF web site for more details.

Signing on with Oracle

Today I turned in my resignation to my supervisor at Chelan County PUD. I will miss my co-workers. On Monday, July 2nd, I move into Rich Manalang's old position at Oracle.