Pagelet Wizard Custom Tags

Pagelet Wizard custom transformations can use special tags documented here to insert images, message catalog entries, or to format numbers and dates. This is great when trying to format currencies or ensure multilingual compliance. The problem with "Post-Transformation Processing," as it is called in PeopleBooks, is that it requires the transformation results to be valid XML. Question: How do you get Pagelet Wizard to generate valid XML when the Xalan processor used by PeopleTools sees HTML tags and automatically generates HTML? Answer: use the <xsl:output> XSL tag. Here is a sample template that produces valid XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
    xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    exclude-result-prefixes="xhtml xsl">

    <xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"
        doctype-public="-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" doctype-system="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"
        indent="yes" />

    <xsl:template match="/">
        <!-- your XSL goes here -->
    </xsl:template>
    
  <!-- identity transform templates -->
  <xsl:template match="*">
    <xsl:apply-templates/>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- delete unmatched text -->
  <xsl:template match="@*|text()|comment()|processing-instruction()">
  </xsl:template>
  
</xsl:stylesheet>

New PeopleTools 8.53 Branding Tools

If you have an instance of PeopleTools 8.53, you may have noticed a new component at PeopleTools > Portal > Branding > Branding Objects. This new component allows you to upload images, HTML definitions, JavaScript definitions, and Stylesheet (CSS) definitions. The uploaded definitions become managed definitions in Application Designer. The point is to make it possible for customers to create and maintain user experience definitions online rather than having to log into App Designer to create and maintain these definitions. Once uploaded, if you prefer, you can still view and maintain these same definitions with Application Designer (but it is recommended that you maintain them using the Branding Objects component instead of App Designer). Note: the image upload does not yet support PNG (can you imagine a beautiful web without PNG? Me neither). I hope to see PNG in a future release. You can still create PNG's in App Designer, just not through the new Branding Objects component.

Being able to upload and create App Designer images, JavaScripts, and CSS files through an online component is nice, but where can you use these definitions? Just about anywhere that you see an image prompt. Here are some examples:

• Navigation Collections
• Pagelet icons
• Pagelet Wizard HTML and XSL

Navigation Collections are pretty self explanatory. You use the prompt to select an image. Pagelet Wizard, on the other hand, is quite open. One way you can use these images is with Pagelet Wizard's custom XSL PSIMG tag:

<PSIMG ID="MY_UPLOADED_IMAGE" BORDER="0" />

Another way to use these definitions (and any other JavaScript, CSS, or image definition in App Designer) with Pagelet Wizard is through a collection of new iScripts (with examples):

• IScript_GET_JS: http://your.peoplesoft.server/psc/ps/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/s/WEBLIB_PTBR.ISCRIPT1.FieldFormula.IScript_GET_JS?ID=PT_JQUERY_1_6_2_JS
• IScript_GET_CSS: http://your.peoplesoft.server/psc/ps/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/s/WEBLIB_PTBR.ISCRIPT1.FieldFormula.IScript_GET_CSS?ID=PSJQUERY_BASE_1_8_17
• IScript_GET_IMAGE: http://your.peoplesoft.server/psc/ps/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/s/WEBLIB_PTBR.ISCRIPT1.FieldFormula.IScript_GET_IMAGE?ID=PT_LOCK_ICN

I avoid hard coding server names in URL's if at all possible. To avoid hard coding the server name, start your URL with /psc/, skipping the server portion. When using this relative approach, though, keep in mind the pagelet's runtime context. If this is a local pagelet in a content provider or Interaction Hub, a relative URL will work just fine. However, if the pagelet is a remote pagelet, coming from a content provider, this relative approach will not work. Another thing to keep in mind when using these iScripts is your instances site name. Even with a relative URL, you still have to hard code your instance's site name, which usually differs between development, test, QA, and production instances.