I received notice yesterday that our latest book, PeopleSoft PeopleTools: Mobile Applications Development (Oracle Press) 1st Edition, is now shipping. Probably the most exciting news is that Amazon has the book listed as the #1 New Release in the Oracle Databases category.
My wife and I have been writing another book. We are reviewing proofs now, which means we are getting close to publication. I did a quick search on Amazon and see that Amazon is taking pre-orders: PeopleSoft PeopleTools: Mobile Applications Development. Publication date is currently set for October 16, 2015, which means it will publish just before OpenWorld. Fluid and MAP have been out for about a year. If you guessed that a new PeopleTools mobile book would cover these mobile technologies, you guessed correctly. But I saw no reason to stop there. After describing how to use Fluid and MAP, the book moves on to building responsive mobile applications using standard HTML5 development tools and libraries including jQuery mobile and AngularJS. Just today I spoke with a customer still using PeopleTools 8.50. What are the odds that customer will be using PeopleTools 8.54 in the next year? The second section of this book, using HTML5 is perfect for a customer in this situation because it describes how to connect a modern single page application to a PeopleSoft back end using iScripts and REST services (one chapter for each back end solution). The book finishes with examples of building native and hybrid applications for PeopleSoft using the Android SDK, Apache Cordova (my personal favorite), and Oracle's Mobile Application Framework. Here is a rough outline:
Chapter 1 shows you how to prepare your workstation for mobile development. This includes configuring HTML5 browsers, developer tools, and emulators.
Chapter 2 digs into Fluid, showing two examples of creating Fluid pages. The first is a basic page whereas the second is a two-column responsive page. This chapter covers search pages; toolbar actions; and fluid field, page, and component features. The point of this chapter is to help the reader feel comfortable with Fluid. Fluid includes a lot of new features based on HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. I really want customers to understand, however, that they can build Fluid pages using core PeopleTools without any knowledge of the modern web concepts. Of course, you can build some really amazing solutions if you know HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
Chapter 3 explains the new Mobile Application Platform (MAP): what it is, when to use it, and how to use it. A chapter wouldn't be complete without examples, so there are plenty of examples to help you start your next MAP project.
Chapter 4 segues into modern mobile development. The rest of the book takes the user interface outside of PeopleTools. Before moving away from Application Designer, however, we need a data model and a scenario. This chapter presents the scenario and lays the foundation for the rest of the chapters. In this chapter you will work with SQL and the Documents module.
Chapter 5 shows us how to create our first HTML5 front end. I wanted to make this chapter as simple as possible so I used jQuery Mobile. In this chapter the reader will write very basic HTML and have the opportunity to see how jQuery Mobile progressively enhances simple markup to create impressive mobile solutions.
Chapter 6 is the exact opposite of chapter 5. Here I wanted to demonstrate flexibility and performance. This chapter is intentionally designed to provide a challenge for developers. Readers tell me it is a good chapter, perhaps a little intimidating, but very worthwhile. In this chapter you will work with AngularJS, Topcoat, and FontAwesome.
Chapter 7 shows the reader how to build back-end services for Chapters 5 and 6 using iScripts.
Chapter 8 is the same as Chapter 7 but uses REST services instead of iScripts. If you are new to PeopleSoft REST services and want to learn how to configure REST services as well as how to work with Documents to serve JSON from Integration Broker, then you will find this chapter very valuable.
Chapter 9 shifts from HTML5 to native. In this chapter the reader will learn how to use the Android SDK to consume the services built in chapter 8. The point of this chapter is not to teach Android development but rather how to consume PeopleSoft services from Android.
Chapter 10 turns to a native application category described as Hybrid applications. In this Chapter the reader will learn how to convert the Chapter 6 prototype into an on-device application that has access to device specific features such as the camera. In fact, the example shows how to use the Cordova API to take a selfie.
Chapter 11 brings us back to Oracle-specific technology by showing how to build a hybrid application using Oracle's Mobile Application Framework (MAF). I chose to spend a little more time in this chapter to teach some of the specifics of MAF. For example, I wasn't very excited about the default appearance of buttons on Android so I included steps showing how to extend the MAF skin.
Publication is still a few months away, but we are getting close. I'm really hoping to be able to give away copies during my OpenWorld session this year.
I just posted about Monkey Patching, a technique used in chapter 7 of my book PeopleTools Tips and Techniques to set the default search page operator on advanced search pages (Note: only 8.50 and later required Monkey Patching). As I was looking over the "Changing Search Operators" section of chapter 7, I noticed the code was missing a few lines (pages 293 - 296). Here is my revision:
<script type="text/javascript">
// C style include protection
if(!window.apt.setSearchOp) {
window.apt.setSearchOp = true;
if(window.net) {
// pt 8.50
(function($) {
var originalContentLoader = net.ContentLoader;
net.ContentLoader = function(url,form,name,method,onload,onerror,params,contentType,bAjax,bPrompt) {
var originalOnLoad = onload;
if(name == "#ICAdvSearch") {
onload = function() {
if (typeof originalOnLoad == "undefined" || !originalOnLoad) {
this.processXML();
} else {
originalOnLoad.call(this);
}
// The value for "between" is 9. Change this to your desired
// search operator value.
var newValue = 9;
// The name of the search key field is APT_UI_SCRIPTS_MENUNAME.
// Generally speaking, PeopleSoft creates HTML element names by
// combining record and field names with an underscore as in
// RECORD_FIELD. Change the following value to the name of your
// search key record_field
var coll = $("select[name='APT_UI_SCRIPTS_MENUNAME$op']");
if(coll.val() != newValue) {
coll.val(newValue).change();
}
}
}
return new originalContentLoader (url,form,name,method,onload,onerror,params,contentType,bAjax,bPrompt);
}
})(window.jQuery);
} else {
// pt 8.4x, $(document).ready below will handle pt 8.4x
}
// just in case advanced is the initial view
$(document).ready(function() {
var newValue = 9;
var coll = $("select[name='APT_UI_SCRIPTS_MENUNAME$op']");
if(coll.val() != newValue) {
coll.val(newValue).change();
}
});
}
</script>
Are you still trying to decide whether or not to buy my new PeopleTools book? Would a sample chapter help? The McGraw Hill page for this book allows you to download chapter 3 for free. Chapter 3 contains step by step instructions for workflow enabling a transaction using the relatively new Approval Workflow Engine (new in PeopleTools 8.48). If you have ever had trouble configuring AWE and wondered if it was possible to trace the stage, step, path, approver selection information, you will want to take a look at the Tracing AWE sidebar on page 125 (page 35 of the PDF).
The Kindle edition of my PeopleTools Tips and Techniques book is now available. Download a copy from Amazon's site here.
The code for my new book PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips & Techniques is now available. There is a download link on the book's McGraw Hill page. Look for the Downloads section. Enjoy!
Amazon has been shipping my new PeopleTools book for about a week now... but where is the source code? The honest truth? It is on my laptop. I am in the process of exporting the code from my test PeopleSoft instance. I am up to chapter 9. I am averaging about 2 chapters a night, so I expect to finish this week. Once I finish, I'll send it to Oracle Press and they will post it on their web site at http://www.oraclepressbooks.com/.
Update 15-July-2010: I sent the code to the publisher last night. It is now in their production department awaiting posting. I will update again when it is available.
Update: The code is now available. You can find information in this blog post.
I am presenting at the PeopleSoft UKOUG conference this week. It is always a pleasure to catch up with my English and European colleagues. I was able to acquire an advanced copy of my new book PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips & Techniques. I will have the book with me during the conference, and will gladly show it to anyone who asks.
The marketing flyer for my PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips and Techniques book is now available. If you are unable to see the embedded flyer below, you can download a copy from my box.net account: PeopleTools Tips and Techniques flyer.
My PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips and Techniques book is now available for Pre-order through popular book resellers:
Expected availability is July 22, 2010. This book took a lot of effort and I especially want to thank my wife who performed the first edit and rewrite (the biggest chunk). Without her, there wouldn't be an intelligible sentence or complete thought in the book. Secondly, I would like to thank my technical editors Tim Burns and Graham Smith, two very well known faces in the PeopleSoft community. These guys tested every example prior to publication.
In my OOW presentation yesterday I showed that it is possible to change the default search operator for a specific advanced search page. The JavaScript required to implement this behavior follows:
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
var newValue = 9;
var coll = $("select[name='APT_UI_SCRIPTS_MENUNAME$op']");
if(coll.val() != newValue) {
coll.val(newValue).change();
}
});
</script>
Note: The code above uses jQuery for event handling and therefore requires that you inject jQuery along with the JavaScript above. I demonstrate how to accomplish this in the injection blog post referenced below.
In my PeopleTools book I provide full details for implementing this behavior, but if you want to get a head start, I'll give you some hints. First, you need a mechanism for injecting this JavaScript into a search page. To learn more about injection, read my post Injecting JavaScript Libraries into PeopleSoft Pages. Next, you need a way to target a specific component. For this, see my post JavaScript complement of PeopleCode Global Vars. Your final step is to write some JavaScript to determine if the open page is a search page. I determine this by testing for the existence of an object named #ICSearch.
To determine the numerical code for a search page operator (9 = between), open the HTML source of any advanced search page and search for the option child nodes of PSDROPDOWNLIST.
Update (April 15, 2010)
The code above works great with PeopleTools 8.49 and lower. PeopleTools 8.50 uses Ajax to switch from the basic to the advanced search page. The 8.50 Ajax does not trigger the $(document).ready code. I have another solution for PeopleTools 8.50 (documented in my book). I'll post it soon.
Pre order copies of my new book PeopleSoft PeopleTools Tips & Techniques. The publication date is set for July, 2010, about one year from now.
Updated Oct 29, 2009: Unfortunately, you cannot pre order yet. McGraw Hill removed the placeholder page from their site. McGraw Hill will repost and begin taking pre orders as we get closer to the release date. I will post an update at that time.