Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Create new (external) site in a PUM image

This post will describe how we can create a new site in a PIA domain without modifying any existing configuration settings. As an example, we will focus on a delivered PUM image (HCM 9.2 PUM Image 29) installed as a VirtualBox instance.

If you are a PeopleSoft Administrator, then this might be second nature to you. But for others who only venture into the dark side occasionally, it might seem like a complex task.

Why?

Many of us download a PUM image (PI) and install it as a VirtualBox instance on our laptops/PCs to evaluate the latest features in the application releases or in some cases the PeopleTools releases.

Let us say we want to evaluate the latest features in the HCM 9.2 - External Candidate Gateway, FSCM 9.2 External Supplier Portal or even the latest HCM 9.2 - Absence Assistant Chatbot functionality. Unfortunately, the delivered PUM images do not contain these external sites by default, so in order to perform a true test, we might need to create a new (external) site in a PUM image and set it up appropriately.

How?

I am going to describe how I successfully created a new site in a PUM image (of course involving a lot of trial and error). I am sure there are more efficient ways to perform this task and I look forward to learning from your comments/feedback. I already know based on discussions with Dan from psadmin.io that we could also create a new site using DPK.

Anyway, after reviewing documentation in PeopleBooks, I found the following resources as a starting point.

Install Guides
PeopleSoft 9.2 Application Installation on Oracle (PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.57)

"Task 15-1: Installing the PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture in Silent Mode" in the Installation Guide provides documentation on how to install various components of the PIA.

Based on this documentation, we can see that we simply need to update a response file with appropriate configuration settings and then kick off the command line to execute the site creation process "silently".

Updating resp_file.txt

"Task 15-1-1: Editing the Response File" mentions that this response file will be located here:
PS_HOME/setup/PsMpPIAInstall/scripts

But on a PUM image (HCM 9.2 - PI 29), I found it one level up.


I made a copy of this resp_file.txt and edited it to suit my needs.

External Site: ps_ext
Web Profile: KIOSK

Here is a copy of the resp_file.txt file that I used containing with only the parameters that are necessary.

Here are some items to keep in mind.

Where is the Weblogic Home directory?

I had no idea and could not find any documentation that pointed to this information. After some trial and error, I found that the Weblogic Home directory (at least on a PUM image) should be as follows.

BEA_HOME=/opt/oracle/psft/pt/bea

Note: If we use PeopleSoft Cloud Manager to create the PUM image instead of using the VirtualBox approach, then our Weblogic Home directory would be as follows.

BEA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/pt/bea

Install action and Domain type

Use ADD_SITE and EXISTING DOMAIN as follows.

INSTALL_ACTION=ADD_SITE
DOMAIN_TYPE=EXISTING_DOMAIN


What is the App Server Name and JSL Port (particularly on a PUM image)?

I ended up accessing PS Admin (via Putty) and reviewing the configuration on the existing delivered site to pick up this information. The assumption here is that, the new site will also connect to the same App Server.

PeopleSoft PIA Administration > Web (PIA) Domain Administration > Administer a domain > peoplesoft (default domain for PUM image) >Administer a site > ps (existing delivered site) > Configure this site


We can use the Application Server Connect String as the PSSERVER parameter value as shown below.

PSSERVER=pi029.hcm92.edu:9033

Site Name and Web Profile

Provide the name for the new site as well the web profile that we want to use.

WEBSITE_NAME=ps_ext
WEB_PROF_NAME=KIOSK


Other items

The rest of the parameters in the resp_file.txt are either self explanatory or passwords.

Executing command line to create new site

Simply change the directory to the PsMpPIAInstall folder and execute the setup.sh script in silent mode passing in the resp_file.txt location as a parameter.


Demo

Delivered Site (ps) on PUM Image


New Custom/External Site (ps_ext)


Additional Resources

HCM9.2-CG: How To Configure The External Candidate Gateway URL On PUM16+ When The External Link Is Invalid (Doc ID 2145957.1)

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Branding - Overriding the browser default :focus Selector

This post is based on a question that was recently asked here.

Question

"When user uses Keyboard instead of mouse, when they are using the TAB key on the homepage, the Home button and other button on the banner will be highlighted by the white dotted lines, and when it comes to the tiles, they are also highlighted by that white dotted line, but the visibility of that dotted lines is very minimal around the tiles, is there a way we can change the color of that dotted lines using the macro set or style sheet."

Demo

 
This 'dotted lines' is added by the browser for accessibility reasons and it could vary depending on the type of the browser. I found couple of excellent blog posts on this topic which are listed below.

https://www.kirupa.com/html5/changing_the_default_focus_styles.htm
http://outlinenone.com/

Overriding the browser default :focus Selector

Fluid - Global override

We simply need to add the following CSS to the 'Global Override Style Sheet' used in our current theme.

In this example, the 'Global Override Style Sheet' used in the current theme is shown below.


Demo


Fluid - Tile override

Let us say that we only want to change the :focus on the Tiles, then we can simply target the Tile elements by adding the following CSS instead to the 'Global Override Style Sheet' used in our current theme.

Demo


Classic - Global override

Similarly, if we want the same global override in Classic, we can simply add the following CSS as an 'Additional Style Sheet Object' in the 'Branding System Options' page.

Demo


Thursday, October 10, 2019

Event Mapping PeopleCode in the context of a Component Interface

Is your Event Mapping PeopleCode not firing when executed via a Component Interface?

Check out this My Oracle Support Community (MOSC) forum thread for the solution:

https://community.oracle.com/message/15470895

Also, review the following My Oracle Support (MOS) Doc ID 2354155.1:
E-CI: Event Mapping Framework Not Working For Component Interface (Doc ID 2354155.1)