Kibana Dashboards - Related Content for Classic

In the following DIY blog series, I described how we can use the framework provided in PeopleTools 8.58 to configure our own custom visualizations and dashboards in Kibana and use them in PeopleSoft applications via the 'Kibana Visualizer'.

Refer: DIY - Kibana Dashboards with Application Data

Part 3 described how we can configure a Kibana visualization/dashboard as a Tile within PeopleSoft. There is also another way we can expose the Kibana visualization/dashboard in PeopleSoft. This alternate approach is to configure them as related information/content of a component.

Configure Kibana Visualizations as Related Information/Content of a Component

Let us take the same Kibana dashboards that we built in the DIY series and configure them as related information of a component.

Gotcha: As delivered, this option only works for Fluid components.

So, let us pick a Fluid component - HR_EE_ADDR_FL (Employee Self Service > Personal Details > Addresses) and configure the Kibana dashboards as related information.

Navigation: PeopleTools > Search Framework > Administration > Kibana Visualizations > Component Level (Tab)

Configure Kibana Visualizations as Related Content of a Classic Component

As we saw in the previous section, the 'Component Level' - related information option is only available for Fluid components. Does this mean we cannot use Kibana visualizations/dashboards as related content for Classic? It is true that we cannot use the delivered 'Kibana Visualizations' configuration page for Classic components. But we can simply configure a related content service that points to the 'Kibana Visualizer' component and pass appropriate parameters to display the desired dashboards!

Create Related Content Service

URL and Parameters

The URL and parameters required for the Related Content Service could be determined by inspecting the 'Full View' of any Kibana dashboard displayed via the 'Kibana Visualizer' as shown below.

URL

The below URL is an example of a dashboard (Full View) displayed via the 'Kibana Visualizer' in 'Full View' mode.

http://pi034.hcm92.com:8000/psc/ps_newwin/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/PTSF_SEARCH_ADMIN.PTSF_KIBANA_COMP.GBL?DBOARD=URLGEN&DASHBOARD=IB Dashboard&SUMMARY=IB Tile Dashboard&ICDoModeless=1

Required Parameters for Related Content Service

Parameters	Notes
DBOARD	URLGEN will ensure that 'Kibana Visualizer' (Full View) is used
DASHBOARD	Name of the Kibana Dashboard for Full View
ICDoModeless	This will ensure that the Branding header is not displayed

Note: The SUMMARY parameter is not required for the related content service because we will only be using the 'Full View' and don't require the 'Tile View'.

Manage Related Content Service

As a proof of concept, we will add the Related Content Service to PeopleTools > Integration Broker > Service Operations Monitor > Monitoring > Asynchronous Services.

Demo

Conclusion

This proof of concept is in response to a question that was posed on the following blog post.

PeopleTools 8.58 - Application Data and Kibana Dashboards

Can we setup Kibana dashboards as related content of Classic pages? The delivered framework does not provide an option for this setup but we can configure this directly using related content.

Classic Drop-Down List Styling

Recently, there was a question on my blog related to drop-down list styling.

Refer: Original Question

How do we apply different colors to drop-down list values?

In this post, I will walk through a few examples of how we can use CSS to apply different background colors to drop-down list values. As an example, we will be using the 'Branding System Options' classic page which contains two drop-down lists.

Navigation: PeopleTools > Portal > Branding > Branding System Options

Identifying the style classes to target

The first step to overriding delivered CSS is to identify the style class(es) to target. We can do this using the browser's developer tools.

Overriding CSS using Component Branding

Since we are focusing on Classic UI, we can use the Component Branding feature which is available via the Branding Framework configuration to apply a custom Stylesheet object to the Component (PTBRANDINGSYSTEMOP).

Navigation: PeopleTools > Portal > Branding > Component Branding

Zebra Striping

In this approach we will use the nth-child() CSS to alternate between two different background colors as shown below.

Option 1: All Drop-Down lists on the page/component

Option 2: Specific Drop-Down list on the page/component

Notice the #PSBRSYSTOPT_WRK_PTBRANDTHEME in the CSS selector.

Styling specific rows

In this scenario, we will assume that we already know the rows that we want to style differently. Let's say, we want to display the custom Themes (with "SV_" prefix) differently.

Option 1: If we know the row numbers

Option 2: CSS based on attribute value prefix

Drop Zones for Classic

PeopleTools 8.58 introduced Drop Zones for Classic. I previously wrote about a SQL query that helps us identify a list of delivered components (both Fluid and Classic) that contain Drop Zones.

Refer: SQL to list Components with Drop Zones

At the time of writing (April 13, 2020), I reported that I could not find any application PUM image that contained classic components with Drop Zones. I tried executing the same SQL in a HCM - PUM image 34 (which is also on 8.58.03) and to my surprise I found 20 classic components with Drop Zones. Kudos to the HCM team for leveraging a lot of the latest PeopleTools features such as Kibana Dashboards, Classic Drop Zones, etc.!!

Oracle ACE Director, Graham Smith, showed us (in detail with a simple example) how we can use the Drop Zones that are delivered for Fluid components.

Refer: http://i-like-trains.blogspot.com/2019/04/drop-zones-and-hcm-image-030.html

Further details can be found in PeopleBooks: Understanding Drop Zones

COMPANY_TABLE is an example of a classic component in HCM Image 34 which contains Drop Zones.

Let us create a simple subpage and test the Drop Zone feature in Classic.

Custom subpage with page field elements

Let us create a custom subpage (as described in the Peoplebooks referenced earlier). This contains the required group box (container) that encompasses the entire subpage. All other page elements on this subpage must be enclosed within this container. We need to also clear the group box label text, set label style to PAGROUPBOXLABELINVISIBLE, select Adjust Layout for Hidden Fields check box and optionally select the Hide Border check box.

Configure Drop Zone

PeopleTools > Portal > Configure Drop Zones

Demo

PeopleTools 8.58 - New Window feature for Fluid

Previously, I wrote about how we can implement the New Window link as a workaround since it was missing in Fluid. The idea was to add the New Window link to the Actions menu.

Refer: Fluid UI - New Window Feature - Workaround

The good news is that in PeopleTools 8.58, the New Window link is available for Fluid components as well!

How does it work? It is implemented very similar to my workaround as a link in the Actions menu.

Further, the New Window can be enabled on a Fluid Component using the same approach that we use for Classic Components. That is, using the Component Internet Properties.

Few things I noticed while testing this feature.

Disable Pagebar

The Disable Pagebar checkbox in the Pagebar settings has no effect on the New Window link for Fluid. This is working as designed because the Pagebar is not available in Fluid. The New Window link is part of the Action Menu in Fluid.

I bring this up because we cannot simply use the Disable Pagebar and assume that the New Window link will be disabled at the component level for Fluid. In this case, we must disable the New Window link property specifically.

Web Profile Disable New Window Setting

There is a setting/option in the Web Profile - General 'tab' that allows us to enable or disable the New Window feature at a global level. If we disable the New Window feature in the Web Profile, then even if components have the New Window enabled, the New Window will not appear. That is how it works for Classic.

Although, when I tested this by disabling the New Window on my web profile and restarted the web server, I found that Fluid components do not honor this Web Profile setting. This appears to be a bug.

Refer: Configuring Web Profile - General Portal Properties

Fluid/Classic Components displayed in wrappers

I found this interesting PeopleBooks which describes the expected behavior and priority for displaying the New Window.

Refer: Opening New Windows

SQL to list Components with Drop Zones

PeopleTools 8.57 introduced the concept of Drop Zones in fluid components. Now with the latest release (PeopleTools 8.58), Drop Zone capability is available in classic components.

While the Drop Zone functionality is a PeopleTools feature, the Applications teams will need to deliver/enable Drop Zones in various components (both classic and fluid). We can find the list of delivered components by reviewing PeopleBooks for each application. As an example, here is the list for FSCM.

FSCM - Understanding Drop Zones

In an effort to quickly identify any delivered classic components with Drop Zones, I wrote a SQL that can be run against any database to list all components which contain Drop Zones along with the type (fluid/classic). Unfortunately, at the time of writing, I have not found any delivered Classic Components in HCM as well as FSCM. We may need to watch the next PUM images for examples of Classic Components with Drop Zones.