Drop Zones - LCM Considerations

Previously, I wrote about Lifecycle Management (LCM) Considerations for Event Mapping Framework.

Refer: Event Mapping Framework LCM Considerations

Drop Zones, similar to Event Mapping, provide a way for us to isolate our customizations and utilize configurations. Like I mentioned in my previous post, Drop Zones also do not have support for LCM as of now. Particularly, flagging App Designer - Compare Reports would be very helpful while taking updates from PeopleSoft (via PUM) to determine associated impact to any Drop Zone configuration.

While we wait for LCM enhancements to Drop Zones, here is a SQL query that will find a correlation between page objects in a project and the Drop Zones metadata. The query will return all page objects in a project (think tax updates, 'get me current' PUM application patching, etc.) that have corresponding Drop Zones configured. We can use this SQL to review any impact to custom subpages configured as Drop Zones.

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

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.