Explorations in Component Interface: Handling Component Interface Errors

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This is a continuation of the following posts:

• Part 1: Creating the Component Interface
• Part 2: Security
• Part 3: PeopleCode

The plan this time is to try to see how well we can handle errors.  I have been having trouble with some of my production programs crashing when I have taken all the necessary steps to trap and handle the error.  So, we’ll see how this goes …

Explorations in Component Interface: PeopleCode

This page has moved.  Please update your links:
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This is a continuation of the following posts:

• Part 1: Creating the Component Interface
• Part 2: Security

Now, we need to write some code to use the Component Interface.  Let’s use the Application Engine program from this step by step post.

Explorations in Component Interface

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This is part one of a multi-part series exploring some quirks in using Component Interfaces with Application Engine programs.  If nothing else, hopefully, these will give new developers some insight into how to use a Component Interface.  My goal is to expose a bug in the Application Engine tool that maybe Oracle will see and fix.

This first part will simply walk you through creating a Component Interface.  This part is just a map to associate the fields on the screen (or really in the component’s buffer) with an API property that can be accessed with code.

First, we create a new definition in Application Designer.  You can either use the Ctrl + N keyboard shortcut or the File > New menu.  Choose Component Interface from the list:

Next, have no fear — you will see the open dialog making it look like you want to open a component.  Really, Application Designer is just asking you which component you want to map.  In this example, we will use the “PERSONAL_DATA” component, which is the Modify a Person screen (Workforce Administration > Personal Information > Modify a Person):

Next, Application Designer asks you if you want to default the properties.  I almost always say yes to this questions because it will make Application Designer do all the work for you in generating the map.  The properties will be given names based on their field names in the buffer:

Now, you should have a new component interface generated for you.  Notice that the left side is the Component Structure.  It is the same as the Structure tab on the Component itself.  The right side is the map of record/field to property name.  In this screenshot, I have the component open in the background and I drew a line to show how the structure is the same.  Then, I drew a line from the structure to the property generated for one of the fields:

Finally, save the component interface.  You can either use the Ctrl + S keyboard shortcut, or you can use the File > Save menu.  I gave it the name BLG_PERS_DTA_CI.

While your at it, you may also want to add it to the project.  You can use the F7 keyboard shortcut or the Insert > Current Definition Into Project menu.

This concludes creating the Component Interface.  Please stay tuned for the next steps …

Step-by-Step: App Engine for Testing PeopleCode

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This is a how-to post that I intend to refer back to from time to time.  The goal is to create a simple Application Engine program into which we can drop some PeopleCode and see how it works.  Assuming we don’t need any of the online pieces, this is much easier than going through all of the steps to create a page and register it so we can see it online.

Step 1: Create a new Application Engine Program

In Application Designer, click Ctrl + N or use the File > New menu option.  This will open the “New” dialog, and you can choose Application Engine program from the list.

You new program should look like this:

Step 2: Disable Restart

This step is very important.  If you don’t disable the restart and your program crashes, you will have to go through a few extra steps before you can rerun it.

First, click on the properties button while your program is in focus (you can also use the File > Definition Properties menu):

This should bring up the Properties dialog.  Then, go to the Advanced tab.  Check the “Disable Restart” option.

Step 3: Add an Action

First, click on the “Step 1” step to select it.  I usually click anywhere in the gray, and this should turn it black.

Next, click on the Add Action button, or you can use the Insert > Action menu.

Finally, change the type from SQL to PeopleCode.

Step 4: Save the program

At this point, you need to save before you can add PeopleCode.  You can use Ctrl + S, click on the Save icon on the toolbar, or you can use the File > Save menu.

Step 5: Enter the PeopleCode

First, open the PeopleCode program by double clicking anywhere on the gray of the PeopleCode action.  Or, you can right click on it and choose the “View PeopleCode” option.

Next, you will probably want to open a file to show output from your PeopleCode testing.  You can use this PeopleCode:

Local File &log;
&log = GetFile("c:\temp\log.txt", "W", "A", %Filepath_Absolute);

Then, you can print to that file with the writeline() method.  For now, we will just print Hello, World.

&log.WriteLine("Hello, World!");

Finally, you will probably want to close your file:

&log.Close();

Here is what it all looks like:

Make sure to save once you make these changes.

Step 6: Run the Program

Again, after you have saved, go back to the main program window where you can see the Main section, Step 1, and your new PeopleCode action.  Then, click the run icon.

In the dialog, Check the Output log to file and uncheck Run Minimized.  The output log to file allows you to see what happened.  Otherwise, the window will close before you see what happened.  The run minimized isn’t a big deal, but if the program doesn’t run minimized you see it pop up and go away better.  When the program goes away, you know it is done running.

Finally, when it is done, check the output.  If you used the paths that I did your output should be in the c:\temp directory.  You should have two files.  The first, is the main output from the program.  Check this to make sure the program ran to success:

The second is the log that your PeopleCode created.  For now, it should just say, “Hello, World”.

App Engine Action Types (AE_STMT_TYPE)

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Here are the values for the AE_STMT_TYPE field.  This is useful if you are looking for an Application Engine with a certain type of action.

AE_STMT_TYPE:

• H = Do When
• N = Do Until
• C = Call Section
• W = Do While
• X = XSLT
• M = Log Message
• S = SQL
• P = PeopleCode
• D = DoSelect

Log Messages in Application Engine

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Here is some SQL that lists the Log Message actions in Application Programs:

SELECT A.AE_APPLID, A.AE_SECTION, A.AE_STEP,
M.AE_MESSAGE_PARMS, S.MESSAGE_SET_NBR, S.MESSAGE_NBR FROM
PSAESTMTDEFN A, PSAESTEPMSGDEFN M, PSAESTEPDEFN S
WHERE A.AE_APPLID = M.AE_APPLID
AND A.AE_APPLID = S.AE_APPLID
AND A.AE_SECTION = M.AE_SECTION
AND A.AE_SECTION = S.AE_SECTION
AND A.MARKET = M.MARKET
AND A.MARKET = S.MARKET
AND A.DBTYPE = M.DBTYPE
AND A.DBTYPE = S.DBTYPE
AND A.EFFDT = M.EFFDT
AND A.EFFDT = S.EFFDT
AND A.AE_STEP = M.AE_STEP
AND A.AE_STEP = S.AE_STEP
AND A.AE_STMT_TYPE = ‘M’

PeopleTools Reference: Meta-SQL %Table

%Table

Replaces with the actual table name of the given record.

Generally, this just means adding a “PS_” to the front of the record name. But, PeopleTools actually checks the alternate table name from the Record Type tab to see if a value is there first.

Two Uses:

• Access a table with a reference or record object rather than embedding a table name in the SQL; PeopleTools will not index the table/record in a string literal.
• Reference the Temporary table in an App Engine; %Table is the only way to reference the table because the table name is assign dynamically at run time.

Examples:

SELECT * FROM %Table(JOB) WHERE EMPLID = :1

SqlExec(“SELECT NAME FROM %Table(:1) WHERE EMPLID = :2”, Record.NAMES, &emplid, &name);

&sql = CreateSql(“SELECT * FROM %Table(:1) WHERE EMPLID = :2”, &MyRecord, &emplid);

INSERT INTO %Table(MYTEMP_TAO)
SELECT * FROM PS_MYDATATABLE

PeopleTools Tip — App Engine Restart If you get …

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PeopleTools Tip — App Engine Restart

If you get an error message like this, you either need to restart the specific instance that abended, or remove the restart row from the table.

PeopleTools 8.46 – Application Engine Server

Copyright (c) 1988-2006 PeopleSoft, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

PSAESRV started service request at 14.19.05 2006-09-19

All Processing Suspended: Restart OPRID=PS, RUNID=AppEngName, PI=499 (108,503)

PSAESRV completed service request at 14.19.05 2006-09-19

Disable Restart:
You can disable the restart on the properties of the application engine, but that will not help when the Application Engine has already abended. Remember, the disable restart prevents the app engine from writing to the restart table when the program abends; it does not prevent it from checking the table to see if another instance is waiting to restart.

In other words, once an application has abended, disable restart will not allow you to rerun the program without restarting.

AERUNCONTROL Record:
The restart status is stored in the record AERUNCONTROL. If you receive the message requiring you to restart instead of rerun, then there is a row in this table for the program you are running and the run control that you are using.

Fields:
PROCESS_INSTANCE — instance that abended
OPRID — your user name
RUN_CNTL_ID — run control used when it abended
AE_APPLID — Application Engine program name

Fixing the Error:
To fix the error, you either have to delete the row from the table or restart the original process instance that abended.

SELECT * FROM PS_AERUNCONTROL WHERE AE_APPLID = ‘<App Engine Name>‘

Update:
Ray pointed out that PeopleSoft has provided an online way to fix the problem. You can do it from the page: PeopleTools > Application Engine > Manage Abends

Deleting the Row:

If you are the only one with an abended program, you can just truncate the whole table:

TRUNCATE TABLE PS_AERUNCONTROL

Or, if you want to just affect your program, you can do something more like this:

DELETE FROM PS_AERUNCONTROL WHERE OPIRD = ‘<username>‘ AND RUN_CNTL_ID = ‘<run control>‘

Tip — PeopleTools: Application Engine Logging Ap…

Tip — PeopleTools: Application Engine Logging

Application Engines have the ability to write to the “Redirected Terminal Output”. But, everything that is written into it must be written with a MessageBox command. That results in a blank line between messages and the infamous message set ids at the end.

If you want any formatting at all you should open a file and use the File object to create the file.

First, declare the variable in every PeopleCode program in your App Engine:

Component File &logFile;

Declare the variable as a component or global variable so that it stays around for the life of the App Engine program. Otherwise, you will have to keep reopening the file to write to it in each PeopleCode step.

Second, create an Init step in the Main section that will open the file:

&logFile = GetFile(GetEnv(“PSPRCSLOGDIR”) “\logFile.txt”, “W”, %FilePath_Absolute);

PSPRCSLOGDIR is the environment variable that is set to the path where the files should go. Every file that is put in this path will be copied to the web server so that the user can see it.

You can use %Filepath_Relative in many cases, but sometimes the relative path does not point to the proper folder, particullarly on older PeopleSoft systems. I have had more success with PSPRCSLOGDIR.

Third, close the file in a step at the end of the Main section:

&logFile.close();

Finally, write what you want to the file with:

&logFile.writeline(“This is a log statement!”);

You have complete control of this file and can make it say what you want it to.