Using

Browser
Scripts

Some browser code can

make your pages
more powerful

B Y

S H A N N O N

W H I T L E Y

eopleSoft technical developers must be

proficient in a number of different languages
and applications. With a laundry list that
includes PeopleCode, Application Engine, App
Servers, Web Servers, Crystal Reports, COBOL,
and SQR, your breadth of knowledge is
constantly being challenged. With the
introduction of new technologies like
Integration Broker and Portal, the list continues
to expand.

Although we may feel that we are stretched

thinner today than in the past, we have always
had to reach across various technical tools.
COBOL programming centered on a single
language, but JCL had its own rules to follow.
And while COBOL programs were written for
production jobs, there were always utilities that
were quickly written in a simpler language such
as DYL or BASIC. So today, even though
PeopleSoft may be your main focus, with its
plethora of integrated products, its not a bad
idea to have additional tools at your side.

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Just as languages such as Java and C++ were

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M A Y

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2 0 0 3

used in the Windows environment to

complement a PeopleSoft installation, so too
can internet-based scripting tools be used to
supplement your overall solution in Version 8.

PeopleSoft may be your

main focus, with its
plethora of integrated
products, its not a bad idea
to have additional tools at
your side.
Since PeopleSoft is now a web-based product, it
is important to take a look at additional
capabilities that might be gained through web
tools like Internet scripting.
Internet scripting can take two forms in
PeopleSoft: server-side or client-side. Serverside scripting is performed through PeopleCode
using IScripts. I wont be discussing IScripts in
this article, but there are some good sections in
the PeopleBooks on writing IScripts. On the

client, browser scripts can be developed

through PeopleTools, and Ill describe how to
introduce browser scripts using the HTML area
control.

Figure 1:
Page Field Properties

Scripting provides additional flexibility in your

applications. Things that arent necessarily
possible or easy to implement in PeopleTools
can be done using browser scripts. In the
PeopleBooks, PeopleSoft describes two specific
examples where scripting may be desired:
1) When a second form is needed on a page. PeopleSoft wraps all pages in a single form and
therefore cannot accommodate two forms.
2) When the page being developed doesnt
need to access the database.
I tend to be very conservative when
programming browser scripts for PeopleSoft. I
usually only introduce a script on a page where
the number of users is small and controlled.
You really need to be aware of which browsers
will be hitting the page and which versions of
those browsers will be used.
Scripts can be written in a variety of scripting
languages, but two of the most common
languages are JavaScript and VBScript. You can
use your preferred scripting language when you
write your scripts in PeopleSoft. Normally, I will

I usually only introduce a

script on a page where the
number of users is small
and controlled.
use JavaScript in web pages because it is more
widely supported across browser platforms.
However, for the example in this article, I
elected to use VBScript since my user base was

very small and the browser and hardware

configurations were known.
To highlight the potential uses of browser
scripting, Im providing an example of a page
that I developed to help our internal
technology group track employee network
accounts. The page displays PeopleSoft data
alongside data from Microsofts Active
Directory.

The HTML Area Control

Using an HTML area control, I can access
scripting code from an HTML object, a Message
Catalog entry, or directly through the
assignment of a string variable or constant. To
get started, I first added an HTML area control
to an existing custom page. I then opened up
the properties of the HTML area and set the
page field properties. (See Figure 1) I specified
the record and field names as
HR_LBL_WRK.HTMLAREA. The fieldname
could have been any valid fieldname; it did not
need to be called HTMLAREA. The text for the
control is set in Page PeopleCode.

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