TRY IT FREE FOR 30 DAYS
Full version  •  Quick installation  •  No spam
Download now

Tech Talk
LIGHTLY TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS ON PEOPLESOFT, SQR, AND RELATED AND UNRELATED TOPICS

Archives

JavaScript in HTML Areas

My last post showed some CSS examples and then briefly showed how to incorporate scripts into your pages by using an HTML area. This technique is useful but there are a couple of important considerations.

Let's first get this one out of the way: Is it safe to use JavaScript? What if your user has JavaScript disabled in the browser? PeopleSoft relies heavily on JavaScript and nothing at all would work in that case, so don't be concerned about this. Yes, it's safe to assume your user has it enabled.

JavaScript in an HTML area potentially gives you access to everything you see in the page source. But take baby steps. If there is an error in your code, it can have unpredictable effects on the rest of the page. I find it best to write a small piece of code, test it, and then go on to the next piece. If there is a syntax error in your code, you often will not be able to find it easily. (You may see an impossibly large line number for the line in error, for example.) If there is an error and you can't find it, a quick and dirty way to proceed is to place alert() calls in various places to see where the JS interpreter trips up.

Controlling page elements

Take a look at the page source. Elements with IDs can be manipulated by your code. You could move them around, change their style attributes, attach event handlers, or even completely rewrite them using innerHTML or outerHTML. If an element does not have an ID (because, frankly, PeopleSoft is using IDs for its own purpose and not to make it easy for us to rewrite its generated code!) then you can usually still access it through HTML DOM properties such as nextSibling.

Be sure that your script is located after the point where the element is defined or your script will not be able to find it. Or you could fire your code after the page is ready by handling an event—but that's a little out of scope for this introduction.

Ajax processing

PeopleSoft uses Ajax techniques to make pages more responsive. If you uncheck the "allow deferred processing" checkbox on an object then it will react to input immediately. In the past this meant posting the page, waiting for the app server to rebuild the page and rendering the new page in the browser. Now the process is more efficient. In many cases the page remains displayed and only the relevant parts of the page are updated. To support this new method, PeopleSoft made a choice that might be unexpected. All of our JavaScript is captured and replayed each time something happens on the page. So for example if you have an input box without deferred processing (so that it reacts immediately to input) then as soon as you tab out of the field your JavaScript is rerun. I think—just wild uninformed speculation here—that this is an attempt to preserve the function of pages designed before Ajax came around. In the past, any trip to the server would cause the entire page to be redisplayed and, of course, all JavaScript to be rerun. With Ajax the page is not redisplayed and scripts normally would not run again. I'm guessing that having Tools capture and rerun the scripts is just to make things work the way they used to.

Now, you may not want your scripts to run multiple times. Here is one way to prevent that. It's an ugly hack and I'm not claiming that this is the only way but it seems to work.

   <script type="text/javascript">
      var x;
      if (x === undefined)  {
         // This is the FIRST time. Do something here.
         x = "";
      }
   </script>

Commented scripts

If you want to comment out a script, be careful of this next little gotcha. As I mentioned above, your code is captured so that it can be rerun. Tools just looks for "<script" and starts copying. That means that even if the code has been commented out, it will still be saved and run later! The way to prevent this is to be sure that the string "<script" does not occur:

   <!--  Comment starts here but Tools doesn't know that
   <script type="text/javascript">
      // CAUTION: This script will run even though it is commented out!
   </script>
   -->

   <!--script type="text/javascript">
      // This script really is commented out and won't be run
   </script-->

Don't pollute the global scope

My use of variable name x in the example above was a poor choice. This is a global variable visible to all of the code on the page. We don't know—maybe PeopleTools uses a variable of the same name for some other purpose, and we have just overwritten it. There are many ways around this. Google "don't pollute the global namespace" (or scope) for lots of information. If you just want to get it done and you're not very confident of your JavaScript skills, you could just prefix your function and variable names with your company name or other string that is unlikely to be used in other code. Purists will hate that advice but your secret is safe with me.

Form name

In the page source you may see some IDs containing "win0". That is the name of the form. However, if the user opens a new window then it won't be "win0". The name of the form is returned by %Formname. Use that in your code and it will be replaced by the correct name at runtime.

Your scripts can communicate with the server (i.e., your PeopleCode) through input fields and buttons. Sometimes you may want to pass information back and forth but keep it hidden from the user. Next time we'll wrap up with a discussion of that. With that piece of the puzzle, if you are adventurous, you can greatly expand the capabilities of your pages.

PSSQRWhen 1 > 1 (or even 9999) 10-31-2014
SQRSQR colors 08-11-2014
SQRSQR lines, boxes and images 08-10-2014
SQRSQR one-point coordinate grid 08-09-2014
SQRSQR proportional fonts 08-08-2014
SQRSQR print positioning 08-07-2014
SQRSQR reports: The basics 08-06-2014
PS Fear of customization 07-18-2014
SQRSQR variable names 07-02-2014
PS Concatenating strings in PCode05-12-2014
PS HTML and server communication 05-05-2014
PS JavaScript in HTML areas 04-21-2014
PS Using HTML areas 04-18-2014
PS The HTML object 04-11-2014
PS Types of HTML areas 03-14-2014
SQREmbedded SELECTs in SQR 01-31-2014
PS Exporting all PeopleCode 11-30-2013
PS Disabling autocomplete 09-29-2013
SQRSP Debugger for SQR update 09-12-2013
General Stopping... and restarting 09-02-2013
SQRSQR debugger version 2 09-29-2010
SQRA few SQR items 05-20-2009
PS Ignoring "component changed" 05-07-2008
PS App Engine 04-30-2008
PS Commenting code 04-02-2008
PS The "Powered By" page 03-05-2008
PS Formats in PeopleCode vars 01-30-2008
PS Page layout with group boxes 01-09-2008
PS Meta-SQL wrappers 12-19-2007
PS Derived record PeopleCode 12-05-2007
PS A Cancel button 11-28-2007
General "Leading" the test effort 11-07-2007
SQRTemporary tables in SQR 10-31-2007
SQRUpdating long character data 10-24-2007
PS Record.Field specification 10-17-2007
PSSQRRELLANG.SQC 10-03-2007
PS Migrating project definitions 09-26-2007
PS Derived records 09-19-2007
PS Positioning elements on pages 08-29-2007
General Thanks 08-22-2007
SQRSQR "code alerts" 08-08-2007
PS Styles in HTML Areas 08-01-2007
SQRDynamic SQL for performance? 07-25-2007
PS Page Field Name 07-18-2007
PS PeopleCode event order 06-27-2007
SQRFormatting Excel using HTML 06-06-2007
Component-changed state 05-23-2007
PS Selecting styles for page fields05-16-2007
SQRSending email from SQR 05-02-2007
General Contractor networking 04-25-2007
PS Project X--and another project04-18-2007
PS Effective and data entry dates04-11-2007
PS A PeopleSoft home page 04-04-2007
PSSQRHyperion and the future of SQR03-21-2007
General The data doesn't lie 03-14-2007
PSSQRHyperion acquisition 03-07-2007
General Taking ownership 02-28-2007
PS Source control 02-21-2007
PS Sandboxes 02-14-2007
PS Migration instructions 02-07-2007
PS PeopleSoft environment usage 01-31-2007
PS Multiple environment strings 01-24-2007
PS Multiple testing environments 01-17-2007
PS PeopleSoft support environments 01-10-2007
General A single source of truth 01-03-2007
Nothing Smile 12-27-2006
PS Navigating the component buffer 12-20-2006
PS JavaScript and styles 12-13-2006
PS SQL for common HR queries 12-06-2006
SQRSQR program complexity 11-29-2006
SQRFrequent SQR questions 11-22-2006
PS Followup 11-15-2006
PS Expanding subrecords 11-08-2006
PS Bind variables 10-25-2006
PS Attaching objects to projects 10-18-2006
PS Partial transaction completion10-11-2006
PS The multi-process component 10-04-2006
PS Employee rows lost to security09-27-2006
SQRSQR document sections 09-20-2006
PS Empty-string compares in SQL 09-13-2006
SQRNulls, blanks, empty strings 09-06-2006
General Company policy 08-30-2006
PS Auto-lookup exclusion 08-23-2006
PS Effective status 08-16-2006
PS A couple of HRMS/HCM utilities08-02-2006
PS Translate value changes 07-26-2006
General Updating views 07-19-2006
General Set-based updates 07-12-2006
PS SQL set-based processing 07-05-2006
Being happy about bugs 06-28-2006
Busy in the PS marketplace 06-21-2006
General 2-way documentation 06-14-2006
PS Interfaces as views 06-07-2006
PS Hijacked fields 05-31-2006
General Agile software development 05-24-2006
General Working within Waterfall 05-17-2006
General Over the Waterfall 05-10-2006
PS Experimentation in PeopleSoft 05-03-2006
PS Unlimited enhancements? 04-26-2006
PS Testing direct DB updates 04-19-2006
SQRDelayed evaluation of SQL 04-12-2006
PS Database compares 04-05-2006
General Support problem? Call FBI! 03-29-2006
SQRFinding SQR errors 03-22-2006
PS Finding PeopleSoft Queries 03-15-2006
PS PeopleSoft Query support 03-08-2006
PS JOB table and SetIDs 03-01-2006
PS Migrating the project 02-22-2006
PS Compare and Report options 02-15-2006
PS Comparing and migrating projects 02-08-2006
PS Object security in App Designer 02-01-2006
PS Automation of App Designer 01-25-2006
General Contractors on PS projects 01-18-2006
General "Smart coding" 01-11-2006
SQRDebugger tricks 01-04-2006
PS EFFDT and component processing12-28-2005
PS Referential integrity 12-21-2005
PS Menu navigation using SQL 12-14-2005
SQRA coding standards wish list 12-07-2005
PS More App Designer options 11-30-2005
PS Pages in App Designer 11-23-2005
PS Finding objects on the menu 11-14-2005
PS Magic search record fields 10-31-2005
PS Documenting object attributes 10-24-2005
PS Monitoring server performance 10-17-2005
PS Searching PeopleCode 10-10-2005
PS Speeding up App Designer 10-03-2005
PS Using the message catalog 09-26-2005
PS Good ideas that sometimes aren't09-19-2005
PS And now Siebel 09-12-2005
SQRDate comparisons 09-05-2005
PSSQRFTP options 08-29-2005
PSSQRMoving code across environments08-22-2005
PS Spring cleaning 08-15-2005
SQRBuild your own SQR "IDE" 08-08-2005
PS Change control in App Designer08-01-2005
PS App Engine: disadvantages 07-25-2005
PS App Engine: advantages 07-18-2005
SQRCoding Excel file output 07-11-2005
General Creating Excel files 07-05-2005
PS Dave's next move 06-27-2005
SQRSQR variable oddities 06-20-2005
SQRSQR arrays 06-13-2005
SQRCompiling SQRs 06-06-2005
PS 5-character SETIDs 05-30-2005
PS Use all of the keys 05-23-2005
SQRDynamic SQL in SQR 05-16-2005
PS Running the in-place conv 05-09-2005
PS Searching for fields in DB 05-02-2005
PS Converting setup data 04-25-2005
PS Associating effective-dated tables 04-18-2005
PS Upgrading without an upgrade 04-04-2005
PS Scheduling patches 03-28-2005
PS To patch or not? 03-21-2005
PS Basic tools 03-14-2005
SQRWay back with sqrtools.com 03-07-2005
PS Meta-SQL 02-28-2005
PS Dropping the user index 02-21-2005
PS User indexes 02-14-2005
PS Page changes in App Designer 02-07-2005
General Generate SQL from SQL 01-31-2005
SQRSQR report viewer 01-24-2005
General Bug or enhancement? 01-17-2005
PSSQRTagging objects and code 01-10-2005
General Issue tracking 01-03-2005
PS PeopleSoft 10? 12-27-2004
PS Purging tables 12-20-2004
PS Acquisition 12-13-2004
PS Exporting PCode as text 12-06-2004
PS Simplify SQR code 11-29-2004
PS New site for SQR info 11-22-2004
PS Comparing objects 11-08-2004
PS Applying SQL-from-SQL 11-01-2004
General Generating SQL with SQL 10-25-2004
General Generating SQL 10-18-2004
PS Scrambling data 10-11-2004
PS What's going on with PS? 10-04-2004
SQRPrint positioning in SQR 09-27-2004
PS Oracle vs. PeopleSoft 09-13-2004
General Word, email, and lava lamps 09-06-2004
PS Custom run control: tips 08-30-2004
PS Custom run control: building 08-23-2004
PS PeopleCode, behind the scenes 08-16-2004
PS Language-specific pages 08-09-2004
SQRUsing substitution variables 08-02-2004
SQRSQR substitution variables 08-02-2004
PS HTML areas 07-19-2004
SQRRecursion in SQR 07-12-2004
SQRSQR code formatting 07-06-2004
SQRDebugger beta release 06-28-2004
PS Application Designer tidbits 06-27-2004
PS Configuration for custom SQR 06-14-2004
PSSQRModify or clone? 06-07-2004
PS Identifying custom objects 06-01-2004
PS EFFDT again 05-24-2004
General Change-only interface: impl 05-17-2004
General Change-only interface: concept05-10-2004
PS Cache troubles 05-03-2004
PS Component PeopleCode 04-25-2004
PS EFFDT and EFF_STATUS 04-18-2004
PS SETID in subselects 04-11-2004
PS Denormalized tables 04-04-2004
PS Documenting retired custom 03-28-2004
PS Sharing login IDs 03-21-2004
SQRGlobal and local SQR variables03-14-2004
SQRDISPLAY and MOVE 03-07-2004
PSSQRRun control in SQR 02-29-2004
SQRCommon sources of SQR bugs 02-22-2004
PS Implementation setup data 02-15-2004
PS Managing setup data 02-08-2004
PS Managing objects 02-01-2004
PS Make a home page 01-01-2004