TRAINING (PS-5) - PeopleSoft Application Development - Part2 (Application Designer - Brief Introduction)

APPLICATION DESIGNER - Brief Introduction:

Application Designer is PeopleSoft main and an integrated development environment (IDE). Therefore before we go to nine steps of PeopleSoft Application Development its always good to understand a brief about Application Designer.

• Application Designer is PeopleSoft main and an integrated development environment that enables you to work with the numerous object definitions of a business application in a single work area. 
• The main advantage of having access to all of the development definitions in one tool is that it is easy to understand and exploit the relationships between the different components when building, maintaining, and upgrading your application.

Navigating the Application Designer:
Application Designer has been designed so that you can create, maintain, and customize PeopleSoft business applications in a simple and straight forward manner.

• To Start Application Designer
  Select Start > Programs > PeopleTools > Application Designer.
  
  
  
  The Application Designer window is divided into several component
  A.) Title bar:  Displays the name of the open project and active object definition.
  B.) Menu:  Provides access to Application Designer commands and features.
  C.) Toolbar:  Displays buttons useful in editing the active object.
  D.) Project workspace:  A graphical representation of the objects contained in a project.  The project workspace window has two folder tabs representing the Development View and the Upgrade View.
  
  
  D.1.) Development ViewUse the Development View to create and manipulate    development object definitions during application development, customization, or maintenance.
  D.2.) Upgrade View
  The Upgrade View shows folders that represent the various object definitions that are part of an upgrade project.  These can include development objects, as well as upgrade-only definitions. Use this view during the process of upgrading an application or individual application objects.
  
  E.) Object workspace:  Displays individual objects you open.
  F.) Output window:  Contains the output text from Application Designer operations, such as Build (SQL Create and Alter), Validate, and Find in PeopleCode.  

Output Window Tabs
F.1.) Build
The build process is used to create tables, indexes, and views—as well as alter tables.  If you specify the Log to Output Window option in the Build settings, then errors, warnings, and informational messages are displayed here.  You can control the level of detail that is displayed.
F.2.) Find Object References
The Find Object Reference feature is used to identify object definitions that are used by or referenced by other object definitions.  The output from the Find Object References operation is sent to Application Designer's output window.  Once in the output window, you can double-click on the lines there, and it will open the named object definition.
F.3.) Upgrade
Any upgrade actions initiated from Application Designer are displayed here.
F.4.) Results
Any messages related to project operations, like opening a project or inserting objects into the project, are displayed here.
F.5.) Validate
The validation process is used to validate both projects and panel groups.  The results of the validation are displayed here.
F.6.) Find in PeopleCode
The Find in PeopleCode dialog output is displayed here.  Once in the output window, you can double-click on the lines there, and it will open the named object definition.

APPLICATION DESIGNER MENUS

Application Designer makes a number of tools available to you when you're creating or modifying object definitions.  The menus are dynamic, changing depending on what type of object definition is active.  However, some menu items are "generic," so they always, or almost always, appear in Application Designer menus.

Following is a brief description of the generic menu items and their purpose.

The File Menu

FILE Menu Item	Purpose
Export Project	Copy a project from your current database to another database.
Project Properties	Enables you to edit properties for the open project.
Object Properties	Gives you the active object definition Properties dialog enabling you to make general comments regarding the object definition, select Use characteristics and Type characteristics.

The Edit Menu

EDIT Menu Item	Purpose
Find in PeopleCode	Searches through all PeopleCode programs for a text string you describe in a dialog box.

The View Menu

VIEW Menu Item	Purpose
View Definition	View definition that is referenced in the active object definition.
View PeopleCode	View PeopleCode characteristics of the active object definition.
Filtering	Options for filtering your view of the Upgrade View.  The options are: No Filtering, Selected for Upgrade Action, Not Selected for Upgrade Action, and Custom Filtering.
Toolbar	Turns the toolbar on and off.
Status Bar	Turns the status bar on and off.
Project Workspace	Turns the display of the project workspace on and off.
Output Window	Turns the display of the output window on and off.

The Insert Menu

INSERT Menu Item	Purpose
Current Object into Project	Inserts the active object definition into the project.
Objects into Project	Displays a dialog to insert objects into the project.
Projects into Project	Inserts another project into the active project.

The Build Menu

BUILD  Menu Item	Purpose
Project	Displays a dialog to build (SQL Create and SQL Alter) all records in the project.
Settings	Displays a dialog where parameters are set that apply to build operations.

The Tools Menu

TOOLS Menu Item	Purpose
Validate Project	Validates attributes of the project.
Data Administration	Provides dialogs that describe Space allocation on the database.
Change Control	Provides dialogs that enable you to view history or set system wide change control options as the administrator.
Upgrade	Provides functions for upgrading an application project.
Miscellaneous Objects	Provides options for setting custom field formats, toolbars, colors, and styles.
Options	Enables you to select commands specifying Insertion commands, object language preference, and validating options

The Go Menu

GO Menu Item	Purpose
GO	The Go menu gives you access to all of the different PeopleTools, including Application Designer.  From within an application, selecting Go, Recent provides a list of the last 10 panel groups you've opened.

The Favorites Menu

FAVORITES Menu Item	Purpose
Favorites	The Favorites menu retains panel group destinations you've specified using the Favorites, Add to Favorites menu option, including the key list.

Note: The Purpose of the Rest of the Menu Items are same as in other Applications.