I was having some beers at Pleasaton's (in)famous Hopyard last night and the topic of IBM and PeopleSoft came up. Specifically in the context of the announcement at the last PeopleSoft Connect conference about how we (PeopleSoft) were going to start heavily using the IBM WebSphere technology stack. Since I also had a regular blog reader come up and harass me at the table about a lack of blog entries this year, I figured that this would be a good one to write-up. Besides, it's been awhile since we've shared any good behind-the-scenes dirt :-)

Labels: 2010, History, IBM, Oracle, PeopleSoft

The PeopleTools Product Strategy group is looking for your input on ideas for new PeopleTools enhancements. Yes you! The person reading this right now :-)

I'd personally recommend taking a look at the PeopleTools 8.50 pre-release notes before submitting your ideas though. There's 190 pages of new goodness listed in there, so you don't want to propose ideas that are already implemented. You'll need your My Oracle Support credentials in order to access that link.

The proposed ideas will be discussed at a session on Wednesday afternoon during OpenWorld.

Labels: 2009, OpenWorld, Oracle, PeopleTools

Continuing on from our previous post, we had just gotten Oracle JDeveloper 11gR1 installed and we had launched JDeveloper Studio.

When you start up JDeveloper for the first time it will prompt you for a role. These are not security roles, but rather to help with the usability of JDeveloper. JDeveloper provides a lot of different features and is targeted to different audiences, so you can limit how much of the user interface is exposed depending on what sorts of things that you typically do.

You'll notice in the screenshot below that there are roles specifically for Java development. For the purpose of writing Java to extend PeopleSoft, the plain Java role is fine.



We ended up selecting the Default Role option to have everything available to us. Clicking OK then gave us the JDeveloper splash screen.



Since this was the first installation in this particular machine, we were also prompted about associating certain file extensions with JDeveloper. Unless you have specific reason not to, we'd recommend just taking all of them as associated with JDeveloper.



The other thing that we need to do since this is our first time using JDeveloper in this environment is to create an application. In JDeveloper an application is the top level container for work. An application will have at least one project associated with it, but in can have more.



Here we are creating an application called "HelloJDeveloper" using the "Generic Application" template. This is a pretty basic template that just creates a single project to hold our work. You can see in the list of templates that "Fusion Web Application (ADF)" is an example of an application template that will create more than one project. A template is just a starting point though, you can extend and change what is created fairly easily.



Since we had started with the generic template, there were no default technologies and we added Java from the list ourselves. If we had chosen a template that pre-defined the technologies, those would have been pre-selected here, but we could have added additional ones if desired.



Since we added Java as a technology to work with, we get one extra step in the wizard for setting up the Java configuration. Here we have selected com.greysparling.hellojdev as the default Java package, along with the default paths for our Java source code and the Java classes that will be generated from our source code.



Now we have our JDeveloper workspace properly configured and can begin working.

If you're just used to PeopleSoft's Application Designer, the first thing to notice is that although there are a few more child windows opened inside JDeveloper, it actually has a similar model to Application Designer where there is a primary window for working with whatever you are working on, and some supporting windows to help navigate, view status of different operations, etc. As with Application Designer, you can hide the child windows if you want to maximize the screen real estate for what you're working on.

In many cases JDeveloper will provide shortcuts for creating new definitions. For example, in the screenshot above you can see that where we are looking at the summary of the Java files in the project, there is a New button on the summary where we can create new Java files directly. There's also the traditional File->New menu option available, which provides some additional choices.



Here we can see that, in addition to being to create new Java classes and interfaces, we can create other new things such as connections to other systems, deployment information, additional projects, etc. Here's what creating a new Java class looks like.



We've given the class a name (we're calling it "Hello"). The package name has been defaulted in for us, so the fully qualified name of our class will be com.greysparling.hellojdev.Hello. The only other option that we changed was turn on the check box for having a main method. A main method in Java allows you to run a class directly from the command line (similar to what we've shown in the past for PeopleCode by utilizing Application Engine).

We're missing the screen capture for the base file that JDeveloper created for us after clicking OK. Essentially it is the skeleton framework for the code. It compiles, but it doesn't actually do anything yet. The following screenshot shows after we added our own "speak" method to the Hello class.



In the main method, JDeveloper had created the first line for us, which created an instance of our Hello class. By entering a "." on the "hello" variable, JDeveloper (like most IDEs these days) automatically popped up the list of valid methods and properties that are associated with our hello variable. By typing "s", JDeveloper automatically trimmed down the list of choices to our newly typed in "speak" method.

The other nice thing that JDeveloper is doing for us is automatically syntax checking/compiling as we go. Notice the little red warning flag on the left of the line that we are adding to call the speak method. Because we have not actually chosen the speak method from the type-ahead list at the moment the screenshot was taken (mainly so that we could actually show the type-ahead functionality :-), JDeveloper is highlighting the fact that the line of code, as it stands at that exact moment won't work. As soon I as hit the Return key in the type-ahead list, JDeveloper removed the warning flag letting me know that the code was valid again.

Now we can run our code by clicking the green button at the top of JDeveloper. That will compile the code if it has not been compiled yet, and then run it.



JDeveloper shows us the command line that it executed (always nice when GUI tools show you the underlying details instead of hiding them), along with the actual output. The main method invoked the speak method on our Hello object, which in turn printed out the proverbial Hello World (except in our case it's "Hello JDeveloper!").

Now we've gotten JDeveloper installed and gotten our feet wet with some simple code. The next post in this series will pull what we've done so far into an existing PeopleSoft environment. The content is actually done for that, but Blogger (our blog hosting platform that we use) seems to have gotten very slow here as I've been adding these last few images so it won't get posted tonight.

Labels: 2009, Fusion, Java, Oracle

I mentioned in a previous post about our recent "Extending PeopleSoft with Java" webinar. Although you can use any Java development environment when extending PeopleSoft with Java, we wanted to put the brand new Oracle JDeveloper 11gR1 through it's paces. It's nice that we can use the same IDE that the Fusion application developers are using right now to work with existing PeopleSoft applications (we used PeopleTools 8.46 with HCM 8.9 in the webinar). Try hooking up the latest PeopleTools to PeopleSoft 7.5 and see how far you get :-)

To start with, you'll want to download the JDeveloper installer. For the purposes of this blog entry (and a few followups in the future) we're going to use the JDeveloper Studio install since that includes everything that we'll need (at the cost of a larger download).

After the download finished, we ran jdevstudio11111install.exe. It takes a bit for the installer to get everything prepared, but it'll show you it's progress along the way.



Once the installer is ready, there are some straightforward prompts to fill in. First we'll tell it where to install. Since we don't have any other Oracle Fusion Middleware products installed here we'll just accept the default directory of c:\oracle\middleware

The installer will then give the option of a complete or custom install. We'll select custom so we can get a peek at all of the various different options. We don't need the ADF Framework or the WebLogic Server parts for this blog entry, but we will install those anyways since we will be using them in the future.


A few more prompts (we accepted the bundled Java JDK since this environment didn't have Java 6 installed previously, and we chose to start WebLogic manually instead of setting it up as a service).

Then it's a quick review of everything to be installed and we'll be ready to go.




After the installer has done it's work, we'll take it up on it's offer for launching Quick Start. Quick Start provides a bunch of links to help you get started. We'll just go ahead and launch JDeveloper Studio from here though.





Completing the installation and launching everything provides a good stopping point for this post. We'll write some code in the next installment.

Labels: 2009, Fusion, Java, Oracle

Update - Oct. 27 - OK, now they are really available.

I haven't had a chance to check this out yet, but I saw a Tweet that Oracle has posted the Oracle VM template for PeopleSoft HCM and Campus Solutions.

The template (along with other Oracle VM templates) is available here. According to the webpage:

• Installed applications include: PeopleSoft HRCS 9.0 and PeopleTools 8.49


• Installed technical foundations include: Oracle Database 10g, Oracle Tuxedo 9.1, and Oracle WebLogic 9.2

Awesome. Way to go Oracle.

update - June 5thI got the scoop on why the template disappeared after being posted. Basically it wasn't ready to go yet and the public posting was just a case of someone being a little too eager.

The person I spoke with was surprised at how much interest that we were seeing though. So if this is something that you are interested in working with comment here or on Oracle Mix to let the developers know.

Labels: 2009, Oracle, Virtualization

Curt Monash has a post up talking about IBM adding Oracle emulation capabilities to DB2. I hadn't heard about that before, but it's certainly interesting.

We used to have all kinds of strategies in PeopleSoft to try help the non-Oracle database vendors do better, but of course none of that stopped Oracle from having a larger RDBMS market share for PeopleSoft customers than all of the other database vendors combined. I don't think that Oracle ever dipped below 60% or so of the PeopleSoft customer base.

One piece of advice that I have given to people from IBM before when they would come to Pleasanton for meetings is that if you really wanted to make headway against Oracle in PeopleSoft shops that hadn't already standardized on a single RDBMS you need to focus on availability of skills. It's not just about the number of DBAs that are out there either (although there were and probably still are more Oracle DBAs than other platforms).

Consider the situation where a PeopleSoft customer would bring in an outside consultant on a project involving some application customization. What are the odds that the consultant is familiar enough with Oracle that they don't need to call the DBA every 10 minutes to help them? Pretty good.

You would think that familiarity with the underlying platform would be a prerequisite for someone hiring a consultant, right? It would, except that in many cases with PeopleSoft work, it's possible to get a lot done without digging into the underlying platform. The problem is in those cases where it's 80% application level work and 20% platform. Someone with the right PeopleSoft skills trumps someone with the underlying platform skills when the task at hand is so heavily weighted towards the application work.

Even when the platform percentage is smaller than 20% of the work, it will still slow down a project when those skills are not readily available. And the business sponsors of the project don't like the words "slow down" :-)

I know that there some of are shaking your heads right now and saying "that's no way to run things". And you're right. But it's the way that it happens in the real world more often than you might think. Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.





I actually don't have that shirt, but I like it :-)

Labels: 2009, Database, DB2, Oracle

At our Virtual Roundtable webinar this Wednesday, one of the most popular topics was how to simplify finding issues and/or PeopleSoft updates from MetaLink. One of the topics that seems to come up with a lot of our blog entries and conference presentations is simplifying access (or drilling) into different areas of PeopleSoft. This seems to be another example of that.

In our session, we showed how you can create shortcuts to different searches in MetaLink (formerly known as Customer Connection, and to be known in the future as My Oracle Support).

The web-based access to all of the patches and fixes is very powerful, but sometimes it would be nice to get directly in without having to navigate.

Common Links we use

As partners supporting products dependent on PeopleSoft functionality, we often need to troubleshoot interoperability issues between a given PeopleSoft patch level and our products. Therefore, there are a few common areas where we do searches.

Updates to Tree Manager	PeopleTools 8.49	PeopleTools 8.48
Updates to nVision	PeopleTools 8.49	PeopleTools 8.48
Updates related to Security	PeopleTools 8.49	PeopleTools 8.48
Updates related to XML Publisher	PeopleTools 8.49	PeopleTools 8.48
Updates related to Query	PeopleTools 8.49	PeopleTools 8.48
Updates related to Upgrade	PeopleTools 8.49	PeopleTools 8.48

However, once you spend some time looking at how parametersare passed in the URL, you can create hyperlinks fordifferent application updates as well.

Financials

Here are some from Financials

Updates related to Journals	Financials 9	Financials 8.9
Updates related to Calendars	Financials 9	Financials 8.9
Updates related to Combination Edits	Financials 9	Financials 8.9
Updates related to Closing	Financials 9	Financials 8.9

Campus Solutions

Here are some related to Campus Solutions

Student Administration Updates	Release 9	Release 8.9
Financial Aid Updates	Release 9	Release 8.9
Student Financials Updates	Release 9	Release 8.9
Student Records Updates	Release 9 prior to Jan 1, 2008 after to Jan 1, 2008	Release 8.9 prior to Jan 1, 2008 after to Jan 1, 2008

HRMS

Here are some HRMS updates

Human Resources Updates	Release 9 prior to January 1, 2008 January 1, 2008	Release 8.9 prior to January 1, 2008 after January 1, 2008
Benefits Administration Updates	Release 9	Release 8.9
Payroll for North America Updates	Release 9 prior to 06/01/2007 between 06/01/2007 and 06/01/2008 after 06/01/2008	Release 8.9 prior to 06/01/2007 between 06/01/2007 and 06/01/2008 after 06/01/2008
Time and Labor Updates	Release 9.0	Release 8.9

In a follow-on post, we'll discuss how we came up with these hyperlinks.

Labels: MetaLink, Oracle

Very cool.

Labels: 2009, Oracle, Personal

Kudos to Oracle for making virtual machine templates available for the Oracle/Siebel applications.

Oracle is also making templates available for some of their lower level components as well (Oracle 11g, Enterprise Linux, Enterprise Manager), but the applications template are a bit of a milestone. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first instance of anyone making an enterprise application available via virtual machine this way.

Enterprise application delivery via virtual machine has the potential to flip some momentum back from the SaaS model (who generally have offered easy trials of their applications; just sign up and start using it). On premise software becoming simple enough to install and manage as to be competitive with SaaS is a much broader topic than I'll touch on in this post, but as Vinnie would tell you, there's lots of room for improvement with on-premise software.

Now all we need for PeopleSoft is for Oracle to start delivering new PeopleSoft releases and maintenance packs this way. I've been chewing on Jeff Robbins' ear on this topic for a little while, so this just provides some new fuel for me :-)

Update : Oracle is now making PeopleSoft applications available as well.

Labels: 2008, Oracle, Sysadmin, Upgrade, Virtualization