Controlling Currency Display Format

This chapter provides an overview of currency-specific settings and discusses how to:

Set up currency amount fields when developing applications.
Set currency field display properties when developing applications.
Use system-wide multicurrency settings.
Resize currency fields by using the international field size utility.

Understanding Currency-Specific Settings

PeopleTools can format a currency amount that appears on a page or a report based on both your numerical format preferences and the currency that the amount represents.

Some display settings, such as the characters that are used for the thousands and decimal separators, are based on your language preference. Others, such as the currency symbol and the decimal precision, are based on the properties of the currency in which the amount appears. Those properties include:

A currency symbol, such as $ for the Australian dollar.
A decimal precision.

For example, there are two decimal positions for Australian dollars ($5.00), but no decimal positions for the Korean Won (500 KRW).

Currency information is stored in the Currency Code table (CURRENCY_CD_TBL) record definition along with other information about the currencies that are used in your implementation. The currency symbol is controlled by the CUR_SYMBOL field. The decimal precision for a currency is controlled by the DECIMAL_POSITIONS field.

Note. PeopleSoft provides updates to the Currency Code table containing the latest values from the ISO Standard 4217, “Codes for the representation of currencies,” with each PeopleTools minor release. Even though PeopleSoft provides these standardized values, a full list of the symbols that are used by each currency is not provided, as this is not part of the ISO standard. Use the Currency Code page to check and set the appropriate currency symbol for each currency that you plan to use in your implementation.

The navigation to the page where you maintain currency code information depends on which applications you are using.

See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.46 Installation Guide for Your Database

Setting Up Currency Amount Fields When Developing Applications

To set up currency amount fields:

Access PeopleSoft Application Designer.
Ensure that the record definition has an appropriate currency control field.

The currency control field must be in the same record as the currency display field and hold a valid Currency Code value. This means that it must be a character (Char) field with a length of 3, formatted in uppercase (Upper). You can use an existing field or define a new field. The field does not need to be named CURRENCY_CD. It can have any valid PeopleSoft field name. However if the record has only one amount field, you should use the CURRENCY_CD field name for consistency with other PeopleSoft applications.

An example of a record with two currency-controlled amount fields is the currency exchange (CURRENCY_EXCHNG) record. The two amount fields on this record are from amount (FROM_AMT) and converted amount (CONVERTED_AMT). Each has a currency control field of from currency (FROM_CUR) and to currency (TO_CUR), respectively.
Ensure that the edit properties of the currency control field are set up correctly.
Set the currency control field property of the currency amount record field.

You must associate the field containing the amount with the currency control field.

Open the Record Field Properties dialog box for the currency amount field by right-clicking the record field in the record definition and selecting Record Field Properties.

In the Currency Control Field drop-down list box, select the appropriate currency control field for the currency amount field.
Click OK to accept the property settings.
Save the record definition.

Setting Currency Field Display Properties When Developing Applications

When you place a currency amount field on a page, you can choose whether to display the currency symbol in the amount field along with the numerical amount and whether to display a thousands separator. Regardless of whether you display the symbol in the field, it is not stored in the database. Currency field formatting is performed only if the Multi-Currency option is selected on the PeopleTools Option page.

To set currency field display properties:

In PeopleSoft Application Designer, display the field’s Page Field Properties dialog box.

To open the Page Field Properties dialog box for the currency field, right-click the page field and select Page Field Properties.
Set the currency display options.

Select the Currency Symbol check box to display the currency symbol (as defined for the currency in the Currency Code table). Clear the check box if you don’t want to display the symbol.

Select the 1000 Separator check box if you want the currency amount to appear with a thousands separator character. The specific character that is used as the thousands separator is determined by your international preference.
Click OK to accept the dialog box settings.
Save the page definition.

Understanding Multicurrency Settings

The Multi-Currency check box on the PeopleTools Options page is a system-wide switch that enables:

Automatic formatting of those currency amount fields that have associated currency control fields.
Validation of user entries against the currency’s defined decimal precision.

This causes the system to issue an error if the user attempts to enter a decimal precision that is greater than the precision that is allowed by the currency code definition.
The display of global currency control fields.

You can design an application so that fields that are specifically related to multiple currencies can appear globally or be hidden, depending on the implementation. Although multicurrency fields are hidden from pages when the multicurrency option is disabled, the fields still exist in the page buffer, so if they are required fields, they must have default values.
The hiding of all fields.

If you implement the application in an enterprise that uses only a single currency, you can hide all of the fields by clearing the Multi-Currency check box. If the enterprise later begins to use multiple currencies, you can redisplay the multicurrency fields by selecting the check box. Apply this technique only to fields that can be globally hidden without affecting the functionality of the application when working in a single currency. Use this technique for user-operated currency control fields, but not for fields that actually display currency. You also need to set the defaults of the currency display fields to the single currency that is used by the enterprise.

Unless you specifically want to maintain your entire system in a single currency, the Multi-Currency check box remains selected.

Connecting a Currency Control Field to the Multi-Currency Check Box

To connect a currency control field to the system-wide multicurrency check box when developing applications:

In PeopleSoft Application Designer, display the field’s Page Field Properties dialog box.

To open the Page Field Properties dialog box for the currency field, right-click the page field, and select Page Field Properties. In the Field Properties dialog box, select the Use tab.
Select the Multi-Currency Field check box on the Use tab to specify that the field can appear or hide from the PeopleTools Options page.
Click OK.
Save the page definition.

Enabling or Disabling System-Wide Currency Settings

To enable or disable system-wide currency settings at installation:

Select PeopleTools, Utilities, Administration, PeopleTools Options.

The PeopleTools Options page appears.
Select or clear theMulti-Currency check box.

Selecting the check box activates automatic currency formatting; clearing the check box disables automatic currency formatting.

If any page fields have the Multi-Currency Field option selected in the Page Field Properties dialog box, selecting the Multi-Currency check box displays those page fields; clearing the check box hides the page fields.
Click Save.

Examples

The following examples demonstrate the different outcomes of setting the Multi-Currency Field option in a field's properties and on the PeopleTools Options page to control a field's visibility.

In the field properties, the Multi-Currency Field check box is not selected. On the PeopleTools Options page, the Multi-Currency check box is not selected.

In this case, the field's visibility is not controlled by the PeopleTools Options page, so it appears (or doesn't appear) based on the developer coding.
In the field properties, the Multi-Currency Field check box is not selected. On the PeopleTools Options page, the Multi-Currency check box is selected.

In this case, the field's visibility is not controlled by the PeopleTools Options page, so it appears (or doesn't appear) based on the developer coding.
In the field properties, the Multi-Currency Field check box is selected. On the PeopleTools Options page, the Multi-Currency check box is selected.

In this case, the field's visibility is controlled by the PeopleTools Options page, so it appears.
In the field properties, the Multi-Currency Field check box is selected. On the PeopleTools Options page, the Multi-Currency check box is not selected.

In this case, the field's visibility is controlled by the PeopleTools Options page, so it does not appear.

Resizing Currency Fields by Using the International Field Size Utility

PeopleSoft applications are typically shipped with amount fields that are sized at 15 integer positions and 3 decimal positions. However, some older applications may be shipped with smaller field sizes, and to use a greater precision, you may need to run the International Field Size utility when you install your PeopleSoft system. If the PeopleSoft installation guide for your product requires it, use the Set International Field Sizes Structured Query Report (SQR) utility (TLSINST1) to increase the length and number of decimal position settings of field definitions. For example, you may need to do this if you process low-value currencies that require numeric fields that are longer than those that are provided in the standard application.

PeopleTools is delivered with the International Field Sizes table (PS_INTL_FLDSIZ_TBL) populated with suggested lengths for numeric fields that may require a large number of digits for certain currencies. You can edit the contents of this table to suit your own requirements, adding and deleting fields and adjusting the new field sizes and decimal positions as necessary.

Keep in mind the limitations on numeric field size and precision imposed by your database platform, and the fact that some numeric fields are used in COBOL and may require COBOL working storage changes in addition to the changes performed by this utility.

To resize international currency fields:

Start the PeopleTools International Field Size utility.

Select PeopleTools, Utilities, International, Process Field Size to display the International Field Size page. The International Field Size page shows the name of each field that will be adjusted, the current size of the field, and the proposed new size of the field (stored in the International Field Sizes table).
Edit the data in the International Field Sizes table.

Adjust the new field sizes to meet your own requirements. You can insert or delete rows from the page.
Save your changes.
Run the Process Request Dialog.

To do this: click Run to open the Process Scheduler Request page. Set the report options, and then click OK to run the Set International Field Sizes process.

The utility updates the field definitions and creates a report showing all page fields that have been affected by the changes in field size.
Check all affected pages, and rearrange page fields as necessary to rectify overlaps.

The process does not update page field information such as overlapping fields that may be caused by an increase in field length; however, the system automatically adjusts the sizes of any page fields with a size property of Average or Maximum. If the page field size is Custom, it is not adjusted. If the page field is too small, the larger amount can still be entered; however, users may have to scroll to the right to see the full amount, and the truncated amount may be misleading.
Rebuild (SQL ALTER) any tables that have been affected by the changes in field sizes.

Use the Application Designer Build feature, with the Alter Tables option, to build any tables (using SQL ALTER) that have been affected by the changes in field size. Use the Find Object References features to determine which tables have been affected, or create a query against the PSRECDEFN, PSRECFIELD, and International Field Sizes tables. For example:
```
SELECT DISTINCT A.RECNAME
FROM PSRECDEFN A, PSRECFIELD B, PS_INTL_FLDSIZ_TBL C
WHERE A.RECNAME = B.RECNAME
  AND B.FIELDNAME = C.FIELDNAME
  AND A.RECTYPE = 0
```