PeopleCode Built-in Functions and Language Constructs: P-Q
The PeopleCode built-In functions and language constructs beginning with the letters P and Q are listed in alphabetical order within this topic.
Syntax
PanelGroupChanged()Description
Use the PanelGroupChanged function to determine whether a component has changed since the last save, whether by the user or by PeopleCode.
Note: The PanelGroupChanged function is supported for compatibility with previous releases of PeopleTools. New applications should use the ComponentChanged function instead.
Syntax
PingNode(MsgNodeName)Description
Use the PingNode function to ping the specified node. It returns an XmlDoc object that you must go through to find the status of the node.
Parameters
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
MsgNodeName |
Specify the name of the message node you want to ping, as a string. |
Returns
An XmlDoc object. The node in the XmlDoc object with the name of status contains information about the node you pinged.
Example
Local XmlDoc &ErrorInfo;
&ErrorInfo = PingNode("TESTNODENAME");
&Root = &ErrorInfo.DocumentElement;
&MsgNodeArray = &Root.GetElementsByTagName("msgnode");
For &M = 1 To &MsgNodeArray.Len
&MsgNode = &MsgNodeArray [&M];
&MsgText = &MsgNode.FindNode("status").NodeValue;
If &MsgText <> "Success (117,73)" Then
Error ("Web Server not available for web service");
End-If;
End-For;Syntax
PreloadCache(mgrNames, dirPath, delete_dir, Lang_list)Description
Use the PreloadCache function to load a list of manager names to a specified directory.
Note: Use the PreloadCache function only in AE programs.
Parameters
|
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
|
mgrNames |
Specify the list of manager names to be loaded to cache as an array of strings. Note: You can use the AE program LOADCACHE to get the most up-to-date list of managers. |
|
dirPath |
Specify an absolute path for the location of the preload cache directory. Specify the string <<DBCACHE>> to load database cache instead of file cache. For more information on shared file cache or database cache, see Load Application Server Cache, Loading Shared File Cache or Database Cache. |
|
delete_dir |
Specify a Boolean value: Specify True to clear existing preload cache files from the cache-loading output directory; specify False to add to the existing preload cache files in the cache-loading output directory. The cache-loading directory is either the directory specified in the second parameter (dirPath) or in most cases, it is the PS_CFG_HOME\appserv\prcs\ProcessScheduler_domain\CACHE\CACHE\STAGE\stage directory. |
|
Lang_list |
This is an optional parameter. Specify a list of language codes to be used when loading cache files as an array of strings. If this parameter is not specified, then the files are loaded for all installed languages. |
Returns
A Boolean value: True if the files are cached successfully, False otherwise.
Example
&ret = PreloadCache(&array_MgrName, &dirPath, /* purge existing cache = */ False, &array_Languages);Syntax
PriorEffDt(field)Description
Use the PriorEffDt function to return the value of the specified field from the record with the prior effective date. This function is valid only for effective-dated records.
If the record contains an effective sequence number field, the value of this field is compared along with the effective-date field when the prior effective date/effective record sequence is determined. Therefore, if there is an effective-sequence number, it's possible that the effective-date field will be the same as the current record, but the sequence number would be earlier.
If a prior record does not exist, the statement is skipped. If the PriorEffDt function is not a top-level statement, that is, if it's contained with a compound statement or a loop, the statement is skipped and execution begins with the next top-level statement.
In the following example, execution skips to the top If statement:
If ACTION <> "REH" Then /* skip to here if PriorEffdt fails to find prior record */
If STD_HOURS <> PriorEffdt(STD_HOURS) And
Day(EFFDT) <> 1 Then
Error MsgGet(30000, 8, "Meldung nicht vorhanden - WAZ bzw. Beschäftigungsgradänderungen sind nur zum ersten eines Monats zulässig.")
End-If;
End-If;
/* if PriorEffdt fails, run to here directly */Example
If CURRENCY_CD = PriorEffdt(CURRENCY_CD) Then
Evaluate ACTION
When = "PAY"
If ANNUAL_RT = PriorEffdt(ANNUAL_RT) Then
Warning MsgGet(1000, 27, "Pay Rate Change action is chosen and Pay Rate has not been changed.");
End-if;
Break;
When = "DEM"
If ANNUAL_RT >= PriorEffdt(ANNUAL_RT) Then
Warning MsgGet(1000, 29, "Demotion Action is chosen and Pay Rate has not been decreased.");
end-if;
When-other
End-evaluate;
WinMessage("This message appears after executing either of the BREAK statements or after all WHEN statements are false");
End-if;Syntax
PriorRelEffDt(search_field, fetch_field)Description
Use the PriorRelEffDt function to locate the prior occurrence of the search_field with the prior effective date (and effective-sequence number if specified), then return the value of the specified fetch_field corresponding to the search_field. The return value is an Any data type. Typically, this function is used to retrieve values for related display fields.
This function is valid only for effective-dated records.
If a prior record does not exist, then the statement is skipped. If the PriorRelEffDt function isn't a top-level statement, that is, if it's contained within a compound statement or a loop, the statement is skipped and execution restarts with the next top-level statement.
Syntax
PriorValue(fieldname)Description
Use the PriorValue function in FieldEdit and FieldChange PeopleCode to obtain the prior value of a buffer field that the user just changed. It returns the value that was in the buffer field before the user changed it, not the value of the field the last time the component was saved.
PriorValue gives correct results only in FieldEdit and FieldChange PeopleCode, and only for the buffer field where the function is executing. If you pass another field name to the function, it returns the current value of the buffer field, not the prior value.
Parameters
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
fieldname |
The name of the record field. For correct results, this must be the name of the field where the call to PriorValue executes. |
Returns
Returns an Any value equal to the value that was in the current buffer field immediately prior to the last edit.
Example
The following example from FieldChange PeopleCode gets the prior value of a field:
&PRIOR = PriorValue(QUANTITY);
DERIVED_TEST.TOTAL_AMT = (DERIVED_TEST.TOTAL_AMT - &PRIOR) + QUANTITY; Syntax
Product(numlist)where numlist is an arbitrary-length list of numbers in the form
n1 [, n2]. . .Description
Use the Product function to multiply all the numbers in numlist and returns the product as a Number data type. The numbers in the list can be any number expressed as a number, variable, or expression.
Returns
Returns a Number value equal to the product of the numbers in numlist.
Example
The example sets &N2 to 96:
&N2 = Product(4,80,0.3);Syntax
Prompt(title, heading, {fieldlist | &Record})where fieldlist is an arbitrary-length list of fields in the form:
field1 [, label1 [, tempvar1]] [, field2 [, label2 [, tempvar2]]]...Note that the label parameter is required before the temporary variable.
Description
Important! The Prompt function is not supported in fluid applications. A PeopleCode error will occur if the function is used in a fluid application.
Use the Prompt function to display a page prompting the user to insert values into one or more text boxes. If the user cancels the page, any entered values are discarded and the function returns False. When the prompt page is displayed, the text boxes are initially filled with default values from the fields in fieldlist. The user can change the values in the text boxes, then if the user clicks OK, the values are placed either into the buffer for the appropriate field, or into a temporary variable, if a tempvar for that field is provided in the function call.
Prompt can also take a record object. This is primarily used with the Query classes, when running a query, to prompt the end user for the prompt values of a query.
Prompt is a think-time function, and as such cannot be used during the PeopleCode attached to the following events:
SavePreChange
Workflow
RowSelect
SavePostChange
Any PeopleCode event that fires as a result of a ScrollSelect (or one of its relatives) function calls, or a Select (or one of its relatives) Rowset class method.
Prompt should also not be called in any PeopleCode event that fires as a result of a ScrollSelect or its relatives, or a Select Rowset class method or its relatives.
Parameters
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
title |
Used as the title for the page. |
heading |
Displayed in the page above the fields. If a zero-length string ("") is passed, the heading line is omitted in the page. |
fieldlist | &Record |
A list of one or more fields; each field in the list consists of a [recordname.]fieldname followed by an optional label and an optional temporary variable for storing the input value. The label parameter is required if you supply the temporary variable parameter. Instead of a list of fields, you can also specify an already instantiated and populated record object. |
field |
The name of the field being prompted for, the form [recordname.]fieldname. |
label |
Optional label for the prompted field. If this parameter is omitted, the field RFT Long value is used. This parameter is required before the tempvar parameter. |
tempvar |
Optional temporary variable to receive the user-entered value. If this parameter is omitted, the value is placed into the buffer for the field specified. Using a temp variable enables the PeopleCode program to inspect and process the entered value without affecting the buffer contents. |
Returns
Optionally returns a Boolean value:
False if the user clicks the Cancel button.
True if the user clicks the OK button.
Example
The following example prompts for a single field, using calls to the MsgGetText function to retrieve values for the window title and prompt, and places the result into FISCAL_YEAR field:
Prompt(MsgGetText(5000, 182, " "), MsgGetText(5000, 184, " "), FISCAL_YEAR);To following example places the results of the prompt into a temporary variable:
Prompt("Change Voucher", "", VOUCHER_ID, "Change Voucher ID to", &NEW_VOUCHER_ID);The following code is in the USA push button FieldChange PeopleCode, and calls for the single field as shown in the page.
When = PAGE.PERSONAL_DATA1
/* Administer Global Personnel - USA Flag Btn on PERSONAL_DATA1 Page */
Prompt("US Social Security Number", "", PERSONAL_DATA.SSN);
Break;Syntax
Proper(string)Description
Use the Proper function to capitalize the first letter in a text string and any other letters in a text string that follow any character other than another letter. It also converts all other letters in a text string to lowercase. Punctuation and other characters that have no case sensitivity are not changed.
Returns
Returns a String value with the first character of each word capitalized.
Example
The example sets the value of &BADKD to "K. D. Lang".
&BADKD = Proper("k. d. LANG")Syntax
PublishXmlDoc(&XmlDoc, Message.MessageName [, Node.NodeName])Description
Use the PublishXmlDoc function to send an asynchronous message that is based on an XmlDoc object.
Note: This function has been desupported and remains for backward compatibility only. Use the IntBroker class Publish method instead.
The XmlDoc object must already be instantiated and populated. The message included in the function call should be an unstructured message, that is, one that isn't based on a hierarchical record structure.
If you want to retrieve an XmlDoc message that was sent asynchronously, use the GetMessageXmlDoc built-in function.
If you want to handle an XmlDoc as a Message object, you need to define a Message object with a hierarchical structure and migrate the data in the XmlDoc object into the Message object.
Parameters
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
&XmlDoc |
Specify an already instantiated and populated XmlDoc object that you want to send as an asynchronous message. |
MessageName |
Specify an already existing nonrowset-based message, prefaced with the reserved word Message. |
NodeName |
Specify a node. This is for Sender Specified Routing (SSR), prefixed with the reserved word Node. The node defines the target for the published message. |
Returns
A Boolean value: True if the message was successfully published, False otherwise.
Example
Local XmlDoc &MyDoc;. . .PublishXmlDoc(&MyDoc, Message.MyXmlMessage, Node.MyNode);Syntax
PutAttachment(URLDestination, DirAndSysFileName, DirAndLocalFileName[, LocalDirEnvVar[, PreserveCase[, AllowLargeChunks]]])Description
Use the PutAttachment function to upload a file from the file system of the application server to the specified storage location. The file system of the application server includes any directories accessible from the application server including those on local disks as well as on network shares.
Note: It is the responsibility of the calling PeopleCode program to store the specified file name for further use.
If a file exists at a particular place on a storage location and then another file with the same name is uploaded to that same place on that same storage location, the original file will be silently overwritten by the new file. If that is not the behavior you desire, it is recommended that you implement PeopleCode to guarantee the ultimate uniqueness of either the name of the file at its place on the storage location or the name of its place (the subdirectory) on the storage location.
Note: If the web server load-balances via Jolt session pooling, then it may be difficult to anticipate which application server machine will be expected to have the specified file.
Note: If the specified destination subdirectories do not exist at the storage location, this function tries to create them.
Additional information that is important to the use of PutAttachment can be found in the PeopleTools: PeopleCode Developer's Guide:
PeopleTools supports multiple types of storage locations.
Certain characters are illegal in file names; other characters in file names are converted during file transfer.
Non-ASCII file names are supported by the PeopleCode file attachment functions.
The PeopleCode file attachment functions do not provide text file conversions when files are attached or viewed.
File System Considerations
If you are uncertain which type of file system the file is going to be transferred from, either a Unix or Windows system, you should simply specify a file name for the DirAndLocalFileName parameter and either explicitly set the LocalDirEnvVar parameter or accept its default value, which is “TMP” (indicating that the value of the TMP environment variable will be used).
The following code example works for Windows systems, but not Unix systems:
&retcode = PutAttachment(&FTPINFO, &TARGETFILENAME, "c:\temp\resume.doc");The following code example works for Unix systems, but not Windows systems:
&retcode = PutAttachment(&FTPINFO, &TARGETFILENAME, "/tmp/resume.doc");The following two examples work for both Windows and Unix systems:
&retcode = PutAttachment(&FTPINFO, &TARGETFILENAME, "resume.doc");
&retcode = PutAttachment(&FTPINFO, &TARGETFILENAME, "resume.doc", "PS_CFG_HOME");Parameters
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
URLDestination |
A reference to a URL. This can be either a URL identifier the form URL.URL_ID, or a string. This (along with the corresponding DirAndSysFileName) indicates a file's destination location. Note: When the URLDestination parameter is specified as a string value, forward slashes (/) are required. Backward slashes (\) are not supported for a string value. |
DirAndSysFileName |
The relative path and file name of the file at the storage location. This is appended to URLDestination to form the full URL where the file will be transferred to. This parameter takes a string value. Note: Because the DirAndSysFileName parameter is appended to the URL, it also requires forward slashes (“/”). Backward slashes (“\”) are not supported for this parameter. |
DirAndLocalFileName |
The name, relative path name, or full path name of the source file on the application server. This parameter takes a string value. If you specify only a name or a relative path name for the source file, the file will be searched for in or relative to:
Important! If a reference to the uploaded file is to be stored in a file reference table, then the PeopleCode that calls PutAttachment must restrict the length of the file name portion of the value of the DirAndLocalFileName parameter to 64 characters. Otherwise, that file name will be too long to be stored in that file reference table as a user file name. |
LocalDirEnvVar |
This optional parameter takes a string value. If LocalDirEnvVar is specified, then its value will be prefixed to the value of the DirAndLocalFileName parameter to form the full path name of the source file on the application server’s file system. With this parameter, you can avoid the need to hard-code the full path name. If LocalDirEnvVar is not specified and the value of the DirAndLocalFileName parameter is already a full path file name, then that value will itself be used as the full path name of the source file on the application server. If LocalDirEnvVar is not specified and the value of the DirAndLocalFileName parameter is not a full path file name, then the value of the TMP environment variable will be prefixed to the value of the DirAndLocalFileName parameter to form the full path name of the source file on the application server. Note: Do not specify LocalDirEnvVar if you use an absolute path for the DirAndLocalFileName parameter. Note: In order to use the optional parameter PreserveCase, you must pass some value for LocalDirEnvVar. If you want to use the default behavior of LocalDirEnvVar and also use PreserveCase, you can specify "" (the empty string) for LocalDirEnvVar. Then the function behaves as if no value is specified. In this situation, if you wish to use the TMP environment variable, it must be explicitly specified. |
PreserveCase |
Specify a Boolean value to indicate whether the case of the extension of the file specified in DirAndSysFileName is preserved at the storage location: True, preserve the case, False, convert the file name extension in DirAndSysFileName to all lower case letters. The default value is False. For a particular file, save the value specified for this parameter so that it may be used when later calling other file-processing built-in functions on this file. Warning! If you use the PreserveCase parameter, it is important that you use it in a consistent manner with all the relevant file-processing functions or you may encounter unexpected file-not-found errors. This is an optional parameter. |
AllowLargeChunks |
Specify a Boolean value to indicate whether to allow large chunks. If the value specified in the Maximum Attachment Chunk Size field on the PeopleTools Options page is larger than is allowed for retrieval, then the system breaks the file upload into the largest sized chunks allowed. If AllowLargeChunks is set to True, this behavior can be overridden so that it is possible for an end user to upload a file in chunks that are too large for the system to retrieve. If AllowLargeChunks is set to False, the system will use the largest size chunk that is allowed for retrieval, or the configured chunk size, whichever is smaller. The default value is False. Note: If the chunks are too big to be retrieved, then any file retrieval built-in function, such as GetAttachment, will fail. Note: The AllowLargeChunks parameter is only applicable when the storage location is a database record. It has no impact when the storage location is an FTP site or an HTTP repository, since attachments at those locations are never chunked. This is an optional parameter. |
Returns
You can check for either an integer or a constant value:
|
Numeric Value |
Constant Value |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
0 |
%Attachment_Success |
File was transferred successfully. |
|
1 |
%Attachment_Failed |
File transfer failed due to unspecified error. The following are some possible situations where %Attachment_Failed could be returned:
|
|
3 |
%Attachment_FileTransferFailed |
File transfer failed due to unspecified error during FTP attempt. The following are some possible situations where %Attachment_FileTransferFailed could be returned:
|
|
4 |
%Attachment_NoDiskSpaceAppServ |
No disk space on the application server. |
|
7 |
%Attachment_DestSystNotFound |
Cannot locate destination system for FTP. The following are some possible situations where %Attachment_DestSystNotFound could be returned:
|
|
8 |
%Attachment_DestSysFailedLogin |
Unable to login to destination system for FTP. The following are some possible situations where %Attachment_DestSysFailedLogin could be returned:
|
|
9 |
%Attachment_FileNotFound |
Cannot locate file. The following are some possible situations where %Attachment_FileNotFound could be returned:
|
Example
The following uploads
the file, HRarchive/NewHire/11042000resume.txt, to the FTP server from c:\NewHires\resume.txt on the application server machine.
&retcode = PutAttachment("ftp://anonymous:[email protected]/HRarchive/", "NewHire/11042000resume.txt", "C:\NewHires\resume.txt");
Syntax
Quote(String)Description
Use the Quote function to enclose a string in single quotation marks. This function also can be used to put quotation marks around SQL statements.
Parameters
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
String |
Specify the string you want to enclose in single quotation marks. |
Returns
The string specified by String enclosed in single quotation marks.
Example
The following code returns 'Bob':
&QuotedString = Quote("Bob");The following code returns 'Bob''s' (two single quotes to represent the apostrophe)
&QuotedString = Quote("Bob's");The following code returns '%'' OR USER ID LIKE ''%':
&QuotedString = Quote("%' OR USERID LIKE '%");