Pagelets in PeopleSoft

Pagelets is a powerfull feature introduced in later releases of People Tools. Pagelets can be considered as the widgets or apps which are familiar to us in the internet websites. Pagelets brings in information from the transaction tables in a very presentable format or widget style. These pagelets will be smaller in size and can be added to HomePages, WorkCenters and Dashboards. There are three sizes for pagelets narrow, wide and banner sizes. The page/space where we host the pagelet can hold multiple pagelets at the same time.

It can be used to display simple yet compelling information like notice; high priority items awaiting your approval, frequently used metrics etc. On pagelets users can further filter down the data to get the more relevant data. These filters can be saved and are called as Personalization. Like the usual widgets you see around in the normal life, PeopleSoft pagelets also has the option to refresh the particular piece of information without disturbing the actual page where this pagelet is hosted. Thus the specific information can be updated without navigating away or reloading the entire page. We also have an option to auto refresh the pagelet every n seconds we specify. It will be particularly helpful in displaying time sensitive information.

Peoplesoft pagelets can be created by using different technologies which includes PeopleSoft Component, PeopleSoft iScript and javascript. The easiest one will be the PeopleSoft Component based pagelets. I will explain how to create PeopleSoft Component based pagelets in the rest of the content.

While creating pagelet, you should be extremely concerned about the performance of the system. Because the pagelet will be hosted in some other space where there can be multiple pagelets. So if one pagelet hangs due to bad design, then user won’t be able to work on any other pagelets hosted on the page. So you should design your pagelet in such a manner that, the data and the page will be loaded very fast.

Below are the steps to create Pagelet in PeopleSoft.

Step 1: Create a normal Page, design it the way you want to be displayed in the pagelet.

Step 2: Create another page which you want to use as a personalization option for the pagelet. In this page you will put fields which will act as input values/filters for the data that is displayed in the pagelet.

Step 3: Add the pages to corresponding components.

Step 4: Write any business logic, such as filtering the data in the first page based on the data from the personalization page and other business logic you want to implement.

Step 5: Add your component to a menu.

Till now you have been doing the regular steps in creating PeopleSoft components. Now you need to register this as a pagelet.

Step 6:  Go to Structure and content: People Tools > Portal > Structure and Content

Step 7: Navigate to: Root > Portal Objects > Pagelets > [Folder where you want to register]

Step 8:  Click on Add Content Reference

Step 9: Provide the content name, label, description etc. Give the usage type as Pagelet.

Step 10: In the URL information group box, provide the node, menu, market and component of the pagelet page (page created in step 1). Select the URL Type as PeopleSoft Component.

Step 11:  [Optional: required only if personalization is needed] On the pagelet Attributes group box, provide the menu, component and market for the personalization page (Page created in step 2). Select the URL Type as PeopleSoft Component. Populate the Refresh Time (sec) field with a value in seconds if you want your pagelet to be refreshed automatically every nth second.

Step 12: Save the Content reference.

Step 13: Go to: People Tools > Security > Permissions & Roles > Permission Lists and open the permission list which is supposed for the pagelet users and provide required access to the new components. Save the Permission List.

With the above simple steps you have successfully created a pagelet. Now in order to use the pagelet, select the pagelet from the corresponding pages personalization option and save it. For example, to add the new pagelet to the homepage, click on Home and on the home page select Personalization hyperlink. From the list of pagelets displayed, select your pagelet and click on save. When you go back to the homepage, you can see your pagelet in the homepage. Now you can drag to arrange the pagelet in the required order among the other pagelets.