Ok. Lets start with the basics of application development in PeopleSoft. Well, I hope you all know that Application Designer is the tool which we used to develop PeopleSoft application and we usually call it as App Designer in short. Basically there are 8 steps in PeopleSoft Application Development.
Here are the 8 steps of PeopleSoft Application Development:
1. Design the application
2. Define new fields
3. Create record definitions
4. Build the records
5. Create page definition
6. Define the component
7. Registering the component
8. Test the application
First step of any application development is planning. We analyze the business requirement and create a plan on how to go about doing things. You should have the document which will contain the tables affected and the relationships between them, list of object definitions to be created or modified.
Second step, creating the field definition is the basis for all the remaining steps. In this step we create new field definitions if it is required.
Third Step is creating record definitions. PeopleSoft is table driven system. When creating a record definition, you are actually defining two layers of information: the record level and the field level. At the record level you determine the structure of the database table and the ultimate purpose of the record definition as well as how it will be used in the system. At the field level, you determine the characteristics of the fields and any online processing that you want to occur behind the scenes when a user enters data.
Fourth Step is building the tables. In this step we build the tables that we created/modified in step 3. This makes sure that PeopleTools object definitions are in sync with the database table. You need to build the record definitions for all the changes you make to the record definitions. Eg. If you are changing the default value of a field in the record, there is no need to build the record. Also make sure the options in the build settings are selected properly.
Fifth step in PeopleSoft Application development is creating page definitions. Pages are the user interface for the application where you present the data to the users and enable them to enter data into the application data table created in the previous step. In this step you add page controls to a page and that you associate with record fields and configure the display of the page. The page is presented to the user in a browser window as HTML.
Sixth step is to create component definitions. Component definitions represent complete business transactions in PeopleSoft applications and are central to navigation and security access. A component holds one or more pages that the user navigates between using tabs or links. Here you define the search record and search attributes, processing mode, and toolbar buttons that display at the bottom of each page in the component.
Seventh step is to register the component. The Registration Wizard makes registering a component easy. In this step you accomplish several things: attach the component to a menu, assign security access for users, and place navigational links in the registry. Once you register a component, the user interface is complete and you can view the application in the browser.
And the final step is to test the new application. It is important to test all aspects of the application by opening the transaction in your browser and entering test data into the application. As issues arise you can cycle back through each of these steps to resolve them
