Product Description

Design and Deliver PeopleSoft Enterprise Resource Planning Solutions

Develop data-driven Oracle PeopleSoft applications and business intelligence reports with help from the expert advice in this Oracle Press guide. PeopleSoft Developer's Guide for PeopleTools & PeopleCode shows you how to build and enhance PeopleSoft modules that maximize return on investment. Set up PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture, create PeopleCode projects, integrate HTML and Web features, and create reports with Oracle XML Publisher. You will also learn how to use COBOL, SQR, PeopleSoft Application Engine, and Middleware integration.

• Install and configure PeopleSoft Pure Internet Architecture
• Work with PeopleCode components, objects, and classes
• Build pages and modules using the PeopleTools application designer
• Add HTML and Web elements in PeopleCode
• Implement code on the middle tier tools and work with process manager
• Execute powerful batch processes with application engine
• Generate detailed reports using Oracle XML Publisher and SQR
• Debug, secure, and optimize your PeopleSoft applications

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #385945 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 600 pages

About the Author
Judi A. Doolittle is a lead PeopleSoft Developer for the pension team at a National Laboratory. She is the executive vice president for the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG), and a member of the Fusion Council.

Customer Reviews

Book Review
If you have been working with PeopleSoft for less than, say, 2 or 3 years the first half of the book will be very useful to you. The chapter on Advanced PeopleCode was quite good in my view and I learned a few things. This is coming from someone that has been using PeopleSoft for 11 years. XML Publisher is covered in some depth and has some good examples. I was surprised to find a reasonably good overview of Application Engine.

Overall likes:

1) The material is presented in a thoughtful, well written way that is easy for even non technical people to understand.
2) Some good sample code although it could have used some more.
3) Nice to see some information on COBOL, which for many of us has been a real black hole.

Overall dislikes:

1) Almost no coverage of Component Interface. This is a very useful tool and should have been given more attention.
2) PS Query is a good tool and very useful but I think that the author devoted too much space to it at the expense of other topics (see above).
3) I was hoping to be able to download some of the sample code that is presented in the book rather than having to retype it.

If you have used PeopleSoft for any length of time you know just how vast and complex it is. It is simply not possible to cover every topic in depth in 572 pages and I give the author credit for getting it mostly right. SQR In PeopleSoft is probably the best single topic book available for PeopleSoft and is a fantastic resource but it only covers SQR. This book covers SQR fairly well along with many other topics. If you are looking for a single book that covers everything then this is the one to get.

Save your money..
I had this book in my shopping cart for a long time. It was supposed to come out at the end of 08 and it didn't, and even though I was a little dissapointed about the delay, I though that maybe the delay would result in a better product. Boy, was I wrong. Almost 50 of the first pages of the book consist of screenshots and a small paragraph describing PeopleSoft modules, as if these modules could be described in a paragraph. Then the book attempts to describe PeopleTools which might be the best part of the book (hence the two stars). Other topics are covered VERY lightly, perhaps aiming to meet a contractual commitment than to give a clear explanation. For instance, debugging is covered in TWO pages and both pages talk about how useful WinMessage is as a debugging tool.

I own The Essential Guide to PeopleSoft Development and Customization and I would not hesistate to recommend it over this one, even considering that the former is based mostly on PeopleSoft 7.5.

Save your money or buy The Essential Guide or just use Google.

Save Your Money
This book receives a single star, and it would have received less if it was possible. Very few people will get any value from reading this book.

The beginning of the book describes the many modules that PeopleSoft has in its HR product ignoring PeopleSoft's other product lines. About 5% of the book is spent on these descriptions. Maybe the author had to add some filler to make the minimum number of pages, but not too much.

There are few examples for the reader, and the existing examples are poor at best. On p134-142, the book shows the steps to place an HTML box on a page. None of the steps explain what, how, or why anything was done. A new user will not know what to click to complete the steps, and an intermediate or advanced user will have no use for this trivial example.

Debugging is mentioned and a method is described in the text (p. 208-209). But there is no mention of using the PeopleSoft debugger that would allow someone to step through the code line by line. This omission illustrates the author's lack of familiarity with major parts of the PeopleSoft development environment.

On p323-332, the author gives her example of how the Integration Broker can be used, yet fails to mention these steps are only valid for PeopleTools 8.47 and lower. PeopleTools 8.48 updated and changed many parts of the messaging system. No explanation is given for PeopleTools 8.48, so if you are at that version, you're on your own. Maybe the author isn't familiar with the latest 8.48 version despite the claim on the back of the book.

On p413, the book talks about how to run an SQR stating "The next illustration shows all the available fields that may need to be filled out depending on your setup." What goes in the fields is a mystery. I guarantee you need to know what to put in those fields if you want to execute an SQR.

Only a single author is shown on the cover, yet there are two authors mentioned in the text. Maybe the second author didn't want to receive cover credit for this mess.

This book provides a superficial overview of PeopleSoft's development environment, sprinkled with unusable examples. The best statement in the book is on p470: "Type your problem or error message directly into Google and search, which nine times out of ten will return just what you need." Save your time and money and follow that advice.