siebel reference doc

Siebel Requirements, References & Solutions

Developer’s ReferenceCollection byAmzad Baig

([email protected])

of 58


Table of ContentsIntroduction.................................................................................................................................. 4

1.1.Overview............................................................................................................................ 41.2.Document purpose.............................................................................................................4

2.Audience................................................................................................................................... 4

3.Send Email Every 2 Hours – Case Study ................................................................................4

3.1.Requirement....................................................................................................................... 43.2.Assumption........................................................................................................................ 43.3.Solution.............................................................................................................................. 4

4.Repeating Component Request Jobs.......................................................................................5

4.1.Example 1.......................................................................................................................... 54.2.Requirement:...................................................................................................................... 54.3.Solution:............................................................................................................................. 54.4.Example 2.......................................................................................................................... 54.5.Requirement:...................................................................................................................... 54.6.Solution:............................................................................................................................. 54.7.Example 3.......................................................................................................................... 54.8.Requirement:...................................................................................................................... 54.9.Solution:............................................................................................................................. 5

5.How to create an RCR?............................................................................................................5

6.How to send mail in Siebel using Communication Outbound Manager?..................................7

7.Siebel Workflow Process – Introduction...................................................................................8

8.How to invoke a Workflow Process?.........................................................................................9

8.1.Runtime Events..................................................................................................................98.2.Administration Runtime....................................................................................................108.3.Scripting........................................................................................................................... 108.4.User Property................................................................................................................... 118.5.Workflow Policy................................................................................................................11

9.How to Track Workflow Execution?........................................................................................12

10.Siebel Logs - How Useful are they?......................................................................................13

11.How to call a Workflow Asynchronously?.............................................................................15

12.ADM – Introduction...............................................................................................................18

12.1.How to implement ADM?................................................................................................1912.2.Import/Export.................................................................................................................. 1912.3.UI Session...................................................................................................................... 2012.4.Batch Deployment..........................................................................................................2112.5.Faqs – ADM...................................................................................................................21

13.External Business Component – EBC..................................................................................23

13.1.Limitations...................................................................................................................... 2313.2.Advantages....................................................................................................................23

14.Siebel EBC VS VBC.............................................................................................................23

14.1.Base Table.....................................................................................................................2314.2.Business Layer VS Database Layer...............................................................................2414.3.Purpose.......................................................................................................................... 2414.4.Effort............................................................................................................................... 24

15.How to Create an EBC.........................................................................................................24

15.1.Getting a DDL File..........................................................................................................2515.2.Import DDL file in Siebel Tools.......................................................................................2515.3.Create the Table............................................................................................................2515.4.Configure the Table........................................................................................................2615.5.Configuring BC and Data source....................................................................................2715.6.Creating Business Component.......................................................................................2715.7.Configuring Business Component..................................................................................27

of 58


15.8.Creating Data Source.....................................................................................................2715.9.Creating an entry in CFG file..........................................................................................2715.10.Creating subsystem in Server Configuration................................................................28

16.Symbolic URL – Integrating Siebel.......................................................................................28

17.List of Values........................................................................................................................ 31

17.1.How to create a new LOV?............................................................................................3217.2.Scenario 1...................................................................................................................... 3317.3.Requirement................................................................................................................... 3317.4.Solution:......................................................................................................................... 3317.5.Scenario 2...................................................................................................................... 3317.6.Requirement................................................................................................................... 3317.7.Solution:......................................................................................................................... 34

18.User Property – Use Literals For Like...................................................................................34

18.1.Purpose:......................................................................................................................... 3418.2.Usage:............................................................................................................................ 35

19.User Property – Text Length Override..................................................................................36

20.User Property – Required.....................................................................................................37

21.Siebel Deep Copy-Deep Delete explored.............................................................................38

22.Making Record and Fields Read Only..................................................................................39

23.User Property – Parent Read Only Field..............................................................................40

23.1.Requirement................................................................................................................... 4023.2.Solution.......................................................................................................................... 40

24.Client Side Vs Tools Side Business Service.........................................................................41

25.How to configure a Join........................................................................................................41

26.Making Search Specification Dynamic..................................................................................44

27.Constraining the PickList......................................................................................................45


28.Adding status indicator to Siebel entities..............................................................................46

29.Workflow made simple - Part I..............................................................................................47

30.Workflow made simple - Part II.............................................................................................48

31.Using the DefaultFocus Applet User Property......................................................................50

32.siebel.exe switches...............................................................................................................51

33.How to Automate Siebel Full Compile..................................................................................52

34.Accessing Siebel Repository Information.............................................................................54


35.Validating an Email Address in Siebel..................................................................................58

35.1.Requirement................................................................................................................... 5835.2.Solution without Scripting...............................................................................................5835.3.Solution with Scripting....................................................................................................58

36.Count (”MVL Link”) - reducing scripting................................................................................59


Introduction

1.1. Overview<<To be written>>.

of 58


1.2. Document purpose<<To be written>>.

2. AudienceThis document is intended for use by

Siebel Business Analysts.

Siebel Dev. Team.

Siebel Application Administrator Team.

3. Send Email Every 2 Hours – Case Study

3.1. RequirementNeed to send email every 2 hours to Service Request Owner until the status of

the SR is not changed.

3.2. AssumptionWhile giving the solution below I am assuming that initial status of Service

Request is Open and we need to send the mail until the status is not change from

Open to something else.

3.3. Solution Create an RCR Job that will run every hour.

RCR will call a business service that will have following logic

Query for SR’s with status as Open

In loop process each SR and evaluate the following condition

While(isSRRecord){CurDate = new Date();CurTime = CurDate.getTime();CreatedDate = SRBC.GetFieldValue(“Created”);CreatedDate = new Date(CreatedDate);CreatedTime = CreatedDate.getTime();TotalAge = ( CurTime – CreatedTime) / (1000*60*60)if (TotalAge > 2){SendEmail to owner}} //don’t forget to declare all these variables outside the loop

4. Repeating Component Request Jobs.Repeating Component Request (RCR) is an essential part of Siebel. They

are generally used to execute batch jobs which you want to execute say once in a

day or once in an hour. Examples below will help you to understand why we need

to use RCR in Siebel

of 58


4.1. Example 1

4.2. Requirement:Siebel needs to be integrated with external application via MQSeries. External

application will put an XML in the MQSeries queue and Siebel needs to poll regularly

to check if there is an XML file available in the MQ Channel and process it.

4.3. Solution:Create a workflow that will process XML after picking it up from MQ Channel.

Create an RCR job that will be execute this workflow every 5 minutes to check for

an available XML in the queue.

4.4. Example 2

4.5. Requirement:Siebel needs to run Fulcrum search functionality available in Siebel. Indexes of

the object on which Fulcrum is going to run are needs to be updated on daily basis.

4.6. Solution:Create an RCR job to run the components on daily basis which will result in

updating of indexes.

4.7. Example 3

4.8. Requirement:We need to check if an SR created 2 days from today has been updated or not

and if not then we need to send an email.,

4.9. Solution:Create a workflow to fulfil the requirement and then create an RCR to run this

workflow on daily basis on time where the usage of the application is not very high.

5. How to create an RCR?Here is step by step tutorial explaining how to create a Siebel RCR

(Repeating Component Request) Job.

Go to Administration - Server Management > Jobs

of 58


Click on New button in the Screen. Enter the value in the following fields. Component/Job: Workflow Process Manager Schedule Start: Date/Time when you want you job to start

Mark the Repeating Checkbox as True Repeating Units: Minutes (can be Seconds, Hours, Days, Weeks etc) Repeat Interval : 15 ( this time span after which you want your job to

execute repeatedly)We have given 15 in our case which means the job will repeat every 15 minutes

In the Job Parameter List Applet Enter Click New button

Name: “Workflow Process Name”

Value: Test Workflow

The name of the workflow that you want to execute repeatedly. You can give more than one workflows for the same job they will be executed one after another)

Click on Start and refresh the applet, if the job status goes to Active that means that you RCR have been successfully deployed.

You can check the status of jobs that are executed after repeated interval in the

Repeating Instance Tab.

6. How to send mail in Siebel using Communication Outbound Manager?You need to create a communication profile before you can send mail. To create

a communication profile, please follow the steps given below:

of 58


Go to Administration Communication Communication Drivers and Profiles.

Select Internet SMTP/POP3 Server Profile from List Create a New button in Profiles Tab (2nd List Applet). It’s better to copy

an existing profile which is working If you are creating a new profile provide following parameters. From Address: [email protected] (this will be the email address from

which you want to send email). SMTP Server: localhost Siebel Server: your Siebel server name

After you have created the communication profile you need to create a

business service on client side. You can do that by going to

Administration Business Service » Script

Write the following code to send email

var bs = TheApplication().GetService(”Outbound Communications Manager”);

var inputs = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

var outputs = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

var CommProfile = “Name of the Profile you created”;

inputs.SetProperty(”CommProfile”,CommProfile);

inputs.SetProperty(”MsgToList”,”Email addresses to which you want to send mail”);

inputs.SetProperty(”MsgBody”,”Body of email that you want to send”);

inputs.SetProperty(”MsgSubject”,”Email subject”);

bs.InvokeMethod(”SendMessage”,inputs,outputs);

inputs = null;

outputs = null;

bs = null;

Just simulate this business service by going to Administration Business

Service» Simulator.

Type the name of BS and the method that you have created and click on Run.

That will send the mail using from address from the profile that you have created.

So, in this case it will be a mail from [email protected].

7. Siebel Workflow Process – Introduction.Siebel Workflow is a software tools that lets us automate business processes

with help of workflow processes. Some characteristics of workflow processes are:

They are created, edited and deployed in Siebel Tools.

Their changes in workflows are SRF independent though they are

created and deployed in Siebel Tools IDE.

They are administered through Administration - Business Process Screen

in Siebel Client.

Siebel Tools provides the design interface of Siebel Business Process Designer.

The Mobile Web Client (the run-time client) provides the debugging interface of Siebel

of 58

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Business Process Designer. After workflow processes are designed and debugged, they

are written to repository tables for deployment from the administrative interface in the

run-time client.

Workflows can be accessed through Object Explorer in Siebel Tools as shown

below:

Workflows can be in 3 types of status:

In Progress: When you create a new process this is the default state. In

this state you can edit and make changes the workflow process.

Completed: Workflow process goes into this status after we deploy the

workflow

Not in Use: Status after we expire the workflow.

There are 3 buttons available to use to change the status of the workflow as

shown in below:

Deploy: Deploy the workflow and change the status to Completed

Expire: Expires the workflow and change the status to Not In Use

Revise: Creates a copy of the workflow with status of the New workflow

as In Progress.

There are various types of workflow processes available

7.0 Flow: This type is to provide backward compatibility with existing

Siebel 7.0

Long Running Workflows: Workflows that can last for hours, days or

months

Interactive Flow: Workflow that takes user across Siebel views.

Service Flow: Executes a set of operations upon even invocation. This

is the most common type of workflow process we created.

8. How to invoke a Workflow Process?Workflow is one of the most commonly used functionality in Siebel. They

provide us the way to automate simple and complex business process without

much trouble. Workflows can be invoked in several ways in Siebel.

Runtime Events

of 58


Scripting

User Property

Workflow Policy

Examples of how to invoke workflow process in different ways.

8.1. Runtime Events

We can specify runtime event at “Workflow Process” to define a runtime

event in the workflow process, follow the steps given below

Select the connecter after the start step as shown below

In the Workflow Step Branch: window below provide the details at which

you want to this workflow to execute. For example If I want my workflow to be

invoked at write record of Action buscomp then I will enter the following detail

Event Object Type: BusComp

Event Object: Action

Event: Write Record

8.2. Administration Runtime

Runtime Events are available in Administration - Runtime Event Screen.

We have all the corresponding events which we find in BusComp, Applet and

Application such as WriteRecord, PreWriteRecord, ChangeRecord, and PreQuery

etc. We need to remember one thing here is that Runtime events fire before the

corresponding object event.

For example: WriteRecord runtime event for object type BusComp will fire before BusComp_WriteRecord event.

To call a workflow from Administration Runtime event define a Action Set and Enter the information as shown below

of 58


Business Service: Workflow Process Manager

Business Service Method: RunProcess

Business Service Context: “ProcessName”, “Name of workflow”

Even Spaces matter in Business Service Context value after there is a space

after comma and then workflow name. Now you can define the event according to

your requirement which will call this Action Set

8.3. Scripting

To call a workflow process from scripting you can use the code given below

var svc = TheApplication().GetService(”Workflow Process Manager”);

var Input = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

var Output = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

var rowId = this.GetFieldValue(”Id”);

Input.SetProperty(”ProcessName”, “GEAE Activity Approved by SSD Notification”);

Input.SetProperty(”Object Id”, rowId);

Input.SetProperty(”Opportunity Id”, vOppId);

Input.SetProperty(”OwnerEmailAddress”,v_OwnerEmail);

svc.InvokeMethod(”RunProcess”, Input, Output);

Here any property that you set in input property set will be assigned to

corresponding process property in the Workflow Process (WFP) as in the

above example

Input.SetProperty(”Opportunity Id”, vOppId);

above line of code will result in process property called “Opportunity Id” in WFP to

assigned the value of variable vOppId.

8.4. User PropertyTill Siebel 7.5 the only methods known to invoke workflows were:

Runtime Events in start step of workflow

Business Service

Business Component Script

Workflow Policies

of 58


From Siebel 7.7 onwards there is one more method by which we can invoke a

workflow. That way is Siebel business Component user property. You can “Named

Method n” user property in a BC which can invoke a workflow where n is increment

to the last named method user property defined on that BC.

Name: Named Method n

Value: [Event Name] , “INVOKESVC”, , “Workflow Process Manager”,

“RunProcess”, ‘ProcessName’,[Name of the Workflows] , ‘RowId’, [Row Id Value]

Example: The below mentioned will invoke a workflow named ‘Example Workflow’

when a new record is created in Example BC.

Name: Named Method 1

Value: “New Record”, “INVOKESVC”, “Example”, “Workflow Process Manager”,

“RunProcess”, “‘ProcessName’”, “Example Wrokflow”, “‘RowId’”, “[Id]”

8.5. Workflow PolicyWorkflow Process can also be called from workflow policy. We can define a

workflow policy (WFP) in Administration – Business Process Policy.

After you have created a workflow policy record and specified appropriate

conditions, in the argument section choose:

Argument: Process Name

Value: Workflow Process Name

9. How to Track Workflow Execution?Workflows are the most common term that we come across after Object

Manager. We can achieve really complex functionality through workflows but what

it means is that debugging them is equally complex. We generally test workflows

through Simulation but if we were debug workflows in real time it can be quite

painful and time consuming.

A simple method to debug workflow is to increase the log level for Workflow

Process Manager (WPM) component. But if somebody has ever tried that he can

vouch that it can be quite a headache to go through that log (believe me it is a lot

and it can go up in MB’s even if the workflow is of moderate complexity). And

what’s more is that most of the information that is contained in that log is useless

and not related to workflow functionality.

So here in this article I am going to present a pretty simple technique which can

help you to get just the right amount of information that you need to debug a

workflow.

of 58


Instead of increasing the log level of complete WPM component if you just

increase the log level of just selective sub-components that should do the trick. I

will list down the Sub-Components that you need to increase the log level to get

just the appropriate information that you need.

Workflow Definition Loading

Workflow Engine Invoked

Workflow Process Execution

Workflow Step Execution

SQL Tracing

Just increase the log level of the above said components from 1 to 4. And to get

logs from dedicated client you need set the Environmental Variable on your system.

Another approach that can help you in tracking the execution of

workflows and collect various statistics about them. This can be really useful if

you would like to track:

RCR Workflows

Workflows executed from runtime

Workflows executed from Workflow Policy

Steps

Goto Administration Business Process Workflow Deployment

Active Workflow process List Applet

Query for the workflow that you want to track

In the Monitoring level field set the status of the workflow as 1 – Status

After you do that there are 2 tables those will contain the information about

that Workflow process.

WFA_DEFN_LOG

S_WFA_INST_LOG

You can query in these table to get various type of information such as

execution time, status after execution, the step at which got error out etc. Given

below is a sample query which you can use.

select b.row_id, a.NAME, b.STATUS_CD, a.busobj_name from

siebel.S_WFA_DEFN_LOG a, siebel.S_WFA_INST_LOG b where

b.definition_id = a.row_id and a.deploy_status_cd = 'ACTIVE'

If you want to track a particular workflow then you can modify the query to

the following:

select b.row_id,a.NAME,b.STATUS_CD,a.busobj_name from

siebel.S_WFA_DEFN_LOG a,siebel.S_WFA_INST_LOG b where

b.definition_id = a.row_id and a.deploy_status_cd = 'ACTIVE' and

a.Name = ‘Name of the workflow’

Another way of monitoring the workflows is increasing the monitoring level

in the UI. Go to Administrator Business Process Workflow Deployment and

of 58


query for the workflow which needs to be monitored and in the bottom applet of

the queried workflow, there is a column called “Monitoring Level” change it to max

4(debug). This captures the process as it goes thru ever step and makes our live

easy in fixing the issue.

10. Siebel Logs - How Useful are they?If you have worked on Siebel CRM I am sure that you have heard the term LOGS

lot of times. They are one of the most important and useful things if you are a

Siebel Developer. But still most of us actually know how to use them to our

advantage or to reduce our development time. Here in this Article I will try to

explain some tips and tricks to get the logs and debug our code. Now we all know

that we have two types of Siebel Application Clients.

Dedicated Client

Web Client

Siebel Web Client: We will talk first about the Siebel Web Client. Now to get logs

from Siebel Web Client there is no easy way and the only way to get logs is to

increase the log level at server for "Object Manager" or particular component that

you want to get logs of for example Workflow Process Manager. I will talk detail

about the Web Client Logging techniques in my next few posts.

Here we discuss ways which can help us get logs from dedicated clients and

speed up our debugging and development time.

Dedicated Client: There are essentially two ways to get logs from dedicated

client.

Spool

Environmental Variable

Spool: It is a very basic and known technique to get the spool of all the SQL

Queries that are fired in the database level and we all come across it during our

initial Siebel development days. We can enable the spool for Siebel Client as well as

Siebel Tools. The steps to enable spool for both the Siebel tools and client there is

common process which is as following:

1. Right click the Siebel tools or Siebel Client Shortcut

2. Go to end of String which is in Target Text Field

3. Enter the Following string at the end: /s "c:\spool.txt"

/s switch here stands for Spool. Various other switches that can be used are as

following:

/u : username

/p : password

/d : database

With the following string you can automate login to your local or sample database

depending on the value you give in the switch. I am providing you examples of both

of 58


/u sadmin /p sadmin /d sample: String to login to Sample database with sadmin

user id.

/u user /p pwd /d local: String to login to Local database with "user" user id.

Environmental Variable: This is more powerful and less known method of

generating logs for dedicated client. Siebel has provided couple of Environmental

Variables which are as following:

SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS

SIEBEL_LOG_DIR

SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS: This environmental variable can have two types of values

numeric or text. The numeric value is the log level which can be between 1-4. 1

being the lowest and 4 being the highest. The Text value can be ALL which means

Log Level of 4.

SIEBEL_LOG_DIR: This value of this variable is path where you want to create the

logs. Makes sure that the path you mention is valid otherwise the logs will be

created in the temp directory.

Examples of both the environmental variables are as following:

SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS: ALL

SIEBEL_LOG_DIR: C:\siebel_logs

The process to create these environmental variables is as following:

1. Right click on the My Computer Icon

2. Select Properties from context menu

3. Go to ==> Advanced Tab

4. Click ==> Environmental Variables

5. In User Environmental Variables Tab click New

6. Enter SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS in Variable Name field

7. Enter ALL in Variable Value Field

8. Click New again and Enter the following details

9. Variable Name : SIEBEL_LOG_DIR ; Variable Value : "your Siebel

log path"

Remember that Variable Names are case Sensitive. After you have created

the variables when you start you dedicated client you will notice that in the path

that you have given a file named siebel.log is created for Dedicated Client and file

named siebel_dev is created for Siebel Tools.

Note: If you don't provide the SIEBEL_LOG_DIR environmental variable the logs are

created by default in Temp Directory.

11. How to call a Workflow Asynchronously?This Article is about Siebel CRM 7.X Workflows and Runtime Events. It tells you

how we can use them to our advantage. We all want the response time of our

Application to be as fast as it can and we do everything that we can to achieve

of 58


that. I am going to tell you about a way which can help you to reduce the response

time without actually reducing any functionality. Siebel can execute workflows in

two ways.

Synchronous

Asynchronous

Synchronous Execution: When workflows are executed synchronously then user

gets the control back only when the workflow has finished it execution.

Asynchronous Execution: When workflows are executed asynchronously then

user gets back the control immediately and the workflow is submitted to workflow

process manager (WPM) as a job to be executed. WPM then executes the job later.

Often we have functionality where large amount of processing needs to be done

on an object which user is not going to use access right now. I can explain it with an

example. When user clicks copy button on an opportunity or quote we want certain

custom entities to be copied over but which user will not access at that time but

later. So, we can reduce our response time by just copying the quote or opportunity

synchronously and placing the code of copying of custom entities in workflow and

executing that workflow asynchronously.

There are two way to execute a workflow asynchronously

Workflow Policy

Runtime Event and Business Service (BS) Combination

Workflow Policy is pretty traditional method of executing a workflow process.

You create a policy. Enter the conditions. Specify the workflow to be executed.

Generate Triggers. I wouldn't go into details of creating a policy but I will tell you

some disadvantages of using Workflow Policy

1. Slow Execution

2. Difficult to setup

3. Not Reliable and Error Prone

But from Siebel 7.7 onwards we have another more robust, efficient and quicker

way to do that which is Runtime Events and Business Service.

The actual process of Setting up Runtime Event and Business Service assuming

you have working knowledge of both. Just one important thing that you should

know about runtime events is that they are executed even before the Business

Component Events. To explain it better I am taking an example where our

requirement is to execute a workflow when you click Submit Oppty button on

Opportunity Form Applet.

of 58


1. Goto Administration Runtime Events Screen

2. Goto Action Sets View

3. Create a New Record in the Action Set View of Runtime Events

Administration Screen

4. Enter Any Name in the Name Field of the Action Set List Applet

5. Create New Record List Applet Below it

6. Enter

Name = "TestRuntimeEvent"

Action Type = "Business Service"

Sequence = "1"

7. In the Form Applet Below enter the following details

Business Service = "TestBS"

Business Service Method = "TestMethod"

8. Click Menu Load Runtime Events make sure that you have

Active Flag checked in both List Applets.

You are done in Action Set View.

Now Goto Events view and Follow the steps given below

1. Click New and enter the following information:

Sequence = 1

Object Type = "Applet"

Object Name = "Opportnity Form Applet"

Event = "InvokeMethod"

Sub Event = "Submit Oppty"

Action Set = "TestRunTimeEvent"

Conditional Expression should be given if you want to restrict the

execution of this Runtime Event to certain conditions and Action Set Name is

always the name of the action set that we created.

2. Click Menu Reload Runtime Events.

* Everytime you make a change to runtime events you have to Reload

them to activate the changes that you have made.

Now we are through the Runtime Event parts. What we have done so far is

that when user clicks Submit Oppty button it is going to call BS named TestBS with

method as "TestMethod".

Now we are going to write the code in the business service which will

actually result in the execution of Workflow Process Asynchronously.

of 58


1. Go To Administration Business Service.

2. Create a Business Record with name "TestBS"

3. Create a Record in List Applet for Service_PreInvokeMethod and

choose Programming Language as "eScript"

Write the Following code in Code Window inside the function

Service_PreInvokeMethod.

if(MethodName == "TestMethod")

{

var svc;

var child;

var input;

var output;

var rowid;

var bo = TheApplication().ActiveBusObject();

var bc = bo.GetBusComp("Opportunity"); // Change the BusComp name with

the name of the BusComp you want to execute the workflow with

svc = TheApplication().GetService("Asynchronous Server Requests"); // Don't

change this - Actual BS that is responsible for submitting a job to WPM

input = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

child = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

output = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

input.SetProperty("Component", "WfProcMgr");

rowid = bc.GetFieldValue("Id");

// We would like to pass the row id of the Current record on which the user is

working - You can pass more than one arguments

child.SetProperty("ProcessName", "Service Agreement - Agreement

Status"); // Workflow process you want to execute

child.SetProperty("RowId", rowid); // passing the values

input.AddChild(child);

svc.InvokeMethod("SubmitRequest", input, output); /// invoking the business

service method

svc = null; // nullfiying the objects

child = null;

output = null;

input = null;

return(CancelOperation);

}

of 58


12. ADM – Introduction.Application Deployment Manager (ADM) functionality available in Siebel is quite

less known and used but very useful to reduce manual effort of moving various

entities between environments. This post is going to be an introduction about

Application Deployment Manager (ADM). We all (may be not all but most of us) has

been part of Siebel release at one time or the other. Dev2Prod utility provided by

Siebel can automate movement of Repository related data between environments

but it cannot move application related data.

By Application related data I mean:

List of Values

View

Responsibilities

Business Services

Runtime Events

and many more things.

We have to move them manually and we have to keep track of what we

have changed. ADM provided by Siebel can move them automatically so basically

our task is just to keep the track of what we want to move.

Note: ADM is only recommended if the amount of data that is to be moved is less

otherwise EIM is the preferred option.

There are only few entities that are available in vanilla ADM functionality

that we can move such as LOV, Views, State Model, Assignment Rules etc. but ADM

is not confined to that only we can add customized entities such as Business

services, Runtime Events. You can see ADM related views by going to Site Map

Application Deployment Manager

12.1. How to implement ADM?

There are 3 different ways to implement ADM:

Import/Export

UI Session

Batch Deployment

12.2. Import/Export

This is the simplest of them all, what you need to do is just:

Create an ADM Project

of 58


Add entities that you want to move.

Apply appropriate Filter

Export them in File

In the target environment Import that file

and you are done.

But it is easier said than done. So, here are some points that you need to keep in mind.

1. There should be a shared folder that should be accessible from

both Source and Target environments.

2. Don’t forget to check the Export to File checkbox

3. If your servers are on Unix/Solaris environment then you need

to provide path according to that ex: /opt/shared/ and if your servers are

on windows then you need to provide path like \\servername\

sharedfoldername

4. Path provided in Source environment should be only till the

shared folder. Example: If you want that your file should go to

/opt/shared/admfolder then you should give the path as

/opt/shared/admfolder/.

5. In the Target environment you will provide complete the path

including the filename that you want to import.

12.3. UI Session

This process is very simple to execute but a bit tricky to implement. In this process you

Go to Application Deployment Manager Deployment Projects

Create a Project

Add entities and apply appropriate Filter

Enable the project

Deploy the project

and you are done.

Things to keep in mind:

You need to Activate some workflows before it starts working.

Go to Administration – Business Process Workflow Deployment. Query for UDA* and you should get list of 9 workflows activate them all and make sure they are activated on target environment also.

of 58


And it should work well after that.

12.4. Batch Deployment

This approach is least preferred and never explored into detail but just to give you the overview. You can run an ADM job from command line.

Pre-requisites are that you need to modify couple of workflows and there should a shared folder accessible to both source and target environments. If you want more details about this method the please go through bookshelf.

12.5. Faqs – ADM

Question: What are the limitations of ADM? What it can move and what it can not?

Answer: Theoretically it can move any kind of entities but all the entities are not available OOB (Out of Box). But you can create Integration Object for any entity and use it for ADM.

Question: What is the interface? Can it run for all data types (Database type, repository type & file type) via command prompt without any manual intervention? What needs to be done additionally?

Answer: ADM can be run form Siebel Application and Command Prompt both. In Siebel 8.0, ADM can be use to transfer Application Data, Repository Data and also for SWT and SRF files but in Siebel 7.x File Type (SRF and SWT) can be transfered through ADM.

To run it successfully from command prompt you need to modify some workflows and need to activate some workflows in case you are going to run it from Application. In addition to that there should EAI Object manager available on Target System. Complete steps are available in bookshelf of running it through application and command prompt.

Question: How ADM takes care of delta after it is run once?

Answer: I am not quite sure about this but It uses Integration object and EAI Siebel Adapter “Upsert” method so if you know how it works then you have your answer. If not then here is an overview. Upsert method never results in deletion of records it queries for record based on User key and update if record is found it updates otherwise it inserts the record.

of 58


Question: What happens if DB goes down while ADM is running? Will it rollback or it will maintain a state and restart after DB comes back?

Answer: Yes, it has a rollback option in Siebel 8.0 but I am not sure about Siebel 7.x but I think it uses EAI Siebel Adapter so ideally the transaction will be reverted back if it doesn’t complete.

In Siebel 8.0 you need to mention if it should backup the data or not. If you choose yes then it will take care of reverting back in case if an error occurs in between the process.

Question: Can I stop ADM in between and start again? I have seen we can start it again, but does it maintain the state? If yes, how does it maintain it?

Answer: No, I don’t think we can stop and start it at our will.

Question: I have read that it backs up the data in the target environment before deploying & activating. How does it take the backup and what does it take the backup?

Answer: Yes, it does backup in Siebel 8.0 if you specify and it takes backup in form of XML files. The process is:

Data is queried through EAI Siebel Adapter

An XML is prepared that goes to target system

Using EAI Siebel Adapter “Upsert” method on target system it is inserted

into target system.

When you say that backup data, that XML is saved in a file and used to revert back

in case need be.

Question: What is the effort to configure ADM and run it in development environment?

Answer: OOB of box ADM is just activating some workflows and follow steps given in bookshelf. But if you want certain custom entities to be added then effort can increase.

Question: What are the size requirements for running ADM?

Answer: By size I assume that you are asking how much data can be transferred. Well I don’t have an exact figure but I think I read somewhere that if exported data should not exceed 4 MB. So to make sure that you are in limit you can export the XML file and see it is adheres to 4 MB limit. But it will better to ask Siebel for an exact figure.

Question: How and where do we write scripts to customize it?

Answer: I don’t think you need to write scripts to customize it. It is as simple as creating an IO for your customized entity and use it.

of 58

13. External Business Component – EBC

External Business Component (EBC) is another way of integrating Siebel with External Applications. It is another tool available at your disposal to achieve integration. EBC is an easy and robust way to integrate Siebel. Here is how it works:

You get a DDL of a table located in external database.

Import that into Siebel tools and a table is created in Siebel pointing

to external table.

You create a data source to connect to external database.

Then you do the usual configuration of creating a BC, BO, View and Applets based

on that Table.

When you access that view, Siebel in real-time using that data source connects to external table and displays you the data. You even have option to update, insert and delete records from Siebel.

13.1. Limitations1. If you import a database view instead of DDL then you cannot

update or insert records.

2. Joins to base tables in EBC usually don’t work.

3. External database must be accessible directly to Siebel.

4. Performance can be an issue if database connectivity is not

good.

13.2. Advantages1. You can integrate with external application with minimal of effort.

2. Siebel BC can base joins on External table and display

information.

3. You can import tables from different databases such as DB2, MS

SQL, Siebel Analytics.

You can read more about EBC in Siebel Bookshelf.

14. Siebel EBC VS VBC

14.1. Base Table EBC: EBC is based on external table and uses data source defined on BC

and Table to retrieve data

VBC: VBC has no base table and it is based on special class. It uses a

Business Service to retrieve data.

14.2. Business Layer VS Database Layer EBC: While creating EBC you import external table definition into Siebel

which results in a proxy table being created in Siebel which points to

external table so we can say that EBC integrates Siebel to external

applications at Database Layer

VBC: No table is involved in creation of a VBC and we need to use either

Vanilla BS such as XML Gateway service or custom BS that will retrieve

data through Siebel Business Layer

14.3. Purpose EBC: The purpose of an EBC is to view, update, insert and delete data

available in external database. It is always used to integrate with

external applications

VBC: The purpose of VBC is usually to view external data that we don’t

want to store in Siebel. It is not necessary to use VBC only for

integration. For example If I want to view Product Configurator

information in typical Siebel Applets and Views then I can use VBC to

achive this.

14.4. Effort EBC: It is very easy to create and configure EBC. You just need to import

external tabe definition and after that you can use usual Siebel

Configuration techniques and create BC, Applets and Views based on

EBC without any difficulty

VBC: You have to write script for handling each and every event that

you want your VBC to support such as Query, Insert and Init etc. So, I

would say effort required is greater in VBC

15. How to Create an EBC

Below are the steps that are needed to perform to create EBC

Get an DDL file for an external table

Import DDL file in Siebel Tools

Configure the newly created table

Create an Business Component based on this table

Configure this Business Component

After that you can use this BC just like any other Siebel BC with some limitations.

15.1. Getting a DDL File

Table used in this example is oracle database table and you can get DDL of oracle database using Toad or SQL Developer any tool provided by oracle to interact with database.

Steps required to do to get Table DDL using SQL Developer:

Open SQL Developer and connect to database in which you table

resides.

Select the table for which you want to get DDL file

On the right hand side you will see various tabs as shown below picture.

Click on SQL Tab.

You will see the DDL of that table in the window below.

Copy and Paste it in .txt file and save that file.

15.2. Import DDL file in Siebel Tools

15.3. Create the Table

Steps required for creating and configuring the table in Siebel Tools:

Open Siebel Tools.

Click on File New Object.

Select External Table Schema Import object.

Provide the relevant information in the Table Schema Import Wizard as

shown below.

15.4. Configure the Table Select the Data Source object of newly created table.

Create a new record in Data Sources List applet.

Provide the name of data source that you will use to connect to this

table.

Select the column object of this table and query for ROW_ID in Alias

Field.

In System Field Mapping select the Id value from dropdown (This is

the only mapping that is mandatory but you can map different

system fields also).

After mapping your field should appear like this.

15.5. Configuring BC and Data source

15.6. Creating Business Component

Steps to create business component are same as creating any other business component. You can create it through Business Component wizard and choose the table created in previous steps.

15.7. Configuring Business Component

There are two important things that you will need to do this BC for it to work.

Uncheck the Log Changes property for this BC

Provide Data Source Name in Data Source Field

Once you configure these details then you can use this BC in your configuration just like any other BC. You can base your Applets on this BC and create Views.

And the configuration in the Siebel tools is now over. There is just one more thing that you need to do, to make all this work.

15.8. Creating Data Source Create a data source (with same name as you have specified in table

and BC) that will connect to external database.

You need to create an entry of this newly created data source in your

CFG file for dedicated client to work and you need to create subsystem

in Server Configuration for thin client to work.

15.9. Creating an entry in CFG file Open your client CFG file.

Copy and paste details of your [ServerDataSrc] section in CFG

Rename this data source to the name that you have mentioned in tools.

(As in example your data source entry name is ContactEBC. So,

your new section will start from [ContactEBC] as shown below).

Now your EBC is ready to work through dedicated client.

15.10. Creating subsystem in Server Configuration.Navigate to Administration - Server Configuration > Enterprises >

Component Definitions.

In the Component Definitions list applet, select your Application Object Manager Component.

For example, select the Call Center Object Manager (ENU).

Choose Start Reconfiguration from the Menu drop-down list on the Component Definitions list applet. The Definition State of the component will be set to Reconfiguring. Reselect your application component after selecting the Start Reconfiguring menu item.

In the Component Parameters list applet, query for OM - Named Data Source name, and update the Value by adding the alias name of the data source specified in the “To configure the data source definition” section. The format of the OM - Named Data Source name parameter is a comma-delimited list of data

source aliases. It is recommended that you do not modify the default values, and that you add their new data sources to the pre-existing list.

After the parameter values are reconfigured, commit the new configuration by selecting Commit Reconfiguration from the Menu drop-down list on the Component Definitions list applet.

The new parameter values are merged at the enterprise level.

To cancel the reconfiguration before it has been committed, select Cancel Reconfiguration from the Menu drop-down list on the Component Definitions list applet.

To configure the data source definition

Navigate to Administration - Server Configuration > Enterprises > Profile Configuration.

Copy an existing InfraDatasources named subsystem type.

Change the Profile and Alias properties to the Data Source name configured in Siebel Tools.

Update the profile parameters to correspond to the external RDBMS:

DSConnectString = Siebel_EBC (This is the data source created in ODBC32 –Machine Datasource)

For the Microsoft SQL Server or the IBM DB2 databases, create an ODBC or equivalent

connection and input the name of this in the parameter.

DSSSQLStyle = MSSqlServer

DSDLLName = sscdms80.dll (For SQL Server)

DSTableOwner = Siebel_EBC

DSUsername = sa

DSPassword = sa

16. Symbolic URL – Integrating SiebelThis is a relatively lesser known way of integrating Siebel with external

applications and it is quite different than other methods available. Symbolic URL’s

enable you to actually open external application inside Siebel Applets. For

example it is possible for me to create a screen named Google Search in Siebel

and see the site inside Siebel application and we will do then when we get to

hands on.

Most common use of Symbolic URL’s is to see Siebel Analytics Reports

inside Siebel CRM application and it is used majorly in portal applications to

display contents of external application.

There is no formal definition for Symbolic URL that I have come across but

is quite effective and a novel way to integrate Siebel with external applications.

That’s enough of theory and now is the time for some practical. Here is a

step by step tutorial on “How to configure Symbolic URL in Siebel?” and what

will try to achieve is a new have a new Screen in Siebel that says Google Search

and when we click on it we should be able to see Google in it.

The first thing that we need to do is define a Symbolic URL pointing to the

website.

Go to Administration Integration WI Symbolic URL List view

Click on Dropdown in list applet and select Host Administration

Create a new host record and enter the following detail:

Name: google.com

Virtual Name: GoogleSearch

Click on the dropdown in List Applet and Select Symbolic URL

Administration

Create a new Symbolic URL Record and enter following details:

Name: GoogleSearch

URL: http://www.google.com

Host Name: google.com [Name you had given in first Step]

Fixup Name: Default [Determines how URL appears in the App.]

SSO Disposition: IFrame

As we just want to see static site so will not provide any arguments. Now

our Symbolic URL is ready let us go to Siebel tools to do required

configuration to display it in GoogleSearch Screen.

Go to Business Component that you will base your applet upon. In this

example we use Account.

Create a new calculated field and provide the following detail:

Name: GoogleSearch

Calculated: True

Calculated Value: “GoogleSearch” [Name of the Symbolic URL we

just created and don’t forget to put quotes around it]

Now we need to expose this on UI in an Applet. You can create a new

Applet based on Account BO and expose just one field in that applet or you can

copy an existing Applet such as “SSO Analytics Administration Applet” that is

already configured with Symbolic URL and modify it to contain our newly created

Symbolic URL. As I am doing in this example:

Query for “SSO Analytics Administration Applet” under Applet Object.

Copy this Record and provide following detail:

Name: GoogleSearch

http://www.google.com/

Business Component: Account

Title: Google Search

Now go to list column section of this field and provide following details

for a lone record that is available

Name: GoogleSearch

Field: GoogleSearch

Field Retrieval Type: Symbolic URL

Don’t forget to expose this field in Applet Web Layout and make

sure you expose it in base mode.

Now let’s create a view that will have our applet. Again here you can use

Wizard to create a new view or just copy existing Analytics View.

The Web Template of the new view should be “Analytics View”.

Copy an existing view “SSO Analytics Administration View” and provide

the following details:

Name: GoogleSearch

Business Object: Account

Visibility Applet: GoogleSearch

In View Web Template Item object give the following details:

Name: GoogleSearch

Applet: GoogleSearch

Applet Mode: Base

The final step is to create a Screen which will contain this view.

- Add that screen to your Application

- Register the view in Application.

Compile the View, BC, Application, Screen, Applet objects that you just created or

modified and the final result that you will get is shown below.

17. List of ValuesList of Values (LOV) is assumed to pretty simple entity in Siebel and having

very limited use, of showing values in dropdown picklist. But, they can be used in

more than one ways. They can be a real life saver. One use of them is to avoid hard

coding. Yes, you can avoid hard coding of values and use LOV instead which you

can then change without SRF Release.

17.1. How to create a new LOV?You can create an LOV from two places both have a different way of creating

LOV in Siebel CRM.

Administration – Data List of Values

Administration – Data LOV Explorer

Through List of Values to add a new LOV following steps have to be

followed. As an Example we will add a new LOV for Martial Status of a person.

1. Click New and choose LOV_TYPE in Type field.

2. Enter MARITAL_LOV in ‘Display Value’.

3. Enter ‘Marital Status’ in Language-Independent Code field.

4. Enter ‘English-American’ if you implementation language is English

otherwise it will be according to the language of your

implementation. Save the record.

5. Click New again and choose ‘MARITAL_LOV’ in Type field.

6. Enter ‘Married’ in Display Value and Language-Independent

Code field.




8. Follow steps 5 -7 for all values that you want to associate with this

LOV.

For example we will follow steps 5 - 7 and just change the value Married to

Single so that it can have two values ‘Married’ and ‘Single’.

Through LOV Explorer you have to perform the following steps.

1. Click New and enter ‘MARITAL_LOV’ in the Type field.

2. Click on the + sign in the left hand side of the LOV Explorer pane

for the type that you created.

3. Click on the Values folder.

4. In the Right hand side Applet click on New.

5. Enter ‘Married’ in the ‘Code’ and ‘Display Value’ field.




7. Repeat steps 4-6 for the all the values that you want to enter.

That’s it. You are done with creating the New LOV with new Values

To enter New Values in the existing Siebel LOV just perform the

following steps.

1. Query for the LOV Type that you want to add New values.

2. Copy the record Enter the Display Value and Language

Independent Code field.

3. Change the value in the Order Field to be the unique number and

save the record.

Here are some real scenarios where List of Values are used to accomplish

task which otherwise would have a real pain while moving stuff different

environments.

17.2. Scenario 1

17.3. RequirementWe were creating workflows that were going to integrate Siebel with some

other application with the help of MQ Series. Now, to accomplish that we had to

enter two parameters related to MQ Series in the first step of workflows, Queue

Manager and Physical Queue Name. If, we were to hardcode then it would be

difficult to move workflow between different environments such as QA and

production because they had different Physical Queue Name.

17.4. Solution:There LOV’s came to our Rescue. We created two LOV’s with the values of

the Queue Manager and Queue Name and used LookupValue() method in

workflows to accomplish that. LookupValue() method accepts two arguments

‘LOV Type’ and Language Independent Code (’LIC’) and returns the display value of

that LOV Type. The syntax is as following:

LookupValue(”LOV Type”,”LIC”)

Example:

Create a new LOV Type (like MQ_PHY_QUEUE_NAME. It should be same

in all the environments where you want to deploy the workflow).

Enter the Display Value (actual value that you want to specify like

SIEDEV1 for dev environment and SIEBQA for QA environment).

Enter the LIC (can be anything descriptive like ‘Physical Queue Name’).

In the Input Arguments of workflow choose input argument type as

Expression and specify the value as follows:

LookupValue(”MQ_PHY_QUEUE_NAME”,”Physical Queue Name”)

Now, it is going to pick the value as ‘Display Value’ of the LOV specified.

17.5. Scenario 2

17.6. RequirementSiebel Service Request module was to be implemented because of a new

implementation the business requirements were being changed all the time. One

Strange requirement was to make the Required Fields of a business component

dynamic. So that they can be changed without a release. Now, we all know one

way to make a field required is to set the Required Property of the field to true.

But that would mean that if I were to change that a new SRF deployment will be

required.

17.7. Solution:LOV’s again were the life saver here. We created an LOV called

SRV_REQ_FIELD and in the Display value we provided the names of the fields that

we wanted as Required Fields. In the Business Component Pre_WriteRecord event

we queried for that particular LOV and traversed through the records that were

active. If the Field provided in the LOV did not contained a value then an error was

raise stating that the value for that particular required field was not supplied. Given

below the Pseudo Code for the script might look like

BOLOV = TheApplication().GetBusObject(”List Of Values”);

BCLOV = BOLOV.GetBusComp(”List Of Values”);

with (BCLOV)

{

Query for LOV Type as ‘SR_REQ_FIELD’ and Active Flag = ‘Y’

}

IsRecord = BCLOV.FirstRecord();

while( Last record is not reached)

{

this.ActivateField(BCLOV.GetFieldValue(”Name”));

if ( this.GetFieldValue(BCLOV.GetFieldValue(”Name”)) == “” )

Raise Errro Text (”Value not given”)

BCLOV.NextRecord();

}

This solution is not recommended if the number of fields that are

required is fairly large. But still can be really handy in many situations.

18. User Property – Use Literals For Like

18.1. Purpose:If you have gone through logs sometime then you might have noticed that if

you query with a text in a field then the query generated at backend has lot of like

clauses which queries with all the permutations and combinations for that text. For

example if I query on the Last Name Field with “SADMIN” in application the query

generated at backend might have clause as shown below:

((T11.LAST_NAME LIKE :2 OR T11.LAST_NAME LIKE :3 OR T11.LAST_NAME

LIKE :4 OR T11.LAST_NAME LIKE :5) AND UPPER(T11.LAST_NAME) =

UPPER(:6))

And the bind variables will have values like

2:= ‘sa%’

3:= ‘Sa%’

4: = ’sA%’

5:= ‘SA%’

6:= ‘SADMIN’

Now, this can lead to performance issues in cases if the query is done on

long fields such as Comments or Description field in Service Request BC. In that

case using this user property might help. If you use this user property on a

particular field then for that field bind variables will not be used, it will be

replaced by the values directly.

18.2. Usage:It is a field level user property. Follow the steps given below to define this

property.

Open Siebel Tools and query for the BC which contains the field on which

you want to define the user property.

Query for the Field.

Click on the + sign on Field Object in Object Explorer.

Select Field User Property Object.

In the Field User Property List Applet create a New Record and provide

following detail:

Name: Use Literals For Like

Value: TRUE

And you are done. After you do that the query generated on backend will

not use bind variables for this particular column and your query will look like

(T11.LAST_NAME LIKE ‘SADMIN%’)

19. User Property – Text Length OverrideLot of time we have requirement which involves restricting user input to

certain length. Most common way to do that is to specify the Text Length

property of the field. I used to do that until recently when I came to know that

even after specifying field length user was able to enter more than the allowed

limit.

Going through the bookshelf I read a note which said

“Text Length property is usually ignored and the length is retrieved from the underlying column definition”

So, that in effect means that whatever is the column length at the

database level is limit at the BC level too. But that is not what we wanted so

after further exploration we came across a user property that could help us to

limit length without modifying the column at database level.

Text Length Override

Text Length Override and it can have a value as TRUE which means

enforce the Text Length field property or it can have a different value such as 10

or 20 which means that will become the new limit.

Here is a step by step procedure on how to use this user property.

Query for the BC in which the desired field is present.

Select the field on which you want to enforce the limit.

In object explorer click on the + sign against field and select User Property option

as shown below:

Create a new record in the Field User Property area.

Enter the following information

Name: Text Length Override

Value: TRUE

OR

Name: Text Length Override

Value: 10

Where the number is the limit that you want to enforce and you are done.

Compile and see the changes.

Note: This user property can only be used with text type fields.

20. User Property – RequiredMaking a field required is very common requirement and making a field

required on conditional basis is also not unusual.

Making field required is very simple by just checking the Required

Property of the field. But making field required on conditional basis is a bit tricky.

There are couple of alternatives to that.

Scripting: I have already explained one approach in the Post to make

Required field SRF Independent using LOV’s and Scripting.

User Property: You can also use User Property called ‘Required’ to make a field required on conditional basis.

There is only one limitation of this user property that the class of the BC should be either CSSBCBase or inherited from CSSBCBase

Syntax: Required

Value: Expression if evaluated as Y will result in the Field becoming Required.

http://siebelunleashed.com/siebel-list-of-values-a-strategic-move-continued/

Procedure:

Select the field of the BC which you want to make required. Select the Field User Property as shown in the Picture below.

Create a New User Property. Enter the Name as Required. Put the value as Expression.

Example:

We Assume that we want to make Field called Full Name to be required if Name Flag Field is Y. So you user property will be like below.Name ValueRequired IIf ([Name] = “Y”, “Y”, “N”)

21. Siebel Deep Copy-Deep Delete explored.Often we have requirement where we would like more than one child to be copied when the parent record is copied and similarly when we delete the parent records its child records are also deleted. There are couple of user properties that have been provided to us which can help us to accomplish that without using scripting.

Deep Copy n Deep Delete n

Deep Copy n:

Syntax:Name : Deep Copy nValue : Child Business Component Name

I will try to explain this with example.

Normally when you click copy button of Quote only Quote is copied. None of its child records are copied.Our requirement is to copy Quote item, quote attachment and

Order (Child BC of Quote) when we copy Quote record then we can make use Deep Copy user property. Now to implement our requirement we will have to follow the steps given below:

1. On Quote BC create 3 Deep Copy user properties

Deep Copy 1 Quote ItemDeep Copy 2 Quote Item AttachmentDeep Copy 3 Order

*Value of Deep Copy user property is the name of the Child business component that you want to copy.

2. Add a multivalue link in the parent business component for each child business component.3. Create a multivalue field in the parent business component from each child business component specifying the multivalue link to use.4. Set the No Copy property of that multivalue link to TRUE

Deep Delete n

Syntax:Name: Deep Delete nValue: Child Business Component Name

If we continue with the above example then we would want to delete these children also when we delete the quote record.To accomplish that we would follow the following steps

1. Create 3 Deep Delete user properties on Quote BC Deep Delete 1 Quote Item Deep Delete 2 Quote Item Attachment Deep Delete 3 Order

2. Set the No Delete Property for the Multivalue links to TRUE

Yes, I know it is a bit confusing. I will repeat once again

Setting No Copy to TRUE will allow you copy child BC with Deep Copy user property and setting No Delete to TRUE will allow to delete child BC with the help of Deep delete User Property.

22. Making Record and Fields Read Only

A pretty common requirement is to make a specific field or a record read only. In this post I will describe various ways to accomplish that in siebel

Making the Field Read only on UI

Set the Read only property on applet object to true for that field.

Making the Field Read only on Business Component

Set the Read Only property of that field to true. (But this property is rarely used and doesn’t make any sense to create a field and then to make it read only… anybody any pointers)

Field Read Only Field: fieldname user property is used to make the field read only

Syntax:Property NameField Read Only Field: Status

ValueStatus Flag

In this user property value is a name of field If the value of the status flag (field name) is True then Status will become read only and if the Status Flag is false then this field will be editable.

Making the Business Component record Read only

BC Read only Field user property is used to make the BC Record Read only.

Syntax:

Property NameBC Read Only Field

ValueStatus

Here value is the name of the field that will determine whether the Record will become read only or not. If the value of the field specified is evaluated to true then Record will be read only otherwise editatble.

23. User Property – Parent Read Only Field

23.1. RequirementWe were trying to trying change the status of Quote and Quote Item through Asynchronous workflow. We queried for quote made it active and then changed the status to ‘Priced’ and then we had to change the status of Quote Item to ‘Priced’ and then again make the quote inactive.

Problem:

After changing the Quote status to ‘Priced’ when we tried to change the status of Quote Item to ‘Priced’ we received an error

‘Status is a read only field’

There was no Field Read Only Field: [fieldname] or BC Read Only Field which could result in making that record or that field read only .

Reason:

After struggling for few hours we saw another user property called ‘Parent Read Only Field’ which had a value something like this

Parent Read Only Field : Quote.Status Lock

Status Lock was a calculated field in Quote which had a value

IIF([status] = “Priced”,”Y”,”N”)

After going through bookshelf we found out that this user property will make the child record read only based on the value in Parent Record.

23.2. Solution

To overcome this problem we changed the quote item status first and then the quote status ( Pretty Simple Isn’t it)

Few noteworthy things about this user property are:

The Field that is being evaluated should have its link specification property set to true otherwise it is not going to work

The syntax of the value of this user property should be Buscomp.Field where buscomp is the name of the parent buscomp and Field is the name of the field that should be evaluated.

The business component which contains the field that is to be evaluated should be the parent or grandparent by way of link or series of link relationships

24. Client Side Vs Tools Side Business Service.

In Siebel we can write business services in two places.

Siebel Client Siebel Tools

There is nothing different in the scripting that we do but there are differences in how these business services are executed.

As far my knowledge (which is pretty limited ) is concerned the difference between them are as following.

Client side is SRF independent and Tools is SRF dependent (Which means an SRF change is required even if we want to make a slight change)

Siebel Client BS Compiled at Runtime and Siebel Tools BS is compiled when we compile the SRF

When you have to make decision of writing a Business Service following factors can affect your decision.

Performance: Tools BS has slight advantage of Performance (Theoretically) as it is compiled before hand and just executed at run time.

Flexibility: Client BS offers you ultimate flexibility as you can change the code anytime you want to. So, if flexibility is more important to you then Client BS is for you.

IDE: From developers perspective Tools BS provides you better IDE and better syntax checking. Client Side BS has a crappy IDE and zilch syntax checking,just a field where we write the code.(I have spent hours debugging Client Side BS just to find out that I had misspelled a variable name )

But still I have not come across even a single solid point that can help us to determine exactly when we should use Client Side BS or Tools Side BS. It mostly depends on developer’s choice who is writing the BS. So, I am leaving this post as an open question asking you all about your inputs which can help us to take right decision as right time.

25. How to configure a Join

There are two types of commonly used joins

Implicit Join Explicit Join

Implicit Join: - Implicit Join are those which are already define in Siebel and which are internally use by the Siebel to pull the values from the other than base table.

example: - join between base table and extension table like S_OPTY and S_OPTY_X and join between S_PARTY and S_ORG_EXT

Explicit Joints: - Explicit Joints are those which are define by the developer to create the relationship between two tables.

Let’s take a real life example to understand the concept of Joins better.

We have one table of the Employee where Name, Employee Id and other information about the employee is stored.Another table stores a list of Cities.

Requirement is to know which user stays in which city. There are two ways to do it

Store city in the Employee table which will result in data redundancy. Store Primary key of city table in the employee table and pull the values at the run time,

which is more efficient and makes more sense.

To implement second approach we use joins in Siebel.

You have to follow the following five steps to have joined field on UI in Siebel

1. Identify the column to be used as Foreign key.2. Configure field which will store the primary key of join table.3. Configure a join.

4. Configure join specification.5. Add a field which will be used at Applet.

An example will make things more clear.

Suppose we want to have Opportunity Name on the Quote Applet. Here is a step by step procedure with screen shots explaining how to do that.

1. Identification of Column to act as foreign key.

To configure a Join, first of all we have to find out a column in the base table where we can store primary key say (ROW_ID) of opportunity in quote which will become the basis of join.

If there is no column vacant in the base table we can use extension table for that base table e.g S_DOC_QUOTE_X for the S_DOC_QUOTE.

Note: Make sure that the column you choose is not being used by any other BC or any other field of same BC.

2. Configure Field in Business Component

Go to Business Component > Field Create a new record Enter the name of the field. Enter extension table name in Join field if the column you identified belongs to

extension table otherwise go to step 5 Select the Column identified in column Field.

Note: The column which you have selected must have physical Type varchar.

Our Foreign key is now ready for use. Now we have to configure a joined Field which will use this foreign key

3. Configure/Create a Join

Go to Business Component > Join Create new record. Give name of the table with which you want create join ( S_OPTY in our case) Give Name in Alias (New in our case). Check the Outer join Flag (Very Important).

Go to Object List Explorer (OBLE) on the left hand side and click + sign beside join there will be two options Join Specification and Join Constraints

4. Configure Join Specification

Create New Record.

Give Name in the Name field. Destination Column is given by default when insert a new record. You can change it if

you want to. In the Source field give the name of the source field (OptyID) which you have

configured earlier to be used as Foreign Key.

5. Configure the field (Opportunity Name) which you want to display on the User Interface.

Go to Business Component > Field Insert New Record Give Name in the Name Field Enter the Join Alias which you have given for the join you created. Select the Name (for Opportunity Name) in the column field. Column name here

represent the data that you want to pull from opportunity.

6. Configure the Control in the Applet (UI).

Go to Applet > Control (if Form Applet) Go to Applet > List > List Column (if List Applet) Create New Record. Enter the Name Enter the name you want to display on UI in Caption Override Field Enter the Name of the field you created in Field column

Don’t forget to map this field in Applet. Right Click on the corresponding Applet and map it.

Now compile the entire project which you have made the changes and you will be able to see this joined field in the Quote Applet as shown in the picture below.

When you see this field in User Interface it will be read only because when the data is pull from the join table it is only read only, to make it editable you have configure Pick Applet on this field.

Will include the procudure to make it editable in next post.

26. Making Search Specification Dynamic.

I think we all know what search specification means in Siebel. But just for introduction purposes I would like to give an overview.

Search Specification is criteria that we can apply on an Siebel object to restrict the amount of data that reaches the user.

You can apply search specification on objects like BC, Applet, Picklists etc.

Search Specification becomes a part of where clause when the query is executed on the database hence only those records are brought back those satisfy the criteria.

For quite a considerable time I thought Search Specification can only be static, meaning once you give the criteria on a particular object then you need change SRF in order to make a change in that. But I was wrong, we can have a dynamic search spec too but that can result in performance impact.

How to make search spec dynamic?

We can use

LookupValue function GetProfileAttr function

Above said two functions can help us to create a dynamic search spec.

I will give some search specs as example to show their usage.

[Activity Id] = GetProfileAttr(”ActId”) [Name] LIKE GetProfileAttr(”NameofUser”) ([Lead PNL] = GetProfileAttr(’LeadPnlConstrain1′) OR [Lead PNL] =

GetProfileAttr(’LeadPnlConstrain2′)) AND ([Contractor Flag]<>’Y') [Sales Tool Type] = LookupValue (’SALES_TOOL_TYPE’, ‘Component’) (([Sales Tool Type] = LookupValue (’SALES_TOOL_TYPE’, ‘Component’)) AND

[Created By]=LoginId()) OR ([Sales Tool Type] LIKE (LookupValue (’SALES_TOOL_TYPE’, ‘Sales Tool’) + “*”))

We can also use * as wild character in our Search Specification for example

[HTML Control Type] = “Field OR MiniButton*” [Name] LIKE *Siebel*

27. Constraining the PickList

As it is quite clear from the title that we are trying restrict the values in a pick list based on certain constraints. It is best to explain with the help of a requirement.

27.1. Requirement Two fields having 2 Picklists

Country and State Based on country selected in country Picklist, only state corresponding to that country

should be displayed in state Picklist

For example Country = US then State Picklist should display only Ohio, Georgia, Texas Country = India then State Picklist should display M.P, U.P, A.P, Delhi etc

This post assumes that you have already created two Picklists and configured them properly. Coverage of Picklist configuration is not in scope of this post but if you need let me know I will be more than happy to include in my next posts

27.2. Solution Query for the BC in which you Picklist Field is created 2. Select the Field to which you have mapped your Picklist Expand its child PickMap There should already be one record with the values shown below that you created

during you configuration of PicklistField: StatePicklist Field: Value

Add another record in PickMap as shown belowField: CountryConstraint: TRUEPicklist Field: Description

Compile the Business Component you have changed. Open the Siebel Client Application Goto Administration – Data> List of Values Query for the LOV_TYPE containing the State Picklist values. Update the name of country corresponding to state in description Field as shown below

Click on Clear Cache

Your configuration of constraint Picklist is not complete you should be able to state values based on country field.

28. Adding status indicator to Siebel entitiesWe have seen a Status Indicator Icon for Server Components in Server Management Screen and now it is possible for us to add that to any entitiy. For example if I want a Service Request to display different colors for different severities or Quotes to display different color based on status. You can use the given example below and adapt it according to your needs.

We can implement the same behavior in a list applet. Please follow the below steps:

1. Select a List applet (e.g., Activity List Applet) and its BC (e.g., Action).2. In the business component, create a new calculated field.3. In the calculated value (e.g., Status Indicator), frame the logic that returns any of the

status value as mentioned above(e.g., IIF([TimeDiff] >0, “Unavailable”, IIF(([TimeDiff] > -24), “Offline”,”Online”))

4. Go to the List Applet. and create a new List Column “Status Indicator” and set the following properties as below.HTML Icon Map = Server Administration IconHTML Type = LabelHTML List Edit = FALSERun Time = TRUE

5. In the List Applet, add the control “Status Indicator”.6. Compile the BC and Applet.7. In the application, go to the list applet and observe that the column “Status Indicator” is

displayed as in server administrator screen.

29. Workflow made simple - Part IRecently, I had to do some prototyping for typical requirements which led me to the Siebel Workflow framework as a solution.As indicated in a previous post, workflow processes (along with the business services they call) account for almost every piece of functionality and automation in Siebel CRM). So in general it is a good idea to have an eye on workflow when it comes to automation solutions.However, there are some pitfalls for the novice developer that often lead to frustration and even refusal of using workflow.In this and a following post, I will describe two workflows that should serve as examples how to solve common problems in Siebel.

These are the requirements

1. Update multiple records (this post)Users should be able to enter a search string to retrieve a list of Accounts and the target value of the Account Status field. The system should then update the Account Status field of all records in the result set to the target value.2. Retrieve total opportunity revenue for an Account (future post)Sum up the revenue of the current Opportunities for an Account and write the result to an Account field.

I implemented both requirements on Siebel 8.1.0.0

Let's have a look at the solution to requirement #1.

To be honest, I was surprised at the simplicity of the workflow. It is a really nice example, how the Siebel framework works.

The workflow is configured as follows:Business Object: AccountProcess Properties created: QueryField, Querytext, RecordCount, TargetValue

The first Siebel Operation step is configured as follows:BC: Account (No Link)Operation: QuerySearch Spec Expression: "[" + [&QueryField] + "] LIKE '" + [&QueryText] + "*'"Output: RecordCount = NumAffRows

The second Siebel Operation step is configured as follows:BC: Account (No Link)Operation: UpdateField Input Argument: Account State = Process Property: TargetValue

Pitfall #1: Too complicated approachSiebel Operations inside a workflow which operate on the same BC inherit the context of the previous step, so all you need is one query operation and then the update operation will update all records in the query result set. That's it.Pitfall #2: Problems with the primary BCThere is strange behaviour to report when the Siebel Operations use the primary BC of the workflow's Business Object (Account, that is). I used the Account (No Link) BC instead and it worked like a charm. Please don't ask why ;-)Pitfall #3: Externalize the query stringHow in god's name can someone figure out the query string if she/he is not a complete geek?

"[" + [&QueryField] + "] LIKE '" + [&QueryText] + "*'"

is built as follows:

1. Parenthesize the value of the QueryField process property in square brackets

"[" + [&QueryField] + "]"

2. Append the LIKE operator

"[" + [&QueryField] + "] LIKE"

3. Append an asterisk to the value of the QueryText process property and parenthesize it in single quotes

"'" + [&QueryText] + "*'"

4. Bring all together

"[" + [&QueryField] + "] LIKE '" + [&QueryText] + "*'"

Not too difficult - but devilish

Note that the Siebel Operations have an output argument which is useful to get the number of affected records.

Several tests showed that the workflow updated several hundreds of records in short time.

30. Workflow made simple - Part II

...welcome back to Part II of our tour de workflow

Let's reiterate the requirement #2

Retrieve total opportunity revenue for an AccountSum up the revenue of the current Opportunities for an Account and write the result to an Account field.This is the prototype workflow. As in part I, Siebel 8.1 was the implementation platform.

The workflow itself has the following properties:

Business Object: AccountProcess Properties created: CurrentRevenue, LastRecord, RecordCount, TotalRevenue

Get Oppties Step:Business Component: OpportunityOperation: QuerySearch Spec Expression: "[Account Id]='" + [&Object Id] + "'"Output Args: TotalRevenue = BC Oppty.Primary Revenue AmountRecordCount = Output Argument NumAffRows

Decision Step Last Record?yes = Process Property LastRecord = trueno = Default

Go to next Oppty StepBC: OpportunityOperation: NextRecordOutput Args:CurrentRevenue = Opportunity.Primary Revenue Amount (1)TotalRevenue = Expression: [&TotalRevenue] + [&CurrentRevenue] (2)LastRecord = Output Arg: NoMoreRecords (3)

Note: Numbers in brackets indicate the sequence of the output arguments

Update Account StepBC: AccountOperation: UpdateField Input Arg: Revenue = Process Property TotalRevenue

Note #1: The workflow operates on the Account Business Object with Account BC as the primary BC and Opportunity as a child BC.

Note #2: Despite Note #1 it is still necessary to execute a query to get the Opportunites associated with the Account.

Note #3: The fairly new Siebel Operation NextRecord (along with its siblings PreviousRecord and QueryBiDirectional) has been introduced in Siebel 8.0. It is the first version that allows us to loop through a record set in a workflow without being outwitted by the complexity of looping. The NextRecord operation has an output argument of NoMoreRecords (true or false) which must be used in a decision step to determine whether the loop has to end or not.

Pitfall #1: Adding up the revenue amount requires two process properties. One to get the field value from the BC and the other one to serve as the accumulator. Note the sequence in the NextRecord operation to fill them in the correct order.

Hope you enjoyed this small workflow series. If you want more, drop a comment ;-)

31. Using the DefaultFocus Applet User PropertyUsers are trained to use the Account name field in the opportunity list to search for opportunities. However, when they use ALT+Q to enter query mode, the first column in the list has the focus, so they have to tab to the Account column. They want to have the cursor in the Account column once they enter query mode, irrespective of the placement of the column.Here is a simple way to implement this. It introduces the DefaultFocus Applet User Property, which, if memory serves me correctly, has been introduced in Siebel 7.8.First we add a new Applet User Prop to the Opportunity List Applet.We use DefaultFocus_Query = Account to define the default focus column for the Query Mode.

Note that you can use DefaultFocus_Edit for Base, Edit and EditList mode and DefaultFocus_New for the New mode.

After compiling the .srf file, we can run a test....

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B40099_02/books/ToolsDevRef/ToolsDevRef_UserProps11.html

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B40099_02/books/ToolsDevRef/ToolsDevRef_UserProps11.html

And voilá, click Query and you find the focus on the Account column. So you can speed up your work by simply entering the search string and hitting the ENTER key.

There also was another requirement to have the focus on the Query button. However, using DefaultFocus_Edit = NewQuery did not yield the desired result. The funny thing was that the Query button only got focus after pressing ALT+ENTER (or invoking the ExecuteQuery command). Maybe the answer to that problem is somewhere out there...

32. siebel.exe switches

...and siebdev.exe too ;-)

siebel.exe, as we all know, is the engine behind the non-zero-footprint flavour of Siebel applications, namely the Mobile Web Client or the Developer Web Client. Some call it fat client, some call it dedicated web client, depending mostly on the year when they first heard about it. Discussions whether the Mobile Web Client is a different installer than the Developer Web Client and whether the Developer Web Client is the same thing as the fat client often reach religious depths.

The installer places a bunch of shortcuts in the windows start menu which usually follow the syntax of

<path to siebel.exe> /c <path to .cfg file>

So /c is a mandatory switch because any Siebel applications consists of the very same executable along with a different configuration file from which it reads the rest of its knowledge.

In order to please the more inquisitive among you, find below a complete list of switches that you can use with siebel.exe. If you know of any other switch, please inform us.

Typical switches (used in shortcuts)

/c Path to .cfg file (required), directory path defaults to <client_installdir>\bin\enu/d Datasource (as in .cfg file), defaults to local/l language (optional, language pack must be installed), defaults to enu/u Username (optional)/p Password (optional)

/s Path to spool file (optional, to spool all SQL generated by siebel.exe)

Extra switches

/b Path to Browser executable (optional, for multi-browser testing of customer or partner (SI) applications)/h Debug Mode (used with Siebel Tools for debugging)/ctsim (often confused with /ctisim, which does not work ;-) CTI Simulation mode (used for demo)/editseeddata allows modification of seed data, often referred to in maintenance release guides

And now for siebdev.exe:

siebdev.exe is the engine behind Siebel Tools, which is the only application that does not run in a browser window. However, Siebel Tools is defined in the Siebel Repository and the siebdev.exe works just like the siebel.exe. That is, it reads a .cfg file and an .srf file (the file that newbies usually try to compile to during their first steps with Siebel Tools).

So siebdev.exe accepts most of the switches that siebel.exe does, namely /c, /d, /u, /p and /s.

But there are some additional switches, used in conjunction with the "classic" ones. They have been passed along from consultant mouth to consultant ear for eons before they found their way into the documentation.

/bv runs all validation rules for the entire repository, so take your time/batchimport automates the import of .sif files/batchexport automates the export of objects to .sif files/bc allows to run batch compilation/tl language (typically used with /bc for multiple language deployments)/applybatchpatch is used for applying batch patches, or patches in batches.

33. How to Automate Siebel Full CompileIn our project a normal Siebel release cycle is of 3 months. This means that

we develop for three months and then it goes live in production. Now during our

development phase of 3 months we run Full Compile of SRF almost on daily basis

and it is usually somebody’s responsibility to start the Full compile.

Now, like most of the clients our client is also US based which means during

the last phases of development cycle client tests (UAT) the changes we have done

their morning and our evening. During that time the time it is very important to

start full compile on time otherwise it could impact client’s testing. After couple of

incidents where the person responsible to start full compiles couldn’t do so due to

some problem. We decided to automate the process of full compile to get rid of this

problem.

We created a batch file which was as following:

cd "c:\program files\siebel\7.8\tools\bin\siebdev.exe /c tools.cfg /d

SERVER /u USERNAME /p PASSWORD /bc "Siebel Repository"

"FullCompile.srf"

(Replace the username and password with your Siebel Username and

Password)

Details of switches used are as following

/C: Tells the configuration file to use.

/D: Data source which should be used.

/U: Username to start full compile.

/P: Password to start full compile.

/BC: Repository which should be used for full compile.

Last parameter is the SRF Name.

Now to automate the running of this batch file. The steps are valid for Windows

2000 OS

Goto Control Panel > Scheduled Tasks

Double click on Add Scheduled Tasks

Click > Next. (You will see the window shown below)

Click > Browse (Select the batch file you have created)

Click > Next and then select Daily Option and Click Next

Select the Time at which you want to start he full compile

Click Next and provide the password and confirm password for username

you use to login to Windows OS

Click > Next and then Click > Finish

This full compile will create SRF in Siebel Tools\Objects\ENU folder.

You will now see a scheduled task created in the control panel. In this way

your full compile will always start on time.

To automate on UNIX or Solaris systems you can create a Shell Script and

cron job.

34. Accessing Siebel Repository Information

34.1. RequirementTo retrieve the following information for some list applets in Siebel

Application:

Display Names of Fields in those list Applets.

Data Type of the fields associated with the Fields.

Fields have Picklist associated with them or not.

Fields have their Runtime Flag checked or not.

34.2. SolutionOne way to do was to open application get display names from application

and then go to Siebel Tools and query one by one to get the Data Type and also

query in Applet Section to get Runtime flag and other information

This code queries for the given applet name, get’s all the records that are

mapped in UI and then queries one by one in Business Component to extract their

datatype and also if they have any picklist associated with them or not.

This is not a very common requirement. You can use this code to

understand repository BC’s and their relationship.

Code:

function GetInfo ()

{

var AppletBO = TheApplication().GetBusObject("Repository Applet");

var AppletBC = AppletBO.GetBusComp("Repository Applet");

var WebTemplate = AppletBO.GetBusComp("Repository Applet Web Template");

var WebTemplateItem = AppletBO.GetBusComp("Repository Applet Web Template

Item");

var FinalStr = "";

var flagbreak = 0;

var listcolname = "";

var BusCompBO = TheApplication().GetBusObject("Repository Business

Component");

var BusCompBC = BusCompBO.GetBusComp("Repository Business Component");

var count = 0;

var isRecordBC = 0;

var appletfield= "";

var bcfield = "";

var controlname = "";

var picklist = "";

AppletBC.ClearToQuery();

AppletBC.SetViewMode(3);

AppletBC.ActivateField("Business Component");

AppletBC.SetSearchSpec("Repository Name","Siebel Repository");

AppletBC.SetSearchSpec("Name","Opportunity List Applet");

AppletBC.ExecuteQuery();

if(AppletBC.FirstRecord())

{

WebTemplate.SetSearchSpec("Name","Edit List");

WebTemplate.ExecuteQuery();

WebTemplateItem.ActivateField("Control");

WebTemplateItem.SetSearchSpec("Inactive","N");

WebTemplateItem.SetSearchSpec("Type","List Item");

WebTemplateItem.ExecuteQuery();

var isRecordTemplateItem = WebTemplateItem.FirstRecord();

var AppletListBC = AppletBO.GetBusComp("Repository List");

AppletListBC.SetSearchSpec("Name","List");

AppletListBC.ExecuteQuery();

if(AppletListBC.FirstRecord())

{

var AppletListCol = AppletBO.GetBusComp("Repository List Column");

AppletListCol.ActivateField("Display Name");

AppletListCol.ActivateField("Field");

AppletListCol.ActivateField("Runtime");

AppletListCol.SetSearchSpec("Inactive", "N");

AppletListCol.ExecuteQuery();

var isRecordApplet = AppletListCol.FirstRecord();

BusCompBC.ClearToQuery();

BusCompBC.SetViewMode(3);

BusCompBC.SetSearchSpec("Name", AppletBC.GetFieldValue("Business

Component"));

BusCompBC.SetSearchSpec("Repository Name", "Siebel Repository");

BusCompBC.ExecuteQuery();

if(BusCompBC.FirstRecord())

{

var BusCompField = BusCompBO.GetBusComp("Repository Field");

BusCompField.ActivateField("Type");

BusCompField.ActivateField("Name");

BusCompField.ActivateField("Picklist");

BusCompField.ExecuteQuery();

while(isRecordTemplateItem)

{

controlname = WebTemplateItem.GetFieldValue("Control");

isRecordApplet = AppletListCol.FirstRecord();

while(isRecordApplet)

{

listcolname = AppletListCol.GetFieldValue("Name");

if(controlname == listcolname)

{

isRecordBC = BusCompField.FirstRecord();

while(isRecordBC)

{

bcfield = BusCompField.GetFieldValue("Name");

appletfield = AppletListCol.GetFieldValue("Field")

if(bcfield == appletfield)

{

if(BusCompField.GetFieldValue("PickList") != "")

picklist = "Y";

else

picklist = "N";

FinalStr = FinalStr +

AppletListCol.GetFieldValue("Display Name") +

"," + BusCompField.GetFieldValue("Type") +

"," + AppletListCol.GetFieldValue("Runtime") +

"," + picklist + "\x0a\x0d" ;

count++;

flagbreak = 1;

break;

}

isRecordBC = BusCompField.NextRecord();

}

}

if(flagbreak == 1)

{

flagbreak = 0;

break;

}

isRecordApplet = AppletListCol.NextRecord();

}

isRecordTemplateItem = WebTemplateItem.NextRecord();

}

TheApplication().RaiseErrorText(count + FinalStr);

}

}

}

}

35. Validating an Email Address in Siebel

35.1. RequirementA person should not be able to enter an invalid email address in the field.

35.2. Solution without ScriptingA simple expression in Validation column of the field can do the trick. The

expression is as following:

*@*?.?*

But this solution is not full proof and has the following limitations:

The error message displayed is not user friendly.

Not all the validations can be done. For example it fails if a user is

going to enter @@dfjkd.com as email id as we cannot check if the

character before @ is a valid character or not.

35.3. Solution with ScriptingFunction given below will return 1 the email id provided is valid and

return 0 if the email id is invalid

function ValidateEmail(emailid){ var pat = /(^[\w\.\+\-=]+@[\w\.\-]+\.[\w\-]+$)/g; var valid = emailid.replace(pat,”Y”); if(valid == “Y”) return(1); else return(0); }

36. Count (”MVL Link”) - reducing scriptingThis article describes how to use Count Function in calculated field involving

MVL link to count number of child records for a BC and then base our conditions on

that to fullfill our requirement.

Very often we have scenarios where conditions have to be set based on the

count or number of records in child BC. This can be achieved using the function

Count(“MVL Link”) in a Calculated expression and setting conditions with help of

user properties. Let’s understand it with help or a Requirement.

36.1. RequirementA field “Currency” in “Opportunity” BC should be read only based on the

number of records in child BC “Service Agreement“. If the agreement child

record count > 0 then Currency should be read only and it should be editable

if the child record count = 0.

36.2. Solution

Count (“MVL Link”) used as an expression in a calculated field returns the number of records in child BC.

Following configuration in Tools is required to achieve the above functionality:

» For the “Opportunity” Business component, create the Multi Value Link record “Service Agreement” and set the following property for the record: Destination Link = ” Opportunity/Service Agreement ”

» Add following fields to “Opportunity “ Business Component.

Name: Service Agreement CountCalculated: TrueCalculated Value: Count (”Service Agreement”)

Name: Currency Read Only FlagCalculated: TrueCalculated Value: IIF ([Service Agreement Count] = 0, “N”, “Y”)

» Add following BC User Property to Opportunity Business component to make Currency Field Read only

Name: Field Read Only Field: CurrencyValue: Currency Read Only Flag

This will make “Currency” Field editable only when Agreement record count = 0 and read only if agreement count > 0.

siebel reference doc

Documents