With the latest release of PeopleTools 8.54 , Oracle has introduced the Fluid User Interface experience.
Clicking on tile 'Applicant List' will open the designed Fluid UI page.
Best Practices:
The Fluid UI provides the users with the ability to access PeopleSoft applications
across a variety of form factors from smart phones to tablets to
desktops/laptops. Fluid also provides a common user experience on
variety of devices regardless of the screen size. Through this responsive
design, browser will resize itself depending on device size.
Lets have a look at the home page that is rendered after
the latest peopletools has been used.
The
important features of home pages are as below:
- Home Pages
- Tiles
- PeopleSoft Search widget
- Notifications widget
- Actions widget
- Navigation Bar widget.
The
fundamental feature of the Fluid Model is the Home Page which provides the base
for the users or the customers to navigate and carry out the respective works.
In a way
Fluid home pages are similar to the current home pages but fluid model provides the end user with the
new User experience that renders well on the dashboard or the home pages.
Tiles/Grouplets
are lifeline of Fluid UI page. Tiles help the user to navigate to a fluid page
or classic PIA page.
Business Benefits
- Device
independent
- Gives the
response based on user device
- Can be personalized
based on needs e.g. Tiles can be added or deleted from homepage based on
personal needs
Development Steps
Let us design a simple fluid UI page for following requirement..
- To create a fluid homepage for Recruiter
- To add a tile for Applicant search
1) Development
of Fluid Home Page
Developing
a fluid home page is fairly easy and is done through PIA.
Navigation:
Peopletools> Structure and Content>Fluid Structure and
Content>Fluid Homepages.
Add a new
homepage. Usage Type should be Landing Page as shown in figure below.
2)
Development
of a Fluid Component
Development
of a fluid component goes in the same traditional PeopleSoft way- creation of fields,
record, page, component, menu and finally creating the content reference. Fluid
properties are defined at page and component level.
Step1: Create a new fluid page
While
creating a new fluid page, choose Layout Page. Layout page is the template page
for a fluid UI page.
Step2: Select Fluid UI Page Properties
After page
is created, fluid UI properties can be set in Page properties.
In Page properties,
user should focus more on Form Factor Override and Suppress Form Factor.
Form Factor Override:
Overrides the style of page based on device size.
Suppress Form Factor: Suppresses
the page from displaying based on device size. E.g. If Small is checked, page will not appear on
most smart phones.
Step 3: Create a new component.
Creating a
new fluid component works in the same traditional PIA way. But the search pages
are not displayed for fluid applications.
Step 4: Set component fluid properties
As shown
in above figure, there are two main checkboxes, Fluid mode and Small Form Factor
Optimized
Step6: Add
the Tile in home page
Navigation: Main Menu>Fluid Home>Homepage
- Click on Action Widget
- Click on Personalize
- Click on Add Tile
- Select the content reference which has to be added as a tile.
Fluid UI is ready for test.
Clicking on tile 'Applicant List' will open the designed Fluid UI page.
Best Practices:
Always check Display on Small form Factor Homepage
while creating the content reference. This will show the tile on small devices
.
Limitations:
- Classic PIA search for a component does not work in Fluid. User should create a separate search by selecting the correct layout.
- Currently, only light weighted applications can be deployed in fluid mode e.g. components like add a person, job data which demands heavy data entry are not suited for fluid mode.
- Currently, some features, like spell check, rich text editor, Find In for grids, Download to Excel, modal movement or re-sizing, are not available in fluid.
Author:
Madhur Mohini
Kovaion-Peoplesoft Consulting Practice
Email: madhur.mohini@kovaion.com