GeeKs Blogging @ dotCOM » Configuration

Login Failed in Dedicated Web Client : MVF Issue

Himanshu Bajpai — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:18:49 +0000

Recently I have met with the Problem in form of defect. The Problem was related to Record Visibility in Activity.

There were activities created for SR as a result of Email Response and properly visible in Activity List Applet under SR. We have Pick Applet in SR Applet for fetching all Email related activities. But strangely same activities were not visible in the Pick Applet.

On investigation, we found that the Applet was based on a different BC i.e. Action Special.
Seeing Different BC It is understood there is a problem of Record Visibility.
And since BC Record visibility is controlled by BusComp View Mode, there were bound to be some issues.
We compared Action and Action Special BCs BusComp View Mode.

Following was the screenshot of BC -Action Special (click to enlarge)

Siebel BC Action-special screenshot

Following was the screenshot of BC-Action (click to enlarge)

Siebel BC-Action screenshot

Above Snapshot shows the difference clearly !!

As a Solution –
1) We made Action Special similar to Action BC and added Visibilty MVF as Organization and Visibility MVL as Organization.
2) Compiled SRF.
3) Login in dedicated Client.
Shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was throwing error of Wrong User Id and Password while few minutes back it was working fine.
Login again- Shock again-error again.

3rd Time Login (3 is my lucky number ), but error again but this time my luck was better. So error changed to something different and is indicated below (click to enlarge) -

Siebel Error - BC MVF Configuration issue

Since Organization MVL was not present in Action Special, I was not able login into the dedicated client.
Actually I did the View Mode Change by Compare Object utility on Action and Action Special BC. This smartness and laziness created the whole issue because compare object put the MVL and MVF even though MVL/MVF was not present in BC.

If you change the Visibility MVL/MVF Manually then you would not allowed by Siebel to pick MVL/MVF that is not present in BC.

But it is really good for me. Since I have learnt a lesson and that is generic.

Conclusion-If the Reference of MVL or MVF is not present in BC then you would not able to login Siebel Dedicated Client and you can expect to get the below error.
—————————
User ID or password that you entered is incorrect.
Please check the spelling and try again.
—————————

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more articles !!

Related posts:

Siebel – Unable to login to mobile client After long time I am writing a blog… This time...

Siebel Admin Mode Flag – II – Issue Log In the last post I described about Admin Mode Flag....

Siebel – Unable to launch Local Client Hi all, I was making a fresh install of Siebel...

Siebel Assets List view – Performance issue / Cannot display records Assets Screen Load is a major problem in Siebel, and...

BI – Actuate Reports in PDF format in Siebel Hi all, Siebel is well integrated with Actuate Reports, used...

Siebel Admin Mode Flag – II – Issue Log

Madhvi Arora — Mon, 17 May 2010 04:19:54 +0000

In the last post I described about Admin Mode Flag. However, the Admin mode flag is not always the Best way to go forward. It also comes with lots of perils of its own.

We faced certain problems on setting Admin Mode Flag which are:
1) Product Configurator does not work properly in Admin Mode. It throws error on loading as “Cannot load active Business Component”. So we had to remove the option of customizing products in Admin View
2) Since BC User properties do not work in Admin Mode, if you have invoked any method using Named Method, it will not work. You will need to invoke method through some other way in Admin view.
3) When we navigate from a Admin View to non-admin view in the same screen (if both non admin and admin views under same screen), BC User properties will be ignored even in non-admin view as we have navigated from admin view. So, this effects the functionality implemented for Non Admin view.
4) Related to same point above, if you are navigating from Admin View to non-admin view in the same screen, visibility settings will be ignored and all records will be visible under Non Admin view.

Please share your comments if you have faced any other problems in Admin View. Looking forward to a healthy discussion around this.

Related posts:
Siebel – Admin Mode Flag In my last project,we had a requirement of Admin Views,...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – II We discussed about fetching the values from the active view...

Login Failed in Dedicated Web Client : MVF Issue Recently I have met with the Problem in form of...

Siebel Admin – Gateway Name Server – An overview We discussed about the basic Siebel Server Architecture in our...

Siebel Assets List view – Performance issue / Cannot display records Assets Screen Load is a major problem in Siebel, and...

Siebel – Admin Mode Flag

Madhvi Arora — Sun, 02 May 2010 07:51:19 +0000

In my last project,we had a requirement of Admin Views, so the admin users if required can change the data from frontend and not going to backend and running update queries.

Admin Views are those views in which all the records are visible to the person who has access to this view irrespective of the position of the person.

Admin views can be created by setting “Admin Mode flag” on the view to “Y”.

Following affects take palce on setting the Admin Mode Flag:
1.Visibility rules are disabled.
2.The user properties in the BC are ignored.
This means that the user properties such as “Field Read Only Field”, “BC Read Only field” get disable for the view on which this flag is set to true.
3.If the view is in Admin mode, then the following restrictions for the business components used by the applets of the view are ignored: no insert, no merge, and no update. However, if these restrictions are set at the applet level rather than the business component level, or if a field has a Read Only value of TRUE, the Admin mode does not affect them.

Vanilla examles of Admin View are: Account Administration View and the Opportunity Administration view.

But due to disabling of these user properties, we faced some practical problems. I will discuss these in my next post. Stay tuned !

Related posts:
Siebel Admin Mode Flag – II – Issue Log In the last post I described about Admin Mode Flag....

Siebel Admin – Gateway Name Server – An overview We discussed about the basic Siebel Server Architecture in our...

Siebel – Run Case Insensitive queries This is a nice tip I ran across. All the...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – II We discussed about fetching the values from the active view...

Siebel – Make a field Required, conditionally There was a requirement in our project to make Account...

Siebel – Case Insensitivity (CIAI) Wizard

Nitin Jain — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:54:52 +0000

CIAI stands for Case Insensitive and Accent Insensitive in Siebel. This can be called the first post on GeeksBlogging@dotCOM on Siebel 8 New Features.

I had discussed about some traditional methods of controlling Case Sensitivity in Siebel queries. However, in version 8.0, Siebel has introduced a new feature of the CIAI Wizard which goes a step further in controlling this functionality. This has been carried forward in Siebel 8.1 albeit with some minor modifications.

This is about making searches on individual columns in a Siebel Database Case Independent. Following are the simple steps to configure it for a Siebel Technical Developer:
1) Navigate to Siebel Tools and select the correct Siebel Repository. This could be important in case you have multiple active Siebel Repositories in the System.
2) In Siebel Tools, Navigate to ‘Table’ and then ‘Column’ Object Type after expanding Table in the Object Explorer.
3) Select and highlight the columns on which you wish to run the CIAI Wizard (the ones you wish to make Case Insensitive).
4) Right-click and select ‘Case Insensitivity’ from the Pop Up menu. The CIAI Wizard starts at this time.
5) Review the Configuration Settings and the Export Listing Export Directory. Take this step seriously. It could be handy in Debug operations.
6) Complete the wizard using the ‘Next’ and ‘Finish’ buttons. The Wizard will configure the columns in the Siebel Repository to support CIAI Queries.

Siebel now reroutes the queries on the selected columns to the new columns created in Step (2) above.

Important: After this process is complete, you need to apply and activate the tables, and compile into the Siebel SRF for the changes to take effect.

Upgrade: It is important for the upgrade process to complete, in case you are upgrading to Siebel 8.x from previous versions, before running the CIAI Wizard.

Good News: It is possible to revert the changes done by the CIAI Wizard in case you feel you have messed up something.

In principle, the CIAI Wizard does the following changes in the Database:
1) Set the Default Sensitivity Property for the particular columns to “DB Case & Accent” in the Siebel Database.
2) For each eligible Base column, creates a new CIAI Column with the Base column value converted to UPPERCASE.
3) Deletes old indexes, and recreates them with the Case Insensitivity as defined, referring to the new CIAI columns defined in Step (2).
4) Sets flags and performs other configuration operations in the repository to support CIAI queries

Warning:
The changes once made by using the CIAI Wizard may be undone. However, there is a flaw in the documentation. The columns that were created on the Base Table by the CIAI Wizard need to be manually Inactivated before trying to revert the CIAI Changes.

The documentation says that the CIAI Wizard inactivates the column automatically. However, in practice that is not the case! Do add in case you have had any weird experience using the CIAI.

Related posts:
Siebel – Run Case Insensitive queries This is a nice tip I ran across. All the...

Siebel EIM – Custom column mapping It’s a very basic concept explaining how we can generate...

Siebel EIM – Custom table mapping This article is similar to my previous article (Siebel EIM...

Siebel EIM – Nomenclature of Custom Column Previous post regarding new custom columns mapping in EIM table...

Siebel – Upgrade Process – Part II This is a continuation from the post, Siebel – Upgrade...

Siebel – Run Case Insensitive queries

Nitin Jain — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:41:15 +0000

This is a nice tip I ran across. All the Siebel Developers use Siebel Tools and Siebel Web Client extensively. And, each one of us run over a hundred queries daily. However, when querying for some data, for eg. a Business Service Name in Tools, Siebel generally demands we enter the correct case. To streamline the process and improve productivity, I continuously keep making minor modifications in my environment settings.

Method 1:
Open your corresponding CFG file in Edit mode (for Tools or for the Client). Navigate to the corresponding section for the Datasource, Sample, Local, Server or some other custom section. Search for the following parameter and update the value from FALSE to TRUE.

CaseInsensitive = TRUE

This parameter is available in both the Siebel Tools and the Siebel Client CFGs, both on the Local and on the Server.

Method 2:
This method will work on the Server.

In the Siebel Web Client, login with Server Admin priviledges. Navigate to the following path:
Sitemap -> Administration – Server Configuration -> Profile Configuration (tab)

Query for the ‘Profile’ with the name, “Server Datasource”.
From the bottom-most applet, search for the parameter with Alias, “DSCaseInsensitiveFlg”. The parameter would have the ‘Name’, “Database Case Insensitive Flag”. Set the value to TRUE.

And you are ready to go.

Warning:
There is a field level setting that makes the query on that particular field Case Sensitive or Insensitive. It appears as a property with the name “Use Default Sensitivity” corresponding to every Business Component field.

Siebel Help says it would work with only the Id fields, and only those Id fields which are exposed corresponding to the Business Fields. We cannot set this for eg. for the field, ‘Id’, corresponding to ROW_ID in the Database Column. However, in practice, this property seems to work for all the Varchar type fields.

Ensure the flag in this field is ticked, such that this value is always, TRUE.

Be fast, be more productive, Outperform!!

Related posts:
Siebel – Case Insensitivity (CIAI) Wizard CIAI stands for Case Insensitive and Accent Insensitive in Siebel....

Siebel – Unable to login to mobile client After long time I am writing a blog… This time...

Siebel – ActivateField() split wide open In Siebel, we generally tend to use the fields on...

Siebel – Number of rows displayed in List Applet Siebel Web Client by default shows only the first 7...

Siebel – InvokeServiceMethod() on Calculated Fields InvokeServiceMethod() is used to invoke Business Services and take values...

Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Change default ‘X_’

Nitin Jain — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 06:20:30 +0000

This is a smaill tip I was working on, which got me interested in Symbolic Strings all of a sudden. We have already discussed previously about the Symbolic Strings
Siebel – Symbolic Strings
Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Usage

In the usage section we outlined how every new record is automatically prefixed with ‘X_’. This could be a typical problem, as in most of the projects we follow a specific naming convention for all the custom objects. This is also a recommended practice by experts for easy identification.

Let’s see if we have a requirement such that all custom objects in Siebel must begin with ‘GEEK_’ in place of ‘X_’, how we may implement this in case of Symbolic Strings.

Navigate to your tools.cfg corresponding to the your Siebel installation where you want to change this.
Navigate to the section titled, ‘[Siebel]‘.
Look for the parameter, “SymStrPrefix”

My guess is, you would find the following as per Siebel vanilla:

[Siebel]
; SymStrPrefix parameter needs to be X_ for Siebel Customers.
SymStrPrefix = X_

Now, change this value from ‘X_’ to ‘GEEK_’. The section should now look like:

[Siebel]
; SymStrPrefix parameter needs to be X_ for Siebel Customers.
SymStrPrefix = GEEK_

Save and close.

Voila! Now, if you try to create a new Symbolic String, it would be preceded with ‘GEEK_’ rather than Siebel OOB, ‘X_’.
Hope it helps somebody, someday!

Related posts:
Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Usage Symbolic Strings appear directly in Siebel Tools’ Object Explorer, an...

Siebel – Symbolic Strings Consider this a brief introductory tutorial on Symbolic Strings in...

Metalink3 to My Oracle Support – Change Log There are a number of significant changes, or enhancements coming...

Siebel – Unable to check out objects I will discuss the following most prominent ways to enable...

Siebel – Run Case Insensitive queries This is a nice tip I ran across. All the...

Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Usage

Nitin Jain — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 05:59:24 +0000

Symbolic Strings appear directly in Siebel Tools’ Object Explorer, an independent object. It has a child object of Symbolic String Locale, where you may define the individual translations for all the different languages in use in your project.

In case it is not visible directly, navigate to View -> Options -> Object Explorer tab, and enable the Symbolic Strings object if not already visible.

Now, you are ready to go!
Navigate to Symbolic Strings. You would note that most of the Symbolic Strings would appear with the prefix ‘SBL_’.

Do a NewRecord. Notice that the string ‘X_’ appears by default for the custom string. Don’t try to change it, even if you do, you would not be able to save it!
Edit the value, to something say, “X_DUMMY_STRING”. Fill out all the other relevant columns. It is generally preferred to keep all the custom Symbolic Strings in a separate project to enable easy check-in and check-out. Save the record.

Navigate to the Symbolic String Locale child object, in the Object Explorer. Do a new record, and enter values as per the requirement. Beware that the Language Name takes up the 3 character representation of the language, eg, ENU, SVE, etc.

Now for some under the hood details for the ones interested.
Symbolic Strings data is stored in the table, S_SYM_STR. Local data is stored in the table, S_SYM_STR_INTL. The various objects like the Applet Captions store Foreign Key references to the table S_SYM_STR to refer these Symbolic Strings.

The Symbolic Strings need to be compiled into the Siebel SRF. Be careful here as at times, developers have reported that mere compilation of the Symbolic Strings didn’t work in their case, and they had to compile the individual objects, like the applets too, into the Siebel SRF to make it work.

If a value is present in the String Override field of the particular control, it will take precedence over the Symbolic String referred. This is another point to be noted in their usage.

It is a generally recommended practice to always create a new project for the custom Symbolic Strings. For modifications, check-out and check-in the entire custom project, and not the individual objects. Strange behaviours have been reported if this is not followed. One typical problem is that you would only be able to work on the language of your local tools, multi language behaviour will be lost.

Related posts:
Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Change default ‘X_’ This is a smaill tip I was working on, which...

Siebel – Symbolic Strings Consider this a brief introductory tutorial on Symbolic Strings in...

Siebel – EAI Queue – Usage I had introduced the concept of Siebel EAI Queues in...

Siebel – Unable to check out objects I will discuss the following most prominent ways to enable...

Siebel – getMilliseconds() usage Siebel by default displays all dates in the system accurate...

Siebel – Left, Right and from the Middle

Nitin Jain — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:04:28 +0000

Extracting a sub string from a lengthy string in Siebel. What is the best solution you can think up for this typical problem? I know, I know, you and you colleagues have done this thousands of times before. But, have you ever successfully done it without using a single line of scripting?!!

Now, it becomes interesting!

Not that I am saying, it’s entirely possible only by configuration. At the very least I don’t know how it’s possible that way.

Let’s assume a test string:
var strng = “abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890″;

Requirement : Take the first 5 characters from the above string in another substring
Solution 1:
var sub_strng = strng.substr( 0,5 );

Output:
abcde

Solution 2 : Using Left() function.
Take it in a Calculated field. Use the expression,
Left( strng, 5 )

Output:
abcde
I have noticed that at times, this does not work within eScript. Should work with VB and in Calculated Expressions.

Requirement : Take the last 5 characters from the above string in another substring
Solution 1:
var sub_strng = strng.substr( (strng.length – 5),5 );

Output:
67890

Solution 2 : Using Right() function.
Take it in a Calculated field. Use the expression,
Right( strng,5 )

Output:
67890
I have noticed that at times, this does not work within eScript. Should work with VB and in Calculated Expressions.

Requirement : Take the middle 5 characters from the above string in another substring (assume ‘cdefg’)
Solution 1:
var sub_strng = strng.substr( 2,5 );

Output:
cdefg

Solution 2 : Using Mid() function.
Take it in a Calculated field. Use the expression,
Mid( strng,2,5 )

Output:
cdefg
I have noticed that at times, this does not work within eScript. Should work with VB and in Calculated Expressions.

Using Calculated Expressions where these are very commonly required, does save scripting at times.

Trust me, this really works!!

Related posts:
Siebel – InvokeServiceMethod() on Calculated Fields InvokeServiceMethod() is used to invoke Business Services and take values...

Siebel – Make MVG Field required – II Hi friends, This is a follow-up post of the post...

Siebel – Make a field Required, conditionally There was a requirement in our project to make Account...

Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Usage Symbolic Strings appear directly in Siebel Tools’ Object Explorer, an...

Siebel – EAI Siebel Adapter Search Spec Hi, I can bet that for anybody who has worked...

Siebel – Symbolic Strings

Nitin Jain — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 05:13:06 +0000

Consider this a brief introductory tutorial on Symbolic Strings in Siebel. Symbolic Strings are from amongst the most commonly used entities in Siebel, especially in Siebel Multi lingual deployments.

They can greatly reduce the job of initializing, deploying, tracking, modifying all the plethora of error/warning messages that you may generally come across in a typical Siebel CRM application.

The Symbolic Strings centralize all the English and non-english language messages at one place in Siebel, where you to manage. You always have the option of doing this independently at all the individual places in Applets, Business Components and the like, but, it is really not recommended.

Symbolic Strings are defined and managed from within Siebel Tools. This Siebel feature was introduced for the first time with Siebel 7.7 (there was a big bunch of innovations that came with this Siebel version for the first time), and has persisted since. So, it could be one serious consideration if you are looking to upgrade from an older Siebel version.

But be careful. Some of the data is not converted to Symbolic Strings automatically during upgrade. This includes, Seed Data, Error Messages, LOVs, lots of non translable attributes, etc. These continue to use the Local based string values.

Migrating to Symbolic Strings in case of upgrade, using the Siebel Conversion and Consolidation process, though could be useful in many ways, is a different topic in itself.

Some of the typical scenarios where Symbolic Strings may be applicable are:
1) Displaying the same string at a number of places in Applets
Assume you have multiple Applets based on the same BC (Sales, Manager, Admin, External) exposing some of the common fields. Why to declare them repeatedly each time (though Siebel still allows you to do that!)? You can just go in to create a Symbolic String. Refer this Symbolic String in the value. Use of the String Override function should be reduced as much as possible!

2) Displaying the same string differently in multiple languages in the application
Either define the different caption for different languages by using the locale option corresponding to the control, else, better still, go in for Symbolic Strings!

Some of the typical advantages of using Siebel Symbolic Strings in your application are:
1) Avoiding redundancy and duplicacy, of course!
2) A centralized place for declaring and updating these user messages.
3) In the process, reducing maintenance, and enhancing value.
4) Reduced development time cycle (the obvious buzzword, TAT!!), and costs.

Do note that some of the other kinds of strings, like LOVs, PDQs, etc. are not covered as a part of the Symbolic Strings functionality. These are defined and used differently in Siebel system.

Related posts:
Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Usage Symbolic Strings appear directly in Siebel Tools’ Object Explorer, an...

Siebel – Symbolic Strings – Change default ‘X_’ This is a smaill tip I was working on, which...

Siebel – Upgrade Process – Part II This is a continuation from the post, Siebel – Upgrade...

Query on the Long Column or Field A typical problem in any EAI project. Others too!! One...

Siebel – EAI Queue Okay, what are you thinking about? Is it Middlewares in...

Siebel Configuration – A day in life

Nitin Jain — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:14:29 +0000

Consider this article as a simple overview of Siebel Configuration. We will cover how a typical day in the life of a Siebel Configurator is most likely to be like.

Siebel is a Tool in itself. It is a Customer Relationship Management system, which Oracle has kept as close to the global standards as it could, and it has done a good job at that, I must say. In most cases, it is similar to any customized CRM software you may come across, just that most of the views, and Data Organization that you would yearn for, would be available Out of the Box when you install Siebel CRM.

However, just like no two people in the world are the same, no two organizations in the world are the same. The Business Requirements vary with every Corporate Group in the world. Though Oracle’s Siebel CRM is as close to the global standards as possible, yet there is ample room where you feel it is either too heavy for your needs, or too light. I have come across both ends of the extreme in my career, and so can safely say that both of these exist.

Along with different requirements come the difference in approach, what the Orders screen should look like, and which all fields must be required when creating an Opportunity in the system, for example. It could also be as complex as changing the functional process in Siebel itself. For eg. Siebel supports the concept of both Leads and Opportunities, while many Business Practices in the world don’t have both of them together. When you begin to modify an existing Asset, Siebel by itself creates a Quote first. Many businesses prefer going to the Order in the cycle altogether.

Here comes Siebel Configuration. It refers to modifying Siebel Out of the Box, or the Vanilla features as they are popularly called, and to customize them as per the Business Requirement. Joins, Links, MVGs, Business Components, Workflows, Scripts, User Properties and many more are popular terms associated with the Siebel Domain. The modifications to the Siebel Applications are done more in Siebel Tools than in a Siebel Web Client.

Major Pain Areas:
1) Quite Common skill in Siebel Community.

Advantages of being a Siebel Configuration Expert:
1) The level of expertise you can gain is immense. There are too many things that Siebel provides OOB for which we may customize. Good Siebel Configurators really help improve Siebel Performance which actually define success of Siebel CRM Implementations.
2) All Siebel projects need this skill, and in quite a large numbers. So, you can rest assured, recession or no recession, you will never be out of job.
3) Exposes most of Siebel OOB functionality, such that you get accustomed to the global standards in any process, be it Order Management, or Campaign Handling.
4) Generally, no late working hours. At least not as much in modules like Server Admin, or Siebel EIM.
5) Siebel always pays well.
6) Extremely high team involvement. Everybody would be buddies with you.

This is the most popular Siebel domain, and skills are in need in any Siebel project. This could be a nice thing to settle down in the later years of your life.

Related posts:
Siebel EIM Career – A day in Life Consider this article as a simple overview of Siebel EIM....

Siebel – Why Upgrade? – Part II This is a continuation of the post, “Siebel – Why...

Siebel – Popup Update Only Hi all, I was working with Siebel Multi Valued Links...

Siebel – Vanilla Functionality What is Siebel Vanilla functionality? Somebody recently asked me this...

Siebel – An Introduction to different modules In the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) space, Siebel CRM is...

Siebel – Autosave Opportunity data – Sample Code

Renuka Ankam — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:37:55 +0000

This is a follow up post on my previous post, Siebel – Autosave Opportunity data – The concept where I introduced the concept and analysis of the following problem statement:
“System should have capability to automatically save opportunity (RFPs) data in Draft state after a certain interval.”

Following is the sample code for solving the above problem statement.

Applet Browser Scripts:-

Event: – Applet_PreInvokeMethod

Language: – eScript

function Applet_PreInvokeMethod (name, inputPropSet)

{

if(name == ‘NewRecord’)

{

var timemsg = setTimeout(“alert(‘Please Fill up all the field value. Otherwise Autosave of the current record will be done!’)”,15000);

theApplication().SetProfileAttr(“AutoSaveNew”,”Y”);

}

return (“ContinueOperation”);

}

Event: – Applet_Load

function Applet_Load ()

{

//var aOppty = this.BusComp();

//var oAccount = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Account”);

//var oCurrCd = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Currency Code”);

//var oName = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Name”);

//var oPrRevDt = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Primary Revenue Close Date”);

If (theApplication().GetProfileAttr(“AutoSaveLoad”)<>”Y”)

{

var timemsg = setTimeout(“alert(‘Please Fill up all the field value.Otherwise Autosave of the current record will be done!’)”,15000);

theApplication().SetProfileAttr(“AutoSaveLoad”,”Y”);

}

———————————————————————————————

Bus Comp. Server Script:

Event: – BusComp_SetFieldValue

Language: – VBScript

function BusComp_PreWriteRecord ()
{

var aOppty = this.BusComp();

var oAccount = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Account”);

var oCurrCd = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Currency Code”);

var oName = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Name”);

var oPrRevDt = aOppty.GetFieldValue(“Primary Revenue Close Date”);

this.ActivateField(“Account”)

this.ActivateField(“Currency Code”)

this.ActivateField(“Name”)

this.ActivateField(“Primary Revenue Close Date”)

//These below mentioned ones are the required fields being predefaulted by certain values

If ((this.GetFieldValue(“Account “) <> “”) And (this.GetFieldValue(“Currency Code”) <> “”) And (this.GetFieldValue(“Name”) <> “”) And (this.GetFieldValue(“Primary Revenue Close Date”) <> “”) And (TheApplication.GetProfileAttr(“AutoSaveNew “) = “Y” Or TheApplication.GetProfileAttr(“AutoSaveLoad “) = “Y” ))Then

this.Setfieldvalue( “Account “, oAccount);

this.Setfieldvalue (“Currency Code”, oCurrCd);

this.Setfieldvalue (“Name”, oName);

this.Setfieldvalue (“Primary Revenue Close Date”, oPrRevDt);

TheApplication().SetProfileAttr (” AutoSaveLoad “,”N” );

TheApplication().SetProfileAttr (” AutoSaveNew “,”N”)

this.WriteRecord

}

I hope this has been a nice post.

Related posts:
Siebel – Autosave Opportunity data – The concept Requirement: System should have capability to automatically save opportunity(RFPs) data...

Siebel – HTML Code displayed in Error Message There was a requirement in our project to make Account...

Siebel – ActivateField() split wide open In Siebel, we generally tend to use the fields on...

Siebel – Adding License Keys to Sample I am glad to be associated with Geeks Blogging @...

Siebel – About SRF Window – Remove data Okay. This is something those who like to toy with...

Siebel – Autosave Opportunity data – The concept

Renuka Ankam — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:33:07 +0000

Requirement:
System should have capability to automatically save opportunity(RFPs) data in Draft state after a certain interval.

Presumption:

1) The Business Component to be used for the UI applet should not have any required fields at the Table or BC level itself or All the required fields should be pre-defaulted with some unique values.

2) There should not be any dependency of setting the field value from any other Siebel Objects like: Applet level Browser/Server scripts, Bus comp Browser/Server scripts, Application Browser/Server scripts to the target Business Components.

3) The pre-defaulted values of the required fields (if present) will be visible in the applets and the user then can set the field values according to their needs when and wherever required.

4) In our solution, after loading of the applet or after the new record creation a pop up warning message will be thrown to the user after certain duration (say 20 sec) mentioning that the current record will be saved in the database it its current form. The user need to change the field value within this duration, otherwise the record will be saved in the database in its current state.

I have outlined the basic assumptions, as a part of the Case Study. Also, a brief conceptual background is outlined above. I will present the sample code that we used behind the scenes in the following posts. Till then, you can also think of some solutions and start putting them up in this thread.

Related posts:
Siebel – Autosave Opportunity data – Sample Code This is a follow up post on my previous post,...

Siebel – Reading data directly from Siebel SRF SRF or the Siebel Repository File as it is more...

Siebel – Make MVG Field required Siebel supports the concept of Multi Valued Fields, or the...

Siebel – About SRF Window – Remove data Okay. This is something those who like to toy with...

Siebel – Make a field Required, conditionally There was a requirement in our project to make Account...

Siebel – Merge Records – Checklist

Nitin Jain — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:42:10 +0000

I call this Part III, and concluding part of a series of my posts on the Merge Records functionality in Siebel CRM. You may want to take a look at the previous 2 parts below:
Siebel – Merge Records functionality
Siebel – Automating Merging Records by script – II

Though this looks like a very interesting and useful utility from the face of it, it can be dangerous too.

If you decide to go ahead with this functionality for 2 records, I doubt if there is a way you can recover both the records once again. This is the most dangerous aspect that I see with the automation concept we discussed in Part II of the Merge Records series of posts.

I also came across a few more issues with the Merge Records functionality. I am penning them down here.

Bookshelf says, when the two records are merged, only the top level, or at most top 2 level records are merged. This is particularly important concept if we consider the case of merging the Account records, for example. We could have contacts and their activities associated with these two Account Records. As per the Bookshelf, only the Account and Contact records should have merged. However, from the face of it, it seems, the Activities records also merge practically.

When we merge two records, Duplicate records are created on the MVG based fields. For eg. merging Person A record with Person B record, would create two records under the Language MVG even if both the original contacts had the same value for Language. The only suggested solution is to remove the duplicate records through scripts (Baad solution proposed, I must say!).

Single value fields are not updated after the Merge Records process. Merge Record process updates the child records by means of Links and Joins based on the Foreign Key fields. Siebel recommends the use of “Data Quality” Siebel OOB functionality. It is available under the head, Administration – Data Quality.

Position records are not merged when mergin Contact records. How could Siebel miss out on such important stuff.

And many more….

The more I explored about it, the more interested I got in the complete MergeRecord functionality. Try running a simple search on Metalink with the Search String, “Merge Records”. I am sure you would become interested, too.

Related posts:
Siebel – Merge Records Functionality How many times have we realized that there are multiple...

Siebel – Automating Merge Records by script – II I call this Part II, as I have already introduced...

Siebel – Looping multiple records – Update records Hi, We often come across a requirement where we need...

Siebel – Scrolling between records – UP and DOWN Generally in Siebel Client, we very often have the need...

Siebel – SIA BC Utility Service – Loop multiple records This is a vanilla business service which provides an extensive...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – III

Nitin Jain — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:59:53 +0000

I will discuss a practical example, and the corresponding Inputs as a usage example for the “FINS Data Transfer Utilities”. If you have not already done so, I would suggest going through the previous posts for a better understanding:
Siebel – Fetch Active view properties
Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – II

I will share a practical usage example for the above vanilla BS here.
Launch your Siebel Client. Navigate to the screen,
Administration – Business Services -> Scripts
Press ‘New’. I chose the name, “04 Nitin Test” for my Test BS.

Write a small piece of code in the method, “Service_PreInvokeMethod”, and the language as eScript.

Sample code is as follows:

function Service_PreInvokeMethod (MethodName, Inputs, Outputs)
{

var Input_ps = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();
var Output_ps = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

var bs_FINS = TheApplication().GetService(“FINS Data Transfer Utilities”);
bs_FINS.InvokeMethod(“GetActiveViewProp”, Input_ps, Output_ps);

TheApplication().RaiseErrorText(Output_ps.GetProperty(“”) );

return (CancelOperation);
}

You can replace the with the desired parameter one by one, to see the corresponding output. As a sample, I got the following outputs in my Siebel setup:

Output Argument Value

BusinessObject Business Service

IsAdminMode N

Screen

ThreadApplet Business Service Test List Applet

View Business Service Test View

ViewModeCode 4

There are two strange observations in the table above.
1) The Output Argument, “Screen” returns NULL. Now, I am obviously within a screen, which has a name. Why is it NULL?

2) It has returned the ViewMode “4″.

A simple Lookup in Siebel Tools F1 help lists the following ViewModes of a view:
SalesRepView (0)
ManagerView (1)
PersonalView (2)
AllView (3)
OrganizationView (5)
GroupView (7)
CatalogView (8)
SubOrganizationView (9)

Notice carefully, 4 is not in the list!

Related posts:
Siebel – Fetch Active view properties Hi, Working on a typical requirement recently, I came across...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – II We discussed about fetching the values from the active view...

Siebel Assets List view – Performance issue / Cannot display records Assets Screen Load is a major problem in Siebel, and...

Siebel – InvokeServiceMethod() on Calculated Fields InvokeServiceMethod() is used to invoke Business Services and take values...

Siebel – getMilliseconds() usage Siebel by default displays all dates in the system accurate...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – II

Nitin Jain — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:03:27 +0000

We discussed about fetching the values from the active view in my post yesterday.

However, I also felt that it was a very crude way of doing it. We can only get the information we need, by writing a small script for it. Moreover, the information was very limited.

I also came across an alternative method to get the details from the Active View. Try searching for the Business Service, “FINS Data Transfer Utilities” in your Siebel Tools. It has a method, “GetActiveViewProp”, which can help us achieve our objectives. Moreover, it supports our point of view of Scriptless Solutions!

Usage:
The BS, “FINS Data Transfer Utilities” does not take in any Input Arguments for the method, “GetActiveViewProp”. We can, thus, directly call this BS in Scripts or Workflows as the requirement may be.

There are a number of outputs, however, that return the corresponding data for the logged in user.
BusinessObject
This would return the Business Object of the view active at the time of invoking this Business Service.

IsAdminMode
This would determine if the current view works in Admin Mode. Admin Mode gives you extra priviledges on a particular view.
The Admin Mode is defined by the “Admin Mode Flag” on the property corresponding to the View in the Siebel Tools Object Explorer.

Screen
The name of the screen that the current view is a part of.

ThreadApplet
Name of the Thread Applet in the current focus.

View
The name of the active view.

ViewModeCode
This is returned in the form of a Code (a number). This defines the View Mode of the current view in focus.

I feel this post is getting too long. I’ll post a follow-up post with a practical example.

Related posts:
Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – III I will discuss a practical example, and the corresponding Inputs...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties Hi, Working on a typical requirement recently, I came across...

Siebel Admin Mode Flag – II – Issue Log In the last post I described about Admin Mode Flag....

Siebel Assets List view – Performance issue / Cannot display records Assets Screen Load is a major problem in Siebel, and...

Siebel – Forcing User Logoff Hi all, Somebody recently asked me if there is a...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties

Nitin Jain — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:10:39 +0000

Hi,

Working on a typical requirement recently, I came across a need to fetch the properties from the user’s active view. This was an attempt to recognize the user, and the details about the Siebel view/screen he was in.

On research we can see that there are a number of Application level methods which we have at our disposal.

We see that we can get the active Business Object name using the format:
TheApplication().ActiveBusObject();

Also, the active view name may be fetched using:
TheApplication().ActiveViewName();

The Login Id of the user logged in may be fetched using:
TheApplication().LoginId();

The Name of Logged in user (the one that is typed into the Login box) may be fetched using:
TheApplication().LoginName();

The Position ID may be fetched using:
TheApplication().PositionId();

The position name of the user logged in may be fetched using:
TheApplication().PositionName();

.. and maybe some more, in case I missed out on any.

However, this is very limited information (though may be sufficient for some requirements). More so, if we notice, the information is mostly User oriented rather than being Siebel session oriented.

We will explore further if there is a way to get more detailed information of the current view. Even simple topics turn into series of posts. There is so much to explore and share in Siebel..!!

Related posts:
Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – II We discussed about fetching the values from the active view...

Siebel – Fetch Active view properties – III I will discuss a practical example, and the corresponding Inputs...

Siebel Assets List view – Performance issue / Cannot display records Assets Screen Load is a major problem in Siebel, and...

Siebel – Admin Mode Flag In my last project,we had a requirement of Admin Views,...

Siebel – Popup Update Only Hi all, I was working with Siebel Multi Valued Links...

Siebel – Automating Merge Records by script – II

Nitin Jain — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 06:02:08 +0000

I call this Part II, as I have already introduced the Merge Records Siebel functionality, and discussed its usage in his post. One of the interesting discussions we had was how such a data could possibly be inserted into the Siebel system, since Siebel has so many mechanisms to prevent Data Corruption. We had also zeroed in on EIM and EAI as the basic culprits which could possibly insert inconsistent data into the Siebel Database.

When such a thing happens on sucha large scale, or when we know the exact pattern whereby we can detect these duplicate records in the system, we may look at options to automate the process of Merging Records. How nice would it be if we could just somehow put it all up in a workflow or script which would achieve the above objective.

Exploring further on the topic, I came to realize that there is an undocumented BC method which we may fire to achieve the objective above. Try looking at the script below:

var Target_Id = “Dummy-001″;
var Source_Id = “Dummy-002″;
var bo_Contact = TheApplication().GetBusObject(“Contact”);
var bc_Contact = bo_Contact.GetBusComp(“Contact”);

bc_Contact.InvokeMethod(“SetAdminMode”, “TRUE”);
bc_Contact.SetViewMode(All);
bc_Contact.ClearToQuery();
bc_Contact.SetSearchSpec(“Id”, Source_Id + ” OR ” + Target_Id );
bc_Contact.ExecuteQuery(ForwardBackward);

if (bc_Contact.FirstRecord())
{
while (bc_Contact.GetFieldValue(“Id”) != Target_Id)
{
bc_Contact.NextRecord()
}
bc_Contact.InvokeMethod(“MergeRecords”, Source_Id);
}

If you notice carefully, we have invoked the method, “MergeRecords” on the Contact BC. The Contact BC has the class, “CSSBCContactSIS” which definitely, thus, supports this method. My guess would be that this method would be supported for all the BCs, where the vanilla Edit -> Merge Records functionality is enabled for the corresponding views. I haven’t actually gone further than this.

If somebody has had any other experience with Merge Records, please do share!

Related posts:
Siebel – Merge Records – Checklist I call this Part III, and concluding part of a...

Siebel – Merge Records Functionality How many times have we realized that there are multiple...

Siebel – Looping multiple records – Update records Hi, We often come across a requirement where we need...

Siebel – EAI Siebel Adapter – Looping Multiple Records This is a follow-up post on the post, Siebel –...

Siebel – Looping Multiple Records – III Looping through multiple records is a requirement we come across...

Siebel – Merge Records Functionality

Nitin Jain — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:40:21 +0000

How many times have we realized that there are multiple records exisiting in our database with nearly the same values? The next though with a bolt of lightning is, how the hell were two records with similar data entered into the system, with all the fundamentals of Primary Keys and User Keys.

Well, the answer could be that though none of the User Keys were violated, data was common in the other fields except the User Key fields. For example, we may end up having two Contact records in our system, which we realize actually point to the same CONTACT. So much so for blasphemously expensive CRM Systems!

Before you actually pounce onto the Sales Rep, hey, the contact himself could have given two different mobile numbers to two different Sales Reps, couldn’t he? And, we can’t obviously forget the scenarios where loads and loads of low quality data is imported via our famous EIM / EAI processes into our poor Siebel system, which then has to bear the brunt of everything. Continuous Business scenario changes themselves mandating some of the changes in our Data Organization is another issue.

In any case, the problem is evident. Let’s try to work at solutions.
Siebel provides an OOB vanilla functionality called “Merge Records…” to handle such scenarios. Following is the process you can use:
1) Select the two records in the appropriate Siebel view, for eg. You may use CTRL to select 2 records.

Remember here that the record you select 2nd will become the target record. This will be the record that remains after the Merge Process. The record selected first will vanish. This may look up the corresponding record Row Ids to verify it on your own.

2) From the Application menu, choose, Edit -> Merge Records.

Do note that the Merge Records functionality is not available for all the views. The menu item Merge Records will be greyed out for the views where the functionality is not supported.

3) Click OK in the confirmation applet that appears.

The Merge process will now be performed, and the record selected first in the process will vanish. Also, you will notice that the data from the original record now appears in the left-over record. In other words, the data from first record has been MERGED into the second record! Also, the associated entities such as corresponding Opportunities, Activities, etc. will also be merged into the new record. This is the part which is most interesting.

I understand if some of you feel this is something very trivial. Personally, I found it very interesting. Will post a couple of more posts on this topic soon.

Related posts:
Siebel – Merge Records – Checklist I call this Part III, and concluding part of a...

Siebel – Automating Merge Records by script – II I call this Part II, as I have already introduced...

Siebel – Scrolling between records – UP and DOWN Generally in Siebel Client, we very often have the need...

Siebel – Vanilla Functionality What is Siebel Vanilla functionality? Somebody recently asked me this...

Siebel – Looping multiple records – Update records Hi, We often come across a requirement where we need...

Siebel – FINS Teller UI Navigation

Nitin Jain — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:55:04 +0000

Siebel is POWERFUL! Now, need I even say that? And, in all its beauty and glory is the vanilla functionality. I keep coming across something new and novel everyday, and wondering, what percentage of 1% of Siebel do I now understand?!!

Here is another such Business Service that I came across the other day, “FINS Teller UI Navigation”. It has the following methods (my uncalled personal analysis is mentioned herewith):

1) CallBusSvc
This takes in only one Method Argument, “Method Argument”.
After trying to work out as to what this one could possibly mean, I promptly noticed the comments by the kind developer, “A general purpose business service wrapper to be called from Command objects”. After this, I guess we can give it a pass!

2) GotoView
A very powerful method as I see it. It automatically forces a particular view on the User. I see it very useful from security point of view, in redirecting the user to a specific view, in case he dares enter the forbidden territory. Mind you, Siebel’s in-built Access Control mechanism and other security armour makes this seem almost trivial. This could also be a big help when designing help, to automatically navigate the user to a specific Siebel View.

It takes in the following two Input Arguments:
BusObj, and,
ViewName (mandatory)

3) RefreshCurrentApplet
This is a very powerful method provided, and I guess, the most important one. It takes in the following Input Arguments:
Refresh All!!

It will refresh the current context of the Applet. We have already covered this method in detail previously. Click here.

Related posts:
Siebel – FINS Industry XML Query Service “Extracting values from a tag deep down in the Hierarchy.”...

Siebel – SIA BC Utility Service – Loop multiple records This is a vanilla business service which provides an extensive...

Siebel – SIA BC Utility Service – Invoke BC Method I had discussed about the vanilla Business Service, “SIA BC...

Siebel – SIS OM PMT Service There are lots of vanilla business services available in Siebel...

Siebel – EAI Siebel Adapter – Looping Multiple Records This is a follow-up post on the post, Siebel –...

Siebel – Refresh Applet retaining existing context

Nitin Jain — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:34:09 +0000

RefreshRecord() does not work in all cases, does it?

This is a very common requirement I have seen in almost all Siebel EAI implementations. We have data flowing IN and OUT of the Siebel CRM system. It is updated in the Database alright, but, how do we update the user on the UI. I am assuming a quick data interchange in Real-time using a VBC or a Web Service or something similar. Whenever we update the Database using a Workflow or a script here, the UI will not refresh automatically, and though the process would end successfully (I hope it does), the user would never come to know about the successful updation until he manually does a Query + Go on the Applet, or uses the famed Alt+Enter Hotkey.

Above is the problem. What is the potential solution to it? A number of solutions actually. Some of the most common solutions to this problem that I have seem so far are:

1) RefreshRecord()
This is a vanilla method declared at the Business Component level. You can directly use it in script in certain events as per the requirement, in BC Server Script to achieve the desired objective of refreshing the applet, on a specific event. Siebel says this will work on all Account based BCs (if I recollect clearly). However, by my experience, two major issues:
Not all BCs I want to update fall in this category.
Even the BCs where I expect it to work, the approach doesn’t work.

2) Query and Go
This is basically a very baad and performance hit simulation of the vanilla Query and Go functionality. Try using Alt+R and Enter functionality on a particular screen in Siebel. Issues with this approach are:
The performance is Bad.
It loses the context from the existing record. The focus will be placed on the first record in a list of records.
I have never taken a liking for it somehow! I use it only when absolutely necessary. (my personal opinion)

3) SIS OM PMT Service
By now, all of us know the wonders associated with the goddess, “SIS OM PMT Service”, and its capabilities. It has a vanilla BS Method, “Refresh Business Component”. Try using this. I have seen it work beautifully! Issues with this approach:
Performance is still a pain! Solution: Use Performance BCs in Siebel.
It retains the context of the current view, but, loses the context of the current record, and, places the focus on the first record in the list.
I enjoyed using this after some minor tweaks!

4) FINS Teller UI Navigation
Get to it in Siebel Tools, and notice the method, “RefreshCurrentApplet”. It seems it refreshes the Applet, and not the Business Component context as in (3) above. It could possibly retain the context of the current record. I never tried it, just found it out during some research. Try it at your end, and do advise if I should consider using it in my future implementations!

Feel free to add to the above. Cheers!

Related posts:
Siebel – millisecond dates on Applet I had discussed in my previous posts about invoking a...

Siebel – Custom Applet Title There is an Applet title on the top of the...

Siebel – Number of rows displayed in List Applet Siebel Web Client by default shows only the first 7...

Siebel – SIA BC Utility Service – Invoke BC Method I had discussed about the vanilla Business Service, “SIA BC...

Siebel – SIS OM PMT Service There are lots of vanilla business services available in Siebel...

Output Argument	Value
BusinessObject	Business Service
IsAdminMode	N
Screen
ThreadApplet	Business Service Test List Applet
View	Business Service Test View
ViewModeCode	4