Defining Pop-up Menus

This section provides an overview of pop-up menus and discusses how to:

  • Create pop-up menus.

  • Define transfer menu items.

Important! Pop-up menus are not currently supported in fluid applications. The use of pop-up menus can produce unpredictable results with other features of fluid applications.

Pop-up menus define the transition to another page—either a system-defined page containing a set of standard commands or a pop-up menu page that was created and associated with the pop-up button by an application developer.

You can also use pop-up menus to run a PeopleCode program. PeopleCode in pop-up menus does not share the same limitations as PeopleCode in standard menus, so pop-up transition menus provide an effective alternative to using command push buttons on pages. Pop-up menu PeopleCode programs can be used for any number of purposes, for example:

  • To perform a modal transfer.

  • To recalculate a field value.

  • To trigger a PeopleSoft Workflow business event.

Behavior of Pop-up Menus in Pages

These standard icons appear on the page at runtime when a pop-up menu is defined for a page field:

Field or Control

Definition
Open pop-up menu button

When a user clicks the pop-up icon (PT_POPUP) on a page, a screen appears with a list of menu items from which to select.
Open pop-up menu item

This pop-up icon (PT_POPUP_SKIP) appears if a pop-up menu has only one menu item. When a user clicks this icon, the target transaction page appears immediately, skipping an intermediate page containing a list with one menu item.

For example, the Amount field on the following page contains a pop-up icon, which opens the Display in Other Currency page.

Image: Pop-up button on a page

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Pop-up button on a page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Pop-up button on a page

This type of transfer to another component is called a definitional transfer to distinguish it from transfers that are made using PeopleCode programs. Definitional transfers are always nonmodal. To run a modal transfer, you must use PeopleCode.

This section discusses how to:

  • Create new pop-up menus.

  • Associate pop-up menus with page fields.

Creating New Pop-up Menus

To create a new pop-up menu:

  1. Select File > New.

    The New dialog box appears.

  2. Select Menu.

  3. Click OK.

    The New Menu dialog box appears.

  4. Select the Popup option for the menu type.

  5. Click OK.

    A new pop-up menu definition appears.

  6. Define the menu items for the pop-up menu.

  7. Set the menu properties:

    1. Add a description and comments about your pop-up menu.

    2. On the Use tab, type the menu label that you want to appear for that pop-up.

  8. Save the pop-up menu definition.

  9. To provide users with access to the pop-up menu, associate it with a page field.

Associating Pop-up Menus With Page Fields

To associate a pop-up menu with a page field:

  1. Open the page definition that contains the page field to which you want to associate the pop-up menu.

  2. Right-click the page field and select Page Field Properties.

  3. When the properties dialog box for that field appears, select the Use tab.

  4. In the Popup Menu group box, select from the available pop-up menus in the drop-down list box.

  5. Click OK.

  6. Save the page definition.

Transfer menu items, which you create only in pop-up menus, enable you to specify a menu, component, and page to which the user is taken when the transfer menu item is selected. The following procedure describes how to create a new transfer menu item or redefine an existing menu item as a transfer menu item.

To define a transfer menu item:

  1. In a pop-up menu definition, double-click a menu item to access its properties.

    To create a menu item, double-click the empty rectangle at the bottom of the menu. The Menu Item Properties dialog box for pop-up menus appears.

  2. If this is a new menu item, enter a menu item name and label text in the Menu Item fields.

    You can create a shortcut key for the menu item by placing an ampersand in the label.

  3. Set the transfer properties.

    • Click the Transfer button to make this a transfer menu item.

    • Click the Define Transfer button to display the Transfer Properties dialog box.

      This dialog box enables you to define the properties of a definitional transfer that is made from a pop-up menu item. The component from which you are transferring is the originating component. The component to which you are transferring is the destination component.

  4. Specify the following:

    Field or Control

    Definition
    Portal

    Select the navigation registry, such as employee portal.
    Node

    Select the PeopleSoft database to which you want the transfer menu to point. Local is the default. Valid values include all of the values in the MSGNODENAME column of the PSMSGNODEDEFN table. If you select a node other than Local, the system deselects the Use data from current page in search dialog check box.
    Menu

    Select the name of the menu containing the destination component.
    Component

    Select the name of the destination component.
    Market

    Select the market of the destination component.
    Component Item

    Select the name of the page to display at the front of the destination component.
    Action

    Select an action mode (Update/Display, Update/Display All, Correction, or Data Entry) to constrain the user profile to a specific action mode at the time of the transfer. The action modes that are available in the prompt list depend on which modes are specified as valid in the destination component definition.

    Select Prompt to enable the user profile to select an available action mode at the time of the transfer. The action modes that the user profile can select depend on which action modes are defined as valid in the destination component definition and to which action modes the user profile is granted access in Maintain Security.

  5. Set the transfer type.

    Field or Control

    Definition
    Re-use current window

    Select to transfer to the component in the same window in which the transfer is initiated.
    Use new window (minimize current window)

    Select to minimize the current window and open the destination component in a separate window.

  6. Specify whether to supply search key values from the originating component.

    Field or Control

    Definition
    Use data from current page in search dialog

    Select to use the values from the originating component search keys in the search dialog box of the destination component. If these values allow the system to select a unique row from the search record, the search dialog box is bypassed and the destination component opens immediately.

    Deselect this check box if you want the user to type the search key values into the search dialog box.

  7. Click OK to accept the Transfer Properties dialog box settings.

  8. Click OK to accept the Menu Item Properties dialog box settings.

  9. Save the menu definition.