Understanding Pages

Pages are the primary graphical interface by which you access the data in your PeopleSoft application. In many cases, these pages are representations of rows of data in the database tables. You use pages to view, enter, and update data stored in application tables. Each page also includes buttons or links to help you navigate through the system. As you change or add information to the database, you need to be familiar with effective-dating logic and the various page action options as you work with historic, current, and future data. PeopleSoft applications use many different types of elements to organize information on pages and to enable you to enter data, including data-entry, functional, and data processing elements.

PeopleSoft applications limit server trips and perform partial page refreshes. With a partial page refresh, the browser refreshes the entire page only when you navigate to a new page. Much of the communication with the server happens in the background, and you notice only the spinning processing icon that lets you know that the system is processing information.

Important! While much of the communication with the server happens in the background, you must not interact with the page while the processing icon is displayed or while save processing is occurring. Doing so can mean that your data or field changes are lost once the server trip is complete and parts or all the page are refreshed.

Partial page refresh supports these actions:

  • Changing a related field.

  • Enabling and disabling fields.

  • Hiding and revealing fields.

  • Expanding and collapsing group boxes.

  • Using scroll area and grid navigation links, such as Next, Previous, and so on.

  • Inserting and deleting rows in scroll areas and grids.

  • Saving a page.

Many PeopleSoft components run in deferred processing mode to reduce interaction with the server, thereby providing better performance. Therefore, when you use some pages in the browser you can enter data while interacting minimally with the server. If deferred processing mode is specified for a component, then a page within that component or a field on a page within the component also performs processing in deferred mode. Interactive mode is the opposite of deferred mode processing; it is necessary for pages that perform complex calculations, in situations where many fields are interrelated, and several other scenarios.

Note: The terms page, application page, and transaction page are synonymous and used interchangeably throughout this book.