Entering Connection Information

Access the Connect Information tab in ExcelToCI2007.xlsm by clicking the Connect Information tab:

This example illustrates the Connect Information tab in the Excel to Component Interface Utility.

Connect Information tab in Excel to Component Interface utility.

The information on this page is required to create a new template or to submit data to the database. You will need to specify environment information as well as information about how data should be transmitted. The Action field will be populated automatically based on your setup and the component interface that the template is associated with.

The initial connection settings will be the PeopleSoft default values. You will need to modify these values for your specific implementation of PeopleSoft. If you are unsure what to enter for these values, check with your system administrator.

The connection options are:

Field or Control Description

Web Server Machine Name

The name of the PeopleSoft web server to which you are connecting.

Protocol

The protocol used to access the web server. The default is HTTP. The preferred protocol is HTTPS.

HTTP Port

The HTTP port number that the web server uses. The default is 80.

Portal

The name of the portal you are using. EMPLOYEE is a default portal shipped with PeopleSoft.

PeopleSoft Site Name

The PeopleSoft site name that you entered when you installed the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture. The default is ps.

Node

The PeopleSoft default local node name. The default is PT_LOCAL.

Language Code

The code for the language in which the data is submitted to the database. If no language code is specified, the base language is used.

Chunking Factor

The number of rows of data to be transmitted to the database at one time. The default is 40.

Error Threshold

The total number of errors that are permitted before submission to the database ceases. When the error threshold is exceeded, an error message appears and submission to the database stops.

Submit Blanks as Input

When this option is set to Yes and a character input field selected for input contains only blank spaces, the field will be included for submission instead of being ignored. This option is set to No by default, for backwards compatibility.

If full-width blank space Unicode characters are entered as an input value in ExcelToCI, (this is achieved by using an encoding that supports such Unicode characters) the field will be submitted, the blanks will be sent, and the value will not be trimmed before it is saved to the database.

If regular ASCII blank spaces (also known as half-width characters) are entered as a value for a character field, the field will be submitted, but the value will be trimmed, so an empty string will be saved. In essence, the field value will be cleared.

Note: The ExcelToCI functionality uses hyperlink text for errors or warnings. Note that Microsoft Excel limits the number of characters for hyperlink to 255.

Action

The value for this field is supplied by the system when the component interface is retrieved from the database. However, you can change the supplied value by selecting it from the Action drop-down list.

The types of actions available are based on the structure of the component interface. The actions are:

  • Create.

    This option is available if the component interface has create keys. Use this mode when new keys are being added at level 0.

  • Update.

    This option is available if the component interface does not have create keys. Use this mode if you are adding new children to an existing parent.

  • UpdateData.

    Use this option to update specific non-key values that already exist. The system uses the keys to locate the row, and when a match is found, the row is updated with new data. If a key match is not found by the system, it displays an error message indicating which collection was missing a key match.

    When using the UpdateData action, you must provide all keys for the collection for the system to modify the data.

Note: If you want to insert an effective-dated collection at Level 1 containing a child collection at Level 2, you may need to use UPDATE to insert the parent row at level 1 and then use UPDATEDATA to insert the child row at level 2. This is because child rows are copied forward from the current effective-dated collection as a result of the insertion of a new effective-dated parent row. These child rows will be updated by the component processor with the new effective date, and may have the same level 2 keys as the Level 2 child row that you are trying to submit from ExcelToCI.

Optional Keys

This field is reserved for PeopleSoft internal use

Error Thresholds and Chunking

A running error count is kept for each chunk of data that is being submitted to the database. When the total error count exceeds the error threshold that you specified on the Connection Information tab, submission to the database stops and the system displays an error message. Rows that error out will have a status of Error on the data input page and should be corrected. The data submitted to the database before the error threshold was reached will remain in the target database. Rows not yet submitted will be submitted when the data is restaged and submitted.