The PeopleSoft API Repository

The PeopleSoft API Repository enables PeopleCode and third-party integrators to discover the internally available classes, methods, and properties that are provided by PeopleSoft for integration. The repository is useful to third-party integrators who integrate in a generic fashion: middleware providers, testing tool providers, and automated documentation providers.

The PeopleSoft API Repository is nota necessary interface for integrators who integrate at the business-rule level, such as integration with an expense report, and so on. Those integrators should use component interfaces.

The repository describes available PeopleSoft APIs and provides mechanisms to determine the classes that are available in the API, the properties of each class, the methods of a class (along with the required parameters), and information concerning which group a class belongs to (known as a namespace).

The process of determining information about the API is known as discovery. Third-party integrators use information found through discovery to drive generic integration tools.

The repository is divided into namespaces. Each namespace contains a collection of related classes. Example namespaces include "PeopleSoft," "ComponentInterface," "Trees," and "BusinessInterlinks".

A class defines a related set of methods and properties. Using the repository, you can determine the methods and properties that are available and that can be used on any object returned by a call to the PeopleSoft API. An instance of a class is known as an object.

A property is a data item of an object that has both a name and type (string, number, Boolean, and so on are examples of types). Some properties are used for inputting data to a class, some are used for getting data from a class, and some are used for both. Whether a property is used for input or output or both is known as usage.

A method is a function that you can call on an object. Methods have a name and a return type (string, number, Boolean, and so on). Methods also have a collection of arguments that must be set prior to invoking the method. Methods arguments have identical attributes to properties.