Page and Component Interface: A Warning

Every once in a while, I stumble on some PeopleCode that looks like this:

    If %PAGE = Page.PERS_CHKLST_MGMT2 then
        /* do something really important here */
        /* If this code does not fire there is bad side effects. */
    End-if;

The developer intended to limit the scope of the code to trigger only when the current user is viewing a specific page. You generally see this on record level PeopleCode that could end up firing in many places. This is problematic on several fronts. However, the main issue is that:

• When the component is “wrapped” with a Component Interface the %Page and legacy %panel variable resolves to an empty string. Therefore, the “very important” code inside the If will never trigger.

There are a couple alternatives that could have been taken instead.

• Use the %Component construct instead (less desirable)
• Add code that should only trigger in a certain component to component level PeopleCode (most desirable)

I ran into this issue trying to wrap a Campus Solutions checklist page in a component interface and call it from a web service. I was left with no choice but to customize the delivered code because the logic inside the if really needed to fire.

Additional Reading

• PeopleCode Events that do not fire in Component Interface
• The Only PeopleCode events you should be using