Understanding The Portal Registry


This article describes classic portal registry features.  For newer information on the fluid portal registry in Tools 8.55 please check out the newer post on this.


After you get the PeopleSoft Interaction Hub set up to meet the needs of your organization the vast majority of work that needs to be done resides in the Portal Registry which can be found on any PeopleSoft server via: Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content.


The PeopleSoft Interaction Hub has built in shortcuts to perform tasks like create a Navigation Collection, and Setup  Unified Navigation.  (via Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Portal Utilities > Navigation Collections & Main Menu > Portal Administration > Unified Navigation WorkCenter - Unified Navigation Setup. respectively).  These tools work well, but there are benefits to fully understanding how these objects are handled by the portal registry, as each utility doesn't concern itself with Security settings.  Also, the Navigation Collection Wizard doesn't allow much flexibility for Naming, which would have an impact if you wanted to move Portal Registry Information between servers via a Project.

Understanding the portal registry also means you will know how to create and modify the following Content References:

  • Tabs located the Portal Registry via: Portal Objects - Homepage - Tabs OR via Portal Objects - Navigation Collections - Custom Tabs 
  • Navigation Collections via: Portal Objects - Navigation Collections
  • Pagelets via: Portal Objects - Pagelets
  • Folders
  • Target Links 
    • PeopleSoft Component
    • Query
    • External URL

Creating Folders and Links off the Main Menu is pretty intuitive, some of the lesser intuitive configurations will be listed below:



Unified Navigation Folder:
Adding this in the Unified Navigation Workcenter (above) is documented in the Setting up PeopleSoft Interaction Hub with PeopleSoft Applications red paper.  Creating it Manually via structure and content can be done as follows:

Navigate to Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content
Click Add Folder
Name: CUST_CS_UN
Label: Campus Solutions Unified Nav
Sequence Number: set to a spot where you want appear on the Main Menu
Folder Attribute: Name: FOLDERID; Attribute Value: PSFT_LS:PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT; Translate: UNchecked
Folder Attribute: Name: LOCATION; Attribute Value: REMOTE; Translate: UNchecked
Folder Attribute: Name: NODE; Attribute Value: PSFT_LS; Translate: UNchecked
Folder Attribute: Name: PORTAL; Attribute Value: EMPLOYEE; Translate: UNchecked
Folder Attribute: Name: ;Attribute Value: ; Translate: Checked
Click Security Tab: Add Roles that should allow you to see the folder.   



Home Page Tab:
There are two types of home page tabs: Home and Custom tabs.

Navigate to Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content
Goto: Portal Objects - Homepage - Tabs
Click Add Content Reference
Name: CUST_HOME_TAB
Label: Test Home Tab
Sequence Number: set to a spot where you want appear on the tab bar
Usage Type: Homepage tab
Folder Attribute: Name: FOLDERID; Attribute Value: PSFT_LS:PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT; Translate: UNchecked
Content Reference Attribute: Name: ;Attribute Value: ; Translate: Checked
Click Security Tab: Add Roles that should allow you to see the folder.   
Click Tab Content: you can select any Pagelet to show up in your tab (see below for pagelet examples).
Click Tab Layout, this should be pretty intuitive to move pagelets around for display.



Custom Tab:
This is the second type of tab: it allows for you to make a component or a dashboard a tab.  This example will show how to link the Student Center as a Custom tab.

Navigate to Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content
Goto: Portal Objects - Navigation Collections - Custom Tabs
Click Add Content Reference
Name: CUST_CUSTOM_TAB
Label: Test Custom Tab
Sequence Number: set to a spot where you want appear on the tab bar
Usage Type: Target
Node Name: PSFT_LS
URL Type: PeopleSoft Component
Menu Name: SA_LEARNER_SERVICES
Market: GBL
Component: SSS_STUDENT_CENTER
Folder Attribute: Name: FOLDERID; Attribute Value: PSFT_LS:PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT; Translate: UNchecked
Content Reference Attribute: Name: ;Attribute Value: ; Translate: Checked
Click Security Tab: Add Roles that should allow you to see the tab.   
Click Tab Content: you can select any Pagelet to show up in your tab.
Click Tab Layout, this should be pretty intuitive to move pagelets around for display.



Navigation Collections:
Navigation Collections are similar to any folder / content reference link, however they are based in the Navigation Collection folder within Portal Objects in the Portal Registry. This example will show how to add a content reference from the HRMS system to a Navigation Collection

Folder
Navigate to Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content
Goto: Portal Objects - Navigation Collections - 
Click Add Folder
Name: CUST_NC_TEST
Label: Test Navigation Collection
Sequence Number: set to a spot where you want appear on the Main Menu
Click Security Tab: Can be public if you want everyone to see the folder, else you need to set specific security.
Remote Content Reference
Click Add Content Reference
Name: CUST_HR_PAY
Label: View Pay Statement
Sequence Number: set to a spot where you want appear on navigation collection
Usage Type: Target
Node Name: PSFT_HR
URL Type: PeopleSoft Component
Menu Name: ROLE_EMPLOYEE
Market: GBL
Component: PY_IC_PAY_INQ
Folder Attribute: Name: FOLDERID; Attribute Value: PSFT_LS:PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT; Translate: UNchecked
Content Reference Attribute: Name: PTPP_IMAGE; Attribute Value: images can be uploaded via; Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Branding > Branding Objects - Image. Translate: UNchecked
Click Security Tab: Add Roles that should allow you to see the folder / Content Reference.   

Clicking the remote content reference will produce the following URL:

https://ENVIRONMENT/psp/DATABASE/EMPLOYEE/PSFT_HR/c/ROLE_EMPLOYEE.PY_IC_PAY_INQ.GBL

As you can see, the red: PSFT_HR is the same as Node Name, the blue: ROLE_EMPLOYEE is the same is Menu Name and the green: PY_IC_PAY_INQ is the same is Component in the Remote Content Reference List above.  Understanding this can help you troubleshoot a particular component: (no need to press Ctrl+J for a dignostic page).  TIP: If you have a component, you can also lookup the main menu navigation via Main Menu > Enterprise Components > Find Object Navigation

Queries:
Queries can be added to folders to appear off the main menu, or within a Navigation collection

Navigate to Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content
Goto: Desired folder you want the query in
Click Add Content Reference
Name: CUST_QUERY
Label: Test Query
Sequence Number: set to a spot where you want appear on the Main Menu
Usage Type: Target
URL Type: PeopleSoft Generic URL
Portal URL: q/?ICAction=ICQryNameURL=PUBLIC.InsertQueryNameHere
Folder Attribute: Name: FOLDERID; Attribute Value: PSFT_LS:PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT; Translate: UNchecked
Content Reference Attribute: Name: PTPP_IMAGE; Attribute Value: images can be uploaded viaMain Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Branding > Branding Objects - Image. Translate: UNchecked
Click Security Tab: Add Roles that should allow you to see the link.   


Non PeopleSoft URL:
If you would like to link to an external website, this is the configuration:

Navigate to Main Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content
Goto: Desired folder you want the query in
Click Add Content Reference
Name: CUST_EXLINK
Label: Test Query
Sequence Number: set to a spot where you want appear on the Main Menu
Usage Type: Target
No Template: Checked
URL Type: Non-PeopleSoftURL
Portal URL: https://www.cnn.com
Translate: UNchecked
Content Reference Attribute: Name: NAVNEWWIN; Attribute Value: true, Translate: UNchecked
Content Reference Attribute: Name: PTPP_IMAGE; Attribute Value: images can be uploaded viaMain Menu > PeopleTools > Portal > Branding > Branding Objects - Image. Translate: UNchecked
Click Security Tab: Add Roles that should allow you to see the link.   


2 comments:

  1. Hi Simon, I came across your post and it really explains a lot. I was wondering if there is a way to open external URLs within the Peoplesoft window, as in, the target content stays within the main frame?

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  2. Hey @Ankur, as a general rule of thumb, I like to have external content pop up in a tab, so not to interrupt the flow of peoplesoft. Are you talking about having target content as an external link appear below the portal header? I've had some success doing that with iFrames in Pagelets: https://peoplesoftih.blogspot.com/2015/08/pagelet-wizard-examples.html If you make a free text pagelet with an iframe, you can then use a custom psp URL to display the Pagelet as an iscript: /psp/ps/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/s/WEBLIB_PTPPB.ISCRIPT1.FieldFormula.IScript_PageletBuilder?PTPPB_PAGELET_ID=MY_IFRAME_PAGELET ~ make sure to use PSP, as PSC will just look like an external link! Hope this helps!

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