30 December 2010

Siebel: User Defined Objects

Ever missed all the OOP goodness in Siebel? Although not used frequently, user defined objects provide you with some degree of control with hiding complexities in scripting. No, this will not help you attain OO nirvana - but you can start doing things with the custom objects and prototyping (another post for another day) to:

  • Hide complexity
  • Provide scalability
  • Save memory while doing the above

Here’s a simple example that demonstrates use of user-defined objects. To test, you simply copy the code in a new client business service and you are all set.
First the Service_PreInvoke method:

function Service_PreInvokeMethod (MethodName, Inputs, Outputs)
{
var qryBC;

qryBC = new GetRecord("Contact", "Contact", "[Id] = '0-1'", "First Name", "Last Name");
Outputs.SetProperty("First Name", qryBC.Values[3]);

Outputs.SetProperty("Last Name", qryBC.Values[4]);

return (CancelOperation);

qryBC = null;
}

Next comes the constructor:

function GetRecord ()
{
try {
var arrValue = new Array();
var iCount;

if (arguments.length < 4) TheApplication().RaiseErrorText("I need minimum four arguments - BO name, BC
name, SearchExpr and at least one field name.");

var bo = TheApplication().GetBusObject(arguments[0]);
var bc = bo.GetBusComp(arguments[1]);
with (bc){
ClearToQuery();
SetViewMode(AllView);

SetSearchExpr(arguments[2]);
for (iCount = 3; iCount < arguments.length; iCount++){
ActivateField(arguments[iCount]);
}
ExecuteQuery(ForwardOnly);
}

if (bc.FirstRecord()) {
for (iCount = 3; iCount < arguments.length; iCount++){
arrValue[iCount] = bc.GetFieldValue(arguments[iCount]);
}
}
this.Values = arrValue;
} // try

catch(e){
throw(e);
}

finally{
arrValue = null;
bc = null;
bo = null;
}
}

Now, the explanation:
Purpose:

Provide ability to query any given BO / BC and retrieve the specified field values

How did we do that:

First, we create an object called “qryBC”, which becomes instance of a class “GetRecord” when the constructor “GetRecord()” is executed. Since this is the very first exposure to the class/object concept, we are letting the constructor do all the work rather than splitting it up. At this time we also pass the arguments to the object, whereby the constructor will query and return you the results. For simplicity in further processing, we return an array with the query results. Note the use of ‘this’ in the constructor and the reference to the set values when retrieving results in PreInvoke method.

Never understood why OO beats procedural programming you say? You need to depend your friend Google to find out what you missed.(cross posted elsewhere)

28 December 2010

CRM 2011!

It is that time of the year folks - time when you, I and every IT guy worth his salt tends to get clobbered with analyst talk. This is all about the past year - how they prophesized just right, and how the world is converting to paradise or is getting destroyed in the nuclear winter next year. Since I too am finding myself putting together hard-to-comprehend words one too many times, I thought this is something ought to be addressed pronto (before you sink too deep in the holiday mood that is). Since CRM is what I am doing all the time (it is actually Siebel application development, but it feels liberating to be more generic), this is a short list of what I think should happen to CRM in 2011.

  1. Fusion should come out of its wraps
    Inspite of Elison's jab at the implementable state of Oracle Fusion apps, I quite look forward to it. In the process, I also look forward to throwing out all the experience of developing lousy scripts using eScript/Siebel VB, half-baked COM interfacing programs, workflows with a clunky interface and all the configuration fun that can be had in any version of Siebel apps post v7. I will miss dismissing customer requests with a hard-hitting statement - "the functionality is tagged to SRF, and cannot be changed now". 2011 is a good year to brave up to J2EE, ODI, WebCenter, WebLogic and other hotchpotch. This is number one solely because I am associated with Siebel for too long a time.
  2. SaaS triumps in Large Enterprises
    Yes, I know this has been said since the inception of SFDC and the glorious just-dream-forces unleashed upon us. But it is not hard to listen when businesses (not IT) is shouting at you about why they should be spending so much on CapEx and ongoing maintenance including upgrades. So there will be a slew of studies on SaaS take-over, hybrid architectures and how many millions one saved while firing the software and the dream-teams which were keeping them afloat. Well, this cannot happen in next year alone but will enable me to brag about how it came true to a certain extent at the end of 2011.
  3. Mobile to the Rescue!
    Mobile phones with their ubiquity and affordability, should wield greater power over deciding the CRM strategy. How many of us wants to navigate the shiny website of Airtel when the transactions can be done through mcheck? CRM will get more focussed in the mobile space, true for developed and developing countries alike. App development, here I come!
  4. Social CRM will bring down companies to their knees
    Well, I sort of made it up - companies don't have knees. Service companies especially will struggle to keep an eye on what is going on, and would have to resort to several IT adventures before they can get things right. A piece of copied advice - it is not about IT guys (a.k.a 'dont blame me'), set your focus on what you want to do when customers are talking all good or bad about you.
  5. Paul Greenberg should be crowned the undisputed thought-leader of CRM
    I really like his way of writing - the book and the blog, even with my zero knowledge of baseball. Though I feel he vastly over-rates the power of getting Social, being a undisputed leader will push to the fore-front his genial thoughts on maintaining good customer relationship.

27 December 2010

Siebel: Importing data from files

I am back after a not-so-brief hiatus, and am back hopefully for good :). Here I am with yet another utility - this time something that will help you to import data from files into Siebel, with zero coding required from your end. ‘COG File Import Service’ as it is known, will hopefully simplify your life a bit.

Contrary to popular (and let me add, buggy) excel macros / VB COM programs that are available to load data to Siebel, this is a business service that can be imported to Tools / Client. But at the same time it does not offer as much flexibility, given below are a few things that make this tool stand apart.

Why another tool?
File import is nothing new to Siebel developers. But why use another tool when there are dime-a-dozen you say? Thus goes the story:

  • The first thing that hits you - most of the tools to load Siebel data have inconsistent interfaces, and may require some amount of ‘getting-used-to’
  • External objects or platforms are required to actually see what is going on, and hopefully to change the behavior. For example, you need Excel or Visual Basic software, or have a dependency on Windows platform to execute the code. And all that can be done, provided you understand what has been written there
  • Customers might have their own restrictions in connecting to production systems using third party software and utilities

The Mechanism


COG Import Service is just a business service that can be applied to Siebel v7.5+, but has only been tested with 7.7 and 8.1. The service works with CSV/delimited files and has two distinct ways to handle them:

  1. Simple Update - This is just a wrapper to the OOB CSV reader service, with a couple of enhancements thrown in
  2. Update - A more sophisticated updater, which can do a few more things than what CSV reader can do

The steps involved in both methods are simple:

  1. Read file (all at once)
  2. Map fields to provided content
  3. Use a data map, if specified
  4. Update

Where they differ is in the way they process files.



When to use which method?


.. Simple Update

  • Uses the 'CSV Reader Business Service', and hence needs an integration object (IO) to be available for the input data
  • When the processing is simple and there is no need for processing more than one component/entity (in other words, entity and its children) at one time
  • Processing should be fast
  • Any errors should roll-back all transactions

.. Update

  • Can be used with or without involving IO
  • Delimited with be comma or something else
  • Process entity and one child with one operation


How to Use?


Import the attached XML into Siebel Tools and compile to SRF, or imported into the Client (Site Map > Business Service Administration). Parameters to the service specify the parameters that are needed for a successful run. The file formats/structure has been documented in the service itself.



License


None, you can use it or throw it away. Use it at your own risk, unintentional bugs are all but risks of the trade.

You can watch this space (at your own risk, of course) for new versions - improvements or bug fixes.