PeopleSoft Application Engine Interview Questions and Answers

7/26/2009 1 Comment

PeopleSoft Interview Questions and Answers on Application Engine.

What are the different types of variables in the Application Engine people code?
Local variable – these are available for the duration of the program in which they are declared.
Global / Component – These variables are available while the Application Engine program is running. They are saved at commits and checkpoints,
So they can be used for restarts. Component variables are same as Global incase of the AE.

What are the Different ways pass data between the steps?
1) State records – One row can be passed and can have many state records.
2) Component/Global People code variables
3) Temporary records – Multiple rows of data can be passed.

What is Prerequisite for the State record?
1) Should be either Derived work record Or SQL Table.
2) Name of the record must end in AET; this is how the system identifies the record as a state record.
3) PROCESS_INSTANCE must be a key.
4) Any data types except character or numeric must not be required fields.
Note: - No People code fires on an Application Engine state record.
No Validation of translate values or Prompt tables are done.

How to read the runctrl parameters in AE
1) SQL: - %Select (EMPLID) Select EMPLID from PS_AERUNCONTROL where PROCESS_INSTANCE = %PROCESS_INSTANCE and ORPID = %oprid
2) People code: - &SQL = “Select EMPLID from PS_AERUNCONTROL Where PROCESS_INSTACNE =” PS_TEST_AET.PROCESS_INSTANCE “and OPRID =” %oprid.
%PROCESS_INSTANCE or %Bind (PROCESS_INSTANCE) can be used.
%PROCESS_INSTANCE is more efficient and faster.

How do you execute Application Engine through Push Button?
1) CreateProcessRequest () , Schedule ()
2) CallAppEngine.
6) What is the syntax for CallAppEngine?
CallAppEngine (applid [, state record]);

What are the 3 trace parameters you can pass to your psae.exe?
- TRACE
- TOOLSTRACESQL
- TOOLSTRACEPC


Which Trace option is the best place to start for general performance information?
- TRACE 384 – mostly used trace value.

What is the difference between a Trace value and Trace parameters?

A Trace parameter determines which type of trace is turned on.
A Trace parameter determines what type of data is recorded in your trace files (s).

What are the 3 common ways to pass a trace parameter and value to your program psae.exe?
Configuration manager, Process Definition, Command prompt.

What are the Different types of Application Engine?

Standard: Standard entry-point program.
Upgrade Only: Used by PeopleSoft Upgrade utilities only.
Import Only: Used by PeopleSoft Import utilities only
Daemon Only: Use for daemon type programs.
Transform Only: Support for XSLT Transform programs.

How do you program AE program for the restarts?

Program Level State Record: One of the state record needs to SQL Table, Since All Derived work record will be re-initializing on commit.

Program Properties: On the Advanced tab in the program properties dialog box, make sure that disable restart is not checked.

Configuration manager: In the configuration manager, sure that Disable restart is not selected on the process scheduler tab.

Section Level
Section type
The option for section type are prepare only and critical updates
If the section is preparing data i,e select data, Populating temporary tables, or updating temporary tables then the section should be prepare only.
If the section is updating the permanent application tables in the database, you should select critical update.
Step LevelAdd an order by clause
%Select Field Select Field1 from PS_SOME_RECORD Where FIELD1 > %Bind (FIELD1) Order by FIELD1.

Add a switch to the selected table
Delete processed rows.

The only restriction for batch runs occurs when you have restart enabled, and you are inside a Do Select that is of the Select/Fetch type (instead of "Re-select" or "Restartable"). with select/Fetch, all commits inside the loop are ignored, including the commit frequency if it's set.

What is Set Processing?
Set Processing uses SQL to process groups, or sets, of rows at one time rather than processing each row individually. With row by row processing you following a repetitive loop that selects a row, determines if it meets a given criteria, if so, apply rule x to row Update row, commit. With set processing, you only select those rows that meet the filtering criteria and then run the rule once again all the affected rows.

Advantages of Set Processing?
Improved Performance: - Our internal testing has revealed that, in an overwhelming majority of cases, set processing performs significantly better than it is -by-row counterpart for “reasonable” batch processing volumes.

Minimized SQL Overhead: - It tends to use fewer Application Engine SQL statements that each processed more data than the statements executed in row-by-row processing.
Easy Maintenance: - if need to make a fix or add an enhancement to SQL, it’s just a matter of modifying the SQL or inserting the new “Chunk”.
Leveraging the RDBMS: - With Set – based processing, you take advantage of the SQL processing engine on the database rather than placing the processing burden and overhead on the application executable.

Testing and debugging application engine?
Application Engine Trace file-You can track the step execution of your application execution.
Application Engine Interactive Debugger – First click on the trace tab and turn off the statement timings. Select Profile -> Edit Profile-> Process Scheduler Tab -> Application section Select Debug check box.

(You can dynamically modify the state record run application engine step by step
People Code Debugger for the Application Engine.)
AE Trace files: - AE__.AET
Without the process instance: - AE__.AET


What is a Cache Record?
The Cache record (or state record) is a physical People soft record, keyed by process instance that must be created and maintained by the Application Engine developer. This record defines the fields that an application uses to pas values from one SQL statements to another. You retrieve cache field values by the Application Engine and BIND function; you assign cache values using %SELECT.

What is unique about panels, which refer to view as opposed to physical tables?
Panels that refer to views in People soft are not used for insert, update or delete. All fields on panels are display only.

How search records are used?
Search records are used to search, retrieve and filter data. Search records also define the structure of the dialog box.

Does the search record for a panel have to be the same as the record being accessed on the panel? 
The search record for the panel does not have to be the same as the record being accessed on the panel because the search record is used to search for or Filter the search key.

How can a search record dialog box be suppressed? (Or bypass)
A search record dialog box can be suppressed by assigning a search record that does not have search key.

Where is the search records assigned?
Search records are assigned to a panel group in a menu.

What do search views delivered by People soft do besides displaying the dialog Box?
Search views delivered by People soft ware used to implement row level security as well as display a dialog box.

What do you need to do to modify the search views? 
To modify a search view, we need to change the record definition and recreate the underlying SQL view.

When would you have to alter the tables and modify the panels, in the process of modifying search records?
You need to alter tables and modify panels, when you modify a search record to include a new field.

When will there be two occurs level records in a panel group? 
If you are referring to two different record definitions that share a same high-level key then two-level one-scroll bar can be displayed as stacked scroll bars.

In what order does the application processor fill buffer for the panel group?
The application processor uses occurs level in the panel group to fill the buffer.

Differentiate Error V/s Warning statements in People code?
The error statement issues a message and the condition causing the error must be corrected before proceeding. The warning statement issues a message and the user can proceed without changing any values.

Where can you run Jobs?
The process scheduler can run jobs on the client or a server machine.

What restrictions are placed on multi-process jobs?
A multi process jobs can only be scheduled to run on a server.

List the three output destinations available through the Process Scheduler?
You can direct the output to a printer, file and windows screen.

Where do you set up default operator / class options for Process Monitor?
In operator security, using change, process profile.

What are the advantages of incorporating Table set ids into People soft applications?
Table set Ids allow you to share sets of values (codes) in the same prompt table.

What fields should be at the top of every search record definition that use table set Ids?
SET ID is the field that should be at the top of every record definition that uses table set Ids.

What is a Record Group ID?
A Record group ID is a group of record definitions that are Sharing the same set control field.

What do you determine using Table set Ids control information?
Table set ID control information determines how the information should be shared. The Table set ID control panel defines which Table set Ids set control filed code will use for each record group.

What are the three types of Maps used by the navigator?
1. Business Process Map
2. Activity Map
3. Step Map

What are the types of layers in Crystal reports?
There are 4 types of layers in Crystal Reports. They are...
1. Report Header - In this, we will write title, date, and logos of the company.
2. Page Header – Used to write column headings.
3. Detail – Contains database column values.
4. Page Footer – Used to write page numbers and address.

Some More Questions on PeopleSoft Application Engine


  • How can you make a dynamic call to an app engine program through call section?
  • What is the difference between %Select and %SelectInit?
  • What is the difference between having a work record and a physical table as state record?
  • What is a restartable application engine? How can you make an AE restartable?
  • What is the difference between Application Engine and SQR?
  • What is the significance of %UpdateStats?
  • Is it used to restrict the access to records or fields to specific operators or not?
  • What is the use of using setid?
  • How do we capture errors thrown by the system in AE.
  • Restart option if enabled how does it function in an AE program? 
  • What are set processing and parallel processing?
  • What is the advantage of set based processing and how are temporary tables beneficial for this?
  • What are the different commit levels in an application engine program?
  • Explain the sequential steps to dump the data from CSV file to Database tables (Inbound), but not fetching the data Row by Row?
  • What type of situations did you used DoSelect and DoWhen
  • What is difference b/w Get Record and Create Record? And what CreateSQL will do?
  • What is the use of Getgrid function?
  • Explain about the %OperatorId

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