Javascript API questions
We all know that for most Pega applications we shouldn't need custom JavaScript, but, in the course of application development, custom development is needed on occasion, and when it does, who ya gonna call? I've had these questions in my mind for a while, and with the confluence of this support area coming into being, and some specific needs for an application I'm assisting on, I wanted to ask:
- The desktop API docs is pared down in v6, and just omitted and v7. But it's easy to regenerate this (I just haven't done this in a while). Can someone do this and make it available? With PDN being opened up to search engines, can we do the same for the desktop API?
- Sync'ing the clipboard Many methods (reloadSection, refreshList) post the form data to the server and get HTML in return. Is there any API that simply posts the form data (to keep the Clipboard in sync), and get a status code in return? This actually *might* be as easy as just building a URL setting the primary page and calling a POST via Ajax. I expect many applications are going to be moving in this direction in general, using richer clients.
- Are there methods for getting/setting Dynamic Select values -- and are these synchronous or asynchronous? (that is, we would want to ensure that these values are set, before invoking the post in #2 above.
Ben,
#1 - My guess is that it was omitted to discourage use of custom JavaScript. No surprise there. But since it's needed in situations like this, it'd be handy to have it generated, and not have to do it on-the-fly. When I wore a younger man's coding hat, I would do that. Now I just ask others to do it.
#2 - yes, since reloadSection and refreshList call POST, I figure the API is in there, somewhere. Pining for crowdsourcing here.
#3 - Well, sure you could just set the value directly. But what if the Options haven't been loaded? We probably need to call DS_loadControl()? Is this method synchronous or asynchronous?
P.S. I think our last fried pickles were at Heartland Brewery - which is the latest victim of rising rent in Union Square. I can eat fried pickles anytime, anywhere, between Union Square & Jersey City.
7 months later... does anyone have an answer to #2 above?
I think I found an workaround above. This is perpetually frustrating with Pega. The easy stuff is hard [edit: meaning, not easily documented, tough to find, etc.]. I need to post my DOM variables in Ajax to the server.
(and yes, Ben, we've not even gotten together in the intervening time! Tis the season for festive fried pickles)
[edit: answer found below!]
Hey Jon,
I still don't think there's an API that will let you do this as you want, however you could hobble something together with jQuery. You can serialize the form and pass that to your activity: jQuery.serialize(). Or you could use the jQuery AJAX Forms plugin to submit the form without refreshing the page http://jquery.malsup.com/form/
I guess back in April I was blind, I could not see.
Found what I was looking for in submitSection() function.
The API is pega.u.d.getQueryString(). Returns an object that will be past to postData.
/* reloadElement is the element to post, with id='Rule_KEY' */
var postData = pega.u.d.getQueryString(reloadElement);
pega.u.d.asyncRequest('POST', URLobject, callback, postData);
In the pega.u.d.asyncRequest call, the 2nd and 4th parameters may be objects (unlike pega.util.Connect.asyncRequest, which is derived from YahooUI where they must be strings)
Hi Jon,
One way to update the clipboard from the screen is to start a section-reload, but have your pre-activity set the ReloadRequired param to false. That will allow a one-way update where your screen's params will update the properties on the clipboard but the return trip will not update the screen. Notice the Show-Property (around step 6) of the @baseclass.ReloadSection activity that has a precondition that tests this param, which occurs after your pre-activity is invoked. Please do not be confused as I was regarding the fact that the history tab of that activity has a usage comment that refers to the pyCancelReloadSection parameter, which doesn't seem to be referenced anywhere.
Jon, please note that I am the first to admit that this is not all that straightforward and I wish it were more so. However, I have tested this before and it works.
/Eric
I was looking for the JavaScript API to call, which I found and supplied above.
Hey Jon,
#1 - The Desktop API was entirely omitted in V7. That was a product decision, and I'm not certain on the exact reason. Perhaps someone from the product team can consider regenerating it and posting it, I know I would certainly appreciate it.
#2 - You are looking to post *all* the form data to the clipboard. I'm not aware of any API to do this, but it is an interesting use case to be certain.
#3 - Dynamic Selects are just <select> elements. You can get / set the value using jQuery $("#PPyWorkPagepPropertyName").val(). Also - you wouldn't need to do anything prior to syncing the clipboard, since the dynamic select is already part of the form, no?
P.S. Fried pickles again sometime?
-Ben