Web Feeds in PeopleSoft - Proof of Concept
Posted by: in Enterprise RSS on Mar 09, 2006
Tagged in: Untagged
A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some screen shots of my "Web Feeds from PeopleSoft" proof of concept.
First, this is Internet Explorer version 7 beta. Tabbed-browsing. Search engine on the toolbar. Web Feed enabled. Lots of security. And soon to be on the majority of corporate desktops in the United States and around the world.
Now we're logged on. Check out the RSS icon. It's glowing.
Let's click it and see what happens.
The Web Feed icon shows all of the web feeds that are available to be subscribed to. Let's click the Financials Reports web feed to subscribe to it.
Whoops, we need to log on again. This is by design. We won't be using the standard PeopleSoft signin page to access our web feeds after we subscribe to them, so we have to use an authentication method that Internet Explorer supports for web feeds.
I re-entered my PeopleSoft username and password. At least we didn't need to remember a different one. This would work even if you were using other authentication methods like LDAP.
This page shows all of the entries in the Financials Reports web feed. Notice these are our personal reports -- nobody else can see this same list. We'll click the "Subscribe to this web feed" link.
Now we get to say where we want the feed to show up. We'll put it in our favorites under the "Feeds" link. Of course, we could create a subfolder for just our PeopleSoft feeds, but I'm trying to keep it simple.
Now we're subscribed.
I signed out of PeopleSoft and went back to my browser's home page. If we want to access our web feed, we can do it by opening the Favorites window, clicking Feeds, and there's our feed.
If you click on the feed, it'll show you all of the reports we have. This is the same list that you would see if you went to Report Manager or Process Monitor.
Now let's click a report.
OK, we have to sign in again. Unfortunately web feed security and PeopleSoft security don't trust each other. I have some ideas to get around this which will be the subject of another post.
And here's your report.
Want to view another report? Just go back to the web feed link and click it. If you want to be advanced, right click it and select "Open in a new tab" so you can have both opened in the same browser window.
Here's a flash demo created in Wink on the fly that shows the process in real-time. This was my first time to use Wink, so I apologize for quality -- it's not the tool's fault!
Please let me know what you think.
First, this is Internet Explorer version 7 beta. Tabbed-browsing. Search engine on the toolbar. Web Feed enabled. Lots of security. And soon to be on the majority of corporate desktops in the United States and around the world.
Now we're logged on. Check out the RSS icon. It's glowing.
Let's click it and see what happens.
The Web Feed icon shows all of the web feeds that are available to be subscribed to. Let's click the Financials Reports web feed to subscribe to it.
Whoops, we need to log on again. This is by design. We won't be using the standard PeopleSoft signin page to access our web feeds after we subscribe to them, so we have to use an authentication method that Internet Explorer supports for web feeds.
I re-entered my PeopleSoft username and password. At least we didn't need to remember a different one. This would work even if you were using other authentication methods like LDAP.
This page shows all of the entries in the Financials Reports web feed. Notice these are our personal reports -- nobody else can see this same list. We'll click the "Subscribe to this web feed" link.
Now we get to say where we want the feed to show up. We'll put it in our favorites under the "Feeds" link. Of course, we could create a subfolder for just our PeopleSoft feeds, but I'm trying to keep it simple.
Now we're subscribed.
I signed out of PeopleSoft and went back to my browser's home page. If we want to access our web feed, we can do it by opening the Favorites window, clicking Feeds, and there's our feed.
If you click on the feed, it'll show you all of the reports we have. This is the same list that you would see if you went to Report Manager or Process Monitor.
Now let's click a report.
OK, we have to sign in again. Unfortunately web feed security and PeopleSoft security don't trust each other. I have some ideas to get around this which will be the subject of another post.
And here's your report.
Want to view another report? Just go back to the web feed link and click it. If you want to be advanced, right click it and select "Open in a new tab" so you can have both opened in the same browser window.
Here's a flash demo created in Wink on the fly that shows the process in real-time. This was my first time to use Wink, so I apologize for quality -- it's not the tool's fault!
Please let me know what you think.
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written by Ramesh, March 10, 2006
Actually I subsrcribed to the feed of this site through Google Reader. It's nice to read about feeds though a post that is fed to my Google Account.
All that a part, You are doing a wonderful job in keeping this blog updated with quality content (allmost) everyday. I am happy to know that there are some people who is finding joy in helping others.
Thanks much, am sure it's not enough
Ramesh
All that a part, You are doing a wonderful job in keeping this blog updated with quality content (allmost) everyday. I am happy to know that there are some people who is finding joy in helping others.
Thanks much, am sure it's not enough
Ramesh
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written by Charlie Wood, March 10, 2006
Nice work, Brent--this looks great. A couple of things come immediately to mind:
- As far as security, you're on the right track with HTTP authorization. I would suggest adding SSL so passwords aren't sent int the clear. The "unguessable URL" scheme suggested by another commenter is an example of "security through obscurity" which is not secure at all.
- It looks like your feed items have links that point to reports in PDF format. You might consider using RSS 2.0 enclosures to have those PDF's downloaded automatically to the user's machine. If they're protected by the same security realm there won't be any additional login required, and users get the added benefit of offline access to reports.
I hope you keep working on this. Keep up the great work.
- As far as security, you're on the right track with HTTP authorization. I would suggest adding SSL so passwords aren't sent int the clear. The "unguessable URL" scheme suggested by another commenter is an example of "security through obscurity" which is not secure at all.
- It looks like your feed items have links that point to reports in PDF format. You might consider using RSS 2.0 enclosures to have those PDF's downloaded automatically to the user's machine. If they're protected by the same security realm there won't be any additional login required, and users get the added benefit of offline access to reports.
I hope you keep working on this. Keep up the great work.
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written by Moonwatcher, March 10, 2006
RSS Feeds in PeopleSoft
I just got word from PeopleSoft consultant Brent Martin that he has created a proof-of-concept showing RSS feeds being dynamically created from PeopleSoft data.
I just got word from PeopleSoft consultant Brent Martin that he has created a proof-of-concept showing RSS feeds being dynamically created from PeopleSoft data.
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written by Brent Martin, March 10, 2006
I'd like to get to the point where reports are sent as enclosures so users don't have to log back on to see them. It would benefit mobile users as well.
I'm concerned about performance issues though -- possibily because I'm ignorant of the details. With reports as enclosures 1) the web feed would take a lot more bandwidth and 2) I'd have to dynamically pull each report from the report repository when I built the feed. If you multiply that activity by all of the users who might be subscribing to their reports, and if the RSS reader refreshes the list like say the top of the hour, the web server could suffer a huge hit.
I'm not crazy about HTTP Basic authentication and caching of credentials either, but I like it slightly better than creating and tracking RBAN URL's. I'm curious -- just about everyone has used MS Outlook Webmail at one time or another and companies don't seem to have a problem with how it authenticates users. Does anybody know how that works and why (or if) it's more secure?
Thanks for the encouragement Ramesh. It's certainly been fun. I'm sure my day job will get in the way sooner or later but I'm enjoying it while I can!
I'm concerned about performance issues though -- possibily because I'm ignorant of the details. With reports as enclosures 1) the web feed would take a lot more bandwidth and 2) I'd have to dynamically pull each report from the report repository when I built the feed. If you multiply that activity by all of the users who might be subscribing to their reports, and if the RSS reader refreshes the list like say the top of the hour, the web server could suffer a huge hit.
I'm not crazy about HTTP Basic authentication and caching of credentials either, but I like it slightly better than creating and tracking RBAN URL's. I'm curious -- just about everyone has used MS Outlook Webmail at one time or another and companies don't seem to have a problem with how it authenticates users. Does anybody know how that works and why (or if) it's more secure?
Thanks for the encouragement Ramesh. It's certainly been fun. I'm sure my day job will get in the way sooner or later but I'm enjoying it while I can!
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written by David Vandiver, March 10, 2006
Brent
Your blog today was perfect timing for me. I have a HEUG presentation (Higher Education Users Group) in Nashville on Monday, and I wanted a quick way to make a Flash demo in case the network doesn't work (part of my presentation is to log into a Test environment of PeopleSoft). The Wink program worked great. I now have a Flash demo ready (just in case).
(The RSS info looks great too.)
David Vandiver
Your blog today was perfect timing for me. I have a HEUG presentation (Higher Education Users Group) in Nashville on Monday, and I wanted a quick way to make a Flash demo in case the network doesn't work (part of my presentation is to log into a Test environment of PeopleSoft). The Wink program worked great. I now have a Flash demo ready (just in case).
(The RSS info looks great too.)
David Vandiver
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written by Brent Martin, April 05, 2006
We've discussed the problem authenticating feeds in the past. I just found this link on Charlie Wood's blog which includes an e-mail from M icrosoft regarding Microsoft's stance on support for authenticated web feeds. The summary is "forget about it, at least for the next release".
http://www.globelogger.com/item.php?id=624
http://www.globelogger.com/item.php?id=624
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written by Nethaji R, November 09, 2006
Hi Brent
I like this article very much...I like to do the similar thing to my customer...But unfortunately we are using PS8.21.. Can you please help me on this
I like this article very much...I like to do the similar thing to my customer...But unfortunately we are using PS8.21.. Can you please help me on this
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written by Brent Martin, November 09, 2006
It's been a long time since I've worked with PS 8.21, I believe iScripts existed in that version. With an iSCript you can select data from the database, format it into the correct RSS tags, and send it back to the browser.
Authenticating users might be the biggest challenge. You can set up the web server to allow anonymous access until you get things working the way you like. Or you can pass the user and pwd on the query string when calling an iScript.
You might check out http://peoplesoftexperts.blogs...r-to.html, It's a great example of how to create an iScript and call it from a browser.
Let me know if your client would like my help on this. I should have some availability before the end of the year. My e-mail is brent.martin at erpassociates dot com.
Authenticating users might be the biggest challenge. You can set up the web server to allow anonymous access until you get things working the way you like. Or you can pass the user and pwd on the query string when calling an iScript.
You might check out http://peoplesoftexperts.blogs...r-to.html, It's a great example of how to create an iScript and call it from a browser.
Let me know if your client would like my help on this. I should have some availability before the end of the year. My e-mail is brent.martin at erpassociates dot com.
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The security thing is a bit of a headache though. Some shops would likely frown on having the auth cached in the browser.
You might want to do something like the way the Report Manager URLs in the early PeopleTools 8.1x versions; create a unique, unguessable URL for each report (or RSS feed in this case). As long as the data that is in the feed is limited to Report Name, Description and URL, then it's not much of a risk. Even if someone were to get ahold of the URL, the reports themselves are still protected. Ironically enough that is safe to do because Report Manager was changed to not just rely on cryptographically secure URLs.
Something like this would actually be handy in a new product that we're getting close to releasing. The customer that we're working with isn't really interested in RSS at the moment so that's not a version 1 feature, but I can see that being handy in the future.