SBL-DAT-00501 : Invalid search specification ' < ? > '.

We detected an Error which may have occurred for one or more of the following reasons:
Invalid search specification '<?>'. Please continue or ask your systems administrator to check your application configuration if the problem persists.(SBL-DAT-00501)

SBL-DAT-00501

This error can come out of the blue moon and can cause some serious time waste and frustration. I learned to resolve it the hard way. In my case it was only occurring in the dedicated client and same srf was working on server perfectly fine.

This is error doesn't mean there is problem in search spec in eScript or MVLs or BCs. It usually occurs when calculated fields is having issues.

Possible reasons for this error:

1. Any type of syntactical mistake in calculated fields
2. Presence of carriage return in any calculated fields
3. Calculated fields declared as DTYPE_TEXT however they are compared in another calculated field as integer.

How to resolve it?

1. Turn on the siebel logs to level 4 and try the scenario again. And search for the error code in log file. 
2. Just above the error code you should see the calculated expression which is causing issue. 
3. Now go to flat tab and search with this calculation to find calculated field. Once culprit is found, BC recompile after change does the job.

Hope it helps.

Dynamically change start-up view for group of users

Requirement: To have a different start-up view for certain group of users in application.

Siebel sets start-up view of all the users using Application property which is a static view and the only way default view can be changed is by end user by updating user preferences. 

Solution: To make the view dynamic and override the user preferences following script can be added to Application_Start event of Application to redirect all the users to a specific view based on their responsibility.  These views can be used to show statuary information or terms and conditions.

Script queries Employee BC for logged in user and search for specific responsibility and executes a go to view if specific responsibility is found. Similar script can be used to change other part of the application. Feel free to share in comments below if you have come across similar behavior in your implementation.

var EmployeeBO = TheApplication().GetBusObject("Employee");
var EmployeeBC = EmployeeBO.GetBusComp("Employee");
var userResp;
with (EmployeeBC)
{
ActivateField("Login Name");
ActivateField("Responsibility");
var UserName = TheApplication().LoginName();
SetSearchSpec("Login Name", TheApplication().LoginName());
ExecuteQuery(ForwardOnly);
if(FirstRecord()){
userResp = GetFieldValue("Responsibility");
}
return (CancelOperation);
}
if( userResp == ""){
{
TheApplication().GotoView("");
}else{
return (ContinueOperation);
}

Hope it helps

Siebel Open UI Interview Questions plus bonus jQuery tips

Question 1 : What are different layers of JavaScript classes in Open UI ?

Answer: Siebel Open UI framework provider 4 different type of js files , proxy, presentation model(PM), physical renderer(PM), and plugin wrapper(PW). Out of these only PM, PR and PW are recommended to modify and extend. Proxy is an interface between Siebel server and browser, thus should never be changed.

Siebel Open UI Architecture

Read more

JavaScript Execution Sequence of Siebel Open UI

Hope everyone remembers Siebel event model explained by +Alexander Hansal 

No doubt that is one the best post in Siebel blogosphere till date, in case you haven't read it, I would recommend you to go through it here. This model still holds true and has helped many businesses to model processes. However with introduction of Siebel Open UI there are few more events available for customization on browser side. 


In this post I will show you how Open UI invoke different events and methods on custom PM and PR JavaScript files.

For this proof of concept I have created and associated PM PR files with some logging for all the applets and views. I have also wrote some browser script in applet load event in tools. Following summarizes what I found.

Sequence of JavaScript Execution in Open UI

What I found out that view PM layer is the first in sequence of execution, it is executed even before preload event. Thus all the data is available in preload to build the UI. Preload.js is not the event if someone is looking to execute at very start of view building.

Sequence of execution breakdown

Breakdown of events shows that List applet are executed first by Siebel Open UI (even if they are child objects). I suspect it is done to improve performance.

Additionally Applet load event are executed at last. Thus technically it is possible to override events available in "pre" Open UI era browser scripts in Open UI.

Points to be noted here that:

1. Prelaod.js is not the first thing which gets executed during a view load.
2. Open UI executed PM layer for view first and then applets, however for PR layer, applets were loaded first then view.
3. Open UI also seems to execute list applet code first than form applet irrespective of hierarchy in tools!!
4. After all the processing of PM PR layers(including view), Siebel at last executes applet load event of tools browser script.

Console Outputs:

Hope this will help developers to know the correct event they need to code and execution sequence in which Siebel will execute the code.


For this experiment I have created following PM / PR files .

• OpportunityFormAppletPM
• OpportunityFormAppletPR
• OpporunityContactListAppletPM
• OpportunityContactListAppletPR
• OpportunityDetailContactViewPM
• OpporuntiyDetailContactViewPR
• OpportunityListViewPM
• OpportunityListViewPR
• OpportunityListAppletPM
• OpportunityListAppletPR

All files I have used is available will be available for download soon.

Thanks to Duncan Ford for helping us in getting us code ready by creating the beautiful template generator.

Happy to discuss in detail on slack community or in comments below.

Chrome's hidden menu for Open UI

If you are working on css or js changes for Siebel Open UI, you would be struggling with browser caching. I have noticed some cache even when I am using incognito mode of chrome.

Out of frustration one might end up installing chrome app/plugin to forcefully clear cache. One of them is "Clear Cache" 

Interestingly chrome has now created a very discreet "Empty Cache and Hard Reload" option for developers. To see this option open developer tools by pressing F12 and then press and hold reload button. I have been using this option from past one week and it worked every time as expected.

Chrome Hard Reload for Open UI

Please be mindful that this is an hidden menu and only shows up when chrome's developer tools are open.


Happy coding :)