How to Integrate Google maps with Siebel for multiple addresses

A few days back a client asked me if we could have Google maps integrated with their Siebel application, that would enable their reps to locate their contacts/accounts on Google maps, and find the best way to reach them based on their mode of commute. Initially, they had planned to do this for single addresses. However, I tried to convince them to go for multiple address selection.

The key business driver here in my opinion would be that, the user can optimize his/her travel route based on the proximity of his/her reps, thus saving time and money. Google maps also offers a few more features like checking for traffic, avoiding tolls, taking highways etc.

Google maps is really cool, and integrating it with Siebel makes it cooler ;)

Really!! show me how?

Step 1: The first step would be to get the Google map applet setup on your Siebel application. There are many ways to do this. For this example lets go with Mash-up your CRM with Google maps in < 30 minutes.

Step 2: Once you have this setup, just copy the below script on the contact/ account list applet or where ever you would like to have this integrated.

The below script will automatically refresh your Google map to give you a route of your selected contact addresses and will plot A, B, C pins on the map. Alternatively, you could also use a button to invoke this script.

Script -

 

Step 3: Make sure you change the field names in the script to match your contact BC. 

Step 4: Compile and test!

This is what map would look like

Almost forgot, Thanks to Benny and Alex for their post on Siebel Essentials

Cheers!

Multiple Email Validation Script in Siebel

This post is a result of my sheer frustration for not getting this right in a 100 tries. I had been trying to validate the email addresses being entered in Siebel. I tried a lot of ways to get it to work (Data Validation Manager, Runtime events, Configuration etc) but the darn thing would just not work. I had to ultimately resort to the "boo hoo"- Script!

I thought this would be useful for a lot of Siebel guys out there, will save you from all that frustration.(Checks/validates for a comma separated list of emails as well)

Code:

function BusComp_PreWriteRecord ()
{
    try
    {
        this.ActivateField("Email Address");
        if (this.GetFieldValue("Email Address") != "")
        {
            var sEmail = this.GetFieldValue("Email Address");
            var sPattern = /((\w+([-+.']\w+)*@\w+([-.]\w+)*\.\w+([-.]\w+)*)*([, ])*)*/;
            var isValid = sEmail.replace(sPattern,"Y");
            if(isValid != "Y")
            {
                TheApplication().RaiseErrorText("Please enter a valid email address");
                return (CancelOperation);
            }
            else
                return (ContinueOperation);
            }
        else
            return (ContinueOperation);
    }
    catch (e)
    {
        throw (e);
    }
    finally
    {
        sEmail = null;
        sPattern = null;
        isValid = null;
    }
}

And last but not least. I must give credit to this post which was the only one that actually worked for me. 
Regular ​Expression ​for ​multiple ​email ​validation

Tip: It is advisable to try out string manipulation, validation scripts in a script simulator before coding it in Siebel. Saves you a lot of time and effort.(for eScript you could use the W3Schools JavaScript Simulator)

Cheers!

Siebel Power User - Part 1

Hey Folks,

Here is the first of the many Siebel power user series to come. Just recently discovered a few cool features in Siebel from an end user perspective.

Many a times the user is required to update multiple records of data based on a condition, that the user would normally not know how to execute simultaneously.

For instance, I recently had to update a few(not really) activities in Siebel under a condition where the activity had just one contact associated to it. How would an end user go about making this change?

Lets discuss two such "Good to knows" in the following scenario

The Requirement -

Lets say you have to update the status of 100 or so activities which do not have more than one contact.

The Trick -

Go to the Activities applet, and use the below query on the Contacts field

Count("Contact") > 1

Note: Contact is the MVL used in the Contact MVG

This will give you all activities with more than one contact association.

Now, lets update the Type of the Activities to 'Call'

Select all records and click the Edit option in the application menu and select change records. Change records allows you to update a maximum of 4 fields of the same record simultaneously.

Select Type in Field 1 and change the value to 'Call Back'
 

And there you go, you now have 15 more minutes to facebook ;)

Please feel free to use the comments section for any feeback on this post, or if you would like to contribute to this series.

Cheers!

Setting a Default Template in an Applet To Be Used With Send Email (F9)

Hey Guys,

Its been a while since my last post, apologies for the same. I have been trying to do too many things at the same time :P

While doing some extensive research on Siebel's f9 send email functionality, I came across this cool feature.

So if your business uses a common template to send out to its contacts from a specific applet, this feature could prove useful to you - saves you the effort of manually selecting the template.

Here is how you can add a Default Email Template to your applet.

Step 1: Query for the desired applet you want to set up the email template for.

Step 2: Goto View > Windows > Properties Window.

NOTE: If you are using Siebel versions prior to 8.x. You do not have to open the applet properties window. You should see it as part of the properties for the applet in OBLE.

Step 3: In the Mail Template property enter the Email template name exactly the way it appears in the Siebel Client.

Step 4: Compile and test - Now when you are on the just modified applet and hit F9, you should see the template pre-populated in the template selection dialog.

Note: Setting a default template for the Send Email command, as described above, overrides template visibility by channel. For example, if a template is specified as the default email template for Change Request applets, this same template will also be the default template for these applets for the fax channels (using the Send Fax command).

Cheers!

Skype - Siebel Custom Integration

Want to call one of your contacts/prospects in Siebel without a lot of manual effort? now you can...
Here are a few simple steps of how you could integrate Skype with your siebel application.

Thank you Bernard for sharing this!

Configuration Steps - (for this example I am going to use the contacts applet)

Step 1: Create a custom Business service called 'OS Skype Integration' and assign it to a locked project.

place the below code in the PreCanInvokeMethod event of the Business Service

function Service_PreCanInvokeMethod (MethodName, &CanInvoke)
{
    if(MethodName == "GetField")
    {
        CanInvoke="TRUE";
        return(CancelOperation);
    }
    else if(MethodName == "TransformToSkype")
    {
        CanInvoke="TRUE";
        return(CancelOperation);
    }
    else
    {
        return(ContinueOperation);
    }
}

place the below code in the PreInvokeMethod event of the Business Service

function Service_PreInvokeMethod (MethodName, Inputs, Outputs)
{
    try
    {
        switch (MethodName)
        {
            case "GetField":
                this.GetField(Inputs, Outputs);
                return (CancelOperation);
              
            case "TransformToSkype":
                this.TransformToSkype(Inputs, Outputs);
                return (CancelOperation);      
              
            default:
                return (ContinueOperation);
        }
    }
    catch(e)
    {
        TheApplication().RaiseErrorText(e.toString());
    }
    finally
    {
    }
}

Now that the two methods are defined and ready for use, lets define the logic inside them


Create two new functions as below -

GetField: This method as you can see will get the properties set by the Browser script in the Contact List Applet and will make them available in the Input Property Set of the Business Service.


function GetField(Inputs, Outputs)
{
    var sfield = Inputs.GetProperty("fieldname");
    var sId = Inputs.GetProperty("Id");
    var boName = Inputs.GetProperty("boName");
    var bcName = Inputs.GetProperty("bcName");
    var bo = TheApplication().GetBusObject(boName);
    var bc = bo.GetBusComp(bcName);
    bc.ClearToQuery();
    bc.SetViewMode(AllView);
    bc.ActivateField(sfield);
    bc.SetSearchSpec("Id", sId);
    bc.ExecuteQuery(ForwardOnly);
    if (bc.FirstRecord())
    {
        var svalue = bc.GetFieldValue(sfield);
           Outputs.SetProperty("fieldvalue",svalue);
    }
    else
    {
        Outputs.SetProperty("fieldvalue","");
    }
}

TransformToSkype: This method contains the main string used to make the call. The string includes the Skype exe path and teh Phone Number of the call recipient/Siebel Contact.


So, the string being passed would look something like this "C:\Progra~1\Skype\Phone\skype" /callto:+14152065351. This string is passed to the browser script for execution.

NOTE 1: The target customer base for the Client where I implemented this was for US only, thats why the '+1'. If you wish to make it more general you could check the Country of the contact and derive the country code based on that.

NOTE 2: You could also simply use 'callto:+14152065351' in the below script skiping an extra step(Step2 - Creating the LOV) - Thanks Ranjith for pointing that out.

function TransformToSkype(Inputs, Outputs)
{
    var sWorkphone = Inputs.GetProperty("PhoneNum");
    var sFirst = sWorkphone.charAt(0);
    var sSkypeNum="";
    var sLOVText = TheApplication().InvokeMethod("LookupValue","OS_SKYPE_PATH","Path");
    if(sFirst!="+")
    {
        sSkypeNum = "\"" + sLOVText + "\"" + " /callto:+1" + sWorkphone;
    }
    else
    {
        var sLast = "\n"
        var sSubstr = Clib.strstr(sWorkphone, sLast);
        var sRtn = sWorkphone.replace(sSubstr, "");
        //sSkypeNum = "skype:" + sRtn + "?Call";
        sSkypeNum = "\"" + sLOVText + "\"" + " /callto:" + sRtn;
    }
    Outputs.SetProperty("SkypeNum",sSkypeNum);
}


Step2: Create an LOV as seen in the below screenshot - This would contain the .exe path of Skype.









Step 3: Lock the 'Contact List Applet' and create three custom buttons as shown in the screenshot.(Note: The 'InvokeMethod property for the Skype buttons should be same as the ones in the script')
Make sure the buttons are clickable by using the CanInvokeMethod Applet User property.

You could also get more creative and use a 'Skype Toolbar' in Siebel. Like I have and call the business service from the Command Invoked. The Script would change in that case.(The Browser script from the applet would then be required on the Business Service)

 









Step 4:  Place the below script in the browser script evet Applet_PreInvokeMethod of the contact list applet.

code:
function Applet_PreInvokeMethod (name, inputPropSet)
{
    if(name=="Skype" || name=="SkypeCell" || name=="SkypeHome")
    {
        try
        {
            var serv = theApplication().GetService("OS Skype Integration");
            var inp = theApplication().NewPropertySet();
            var outs = theApplication().NewPropertySet();
            inp.SetProperty("Id", this.BusComp().GetFieldValue("Id"));
            switch(name)
            {
                case "Skype":
                    inp.SetProperty("fieldname","Work Phone #");
                    break;
                case "SkypeCell":
                    inp.SetProperty("fieldname","Cellular Phone #");
                    break;
                case "SkypeHome":
                    inp.SetProperty("fieldname","Home Phone #");
                    break;
            }
            inp.SetProperty("boName", this.BusObject().Name());
            inp.SetProperty("bcName", this.BusComp().Name());
            outs = serv.InvokeMethod("GetField",inp);  
            var svalue = outs.GetProperty("fieldvalue");
           
            inp = null;
            inp = theApplication().NewPropertySet();
            inp.SetProperty("PhoneNum",svalue);
            outs = null;
            outs = theApplication().NewPropertySet();
            outs = serv.InvokeMethod("TransformToSkype",inp);
            svalue="";
            svalue = outs.GetProperty("SkypeNum");
           
            //calls the ActiveXObject and passes the Skype exe path allong with the phone number of the contact
            var wsh = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
            var oExec = wsh.Exec(svalue);
            wsh=null;
            return ("CancelOperation");
        }
        catch(e)
        {
            alert ("Error Applet_PreInvokeMethod : " + e.toString());
        }
        finally
        {
            inp=null;
            outs=null;
            serv=null;
        }
    }
    return ("ContinueOperation");
}

This script will call the 'OS Skype Integration' and pass the respective Phone numbers for transformation if required.

Step 5: Since we are invoking the Business service from the browser level. The Business service will have to be registered as a client business sevice in the Application User Props
















Step 6: Compile all objects you modified.

Step 7: Compile the browser scripts by using Genb or should I say UltraGenB(A cool new utility created by Jason Le of Impossible Siebel)


Query on any contact in the Contact List Applet and hit one of the buttons....and there you have it...TRING TRING!!!

























Happy Calling!!

Launching iHelp with eScript

Hey Folks,

I had a requirement with one of my clients to have a button on a Form Applet that opens the iHelp.

"My Oracle Support" has a few SR's that are related, and I had tried various things including trapping the method calls that are triggered when clicking on the iHelp button on the Toolbar, then repeating them on my custom button but with no luck.

Oracle support seems to confirm you can't Launch iHelp with Script in Siebel 7.7, but doesn't mention Siebel 8.1 (which probably means you can't do it!)

This however is possible through script. You could use the below code on the button to toggle the iHelp from a custom button.

Code:

function WebApplet_PreInvokeMethod (MethodName)
{

    if(MethodName == "LaunchiHelp")
    {
        var oBS= TheApplication().GetService("Task Assistant UI Service");
        var psInputs = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();
        var psOutputs = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();
        oBS.InvokeMethod("ToggleiHelp", psInputs,psOutputs);
        return (CancelOperation);
    }
}

Your custom button should now function exactly like the iHelp launch button on the toolbar.

Update (thanks to my colleague for sharing this)

I have had to add an update to the code so that it looks like this:

var psInputs = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

var psOutputs = TheApplication().NewPropertySet();

psInputs.SetProperty("Command", "#14");

var oBS = TheApplication().GetService("Task Assistant UI Service");

oBS.InvokeMethod("ToggleiHelp", psInputs, psOutputs);

Without this parameter there are issues with opening / closing iHelp multiple time from different entities. It results in a Siebel crash and you have to log in again. With the command property it appears to work fine.

Just a word of caution: this command number is likely to be different in different version of Siebel. It is 8.1.1.2 SIA [21215] ENU that I have this working for.

Cheers!

Get NASDAQ Market updates in Siebel

Like most of you Siebel lovers I too like to integrate anything and everything with Siebel. Here is an example of how you can get NASDAQ updates within your Siebel Application.

Here is how you do it!

Steps:

1. Create an applet with a Single control.

2. Add the following code to your single control that you have in your applet.

Caption String Override: (in frame src tags) ="tickerpanel.asp?COOKIE=S~MSFT~~|S~INTC~~|S~NWSA~~|S~QQQQ~~|S~CSCO~~|
S~ATML~~|S~DELL~~|S~NVDA~~|S~RIMM~~|S~MU~~|I~IXIC|I~INDU|I~SPX" name="ticker" scrolling="no" frameborder=0 noresize marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"

3. place this applet in a view and your done!

Stay tuned for a more advanced version of this post!

Cheers!