#286 – Database Triggers

This week on the podcast, Kyle wrestles with Windows and Linux services, and Dan spends time with database triggers and asks if they can become managed PeopleTools objects.

Show Notes


#254 – Vagabond Updates


This week on the podcast, Kyle and Dan discuss Cloud Managers Start/Stop feature, Dan shares some Vagabond project updates, then they discuss the benefits of simple systems.

Show Notes

Signing nVision Macros

Signing nVision Macros

If you have to support nVision reports, you’ve probably had to deal with getting nVision configured on developer workstations. To develop nVision reports, you need to run Excel macros inside Excel. But, many organizations are concerned about allowing users to run any macro. Macros are often an attack vector for hackers, so running Excel macros are something that IT security often discourages.

How do we balance the need to run nVision and IT security discouraging macros? We can sign the nVision macros with a certificate from your organization so that the macros are trusted. To sign the macros, we will use tools that come with Microsoft Office.

Generate a Certificate

First, we need to generate a certificate. If you have Office 2016, you will find the selfcert.exe program here: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\

PS C:\> cd 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16' 
PS C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16> .\SELFCERT.EXE

Give your certificate a name, nVision, and click OK. Your certificate is stored in the Windows Certificate Manager.

Sign the Excel Macro

Next, launch nVision and sign in. If nVision hangs, you can start Excel, set the macro settings to “All Macros enabled” for now (File> Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings), then relaunch nVision.

Once nVision has started, enable the Developer tab under File > Options > Customize Ribbon. Select the Developer option and move it to the toolbar. Next, click on Developer tab and select the Visual Basic button. In the VB Editor, click on Tools > Digital Signature and select the nVision certificate. Save your changes.

Test the Signed Macros

Before we test, make sure your Excel macro settings are correct. Under File> Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings, select the option “Disable all macros except digitally signed macros”. Close Excel and nVision.

Last, launch nVision and watch your digitally signed macros run in Excel.

#221 – Refresh-able URLs


This week on the podcast, Jim Marion from JSMPros joins Dan to talk about their favorite coding fonts, making App Designer a better tool, HTML attributes to make PeopleSoft pages better, and how to build refresh-able URLs.

Show Notes

#208 – 2019 Fall UMRUG Recap


This week on the podcast, Dan and Kyle recap some of the great discussions and sessions at the 2019 Fall UMRUG meeting. Kyle also talks about some great ideas for using the ACCTLOCK field.

Show Notes

#184 – nVision Performance



This week on the podcast, David Kurtz joins us again to talk about nVision and how to improve the performance of nVision reports. David also shared his thoughts on Oracle’s Autonomous Databases and some tips on how to resolve invalid views.

Show Notes

nVision Performance Tuning @ 1:30 Difference between OpenXML and Excel for nVision @ 21:30 Thoughts on Autonomous Database and Warehouse @ 29:00 Invalid Views @ 37:00

#142 – PIA Installations


This week on the podcast, Kyle discusses the changes to PIA installations in 8.56 and how to leverage Python and WLST with it. Dan shares how he improved nVision report performance, and the value of starting to automate small tasks.

Show Notes

#113 – Rundeck and Bolt

This week on the podcast, Kyle and Dan discuss Bolt, a new tool from Puppet to run commands and scripts remotely on servers. Dan also talks about setting up a new Rundeck server and using Bolt with Rundeck.

Show Notes

#25 – Intro to Elasticsearch

This week Dan talks about using a PS_APP_PATCH_HOME environment variable, Kyle discusses PeopleSoft features that require Windows servers and then we give an introduction to Elasticsearch.

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