A PeopleSoft Component Interface consists of format rules, content rules, and associated Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that govern the structure of a business object (component) and how it is processed. A Component Interface represents a recognizable PeopleSoft entity from the business world, such as a customer, sales order, invoice, or employee. Component Interface APIs enable external programs to gain access to PeopleSoft data by referring to these recognizable business entities, completely independent of the physical layout of any page. The Component Interface APIs can be invoked by external programs using the PeopleSoft client library (
PSJOA.JAR). Component Interfaces in PeopleSoft replace the Message Agent of earlier PeopleSoft versions. A PeopleSoft Component Interface structure is read from the PeopleSoft server and represented as a schema in TIBCO Designer.