How to replace LOV popup with a search screen that opens within same window

Question

Hi,
We have a requirement to get rid of LOV popups from our custom OA pages. They need to be replaced by search pages that open within the same window.
For example, we are creating an employee assignment to a department. We first find the employee (currently using the LOV), then the department (currently using another LOV) and then save the new assignmnet record.
The two options we have are:
1. search page fully replaces the current page, and when the user has selected a record, it returns them back to the first page, setting some fields, eg. employee id, employee name, employee address fields.
2. search page opens in a region of the same page (PPR?) and then disappears once the user has seleted a record.
I am not sure how to do this, and really could do with some pointers, i.e. the best way to achieve this.
Thanks in advance
Mark

Answer 1

Both of your options are valid with some pros and cons.
option 1: It gives you a nice interface but then you will have a pass a large number of data back to 1st page.
options 2: You can use the Rendered property of a serach region at runtime and achieve your goal. Since it will be a single page, result set to base items mapping will be easier. Though this kind of UI will look bad if your search region is big.
So it all depends on which option is easier to implement for you.
--Shiv