Forms10g

SkyEss Techno Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Corporate Material

Document Number : CT/Forms 10gDS/SkyEss/Feb10/CORTR-2010/01

Reference Documentation on Oracle Forms 10gDS Page No : 1 of 48

Prepared By : Sathish Yellanki.

Introduction To Oracle Forms Developer And

Oracle Forms Services





What Are Internet Computing Solutions?

These Are Applications OR Products Designed And Developed For Global, Multi And Distributed Client Computing Architectures.

These Applications OR Products Are Not Designed Specific To A Device OR Platform

OR Operating System Architecture.

The Products OR Applications Are Provided With Universal Interface Through Macro OR Micro Browsers.

The Internet Computing Solutions Are Protocol And Network Topology Independent.

The Applications OR Products Are Designed With Facilities Like Remote Computing, Remote Application And Administration Facilities.

The Products OR Applications Are Client/Server Oriented With Centralized OR Distributed in Architecture.

What Oracle Corporation Provides For Internet Computing Solutions

Declarative Model-Based Approach Tools

Professionals Working At Enterprise Application Development Level Need

Declarative Model-Based Approach Tools.

Oracle Designer And Oracle Forms Developer Provide Solutions At Enterprise Application Development Level .

We Can Use Oracle Forms Developer To Rapidly Build Scalable, High-Performance Applications For The Internet.

Applications Developed Using Forms Developer Can Be Deployed With Oracle Forms Services.

Component Development Tools

Component Developers Need Different Tools And Methods To Design And Develop

Programming Components For Internet.

Components Are Object Based And Reusable.

Component Developers Prime Choice At Internet Level is Java Language, Hence Oracles Solution is JDeveloper.

Web Site And Content Development Tools

Web Site Developers And Content Publishers Who Want To Build Self-Service Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) Applications For Web Sites.

Oracle Portal Provides An Easy-To-Use Development Environment That Resides

Entirely Inside An Oracle9i Database.

Oracle Portal Provides A Browser-Based Environment From Development Through Deployment of An Application.

Management Information System Tools

Oracle Business Intelligence Toolset is The Solution For Applications Targeting MIS And DSS Systems.

The Tools Provided By Oracle Business Intelligence Tool Set Are

Oracle Reports Developer.





Oracle Reports Services.

Oracle Discoverer.

Oracle Express.

Business Intelligence Toolset Provides The Whole Range For Reporting, Analysis, And Trending Facilities.

Products Provided By Oracle9i

Oracle9i Database

Manages All The Clients Information, Such As Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, XML, And Images.

Oracle9iDS Tools Can Automatically Reuse The Database Structure And Its Integrity Constraints, Reducing The Amount of Manual Coding.

Oracle9i Application Server (Oracle9iAS)

Oracle9i Application Server Runs All The Applications, Including Java, Wireless, Portals, And Business Intelligence.

Using Oracle9iAS, We Can Deploy And Manage All Applications Develo ped With Oracle9iDS in A Single Application Server.

Oracle9i Forms Services is Used To Deploy Forms Applications From Oracle9iAS.

Oracle9i Developer Suite (Oracle9iDS)

Oracle9iDS Leverages The Infrastructure Offered By Oracle9iAS And Oracle9i Database.

Oracle9iDS Enables Developers To Build Scalable, Secure, And Reliable E-business Applications Quickly And Easily.

The Suite is A Complete And Highly Productive Development Environment For Building Applications.

Let Us Look into Oracle9i Application Server Architecture

Oracle 9iAS Architecture





Oracle9iAS is A Composition of A Layered Architecture Which Can Be Integrated onto

A Multi-Tier Architecture.

Different Services Provided By Oracle9iAS

Communication Services

It is Communication Management Layer Embedded With A Variety of Protocols Like

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)

RMI (Remote Method Invocation)

IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol)

Wireless.

Web Cache.

Application Runtime Services

It is A J2EE Container Which Provides A Common Runtime Environment For Applications Developed As JSPs, Servlets, EJBs, And Web Services.

System Services

This is A Collection of Common Set of Runtime Services That Are Necessary For J2EE Applications And Web Services.

The Different System Services Include

Request Dispatch And Scheduling.

Resource Management.

Resource Pooling.

Clustering.

Fault Monitoring.

Transaction Management.

Messaging.

Management Services

These Are A Common Set of Systems Management Services To Monitor The Status, Performance And Faults Occurring in The System.

The Different Management Services Include

Monitoring Resource Consumption And Usage.

Managing A Single Instance OR Cluster of Instances.

Centrally Administer Security For Users And Applications.

Provide A Comprehensive Directory Service Framework To Manage Users.





Connectivity Services

Provides Connectivity To A Variety of Systems Irrespective of Architectural Differences.

Solutions

A Comprehensive Set of Solutions All Built on The Infrastructure Described Above.

Solutions Include Enterprise Portals, Enterprise Integration, Business Intelligence, Wireless, And Independent Software Vendor Solutions.

Let Us Have A Look into Oracle 9iAS Components

The Operations That Can Be Executed Using Components of Oracle 9iAS Are

Extract And Analyze Business Intelligence

Clickstream.

Personalization.

Reports Services.

Discoverer.





Business Integration Components

InterConnect.

Workflow.

Unified Messaging.

Internet File System.

Create Personalized Portals

Oracle 9iAS Portal

Deploy Dynamic Web Applications

XDK

Web Services

Forms Services

OC4J

HTTP Server

Manage And Secure Web Infrastructure

Enterprise Manager

Security

Internet Directory

Oracle Forms Services Overview

A Component of Oracle9i Application Server That Deploys Forms Applications To Java Clients in A Web Environment.





What is Actually Oracle Forms Services

It is A Component of Oracle9i Application Server For Delivering Oracle Forms Developer Applications To The Internet.

It Automatically Provides The Infrastructure That is Needed To Successfully

Deliver Applications on The Internet Through Built-in Services And Optimizations.

It Uses A Three-Tier Architecture To Deploy Database Applications

The Client Tier Contains The Web Browser, Where The Application is Displayed And Used.

The Middle Tier is The Application Server, Where The Application Logic And

Server Software Reside.

The Database Tier is The Database Server, Where Enterprise Data is Stored.

Let us Peep into Forms Services Architecture

Forms Services Consists of Four Major Components

The Java Client (Forms Client).

The Forms Listener Servlet.

The Forms Servlet.

The Forms Runtime Engine.





When A User Runs A Forms Session Over The Web, A Thin, Java-Based Forms Applet is Dynamically Downloaded From The Application Server And Automatically

Cached On The Java Client Machine.

The Same Java Applet Code Can Be Used For Any Form, Regardless of Size And Complexity.

Even Though Forms Services Uses A Java Applet For Displaying The Form on The Client Browser, The Developer Need Not Know Java in Order To Develop And

Deploy A Forms Application.

Let us Understand The Benefits of Oracle9i Developer Suite

The Oracle9i Developer Suite Combines The Power of Oracle Application Development Tools And Oracle Business Intelligence Tools onto One Single

Platform.

Provides Standards-Based, Java And XML Integrated Development Environment.

It Supports The Full Application Development Life-Cycle With CASE, Prototyping And RAD Approach.

Provides Flexible And Scalable Solutions For Data Warehousing And Business

Intelligence Needed For OLAP Environments.

Very Perfectly Optimized For The Oracle9i Database And Oracle9i Application Server Architectures.

Increases The Productivity of The Application Development, With Maintenance

Free Deployment And Development of Products.





Let us Understand Application Development Process Using Oracle9iDS

Modeling

Oracle9i Designer Provides Tools For

Visual Modeling.

Reverse Engineering.

Code Generation.

Oracle9iDS Also Supports UML Modeling By Utilizing Visual Tools For Activity And Class Modeling Within The JDeveloper Component.

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

RAD Capabilities in Oracle9iDS Include

Feature Integrated Builders.

Re-Entrant Wizards.

Live Pre-Viewers.

Property Inspectors.

The JDeveloper Component Provides Additional Productivity Through Business Components For Java (BC4J), A Built-in J2EE Framework.





J2EE And Web Services

Oracle9iDS Supports The Latest J2EE 1.2 APIs Which Include

Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB).

Java Server Pages (JSP) And Servlets.

Web Services Support

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).

WSDL (Web Service Definition Language).

UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, And Integration).

Team Support

Oracle9i Software Configuration Management Provides

Versioning,

Dependency Management, And

Impact Analysis For All Objects And File Types.

Let us Understand Oracle9iDS Business Intelligence





Extract, Transformation, and Load (ETL)

Oracle9i Warehouse Builder Provides A Graphical Interface For Mapping And Transformation.

OWB Provides An Extensible Framework For Integrating A Diverse Set of Data

Sources And Integration With Business Intelligence Tools.

End User Query And Analysis

Oracle9i Discoverer Administrator is Used To Create And Maintain A Business

Oriented View of The Data That Supports The Discoverer Client Tools Like

Discoverer Plus Discoverer Viewer (in Oracle9iAS)

Discoverer Desktop (in Oracle9iDS)

Using Oracle9i Discoverer Administrator We Can Prepare The Data For Reporting Standards of The Business System.

Enterprise Reporting

Oracle9i Reports Developer Enables The Developer To Access Any Data, To Publish it in Any Format, And To Send it Anywhere Through Web.

Enterprise Reporting Supports Various Formats of Enterprise Reports Which

Include

HTML With CSS,

PDF (Portable Document Format)

RTF (Rich Text Format)

Postscript, And

XML (Extensible Markup Language)

Every Report That is Designed Through Oracle9i Reports Developer Can Be Exported into Any External Applications.

The Reports Developed in Oracle9i Reports Developer Can Be Integrated into Oracle Forms 10gDS.

Let Us Kick Start With Oracle Forms Developer Environment

What is Exactly Oracle Forms Developer?

Oracle Forms Developer is A Component of The Oracle Internet Developer Suite.

It is A Productive Development Environment For Building Enterprise-Class, Scalable Database Applications For The Internet.

Oracle Forms Developer Provides A Set of Tools That Enable Business Developers To Easily And Quickly Construct Sophisticated Database Forms And Business Logic

With A Minimum of Effort.

Oracle Forms Developer Uses Powerful Declarative Capabilities To Rapidly Create Applications From Database Definitions That Leverage The Tight Integration With

Oracle9i.

The Toolset Leverages Java Technology, Promotes Reuse, And is Designed To

Allow Developers To Declaratively Build Rich User Interfaces.





The Developer Productivity is Increased Through A Single Integrated Development Environment That Enables Distributed Debugging Across All Tiers, Utilizing The

Same PL/SQL Language For Both Server And Client.

Oracle Forms Developers Tight Integration With Oracle Designer Enables Us To Use A Productive Model-Driven Development Approach.

Oracle Forms Developer Applications Can Be Automatically Generated From Business Requirements Designed in The Oracle Designer Modeling Environment.

The Models Developed in The Oracle Designer Are Stored in The Oracle Repository For Future Access.

The Oracle Forms IDE is Fully Equipped With All The Tools For Developing The

Control Items.

Code-Level Changes Made Within The Oracle Forms Developer Environment Can Be Automatically Reverse Engineered Back into The Models, Preserving The Integrity

Between The Models And The Application.

Key Features of Oracle9i Forms Developer

Tools For Rapid Application Development

We Can Create And Modify Applications With Little OR no Code At All.

Enhanced Productivity With Wizard-Based Rapid Application Development.

Provides Built-in Commands That Perform Common Functions For Reusability.

Application Partitioning

We Can Place Individual PL/SQL Program Units on The Database Server OR in

The Application, Whichever is Most Suitable.

We Can Drag-And-Drop Objects Between Modules And The Database Server.

Flexible Source Control

Oracle9i Software Configuration Manager (SCM) is Integrated Directly in Forms

Developer To Provide Source Control Options, Such As

Checkin And Checkout Capability.

Versioning.

Diff And Merge Utilities.

Impact Analysis.

Extended Scalability

The Multi-Tiered Architecture Enables Us To Scale Applications From A Single User To Tens of Thousands of Users, With No Changes To The Application.

We Can Use Server Functionality, Such As Array DML, Database Cursors, OR Bind Variables, To Improve Scalability.

The Extended Scalability Provides The Facility of Maintenance Flexibi lity For Upward Compatibility.

Object Reuse

Oracle Forms Developer Offers An Inheritance Model.





Inheritance Model Facilitates The Inheritance of Attributes And Code From One Object To Another And From One Application To Another.

The Inheritance Model is Provided Through The Concept of Sub Classing And Object Libraries.

The Inheritance Model Save Time And Increases Productivity And Consistency.

Starting OC4J Instance

Before Starting The Forms 10gDS Environment We Should Start The OC4J Instance.

Steps To Start OC4J Instance

Start All Programs Oracle9i DS Forms Developer Start OC4J Instance.

Stopping OC4J Instance

After Working in Forms 10gDS Environment We Should Stop The OC4J Instance Before We Exit Forms 10g DS Environment.

Steps To Stop OC4J Instance

Start All Programs Oracle9i DS Forms Developer Stop OC4J Instance.





Starting Oracle Forms Developer

Once The OC4J Instance is Started, We Get The Message Oracle9iAS (9.0.2.0.0) Containers For J2EE Initialized.

This Message Indicates That We Can Go For Instantiating The Forms Builder

Environment.

Steps To Start Forms Builder Environment

Start All Programs Oracle9i DS Forms Developer Forms Builder.

Connecting To Database

Once The Forms Builder Interface Opens We Should Connect To Database, With Proper Username And Password And Host String OR Database Name.

Steps To Connect To Database

Press CTRL + J To Open The connect Dialog Box OR File Connect From The Menu OR Press Connect Button.

Let us Understand The Forms Builder Components

The Interface Components of The Forms Builder Tool Help To Provide Flexibility And Productivity of The Oracle Forms Developer Development Environment.





Object Navigator

The Object Navigator is A Hierarchical Browsing And Editing Interface.

It Can Be Used To Locate And Manipulate Application Objects Quickly And Easily.

Object Navigator Features

A Hierarchy of Objects Represented By Indentation And Expandable Nodes.

Top-Level Nodes Show Module Types, Database Objects, And Built-in Packages.

Every Object OR Component in The Forms Developer Should Belong To Some

Category in The Top-Level Node.

Find Field And Icons, Enabling Forward And Backward Searches For Any Level of Node OR For An Individual Item in A Node.

Icons in The Vertical Toolbar Replicating Common Edit And View Menu Functions.

An Icon Next To Each Object To Indicate The Object Type, The Specific Editor For

The Object Can Be Opened By Double Clicking The Icon of The Specific Object .

The Top-level Nodes in The Object Navigator Include

Forms

Menus

Libraries

Object Libraries

Built-in Packages

Database Objects.

The Nodes Can Be Expandable OR Collapsed.

Operations Perform in Object Navigator Are

Expand And Collapse Entries.

Locate Objects Quickly.

Select Objects

Create And Delete Objects.

Copy And Move Objects Within And Between Modules.

Switch Between Views.

Quickly Display The Code Associated With Objects Such As Triggers And Program Units





Property Palette

All Objects in A Module, Including The Module Itself, Have Properties That We Can See And Modify in The Property Palette.

The Property Palette is Used To Set The Properties of Objects Created in Form And

Menu Modules.

When We Select An Object in An Editor OR in The Object Navigator, The Property Palette is Updated To Show The Properties of That Object.

The List of Properties in The Palette Are Synchronized Whenever We Select A Different Object.

We Can Turn Synchronization on OR off For A Specific Palette By Clicking The Freeze/Unfreeze Button on The Property Palette Toolbar.

We Can Compare The Properties of Two Objects, By Invoking Additional Property Palettes.

Features Provided By Property Palette Are

Copy And Reuse Properties From Another Object.

Find Field And Icons, Similar To Object Navigator.

Property List is A 2-Column List of Property Names And Values.

We Can Select Properties in The List By Clicking And By Navigating With The Up/Down Arrow

Keys.

Set The Properties By Selecting The Property And Then Typing OR Double-Clicking.

Name Field Displays The Name of The Object Currently Selected in The Object Navigator OR

An Editor.

When A Property is Selected A Text Field, Pop-List, OR More Button is Displayed Beside The

Property.

Layout Editor

The Layout Editor OR Layout Model is A Graphical Design Facility For Creating And Arranging Interface Items And Graphical Objects in The Application.

We Can Use The Tool Palette And The Toolbar Available in The Layout Editor To Design The Style, Color, Size, And Arrangement of Visual Objects in The

Application.

The Layout on The Layout Editor Can Include Graphical Objects And Images.

In The Layout Editor, We Can Work on A Single Canvas At A Time.

Canvases Are Associated To Windows And Are Displayed in Windows At Runtime.

When We Specify The Window A Canvas Will Be Displayed, Which is Set By

Canvas's Window Property.

Layout Editor Context





The Title Bar of The Layout Editor Window Displays The Context Information Related To

The Name of The Current Form.

The Name of The Canvas Being Edited.

The Name of The Current Block.

When We Create An Item By Drawing it on The Canvas in The Layout Editor, The Item is Assigned To The Current Block.

We Can Change The Layout Editor Block Context Using The Block Poplist on The Toolbar.

Rulers

The Horizontal And Vertical Rulers Provide A Reference For Sizing And Arranging Objects in The Layout Editor.

To Hide Rulers, Deselect The Rulers Option on The View Menu.

Layout Editor Ruler Units Can Be Set To Character Cells, Inches, Centimeters, OR Points.

To Display The Ruler Settings Dialog, Choose View Customize Rulers/Grid.

Grid

Grid Can Be Defined Within The Workspace And it Helps Us To Position Objects.

The Grid is Rendered in The Current Ruler Units.

We Can Hide OR Unhide The Grid Lines, By Selecting OR Deselecting The Grid Option in The View Menu.

Ruler Guides

Ruler Guides Are Horizontal And Vertical Dotted Lines That Can Be Used As References When Aligning Objects on A Canvas.

To Create A Ruler Guide, Position The Pointer on Either Ruler, Then Click And Drag into The Workspace.

Ruler Guides Are Not Displayed At Runtime.

To Move A Ruler Guide, Drag it To A Different Location.

To Delete A Ruler Guide, Drag it Out of The Workspace.





To Temporarily Hide Ruler Guides Without Deleting Them, Deselect The Ruler Guides Option in The View Menu.

Status Line

The Status Line is Located at The Bottom of The Layout Editor Window.

The Information Provided By The Status Line

Absolute Mouse Position.

Mouse Drag Distance.

Rotation Angle.

Magnification Level.

PL/SQL Editor

The PL/SQL Editor Enables Us To Incorporate PL/SQL Code Objects into The Form.

Code Objects in Forms Developer Can Include

Event Triggers.

Subprograms

Functions

Procedures.

Menu Item Commands.

Menu Startup Code.

Packages.

We Can Enter And Compile Code in The PL/SQL Editor With Exactly Similar Syntax As in PL/SQL Environment.

PL/SQL Editor Helps in Identifying The Run Time Errors Without Moving To Other Environments.

The PL/SQL Editor is Part of Forms 10gDS Environment, And Provides All The Features For Writing Application And Event Oriented Logic Locally, Within Forms

Environment.





Displaying the PL/SQL Editor

Choose Program PL/SQL Editor. OR

In The Object Navigator, Double-Click The Object Icon For Any Code Object.

Double-Clicking The Icon For A Trigger OR Program Unit When A PL/SQL Editor is

Already Displayed Synchronizes The Editor To That Object.

To Invoke A Separate PL/SQL Editor For The Object, Shift + Double-Click.

PL/SQL Editor Context

The Type And Object Options At The Top of The PL/SQL Editor Define The Current Object Context.

The Name Option Lists All of The Code Objects Defined in That Context.

When We Invoke The PL/SQL Editor, If The Currently Selected Object is A Code Object The PL/SQL Editor is Synchronized To That Object's Context.

If There is A Code Object Defined in The Current Context, it is Displayed in The PL/SQL Editor.

If No Code Objects Are Defined, We Will Be Prompted To Select A Trigger Name OR For A Program Unit Name To Create.

We Can Change The Type, Object, And Name Options When We Want To View Code

Objects Defined in A Different Context.

Type

It Sets Editor Context To A Specific Type of Code Object.

When The Current Module is A Form, Type Can Be Set To Trigger OR Program Unit.





When The Current Module is A Menu, Type Can Be Set To Menu Startup Code, Menu Item Code, OR Program Unit.

When The Current Module is A Library, Type is Always Program Unit.

Object

Object Sets Editor Context To A Specific Object Scope.

When Type is Set To Trigger, Object Scope Can Be Set To Form By Selecting Form Level in The First Poplist.

To Set Editor Context To A Particular Block, Select The Name of The Block in The First Object Poplist.

To Set Editor Context To An Item, Select The Block That Contains The Item in The First Object Poplist, Then Select The Item Itself in The Second Popl ist.

When The Current Module is A Menu, We Can Edit Menu Item PL/SQL Commands By Setting Type To Menu Item Code, Then Selecting The Menu on Which The Item

Appears in The First Object Poplist, And The Menu Item Itself In The Second

Poplist.

Name

The Name Option Lists All of The Code Objects Defined in The Current Context.

Selecting A Code Object From The Name Poplist Makes That Object The Current Object in The Editor.

When Context is Set To Item-Level Trigger, The Name Poplist Shows All of The Triggers Attached To That Item.

When Editor Context is Set To Program Unit, The Name Poplist Shows All

Subprograms And Packages Defined in The Current Module.

Let Us Understand The Forms Builder Menu Structure

The Forms Builder Main Menu Contains Options To Enable Us To Create, Modify, And Manage Our Form Modules.

Forms Builder Main Menu

File Common File Utilities, Such As Open, Save, Connect, Administration.

View Switch View in Current Window Options Vary Depending On Context.

Edit Cut, Copy, Paste, Create, Preferences, And So on

Layout Common Commands For Use in Layout Editor

Program Includes Compilation And Commands Related to Code

Debug Invokes Debugger Functionality

Tools Access To Wizards And Other Forms Builder Components

Customizing The Forms Builder Session

Oracle Forms Developer Preferences





Forms Developer Preferences is Used To Customize Some Aspects of The Forms Builder Session.

The Available Tabs For Change Are

General

Subclass

Wizard

Runtime

Forms Builder Preferences

Forms Builder Preferences Can Be Set Two Levels

Session Preferences

Run-Time Setting Preferences

Steps To Modify Preferences

Select Edit Preferences.

Specify Any Options That You Require.

Click OK To Save Changes.

Tab Name Preference Description

General Build Before

Running

Determines Whether Forms Builder Automatically

Compiles The Active Module When We Run A Form.

Subclass Sub-Classing

Path

Options For Keeping OR Removing The Sub-Classing

Path.

Wizards Welcome Dialog Check Box To Suppress OR Display The First

Welcome Dialog Box.

Runtime Array Processing

Makes Forms Builder Process A Groups of Records

At A Time, Reducing Network Traffic And Increasing

Performance.

After The Required Preferences Are Changes We Should Save The Preferences By Clicking The OK Button.

Saving Preferences

When We Click OK in The Preferences Dialog Box, Oracle Forms Developer Updates The Current Session With The Changes.

When We Exit The Builder By Clicking File Exit, Oracle Forms Developer Writes The Changes To A Preference File For Future Sessions.

The Name of The Preference File Varies on Different Platforms.

Oracle Forms Developer And Oracle Reports Developer Share The Same Preference File.

If The Preference File Already Exists, Oracle Forms Developer Merges Its Changes With The Existing File Without Affecting Preferences For Reports.

Each Option in The Preference File is Prefixed By The Tool Name To Which it

Belongs.





Pseudo Format of Preference File

Reports.Object_Access = FILE

Forms.Build_Before_Run = ON

Forms.Welcome_Dialog = ON

NOTE

The Preference File is Read Whenever We Invoke The Forms Developer OR Reports Developer.

The Preferences File is An Editable Text File, But We Should Alter The Options in The Preferences Dialog Box Only.

Running a Forms Developer Application

Deploying Form Applications To The Web is Implemented By The Three-Tier Architecture of Oracle9i Application Server.

Application Logic And The Forms Services Runtime Engine Reside on The Middle-

Tier Application Server.

All Trigger Processing Occurs on Database And Application Servers, While User Interface Processing Occurs on The Forms Client.

End Users Can Run Forms Developer Applications in A Web Browser.

Users Request An Application in Their Web Browsers By Entering A URL That Points

To The Application.

Forms Services When Deployed Generates An HTML File, Which in Turn Downloads A Java Applet To The Client Machine For Display.

The Small Applet is Capable of Displaying The User Interface of Any Form, While The Application Logic is Executed on The Middle Tier.





Oracle Forms Services Deployment

Running a form in Browser

We Have To Use A URL To Invoke An Application in Forms Developer.

The Format of The URL is

http://Host[:port]/Forms Servlet OR Html File[Parameters]

Components of The URL

Protocol http

Domain summit.Com

Port For HTTP Server

OR OC4J

xxxx Default For HTTP Server 8888 Default For OC4J

Forms Servlet Alias OR

Static Html File

/Forms90/F90servlet

Parameters

This Section Begins

With ?; Parameters Separated By &

Form=customers.Fmx Userid = username / Password @

database

Buffer_records = no

Debug_messages = no

Parameters Can Be Specified In The URL OR Taken From The Forms Configuration

File.

The Java Runtime Environment

The Web Browser Can Run A Java Applet Because It Provides A Java Runtime Environment (JRE). All Web Browsers Are Not Able To Natively Run The Forms

Client.

On Windows Platforms, Oracle Provides A Plug-in Called Jinitiator That Provides An Alternate JRE Capable of Running The Forms Applet.

Benefits of Jinitiator

It is Able To Incrementally Download The Java Archive Files (JAR Files) Needed For The Forms Client, Providing Faster Application Startup.





It Caches The JAR Files Locally, So That They Do Not Need To Be Downloaded Again.

It Improves Application Performance Within A Browser Session By Applet Instance Caching.

When A User Navigates From The Current Page in The Browser, The Running Forms

Application is Cached.

When The User Comes Back To The Page Containing The Applet, The Applet That Was Running is Automatically Fully Restored, Including All of The Data Entered in

The Application.

It is Automatically Configured To Run The Forms Application in Trusted Mode.

Trusted Mode Enables The Application To Have Access To Resources That The Java Sandbox Model Normally Prohibits it From Using, Such As Print Services.

Demerits of JInitiator

Not All Browsers Support The Forms Applet Through The JInitiator.

Starting a Form Run-Time Session in Oracle Forms

Stage 1





Stage 2

Stage 3





Starting a Form Run-Time Session

Steps Involved

The User Accesses The URL That Indicates That A Forms Application Should Be Run.

The Oracle HTTP Server OR OC4J Receives An HTTP Request From The Browser Client And Contacts The Forms Servlet.

The Forms Servlet Dynamically Creates An HTML Page Containing All The

Information To Start The Forms Session.

The Oracle HTTP Server OR OC4J Downloads A Generic Applet To The Client After Checking That it Has Not Already Been Downloaded.

The Client Caches The Applet So That it Can Run Future Forms Applications Without Downloading it Again.

The Client Applet Contacts The Forms Listener Servlet To Start The Session And Maintains That Session ID Throughout The Connection.

The Forms Listener Servlet Starts An Instance of The Forms Runtime Engine on The Forms Server Which is a Middle Tier.

If Included in The HTML File, Forms Runtime Command-Line Parameters And Any

User-Defined Forms Builder Parameters Are Passed To The Process By The Forms

Listener Servlet.

These Parameters Will Be Operating For Authorization And Authentication of The Forms Environment.

The Forms Listener Servlet Establishes A Connection With The Runtime Engine,

Which Connects To The Database if Needed And Loads Application Executable Files.

The Forms Applet Displays The User Interface of The Application in The Main Window of The Users Web Browser.

The Forms Listener Servlet, Working Through OC4J Or The HTTP Server, Manages Communication Between The Forms Applet And The Runtime Engine.

What is Actually Forms Servlet?

The Forms Servlet is A Java Servlet That Creates A Dynamic HTML File By Merging Information From Various Sources

The Forms Web Configuration File

The Forms Base HTML File

The Applications URL Parameters

A Specific URL is Used To Point Towards The Forms Servlet.

The Forms Servlet in Turn Points Towards The Application Server.





Let Us Understand The Forms Client

The Forms Client is A Generic Java Applet.

Forms Services Dynamically Downloads The Applet And Automatically Caches it on The Client Machine.

The Forms Client Consists of A Set of Java Classes.

At Startup, Only Those Java Classes That Are Necessary To Initialize The Application Are Downloaded.

Additional Class Files Are Downloaded Dynamically, As Needed, To Support Additional User Interface Activity.

We Need Not Deploy A Separate Java Applet For Each Application.

The Same Generic Applet is Used To Run Any Forms Services Application, Regardless of Its Size And Complexity.

Responsibilities of The Forms Client

The Forms Client Represents The User Interface Layer And Has Three Primary Functions

To Render The Forms Services Application Display For The User.

To Efficiently Process User Interaction Back To Forms Services.

To Process Incoming Messages From Forms Services And Translate Them Into Interface Objects For The End User Efficiently.





Let Us Understand The Forms Listener Servlet

The Forms Listener Servlet is A Java Servlet That Runs in A Web Server Equipped With A Servlet Engine, Such As OC4J.

The Web Server Directs HTTP Requests For The Forms Listener Servlet Directly To

The Servlet Instances.

Forms Listener Servlet Services

Managing The Creation of The Forms Runtime Process For Each Client.

Managing The Network Communications That Occur Between The Client And its Associated Forms Runtime Process, Through The Web Server.

Sending The Client HTTP Requests And Receives HTTP Responses From The Web Server Process Itself.





Make The Web Server Act As The Network Endpoint For The Client.

Reduces The Need To Expose Additional Server Machines And Ports At The Firewall.

Let Us Understand The Forms Runtime Engine

The Forms Runtime Engine is A Process on The Application Server That is Started By The Forms Listener Servlet.

We Cannot Start The Forms Runtime Engine Directly.

The Forms Runtime Engine Handles All The Application Logic And Forms Functionality And Executes The Code Written Into The Application.

Forms Runtime Engine Manages Requests From The Forms Client And Sends Metadata To The Client To Describe The User Interface.

It Connects To And Communicates With The Oracle10g Database Via Oracle Net Services, The Replacement For Net8 And SQL*Net.

Forms Runtime Engine is The Only Component That Communicates With The Client Browser And The Database.

Let Us Understand The Oracle Developer Environment Variables

Oracle Forms Developer Uses Many Environment Variables Which Are Assigned

With Default Values.

All The Environment Variables Can Be Modified in The Own Environment of The Client For Different Applications.

Setting Search Paths For Run Time

Forms Uses Some Environment Variables Set on The Middle Tier Machine To Search At Run Time, For Files Such As Forms, Menus, And Libraries.

Setting Search Paths Enables Us To Build Applications That Are Portable Across Platforms And Directory Structures By Avoiding Hard Coded Paths in File

References.

The Order of Paths Searched By Forms

The Current Working Directory

Directories in FORMS90_PATH

Directories in ORACLE_PATH

Setting Search Paths for Design Time

Forms Builder Needs Access To Certain Java Classes For Some of its Features, Such As Help, The Debugger, And The Java Importer.

We Set FORMS10_BUILDER_CLASSPATH So That Forms Builder Can Find The Java

Classes it Needs During Development And Testing of An Application.

The Environment Variables Must Be Set on The Machine Where Oracle10gDS is Installed.

On The Machine Where Forms10gDS is Installed Set The FORMS90_BUILDER_CLASSPATH Variable in Windows By Modifying in The

Registry By Executing REGEDIT.EXE OR REGEDT32.EXE Application.

The FORMS10_BUILDER_CLASSPATH Variable is Used By Forms Builder in Forms10gDS.





Modifying Environment Variables

In A Windows 32-BIT Environment, Use The Windows Registry To Modify The Paths, Except For CLASSPATH.

The CLASSPATH Should Be Set in The System Settings of The Control Panel.

We Can Override These Settings At Run Time in The File That Controls The Forms Run Time Environment, Which is The default.env File Unless A Different File is

Specified.

Using An Environment Control File Makes it Easier To Deploy The Application on

Any Platform.

We Can Specify Which Environment Control File To Use in A Special Forms Configuration File Called By Default formsweb.cfg.

In The Configuration File, We Can Set System Parameters, Such As The Name of

The Environment Control File.

We Also Can Set Parameters To Control Which Form To Run, The UserID, Aspects of The Java Client And The HTML File That Contains The Java Applet, And Many

Other Settings As Needed.

The Generic Path of Environment Control File is \Forms10\Server\Default.env

The Generic Path of Forms Configuration File \Forms10\Server\Formsweb.cfg

System Parameters, Such As Envfile And Working Directory Can Be Specified At Runtime Through Modification.

We Can Even Make Changes For User Parameters, For Forms And UserID And Java Client Settings.

Environment Variables And Y2K Compliance

Dates in Oracle Forms Developer

The Different Sources From Where Dates Can Come into Oracle Forms Are

Fetched From The Server/Database

Entered By The End User

Defined In The Application Itself

Date Format Masks

We Can Specify A Format Mask For A Date Item in The Form.

A Developer Can Explicitly Define The Date Format Masks, Forms Builder Also Provides A Number of its Own Internal Masks.

The Values For These Internal Masks Can Be Specified With Property Values And

Environment Variables.

To Eliminate Potential Errors Caused By The Year 2000 (Y2K), By Setting Two Environment Variables Provided By Forms Builder.

Database Date Format Mask

Each Database Session Within A Forms Application Has A Single Database Date Format Mask.





A Default Value For This Mask is Established By The Orac le Servers Initialization Parameter.

We Can Override This Value in Each New Database Session For A Particular Client By Setting The Clients NLS_DATE_FORMAT Environment Variable.

Input Date Format Mask

It is A Set of Masks And is Used To Convert A User-Entered String Into A Native Format Date Value.

We Can Set The Environment Variable, FORMS90_USER_DATE_FORMAT, To Specify These Format Masks.

What We Actually See at Run Time in Forms Developer Environment

The Components Seen At Run Time in FormsDS

Browser Window

Java Applet (Contained Within Browser Window)

Default Menu (Contained Within Applet)

Menu Toolbar (Contained Within Applet)

Console (Contained Within Applet)

Default Menu

The Default Menu, is Part of All Oracle Forms Developer Applications, it is An Alternative To Keystroke Operations.

We Can Replace OR Customize The Default Menu To Introduce Our Own Functionality into A Form Module.

Menu Toolbar

The Menu Toolbar Contains Buttons Corresponding To Menu Items.

At Run Time, It Appears Above Any User-Defined Toolbars.

It Executes The Same Code As Menu Items, And It is A Shortcut To Menu

Commands That Does Not Duplicate Code OR Effort.

Console

Console is The Visual Guide For Our Actions And Events in The Forms Developer

Environment.

The Console is The Generic Name For The Standard Features That Provide Information At Run Time.

The Console is Displayed At The Bottom of The Window And Consists of

The Message Line, That Displays Both Forms And Application-Specific Messages.

The Status Line That Displays A Variety of Indicators To Reflect The Current State of The Form Module.





The Different Indicators Provided in Console

Indicator Description

Record: n/m

The Nth Record Retrieved And Displayed So Far, Out of M Number of Total Records That Can Be Retrieved By The

Query.

Until The Last Record is Fetched, M Displays As ?; After That, it Displays The Number Corresponding To The Last

Record.

Enter-Query The Current Block is in Enter Query Mode And No Records

Have Been Retrieved.

List of Values A List of Values (LOV) is Associated With The Current Item.

Note

The Indicators Will Respond Depending on The Events And The Kind of Objects That Are Applied on The Block Within The Canvas.

The Components Found At Runtime





The Data Elements Applied in Forms10gDS

Prompt Item

A Prompt is A Text Label That Appears With And Relates To An Item.

Each Interface Control Can Have A Prompt Associated With it.

Prompts Differ From Graphic Text That is Placed on The Canvas, Prompts Are Directly Linked To An Item.

Form Builder Provides Several Properties Using Which We Can Arrange And

Manage Prompts And To Specify A Prompt's Visual Appearance.

Text Items

A Text Item is An Interface Control That Displays And Allows Editing of Text.

The Text is Displayed in A Field in Either Single OR Multi-Line Format.

A Text Item Appears As An Empty Rectangular Box OR Container on The Canvas.

By Default, An Editor Can Be Invoked From Any Text Item, When We Want To

Apply Lengthy Text.

Boilerplate Graphics

Boilerplate Object Represents A Collection of Graphical Objects Which Can Be Placed on A Canvas Object.

The Different Boilerplate Objects Are

Rectangles





Ellipses

Polygons

Rounded Rectangles

Text Boilerplate Objects

Lines

Arcs

Polylines

Free-Form Boilerplate Objects

Navigating in a Forms Developer Application

The Different Methods of Navigation Provided in Forms Developer Application Are

Default menu

Menu toolbar

Mouse

Buttons

Function keys

Default Menu

The Default Menu is Automatically Available in A Form, Unless it is Disabled OR Replaced With A Customized Menu.

Tasks Performed By Menu At Run Time

To Move The Cursor And Navigate Between Data Blocks, Records, And Items.

Save OR Clear All Changes.

Execute Queries.





Insert OR Delete Records.

Invoke Help.

The Menu Toolbar

The Default Menu Toolbar Buttons Are Used To Perform

Save All Changes.

Exit The Form.

Execute Queries.

Navigate Between Data Blocks OR Records.


Invoke Help.

The Mouse

The Mouse is Used To Navigate And Perform User Operations in A Bitmapped

Environment.

Mouse is Used To Perform

Move The Cursor.

Select From A Menu OR An LOV.

Select OR Clear A Check Box.

Select A Button, Including A Radio Button.

Switch To An Open Window.

Respond To An Alert.

Scroll Records OR Lines By Using A Data Block OR Item Scroll Bar.

Manipulate A Custom Item.

Buttons

Web Applications Use Buttons As A Means of Navigation.

We Use Buttons To Perform

Move Input Focus.

Display A LOV.

Invoke An Editor.

Invoke Another Window.

Commit Data.

Issue A Query.

Perform Calculations.

Exit The Form.

Function Keys

We Can Move From Item To Item In Sequence With Function Keys.

We Use Function Keys To Perform

Navigate Between Data Blocks, Records, And Items.

Execute Queries.


Invoke Help.





Note

To View The List of Keys And The Functions They Perform, Select Help Keys, OR Press CTRL + K in The Run Form in Browser.

When We Design The Applications For The End User, For Flexibility And Easiness of The End User We Have To Plan All The Different Navigation Styles As We Discussed

Earlier.

Displaying The Help Keys

Let Us Create Our First Data Block in Forms 10g DS

Before We Create The Data Block We Should Start The OC4J Instance.

Open Forms Builder Environment, Which Displays The Object Navigator Panel.

Connect To The Required Database Using The Proper Username, Password And Database Connection.

Renaming The Default Module Name

Click on The Module Name To Get into Edit Mode And Type The Relevant Name.





Creating A New Data Block Using Wizard

Double Click The Data Block Node To Open The New Data Block Wizard Window.

Select The Use The Data Block Wizard OK.

Click The Next Button in The Welcome Window.

Select Table OR View Option in The Second Step.

Click The Browse Button in The Next Window And Select The Required Table in The Tables Window And Click OK.

Click Move All Items To Targets Button And Click Next Button.

Specify The Block Name And Click Next Button.

Select The Create The Data Block, And Then Call The Layout Wizard, And Click Finish.

Click The Next Button in The Layout Wizard Window.

Leave The Canvas Name As it is And Select The Canvas Type As Content Canvas Click The Next Button.

Click Move All Items To Targets Button And Click Next Button And Click Next Button.

Change The Prompt Name, Width And Height if Necessary And Click Next Button.

Select The Layout Style As Form And Click Next Button.

Specify The Frame Title And Click The Next Button.

Click The finish Button To Finalize The Data Block Creation.

The Wizard Closes And Opens The Layout Editor With Default Style of The Data Block.

Edit And Make Changes As Required on The Layout Editor, And Adjust The Properties As Required in The Property Palette For Each Item.

Save The Form in A Specific Drive And Under A Personal Folder.

Folder Name And The Form File Name Cannot Have Spaces And Special Charactes.

Click The Compile And Run Button To Test.

Let Us Understand The Modes of Operation in Forms 10g DS

Modes of Operation

Forms Builder Has Two Main Modes of Operation

Enter-Query Mode.

Normal Mode

Enter-Query Mode

We Use Enter-Query Mode To Enter Search Criteria For A Database Query.





In Enter-Query Mode, The Keystrokes Are Interpreted As Search Criteria For Retrieving Restricted Data.

Things To Do in Enter-Query Mode

Retrieve All Records.

Retrieve Records By Using Selection Criteria.

Retrieve Records By Using The Query/Where Dialog Box.

Obtain The Number of Records That Will Be Retrieved Before Fetching Them From The Database By Using Query Count Hits.

Things Not To Do in Enter-Query Mode

Navigate Out of The Current Block.

Exit From The Run-Time Session.

Use Certain Functions, Such As Next Record.

Insert New Records.

Update Existing Records.

Delete Records.

Normal Mode

We Use Normal Mode To Insert And Alter Records in The Database.

In Normal Mode, Our Keystrokes Are Interpreted As Either The Entering of New Records OR The Altering of Existing Ones.

Things To Do in Normal Mode

Retrieve All Records.

Insert, Update And Delete Records.

Commit (Save), Rollback (Clear) Records.

Navigate Outside of The Current Data Block.

Exit The Run-Time Session.

Things Not To Do in Normal Mode

Retrieve A Restricted Set of Records.

Invoke The Query/Where Dialog Box.

Retrieving Data





We Can Use A Form Module To Retrieve Information From The Database Without Knowing Any SQL Syntax.

If We Are An Experienced SQL User, We Can Supplement Oracle Forms Developer Default Processing With Our Own SQL Predicates.

There Are Two Types of Queries Methods

Unrestricted Query OR Global Query.

Restricted Query.

Unrestricted Query OR Global Query

It is Equivalent of Selecting All The Rows For All The Represented Columns From

The Base Table For The Queried Data Block.

Restricted Query

It is Equivalent of Selecting A Restricted Set of Rows For All The Represented

Columns From The Base Table For The Queried Data Block.

Steps To Perform An Unrestricted Query

Open The Form OR Activate The Form To Be Queried

Select Query Execute.

Press The Function Key, CTRL + F11.

Click The Execute Query Button.

We Cannot Perform A Query While We Have Unsaved Updates, Inserts, OR Deletes.

Before Continuing The Query Either Save OR Undo The Changes.

Performing a Restricted Query

Methods Used To Perform A Restricted Query

Matching Values

Matching Patterns (Wildcards)

Using A Query/Where Dialog Box For User Entry of SQL Predicates

Points To Ponder

Do Not Use Quotation Marks With Character And Date Items.

The Like Operator is Implied With Only % OR _.

Use Hash (#) in Front of SQL Operators.

Use Query/Where For Complex Query Conditions.

Use Default Date Format DD-MON-YY in Query/Where.

Use Quotes Around Literals in Query/Where.





Steps To Perform a Restricted Query

Open The Form OR Activate The Form To Be Queried

Select Query Enter.

Click The Enter Query Button.

Press The Appropriate Function Key.

Enter-Query Message Displays on The Status Line.

Enter Search Criteria into Appropriate Items, Follow The Above Steps To Execute.

Note

Forms Builder Constructs A Select Statement By Using The And Operator For All Specified Conditions.

Literals Can Be Declared in Single Quotes.

The Character Data is Case Sensitive And Date Data is Format Sensitive.

Using Exact Matching Values

Press The Enter Query Mode Button OR Press Function Key F11 OR Query Enter From Menu.

Select The Item on Which The Condition Has To Be Applied And Type The Required Value For Query.

Press Execute Query Button OR Press Function Key CTRL + F11 OR Query Execute From Menu.

Clearing The Form

After The Query is Executed Clear The Form Before Another Query is Executed.

To Clear The Block Press Function Key F7 OR Action Clear All OR ALT + A + C.

Implying LIKE Operator Using Wild Cards

Press The Enter Query Mode Button OR Press Function Key F11 OR Query Enter

From Menu.

Select The Item on Which The Condition Has To Be Applied And Type The Required Wild Card Value With % OR _ Combinat ion For The Query.

Press Execute Query Button OR Press Function Key CTRL + F11 OR Query Execute

From Menu.

Wild Card Notation Can Be Used on Any Control Item Which is Associated With Primitive Data Types of Oracle.





Implying BETWEEN AND Operator


Select The Item on Which The Condition Has To Be Applied And Type #BETWEEN AND Operator Condition For The Query.

Press Execute Query Button OR Press Function Key CTRL + F11 OR Query Execute

From Menu.

Place Character And Date Data Type Values in Single Quotes.

Characters Are Case Sensitive And Dates Are Format Sensitive.

Query/Where Dialog Box

The Query Where Dialog Box is A Window in Which We Can Enter Complex Search

Criteria By Using Raw SQL.

Using The Query/Where Dialog Effectively Requires Knowledge of SQL.

Uses of Query/Where Dialog Box

Write Complex Search Conditions.

Write Queries With OR Predicates.

Order The Result of A Query.

Note

Forms Builder Logically Uses The AND Operator To Append The Query/Where

Conditions To Any Other Search Criteria And Constructs A SELECT Statement.

Query/Where Dialog Box Acts Like The Bind Variable Concept As That of SQL*Plus.

Implying Query/Where Dialog Box






Select The Item on Which The Condition Has To Be Applied And Type The Bind Variable Name Prefixing The : Symbol.

Press Execute Query Button OR Press Function Key CTRL + F11 OR Query Execute From Menu To Display The Query/Where Dialog Box.

Type The Required Condition Using The Specific Values For Search As Similar To

SQL.

Implementing Transactions Through Forms 10g DS

Upon Entering into The Form Module We Are in Normal Mode By Default.

In Normal Mode Forms Builder Regards Anything That We Type Into A Blank Record As An Insert And Anything That We Type Over An Existing Record As An

Update.

Steps To Insert A Record

Ensure That The Cursor is Positioned on A Blank Record By Performing One of The Following Steps

Scroll Down Until A Blank Record is Found.

Select Record Insert From Menu.

Click Insert Record Button (Green +).

Press The Appropriate Function Key CTRL + Down.

Enter The Data Into The Relevant Items.

To Commit The Transaction Press CTRL + S.

Steps To Delete A Record

Open The Required Form And Enter into The Query Mode, Select Query Enter.

Enter The Search Criteria To Retrieve The Appropriate Record For Delete.

Select Query Execute To Retrieve All Records That Satisfy The Specific Search Criteria.

Scroll Through The Records, Stopping At The Record To Be Deleted.

Once The Specific Record is Found Then Execute The Following Action.

Select Record Remove To Clear The Record And Mark it For Deletion.

Click Remove Record (Red x) To Clear The Record And Mark it For Deletion.

Press The Appropriate Function Key CTRL + Up.

To Commit The Transaction Press CTRL + S.





Note

The Above Transactional Processes Are All Provided By Default in Forms 10gDS, But As Per Our Requirement We Can Customize Them For More Consistency And

Integrity.

Making Transaction Changes Permanent

To Make Any Inserts, Updates, OR Deletes Permanent We Must Save OR Commit Them To The Database.

Steps To Save Transaction

Select Action Save From Menu.

Click Save Button in The Menu Toolbar.

Apply The Hot Key Combination CTRL + S.

Discarding Transaction Changes

To Discard Any Inserts, Updates, OR Deletes, We Must Clear The Records OR Rollback Instead of Saving.

Steps To Discard A Transaction

Select Action Clear All From Menu.

Apply The Function Key F7.

NOTE

Clear Action Can Be Applied At Block, Form, Field OR Record Level.

Exiting From A Run-time Session

We Can Exit From The Run-time Session Of Forms Any Time.

Steps To Exit A Forms Run-time Session

Select Action Exit.

Click Exit Button On The Tool Bar.

Press The F4 Function Key.

Note

By Default, We Cannot Exit The Form While We Have Unsaved Updates, Inserts, OR Deletes.

We Need To Either Save Or Undo The Changes Before We Can Exit From Forms Session.

Displaying Errors

The Errors On The Message Line Are Failure Of SQL Code, To View The Underlying

SQL Code Select Help Display Error.

The Display Error Option Displays only Those Messages Preceded By ORACLE Error.





Let Us Start Understanding The Forms Developer Environment

Key Features of Forms Builder

Forms Builder is A Major Component of Oracle Forms Developer.

We Can Use Forms Builder To Quickly Develop Form-Based Applications For Presenting And Manipulating Data in A Variety of Ways.

Uses of Forms Builder Application

Insert, Update, Delete, And Query Data By Using A Variety of Interface Items.

Present Data By Using Text, Image, And Custom Controls, Including JavaBeans And Pluggable Java Components.

Control Forms Across Several Windows And Database Transactions.

Access Comprehensive Facilities By Using Integrated Menus.

Send Data Directly To Oracle Reports

The Features Provided For Forms Designer

Design Forms That Can Use A Number of Data Sources, Including Oracle Databases.

Build Applications Quickly And Easily By Using Powerful GUI Development Tools.

Design Applications For Internet Deployment.

Copy And Move Objects And Their Properties Easily Between Applications.

Use Design Features Such As Wizards, The Layout Editor, Object Navigator, And PL/SQL Editor.

Forms Builder

This is The Application-Building Component of Oracle Forms Developer.

Forms Builder Can Be Used To Design And Store The Definitions of Form, Menu,

And Library Documents.

From The Forms Builder, We Can Invoke The Other Component, i.e. Forms Compiler.

We Must Run The Forms Builder Component in A GUI Environment in Order To Use its Graphical Design Facilities.





Forms Compiler

Once The Form is Built, We Use The Forms Compiler. Forms Compiler Reads The Definition of The Form Module And Creates An Executable Run File.

The Files Used At Run Time Must Already Have Been Compiled By The Forms Compiler Component.

The Files Must Reside on The Middle Tier Machine in A Directory Accessible To The

Forms Runtime Engine As Specified in FORMS90_PATH.

We Can Test Our Applications, By Accessing Forms Services Directly From Forms Builder By Setting Certain Preferences.

Forms Developer Module Types

A Forms Application Can Consist of Many Modules, Which Are collection of Files.

The Module is The Major Component of The Application And is The Basis For Storage And Ownership.

A Module Owns The Rest of The Objects in The System That is Being Developed.

Form Module

It is The Main Component of An Application, The Form Module Presents The Objects And Data That Users Can See OR Interact With.

Data Items in A Form Are Arranged into Records.

Menu Module

A Menu Module Can Consist of A Hierarchy of Menus, Each With Selectable Items.





PL/SQL Library Module

A PL/SQL Library is A Collection of PL/SQL Program Units.

The Code in The PL/SQL Library Code Can Be Referenced And Called From Other Modules.

Object Library Module

An Object Library is A Collection of Form Objects That Can Be Used in Other Modules.

We Can Create An Object Library Module To Store, Maintain, And Distribute Standard Objects That Can Be Reused Across The Entire Development

Organization.

Forms Builder Provides The Default Menu For Every Form.

The Default Menu Includes Commands For All Basic Database Operations, Such As INSERT, DELETE, QUERY.

If The Application Has Specific Requirements That Are Not Met By The Default Menu, We Can Create A Custom Menu Module.

Menu Modules Are Not Functional By Themselves, But When Attached To Form Modules They Can Provide A Service To The Facilities Offered By A Form.

PL/SQL Library Documents Can Contain Program Units That Can Be Used By Other Form And Menu Modules.

We Can Build An Application From Multiple Form Modules, Menu Modules, And

Library Documents As Needed.

Let Us Understand Blocks, Items, and Canvases in Detail

Form Modules Make Up The Main Body of An Oracle Forms Developer Application.

Form Modules Can Consist of Many Types of Objects, Some of Which Are Visible To

The User At Run Time.





There Are Three Major Objects in A Form

Items

Items Are Interface Objects That Present Data Values To The User OR Enable The User To Interact With The Form, Depending Upon The Item Type.

Items Are Logically Grouped Into Blocks And Visibly Arranged on Canvases.

Blocks

A Block is The Intermediate Building Unit For Forms.

Each Form Consists of One OR More Blocks.

A Block is The Logical Owner of Items, And Each Item in A Form Belongs To A Block.

Items in One Block Are Logically Related To Columns in The Same Database Table OR May Need To Be Part of The Same Navigation Cycle.

Blocks Provide A Mechanism For Grouping Related Items into A Functional Unit For Storing, Displaying, And Manipulating Records.

Canvases

A Canvas is A Surface Where Visual Objects, Such As Graphics And Items, Are

Arranged.

A Form Module Can Have Several Canvases.

A Canvas Can Display Items From One OR More Blocks.

To See A Canvas And Its Items, We Must Display The Canvas in A Window.

By Default, All Canvases in A Form Appear in The Same Window, Which Means That

We See Only One Canvas At A Time.

But We Can Assign Separate Windows For Each Canvas So That Several Canvases Can Be Viewed At Once.

Note

Items In One Block Do Not Need To Be Physically Grouped. They Can Span Many Canvases And Windows.

Navigation in A Form Module

When We Run A Form, We Principally Navigate By Way of Items And Blocks, Not By Canvases.

Each Item Has A Sequenced Position Within its Block, And Each Block Has A Sequenced Position in The Form.

When A User Requests To Move To The Next Item in A Block, Focus Will Be Set on

The Next Item in Sequence, Wherever That May Be.

If The Next Item is on A Different Canvas, Oracle Forms Developer Displays That Canvas Automatically.

Similarly, Users Can Request To Move To The Next Block OR Previous Block.

If The First Item in This Block Resides on Another Canvas, Then That Canvas is

Displayed Automatically.

We Can Program Mechanisms Into The Application To Enable Navigation in Other Ways.





Let Us Understand Types of Blocks in Forms Builder

In Forms Builder There Are Two Main Types of Blocks

Data Blocks.

Control Blocks.

Data Blocks

When We Build Database Applications With Forms Builder, Many of The Blocks Will Be Data Blocks.

A Data Block is Associated With A Specific

Database Table OR View.

A Stored Procedure.

A FROM Clause Query.

Transactional Triggers.

If it is Based on A Table OR View, The Data Block Can Be Based on Only One Base

Table, Even Though The Data Block Can Be Programmed To Access Data From More

Than One Table And Data Sources.

Forms10g

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