TURBO Enterprise Oracle Forms Conversion Guide

Oracle Forms Conversion Guide

Release 5.0.2

www.TURBO-Enterprise.com

TURBOEnterprise Release 5.0.2, Oracle Forms Conversion Guide Copyright © 2008, BizWhazee. All rights reserved. The Programs (which include both the software and documentation) contain proprietary information; they are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are also protected by copyright, patent, and other intellectual and industrial property laws. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of the Programs, except to the extent required to obtain interoperability with other independently created software or as specified by law, is prohibited. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. If you find any problems in the documentation, please report them to us in writing. This document is not warranted to be error-free. Except as may be expressly permitted in your license agreement for these Programs, no part of these Programs may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose. If the Programs are delivered to the United States Government or anyone licensing or using the Programs on behalf of the United States Government, the following notice is applicable:U.S. GOVERNMENT RIGHTS Programs, software, databases, and related documentation and technical data delivered to U.S. Government customers are "commercial computer software" or "commercial technical data" pursuant to the applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation and agency-specific supplemental regulations. As such, use, duplication, disclosure, modification, and adaptation of the Programs, including documentation and technical data, shall be subject to the licensing restrictions set forth in the applicable BizWhazee license agreement, and, to the extent applicable, the additional rights set forth in FAR 52.227-19, Commercial Computer Software--Restricted Rights (June 1987). The Programs are not intended for use in any nuclear, aviation, mass transit, medical, or other inherently dangerous applications. It shall be the licensee's responsibility to take all appropriate fail-safe, backup, redundancy and other measures to ensure the safe use of such applications if the Programs are used for such purposes, and we disclaim liability for any damages caused by such use of the Programs. BizWhazee, and TURBOEnterprise, TURBOKit, and TURBOEngine are registered trademarks of BizWhazee, LLC and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Programs may provide links to Web sites and access to content, products, and services from third parties. BizWhazee is not responsible for the availability of, or any content provided on, third-party Web sites. You bear all risks associated with the use of such content. If you choose to purchase any products or services from a third party, the relationship is directly between you and the third party. BizWhazee is not responsible for: (a) the quality of third-party products or services; or (b) fulfilling any of the terms of the agreement with the third party, including delivery of products or services and warranty obligations related to purchased products or services. BizWhazee is not responsible for any loss or damage of any sort that you may incur from dealing with any third party.

TURBO ENTERPRISE ORACLE FORMS CONVERSION GUIDE i

Table of Contents

About This Guide ................................................................................................................... 1

What’s New........................................................................................................................... 2

Product Overview .................................................................................................................. 3

Architecture .......................................................................................................................... 4

Oracle Forms Conversion ....................................................................................................... 5

Convert Form File to XML ...................................................................................................... 6

Upload XML File .................................................................................................................... 7

Add Form to an Application ................................................................................................. 10

Delete a Form ...................................................................................................................... 13

Work with Converted Forms ................................................................................................ 14

Standard and Absolute Positioning ...................................................................................... 17

Forms with Multiple Data Sources ....................................................................................... 18

Additional Resources ........................................................................................................... 19

Oracle Forms Conversion Guide Release 5.0.2

TURBO ENTERPRISE ORACLE FORMS CONVERSION GUIDE Page | 1

About This Guide The Oracle Forms Conversion Guide provides you with step-by-step instructions on converting unsupported Oracle Forms applications to the TURBOEnterprise supported Web-based PL/SQL environment. Audience This guide is intended for PL/SQL developers who want to convert Oracle Forms to a supported environment. Downloads You can download a trial version of TURBOEnterprise 5.0.2 at www.turbo-enterprise.com, by selecting the ‘Product’ tab, and clicking on ‘Download’. To access the link directly from this document, click here: Downloads. Document Conventions A greater-than symbol (>) is used to separate actions within a step and items in a cross-reference path. A trademark symbol (®, TM, etc.) denotes a company trademark. An asterisk (*) denotes a third-party trademark. An underlined word or phrase denotes an internal hyperlink or cross reference. The Courier New font is used to denote variables, parameters, file and script names, and commands.

http://www.turbo-enterprise.com/

http://www.turbo-enterprise.com/turbo/te_public.p_turbo_enterprise?i_content_id=3.1



What’s New TURBOEnterprise Release 5.0.2 offers several the following new features and key enhancements to various components. These enhancements improve management, and enhance security:

Oracle Forms Conversion utility: a powerful tool to convert your unsupported client/server Oracle* Forms to a supported, Web-based PL/SQL environment.

The File System: a complete file management and version control repository.

The Calendar: an integrated, customizable, event tracking and scheduling tool.

Enterprise Social Networking Tools: tools that enable secure corporate communication, and streamline team collaboration and productivity. Example: the Wall, Buddy List, Instant Messaging.

This document describes the Oracle Forms Conversion feature. To read more about the other new features and use them in your custom applications, refer to the following documents at www.turbo-enterprise.com:

TURBOEnterprise Resource Guide: provides an overview of TURBOEnterprise and detailed descriptions of each feature.

TURBOEnterprise Developer Tutorial: walks you through step-by-step procedures to

develop features using TURBOEnterprise.




Product Overview TURBOEnterprise is an application development framework and platform for building Rich Web Applications (RWAs) using Oracle’s Procedural Language/Structured Query Language (PL/SQL). New technologies are often viewed as ‘disruptive’ because they introduce unproven technology, change how things are done, and require new types of technical specialists. TURBO Enterprise turns ‘disruptive technology’ into a ‘disruptive approach using stable technology’. Rather than introduce new unfamiliar technology, TURBOEnterprise makes greater use of the technology you already know: the Oracle database. This enables you to make better use of time and money by leveraging your current staff skills, hardware infrastructure, and the existing investment in your Oracle database. Using open standards and methodologies, TURBOEnterprise uses Oracle as a ‘thick database’. The entire application, including business logic, data processing and User Interface rendering, is served from within the database. This ‘technology efficiency’ eliminates middle-tier processing, reducing overhead and bandwidth requirements, and increasing application efficiency. Enterprises can now reap all the benefits of the latest Web technologies to produce RWAs, while adhering to the security and performance needs of an enterprise environment. The RWAs are easy to deploy and provide a richer user experience. With the Oracle Forms Conversion utility, you can convert your client/server-based Oracle forms to TURBO’s supported Web-based PL/SQL environment and integrate them with your Web application. Download TURBO Enterprise and follow the conversion steps in this guide, to get started.



Architecture TURBO resides within the Oracle database and has a compiled, virtual, three-tier system architecture to contain the components needed to build and run Enterprise solutions: security, user interface rendering, stored business logic, and optimized performance. The system architecture is database-centric, and relies on the power and performance of PL/SQL. Data is separated from the application by setting up specific layers in which each resides and operates. For detailed information on TURBOEnterprise architecture, refer to the TURBOEnterprise Resource Guide at www.turbo-enterprise.com.




Oracle Forms Conversion Since Oracle discontinued support of all versions of Forms from 6i and earlier, the risk of running your production Forms applications is high. TURBO Enterprise Release 5.0.2 provides an Oracle* Forms Conversion utility to efficiently migrate your unsupported client/server Oracle* Forms applications to TURBO’s advanced Web-based PL/SQL environment, while minimizing the risks to your organization. This utility is the best and most cost effective way to leverage your existing Oracle database, infrastructure, staff, and resources to convert and modernize Forms applications. Converting your Forms does not require additional license costs for an application server because TURBOEnterprise runs within the Oracle database and eliminates the middle-tier. The conversion process is built for Forms 6i, but has been tested successfully on other Forms versions. To convert Oracle forms, perform these tasks:

1. Convert Form File to XML

2. Upload XML File

3. Add Form to an Application

For details on performing each task, click on the task name within the list.



Convert Form File to XML You can convert Oracle* Forms FormModule (.fmb) files to Extensible Markup Language (XML) using Oracle’s Forms to XML conversion tool, Forms2XML. Forms2XML was introduced in Oracle9i Oracle Developer Suite and is also available in Oracle Developer Suite 10g. This tool should also work on files from earlier releases of Oracle* Forms. If Forms2XML does not work for a specific file from an earlier version of Oracle* Forms, the file must be upgraded to Oracle* Developer Suite 9i or 10g before conversion to XML. You will need to have at least one installation of Oracle* Forms 9i or 10g. These two versions include the Forms2XML utility required to create XML files from Forms source files.

1. From a Command Line Interface, run the following command:

frmf2xml [options] file1 [file2...]

Forms2XML produces an XML file that has the same base name as the Forms file with an .xml extension.

Note: Oracle* recommends that you try and convert Forms 4.5 and Forms 6i fmb files using the Forms2XML utility without upgrading the Forms to 9i or 10g prior to the conversion. However, it is not guaranteed that the utility will always work for these older Forms modules. If it fails, Oracle* recommends upgrading your Forms 4.5 and/or 6i source to Forms 9i or 10g and then running them through the utility.



Upload XML File

1. Within TURBOEnterprise, select the TURBOKit application from the Application Area on the User Interface.

2. In the Navigation Tree, select TURBO Tools > Forms Conversion. The Forms Conversion Wizard is displayed in the Work Area. The Wizard displays a list of forms that have been uploaded and either added to applications or waiting to be added.

Figure 1 "Forms Conversion Wizard"



3. Click on ‘Upload a Form-XML File’.

The ‘Add File’ dialog box is displayed.

4. Click ‘Attach’ to browse and attach your form file. Optional: Check the ‘Create Grid’ checkbox if you want TURBO to create a grid view of the fields in the form (recommended). The Grid view provides an easy way to view data fields in the underlying table. The ‘Standard’ or ‘Absolute’ option in the ‘GUI Rendering’ field determines how you want to position your form’s User Interface elements.

5. For this example, select the ‘Standard’ option in the ‘GUI Rendering’ field.

6. Click Save. A message confirming that your form has been converted is displayed. TURBO’s conversion tools automatically create the rendering PL/SQL code in your application’s WEB schema (APP_WEB) and data schema (APP_DATA).

7. Click OK. Information about your new form is displayed in a grid in the Forms Conversion Wizard.

Figure 2 "Upload a File for Conversion"

Figure 3 "Form Information in Grid View"



Note: You can view your new form only after you have added it to an application. Conversion Tip: when you have more than one form that you want to convert, upload all forms before you begin adding them to applications.



Add Form to an Application To add the form to a TURBO application:

1. In the Forms Conversion Wizard, within the row your form is displayed, click the icon in the ‘Application’ column in the grid. The ‘Oracle Forms Conversion Add Application’ dialog box is displayed.

2. Select an application name from the ‘Application Name’ drop-down list and click Add. You new form has been added to the application and is displayed in the grid with a status of ‘Complete’.

3. Refresh your browser, and select the application to which you added the form.

Figure 4 "Add Form to an Application"



4. Click on the form name in the Navigation Tree to view your converted form.

Figure 5 "Converted Form with Standard Positioning"



5. To create a form with Absolute Positioning, follow the steps in the ‘Upload XML File’ procedure and select the ‘Absolute Positioning’ option in step 5. Follow the steps in this procedure to add your form to an application.

Figure 6 "Converted Form with Absolute Positioning"



Delete a Form You may want to delete a form you previously added to your application, or you may want to re-convert it using a different ‘positioning’ option. To delete a form from the Forms Conversion Wizard grid view and from the application:

1. Select the TURBOKit application from the Application Area on the User Interface.

2. In the Navigation Tree, select TURBO Tools > Forms Conversion.

The Forms Conversion Wizard is displayed in the Work Area.

3. In the row your form is displayed, click the icon in the ‘Remove’ column in the grid. The form is removed from the grid view.

4. Select your application and right-click on the form you want to remove, in the Navigation Tree.

5. Click Remove.

6. To remove all PL/SQL code associated with the form, access your application’s package within the APP_WEB and APP_DATA schemas and delete the procedures that rendered your form.

7. To remove the entire application, select the TURBOKit application.

8. Select TURBO Tools > Application Remover. The Application Removal Wizard is displayed.

9. Select the application you want to remove from the Application drop-down list and click Remove.

10. Click OK to confirm the removal, and refresh your browser window to view the change.

Figure 7 "Application Removal Wizard"



Work with Converted Forms After your form has been added to a TURBO application, you can customize it by modifying the default PL/SQL procedures that TURBO generated during the conversion process. You can also add features from the TURBOKit: new input fields, grids, fusion charts, widgets, or embeddable applications, to name a few. For example, to add a new Date input field to your form:

1. Select the TURBOKit application.

2. In the Navigation Tree, select Form Elements > Input Fields > Date Input.

3. Click on the Source tab to access the Date input field source code.

Figure 8 "Date Input Field Source Code"



4. Copy the source code and paste it into your form’s procedure source code within your

application package in the APP_WEB schema.

New Date

Input Field

Figure 9 "New Code for Date Input Field"



Modify the code in the APP_DATA schema to assign the new input values to the right table and column.

5. To view your form, select the application to which you added the form, and click on the

form name in the Navigation Tree.

The new Date input field you added is displayed in your form.

Note: If you selected the ‘Absolute’ option in ‘GUI Rendering’ when you uploaded your form, adding a new field will require you to manually change the absolute position values of each field in your form, so they align correctly. You will need to make this change in your PL/SQL code, in the APP_WEB schema.

Figure 10 "Form with New Date Input Field"



Standard and Absolute Positioning During the form upload process, TURBOEnterprise gives you the option of using standard positioning or absolute positioning for fields in the form. Standard Positioning ignores the absolute field positioning coded in Oracle* Forms, in favor of a more modern Web layout using TURBO's simple field layout controls. TURBO offers many simple layout assistance APIs such as Field Groups, Columns, Rows, New Line, and parameters. Selecting Standard Positioning will bring over the form fields and defer to you to adjust layout in the new converted form. Absolute Positioning uses the absolute x and y coordinates hard-coded in Oracle Forms to produce a near exact duplicate of the original form, in terms of field position and layout. This is a good option if you do not plan to make any layout changes. However, if you choose to move fields around or add new fields to the form, you will need to specify new absolute position values, through PL/SQL code, for each field in your form, so they align correctly. If you have uploaded a form using one of the Positioning options and want to change your option, delete the form and reload it with the Positioning option you want selected.

Absolute Positioning

Values



Forms with Multiple Data Sources In some instances, your form may contain data from more than one database table. In this case, TURBO will still generate the code to display the form, and handle back-end data processing. However, TURBO comments out the procedure that loads data to the form so that you can ensure correct mapping of your form input fields to your database tables. To edit your application package so your form matches to the appropriate table:

1. In the APP_DATA schema, select your application’s package which contains Data Manipulation Language (DML) functions and procedures. By default, TURBO displays a message confirming the detection of more than one data source, and comments out the procedure that loads data to the form.

2. Edit the code in the form, procedure, and load procedure to assign fields to the appropriate source tables, so the form is compatible with your table and database structure.

Edit Default Code



Additional Resources Downloads To learn more about Oracle* Forms, use the following resources: http://www.oracle.com/webapps/online-help/forms/ http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/6i_forms.html

Documentation You can access the latest online documentation for this product at www.turbo-enterprise.com, by selecting the ‘Resource Lounge’ tab and clicking on ‘Documentation’. To access the documentation link directly from this document, click here: Documentation. Other documentation in this series includes: TURBO Enterprise Resource Guide: provides detailed information on TURBO Enterprise Release 5.0.2, architecture, security, and application development features. TURBOEnterprise Installation and Configuration Guide: provides step-by-step procedures to install and configure TURBO Enterprise. TURBOEnterprise Developer Tutorial: provides step-by-step procedures to create a sample application using TURBOEnterprise.

TURBOEnterprise Administration Guide: describes administration tasks and provides step-by-step procedures to perform these tasks.

Videos

To learn more about a specific topic, download and watch the TURBO Enterprise demo videos available at www.turbo-enterprise.com. The following videos are currently available:

TURBO Enterprise Overview

TURBO Enterprise Oracle Forms Conversion File Management System Enterprise Social Networking

http://www.oracle.com/webapps/online-help/forms/

http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/6i_forms.html


http://www.turbo-enterprise.com/turbo/te_public.p_turbo_enterprise?i_content_id=3.7


TURBO Enterprise Oracle Forms Conversion Guide

Documents

Transcript of TURBO Enterprise Oracle Forms Conversion Guide