Forms%20-%20An%20Overview%20of%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Oracle%20Form%20Builder%20v.6.0

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Forms - An Overview of Oracle
Form Builder v.6.0

• Abhishek
• Parag
• Prashant
• Arun

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Agenda

• What Is Oracle Form Builder?
• Forms Concepts - What is a Form?
• The Forms Application
• References

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What Is Oracle Form Builder?

• Component of Oracle Developer/2000
• Forms
• Reports
• Graphics
• Application builder
• Event-driven applications

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Forms - The Basic Idea

• Are used to create applications to enter, access,
  change, or delete data from an Oracle database in
  an online, form-based environment.
• Forms provides many objects for developing an
  effective application module.
• Coupled with the concept of user extensibility,
  Forms can be used to serve virtually every online
  need in an Oracle database environment.

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Forms Concepts The Big Picture

User actions
Internal events
Triggers and/or default processes
Database
Application State
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Forms Concepts

• Events
• Processes
• Triggers

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Forms Concepts

• Events
• Things that happen
• External Events
• User Interaction Mouse, Keyboard, Menu
• Internal Events
• Timers
• Processing steps for which triggers can be set
• Initiate Processes
• No Events? No Processing!

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Forms Concepts

• Processes
• Pre-programmed default behaviour
• What Forms DOES, for example
• Navigation
• Transaction Processing
• Validation
• Query Processing
• Master-Detail coordination
• Series of Internal Events

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Forms Concepts

• Triggers
• Fired when Internal/External events occur
• Replace, supplement or initiate default
  processing
• Initiate External events, to make Forms behave
  as if user performed action
• E.g. Simulate User key-press

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Triggers

• Trigger
• Forms trigger
• Database trigger

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Triggers

• Forms Trigger
• Fires in response to Forms Events
• Database Trigger
• Fires in response to Database Events
• THESE ARE COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT OF EACH OTHER!!!

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The Forms Application
Form Builder builds Forms, Menus and
Libraries Application consists of at least one
Form Can also include one or more Menu and
Library modules Oracle provides default Menu
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File Types

• Forms Modules
• .FMB Forms Source
• .FMX Forms Executable
• Menu Modules
• .MMB Menu Source
• .MMX Menu Executable
• Libraries
• .PLL PL/SQL Source and Executables
• .PLX PL/SQL Executable Only

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The Forms Application What You See
Menu
File Edit View Query Block Record Insert Help
Whatever
Canvas
Are you really sure you want to do this?
Window
Yes
No
exit
enter
Base-Table Item
Control Item
View
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The Forms Application

• What you see
• Window
• Menu
• Canvas/View
• Items
• Base-block items
• Control-block items
• Database records

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Forms Components
Highest Level of Hierarchy - Forms - Menu -
Built-in Packages - Database Objects
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Forms Components
Windows - Displays canvases. - Form can have
multiple windows. - Modal user must respond and
dismiss window before doing anything in another
window. - Modeless user can move to another
window.
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Forms Components
Canvas-Views - Visual element of Forms. This is
how you display all those Items. - Canvas
Background on which text and items are placed. -
View Visible portion of canvas. - Form can have
multiple canvases. - Canvases can be stacked,
scrolled.
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Forms Components
Blocks - Base-Table Block corresponds to
Database Table set of items representing
database table columns. An instance of a
Base-Table Block corresponds to a Database
Record. - Control Block is usually a collection
of control items (e.g. Buttons, Check-Boxes,
Radio Groups), but can also be collection of
Display Items (read-only text), Text Items
(variables), images, etc.
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Forms Components
Block Properties
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Forms Components
Items - Base-Table Items are text items that
correspond to Database Columns. Forms creates
them automatically. - Control Items can be
Buttons, Check-Boxes, Radio Groups, Display Items
(read-only text), Text Items (variables),
images, etc.
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Forms Components
Item Properties
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Forms Components
Visual Attributes - Collection of display
properties. - Refer to Named Visual Attribute in
Items to standardise appearance. Change in NVA
will affect all Items referring to it. Property
Classes - Collection of ANY properties. - When
items refer to Property Class, only properties
that make sense for that item will be used.
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Forms Components
Triggers - At Form, Block or Item level - Lower
level triggers fire before higher level
triggers - If same trigger-type occurs at
different levels, only lowest will fire
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Triggers

• Can be coded at Form, Block, and/or Item Level
• Some Triggers apply to multiple levels of
  hierarchy, others are specific
• When creating new trigger, List of Values
  presents list of appropriate triggers
• Each Trigger-type executes only once
• Lowest level Triggers fired first

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Forms Component
Alerts - Window that displays message - Modal
User must respond - One, two or three buttons -
Three types - Stop (stop sign) - Caution
(exclamation) - Information (i symbol) - Use
SHOW_ALERT built-in function
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Forms Components
LOVs - Allows user to select from specific set
of values. - Displays Record Group.
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Forms Components
Editors - Editor simple text-editor dialog box
for entering lines of text into Text Item. - Can
create editors with different appearances for
different text fields.
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Forms Components
Parameters - Used as a Form variable. - Pass
values between Forms.
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Forms Components
Program Units - PL/SQL Procedures and Functions
used in this Form.
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Forms Components
Attached Libraries, Libraries Built-in
Packages - PL/SQL procedures and functions. -
Attached Library Reference collected routines. -
Library Maintain and reference collected
routines. - Built-in Packages Oracle supplied
procedure and functions.
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Forms Components
Object Groups - Package reusable objects for
later copying or reference. - E.g. Your Form
includes an alarm clock to wake the user after
ten minutes inactivity. This includes Triggers,
Procedures, a Window, some graphics, etc. You can
package these objects together to conveniently
include this functionality in other forms.
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Tour of Form Builder

• Starting forms
• Virtual session
• Connecting to the database

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What Is Forms Looking For
Client
Forms Runtime
Registry FORMS_PATH
Connect
Forms Server (Compiled Objects)
Database
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References

• On-line help
• Oracle Developer/2000 Handbook (2nd. Ed.)
• Robert J. Muller, Oracle Press
• Oracle technology network (http//TechNet.Oracle.C
  om)

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THANK YOU