Module 1.1: Oracle Forms Developer and its Key Features

Prelim

Oracle Forms

• It is a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. It is used to develop and deploy Forms applications. These applications provide a user interface to access Oracle Database in an efficient and tightly-coupled way.

• The applications can be integrated with Java and web services to take advantage of service oriented architectures.

• It includes the following: Oracle Forms Developer and Oracle Forms Services

Oracle Forms Developer

• It is used to develop a form that can access an Oracle database and present the data. Wizards and utilities are provided to speed up application development.

• The source form (.fmb) is created and compiled into an executable (.fmx).

• The Forms application is run by the Forms Runtime process

Oracle Forms Services

• It is a comprehensive application framework optimized to deploy Forms applications in a multitiered environment. It takes advantage of the ease and accessibility of the Web and elevates it from a static information-publishing mechanism to an environment capable of supporting complex applications.

Oracle Database

• It is the latest generation of RDBMS. Among the numerous capabilities are unlimited scalability and industry-leading reliability with Oracle Real Application Clusters; high availability technology including advancements in standby database technology (Oracle Data Guard); and built-in OLAP, data mining and Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) functions.

Oracle WebLogic Server 12c

• It is an application server for building and deploying enterprise Java EE applications with support for new features for lowering cost of operations, improving performance and supporting the Oracle applications portfolio

Oracle Fusion Middleware

• It includes Web servers, application servers, content management systems, and developer tools that provide complete support for development, deployment, and management of software applications.

• Among the components are Oracle Forms Services, Oracle WebLogic Server, and Oracle Fusion Middleware Control, which together provide the technology to fully realize the benefits of Internet computing

• You can manage and monitor Oracle Forms using this.

Client Tier

(3-Tier Oracle Forms Services Architecture)

• At the top of the architecture, this tier may contain one of the following two configurations:

• A Web browser, where the application is displayed or from where it is launched, Java Development Kit (JDK) and Java Plug-In (JPI)

• The Forms Standalone Launcher (FSAL) and a Java Runtime Environment or Java Development Kit (JDK).

Middle Tier

(3-Tier Oracle Forms Services Architecture)

• In the center of the architecture, is the application server, where the application logic and server software are stored

Database Tier

(3-Tier Oracle Forms Services Architecture)

• At the bottom of the tier is the database server, where database server software is stored.

Forms Listener Servlet

• It is a broker between the Java client and the Forms Runtime process. It takes connection requests from Java client processes and initiates a Forms Runtime process on their behalf.