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Specifying Alert Details in R12


Once you define an event or periodic alert in the Alerts window, you need to display to the Alert Details window to complete the alert definition. The Alert Details window includes information such as which Application installations you want the alert to run against, what default values you want your inputs variables to use, and what additional characteristics you want your output variables to have.
In the Inputs tabbed region, Oracle Alert automatically displays the inputs used in your Select statement, unless they are the implicit inputs: :ROWID, :MAILID, :ORG_ID and :DATE_LAST_CHECKED.
The values of the implicit inputs are as follows:
• ROWID-Contains the ID number of the row where the insert or update that triggers an event alert occurs.
• MAILID-Contains the email username of the person who enters an insert or update that triggers an event alert.
• ORG_ID-Contains the organization ID that is selected when the alert runs.
• DATE_LAST_CHECKED-Contains the date and time that the alert was most recently checked
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Creating an Event Alert in R12


To create an event alert, you perform the following tasks in the order listed:

  • Define the database events that will trigger your alert
  • Specify the details for your alert.
  • Define actions for your alert.
  • Create action sets containing the actions you want your alert to perform.
  • This section focuses on the first task of defining the database events that trigger your event alert and divides the task into smaller sub-tasks.

Before you define an event alert, make sure you do the following:
• Configure the Workflow Notification Mailer to send and receive e-mail messages according to your alert requirements.
• Specify Oracle Alert options to configure how Oracle Alert checks alerts and handles alert messages.
1. To specify an event table:
Specify the name of the application and the database table that you want Oracle Alert to monitor.
Although the application you enter here need not be the same application that owns the alert, both applications must reside in the same Oracle database and the application that owns the alert has to have Select privileges on the tables listed in the alert Select statement.
Important: You cannot use a view as the event table for your alert.
Important: Do not define an event alert on the table FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS. Oracle Alert submits a concurrent request to the concurrent manager when an event alert is triggered by an insert or update to an event table. For concurrent processing to occur, every submitted concurrent request automatically gets inserted as a row in the  FND_CONCURRENT_REQUESTS table. If you define an event alert on this table, you create a situation where the event alert will cause an exception to occur recursively.

Although Oracle Alert does not support PL/SQL statements as the alert SQL statement definition, you can create a PL/SQL packaged function that contains PL/SQL logic and enter a SQL Select statement that calls that packaged function. For example, you can enter a SQL Select statement that looks like:
SELECT package1.function1(:INPUT1, column1)
INTO &OUTPUT1
FROM table1.

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Oracle Forms Builder

A typical database schema contains dozens of tables, each with several columns of various data types. We develop applications (forms, reports, menus, etc.) to make the job of manipulating data in those tables easier for users. In Oracle Forms, a form (or data entry form) acts like a window into the database schema. An individual focuses the attention of the user to one or a few of the tables at a time. In addition, a form can give prompts so the user knows what kind of input is expected and how data is to be entered and manipulated.
By default, every form in Oracle Forms has the capability to query existing data in a table, modify existing data and add new data (records) to the table. A form is built up using one or more data blocks that correspond to tables in the database. Fields within the data block correspond to columns in the database table. A data block is similar to a DataWindow object in PowerBuilder. In the following figure, a typical form is shown.
Oracle Developer9i provides various Graphical User Interface (GUI) tools to create functional applications from database definitions, without writing any code. You can use these tools to create, manage, and deploy integrated applications.
Some tools provided by the Oracle Developer9i are:

  1.       The Forms Builder
  2.       The Reports Builder
  3.       The Discoverer Administrator
  4.       The Discoverer Desktop

The Forms Builder
You can use the Forms Builder to easily and quickly construct multi-lingual and interactive database forms, charts, and business logic. Applications developed using Oracle Forms Builder can be instantly deployed over the Internet using the Oracle Internet Application Server.
Some features of the Forms Builder are:
Legacy Application Integration: Enables migration of existing client-server applications to the Internet using rich Java user interfaces.
Developer Productivity: Develop applications quickly with:
            Easy-to-use re-entrant wizards to create blocks and relations.
            Property pallets to set visual attributes.
            Shared libraries and templates to enforce standards.
            Easy PL/SQL scripting for triggers and business logic.
            Debugging across application and database logic.
            PL/SQL code exchange between application and database.
            Live previewers to test your application and version control and impact analysis.
Oracle8i Integration: Enables you to leverage Oracle8i features, such as transaction management, resource management, advanced queuing, and parallel server to share application resources.
Scalability: Enables you to deliver scalable applications that perform across any network inside or outside firewall.
Manageability: Enables you to manage and configure multiple application servers from a single location with Oracle Enterprise Manager.
Internationalization: Enables you to develop applications that can be translated easily with multi-language support.
Enterprise Application Development: Supports application development through a built-in forms server, which receives CGI requests from thin clients, such as browsers and serve the appropriate request.
Interoperability: Is completely interoperable with Java and contains Enterprise Java Beans, Servlets and hosts smart applets. It is also compatible with object technologies, such as CORBA and COM+.
Reduces downtime: Supports previously offline DBA routines, such as database backup, restore, DDL statements through application routines. This reduces the downtime for the Oracle Database Server.
Form Types
There are four main types of forms that can be designed

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Defining Alerts in R12


You can create alerts that are as simple or as complex as you need them to be, and you can tailor your alerts in a variety of ways so they perform the kind of exception reporting your organization needs. There are two types of alerts: event and periodic. Both types are defined by a SQL Select statement that you specify.
You can create event alerts that monitor your applications for the exception conditions you specify. You can create periodic alerts that check your database for predefined conditions according to the schedule you determine.
Major Features
Verify SQL
You can verify that your alert’s SQL Select statement runs correctly, and returns the data you specify. You can do this verification directly in Oracle Alert immediately after you enter your Select statement – you don’t have to suspend your Oracle Alert session or navigate to SQL*Plus.
Specify Installations
You can specify which Application installations you want your alert to run against, so you can control which Application installations your alert checks in a database with multiple Application installations.
Information Routing
With Oracle Alert, you can include a file created by another application as part of an alert message. You can also define an alert that distributes an electronic copy of a report, log file, or any other ASCII file.
Dynamic Message Distributions
Oracle Alert lets you define a message distribution list without knowing ahead of time who the actual individuals on the list will be. Oracle Alert can retrieve the appropriate electronic mail IDs from your application tables, and send the message automatically.
Duplicate Suppression
Oracle Alert can automatically determine which action to perform based on whether it locates the same exceptions during a sequence of alert checks. You can have Oracle Alert perform a different action during each alert check that finds the same database exception.
Customizable Inputs by Action Set
You can further customize your alerts by specifying parameters for each set of actions you define. These parameters, or inputs, provide you with extra flexibility in creating your alerts because you can assign specific values to them. For example, if a vendor delivery is overdue, Oracle Alert can notify the purchasing agent when it is two days late and the purchasing manager when it is seven days late. The number of days late is the input; two and seven are distinct input values you assign for each type of recipient.
Distribution Lists
Oracle Alert lets you create an electronic distribution list that you can use on many messages. At any time, you can add or remove names from your lists, or you can make copies of your lists and use the copies to create new lists.
Standard Message Address Formats
Oracle Alert lets you address messages using easily recognizable symbols: to, cc, bcc, just as you would use when writing a memo or sending electronic mail.
Printed Alert Messages
Oracle Alert lets you send messages to people who do not use electronic mail. You can direct a message to a printer with the recipient’s name on the burst page.
Electronic Mail Integration
Oracle Alert leverages the Workflow Notification Mailer to send and receive alert e-mail messages. The notification mailer uses the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) for outbound messages and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for inbound messages.
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Alerts in Oracle R12


Oracle Alert is your complete exception control solution. Alerts signal important or unexpected activity in your database. They ensure that you are regularly and quickly informed about critical database events instead of sorting through length reports.
The basic function of alerts includes but not limited to

  1. Keep you informed of critical activity in your database
  2. Deliver key information from your applications, in the format you choose
  3. Provide you with regular reports on your database information
  4. Automate system maintenance, and routine online tasks

Alerts keep a constant check on your database information and prompt you when the specified criteria are met. You can use either an Oracle application or a custom oracle application to define alerts. However, few applications such as purchasing, allow you to simply activate and use alerts supply by default.
You can define one of two types of alerts: an event alert or a periodic alert.
An event alert immediately notifies you of activity in your database as it occurs. When you create an event alert, you specify the following:

  • A database event that you want to monitor, that is, an insert or an update to a specific database table.
  • A SQL Select statement that retrieves specific database information as a result of the database event.
  • Actions that you want Oracle Alert to perform as a result of the database event. An action can entail sending someone an electronic mail message, running a concurrent program, running an operating script, or running a SQL statement script. You include all the actions you want Oracle Alert to perform, in an action set.

A periodic alert, on the other hand, checks the database for information according to a schedule you define. When you create a periodic alert, you specify the following:

  • A SQL Select statement that retrieves specific database information.
  • The frequency that you want the periodic alert to run the SQL statement.
  • Actions that you want Oracle Alert to perform once it runs the SQL statement. An action can entail sending the retrieved information to someone in an electronic mail message, running a concurrent program, running an operating script, or running a SQL statement script. You include all the actions you want Oracle Alert to perform, in an action set

By creating event alerts, you can have an immediate view of the activity in your database, so you keep on top of important or unusual events as they happen. By creating periodic alerts, you can have current measurements of staff and organization performance, so you can zero in on potential trouble spots. You can automate routine transactions, preserving your valuable time for more important issues. Oracle Alert gives you the information you need online, so you do not have to contend with a pile of paperwork.
Workflow vs Alerts
Unlike alerts, workflow is defined in a system to detect a condition and requires user intervention. Every time a response is not recorded during a designated time period, workflow may send a notification to the user’s manager depending upon the workflow definition. It is difficult to accomplish such notification using alerts.

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