, ,

Oracle Forms..An Introduction and Brief History

Oracle Forms…What is it?
•A software product for creating screens that interact with an Oracle Database.
•Has a typical IDE including an object navigator, property sheet and code editor that uses PL/SQL.
•Primary focus of Forms is to create data entry systems that access an Oracle database.
•Originally sold as standalone product , now bundled into a package suite called Oracle Developer Suite.
History
•Interactive Application Facility (IAF)
-Block Mode
-Oracle Database 2
•FastForms
-Character Mode
-Oracle Database 4
•SQL*Forms version 2, 2.3
-Character Mode
-Oracle Database 5
•SQL*Forms 3
-Character Mode
-Oracle Database 6
-New IDE, PL/SQL
•Oracle Forms 4.0/4.5
-4.0 was the first “true” GUI based version
-Oracle Database 6/7
-Optimized for client server.
-4.0 interface was slow, buggy and un-popular with client base.
-4.5 was a popular one with enhanced GUI.
•Oracle Forms 5
-Oracle Database 7
•Oracle Forms 6/6i
-Forms server and web forms were introduced.
-Oracle Database 8/8i
•Forms 7 to 8 did not exist. These numbers were jumped over in order to allow the Oracle Forms version number to match the database version.
•Oracle Forms 9i
-Oracle Database 9i
-Stable one with many bug fixes.
-Three-tier, browser based delivery
•Oracle Forms 10g
-Oracle Database 10g
-Actually a Forms release (9.0.4.0.19)
•Oracle Forms 11g
-Oracle Database 11g
-Latest One.
/by
, ,

Calling a Report from a Form

Using RUN_PRODUCT Built-in we can call a Report from a Form.
It will take 7 Parameters as follows
1) Product name :: REPORT/GRAPHICS
2) Module name  :: Report name
3) Communication Mode :: Synchronous /Asynchronous
SYN :: we cannot work with the Form until and unless you closes the Report.
ASYN:: We can work with Form & Reprot (Navigate)
4) Exec :: Batch/Run time
Batch :: it will fetch all records at a time
Run time :: It will fetch only one Record at a time
5) File name :: database/Filesystem
6) Parameters :: Report Parameters
7) Display :: For Graphics (Mostly null)
Ex :: If we have :p_deptno parameter then we can call as Follows
RUN_PRODUCT (‘REPORT’,’C:TEST1.rep’,SYN,BATCH,DATABASE,p_deptno,’ ‘);
/by