Types of Key Flexfield Forms
Key flexfields appear on three different types of application form:
These form types correspond to the types of tables that contain key flexfield data.
Combinations form
A combinations form is a form whose only purpose is to maintain key flexfield combinations. The base table of the form is the actual combinations table. This table is the entity table for the object (a part, or an item, an accounting code, and so on). The form contains hidden fields for each segment column in the table, as well as displayed fields for the concatenated segment values (the combination) and any other fields (and columns) that the entity requires. A combinations form is sometimes also called a maintenance form.
A foreign key form is a form whose underlying base table contains only one or two columns that contain key flexfield information. The purpose of a foreign key form often has very little to do with the key flexfield itself, and that the key flexfield appears on the form is essentially incidental. For example, if you have a key flexfield that represents a part number, you would use the combinations form to define new parts and maintain existing part numbers. You would then have many foreign key forms that you use to manipulate your parts. You might have a form where you take orders for parts, another form where you receive parts, and yet another form where you ship parts. The fact that your part number happens to be a key flexfield is not important to your taking orders for your parts, for example.
A range form displays a range flexfield, which is a special pop-up window that contains two complete sets of key flexfield segments. A range flexfield supports low and high values for each key segment rather than just single values. Ordinarily, a key flexfield range appears on your form as two adjacent flexfields, where the leftmost flexfield contains the low values for a range, and the rightmost flexfield contains the high values. A user would specify a range of low and high values in this pop-up window. For example, you might choose a range of part numbers for which you want to run a report.
The range form uses a special table as its base table. This table contains one or more (usually two) columns for each segment column that appears in the combinations table. However, these columns do not necessarily contain actual segment values, and a row in the table does not necessarily contain actual valid combinations. Usually this table contains two columns for each segment, called SEGMENTn_LOW and SEGMENTn_HIGH (where n is the segment column number), that store the range of values for each segment.
In Oracle Applications, we use a key flexfield range to help you specify cross-validation rules for key flexfield combinations.
Some forms use a variation of a range flexfield to capture information for each key flexfield segment that is not necessarily a segment value. For example, the form might capture a "Yes" or "No" value for each segment (the Assign Function Parameters form displays a pop-up flexfield window where you choose Yes or No to specify whether you want to assign a value to each particular segment).
See Also
Intelligent Key
Combination
Combinations Table
Qualifiers
Dynamic Insertion
Other Key Flexfield Features
Planning your Key Flexfield
Key Flexfield Structure Planning Diagram
