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Why Migrate?

Oracle Forms Developer and Forms Services have been upgraded to simplify the development and deployment of Forms applications on the Web. A number of new features have been added. In restructuring the Oracle Forms product, some legacy features have been dropped or scaled back. The future of Forms includes improving the Java-based Web user interface and extending product "openness" by allowing Java integration on all three tiers.

Forms 6i Features Removed from Oracle Forms

The following features have been dropped from Oracle Forms:

• Client-server runtime

• Character mode runtime

• Various runform command line options

• Character mode properties and logical attributes

• Item types that are operating-system specific

• Various Built-ins

• Various properties

• Various menu features including:
  • Character mode menu properties

  • Obsolete types from the Menu-Items command type property

  • Menu parameters

  • Menu Built-ins

  • Full screen menu style

  • Bar (Lotus) menu style

• Forms version 2 style triggers and list of values (LOVs)

• Graphics Chart Wizard

In addition, rules enforcing trigger usage have become more strict.

Components Removed from the Developer Product Suite

The following components have been removed.

Table 1-1 Components Removed from the Developer Suite

Obsolete Component	Migration Notes
Oracle Graphics	If your applications use the Graphics Web Cartridge or Oracle Graphics Runtime, you should remain on Forms 6i. You can upgrade and deploy existing Forms applications that contain embedded Oracle Graphics using the RUN_PRODUCT call, or by displaying them as chart objects. To do this, you must install Oracle Graphics6i on the same machine as Forms Services, but in a separate ORACLE_HOME.
Oracle Forms Listener and Load Balancing Components	Use the Forms Listener Servlet to manage Forms sessions on the Web. The Forms Listener Servlet provides: Improved security because all traffic is directed through standard Web server HTTP or HTTPS ports, with no extra ports open through the firewall. Use of standard load balancing techniques. Broader firewall and proxy support. Less administration because the listener and load balancing processes do not need to be managed. Simplified HTTPS support because a separate Web server SSL certificate for the Forms listener is not required. HTTPS support for Internet Explorer 5.x with native JVM.
Oracle Forms Server Cartridge and CGI	Use the Forms Servlet. The functionality available with the Oracle Forms Server cartridge and CGI was incorporated into the Forms Servlet, which was first available in Oracle Forms Release 6i patchset 2.
Oracle Procedure Builder	Use the facilities for editing and debugging local and server-side PL/SQL code in Forms Developer, which has been considerably improved for this release.
Oracle Project Builder	No migration path or replacement functionality at this time.
Oracle Translation Builder	Use TranslationHub to translate resource strings in Forms modules in order to deploy the modules in multiple languages.
Oracle Query Builder/Schema Builder	No migration path or replacement functionality.
Oracle Terminal	The resource files used by Web-deployed forms are text based and can be edited using a conventional text editor. As a result, Oracle Terminal is no longer required for the product.
Open Client Adapters (OCA)	In order to provide platform-independent access to a wider range of non-Oracle data sources, use the Oracle Transparent Gateway and Generic Connectivity solutions in place of OCA.
Tuxedo Integration	No migration path or replacement functionality.
Performance Event Collection Services (PECS)	No migration path. Use Forms Trace and Oracle Trace, which are documented in the book Oracle Application Server Forms Services Deployment Guide (Part No. A92175-01).

How are Obsolete Item Types Handled when Migrating Forms 6i Applications?

When you open a Forms application, obsolete item types are listed at the end of the item-type poplist in the Property Palette. The property values for obsolete items are indicated as obsolete. For example, the property value for VBX would be "VBX Control (Obsolete)".

Note: If you are migrating from older releases of Forms to Oracle Forms, you must first migrate your applications to Forms 6i, and then migrate them to Oracle Forms. See Chapter 16, "Upgrading from Pre-Forms 6i Applications to Oracle Forms" for more information.

You can use the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant, described in Chapter 2, "Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant", to resolve many migration issues.

Are Tools Available to Assist with the Migration of Obsolete Features?

The Oracle Forms Migration Assistant is provided with Oracle Forms to help you migrate your Forms 6i applications. See Chapter 2, "Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant" for details.