This chapter covers the following topics:
The Configurator Developer user interface contains two main tabs that are labeled Repository and Workbench.
The Repository tab contains the following areas: Main, Item Master, and Publishing. You use these areas to organize Models and shared objects in a single location. Shared objects include Usages, Effectivity Sets, Properties, Items in the CZ schema’s Item Master, Configurator Extension Archives, and User Interface Templates. You use the Publications area of the Repository to publish Models for testing and production activities.
The Workbench tab contains the following areas: General, Structure, Rules, and User Interface. You use these areas to create and maintain Model structure, rules, and User Interface(s). Data in these areas appear in a hierarchical structure. For details, see Hierarchical Structure.
In each area of the Repository and the Workbench, each object’s name appears as a hypertext link. When you click the link, Configurator Developer displays the object’s read-only details page. If the object can be modified, you can click an Edit button to open it for editing. You can also click the icon in the Edit column to open an object for editing directly from each area of the Repository or Workbench.
For an overview of using Oracle Configurator Developer tools to build a configuration model, see Build a Configuration Model.
Many elements of the Configurator Developer user interface are common to other OA Framework-based applications. For more information about common UI elements, see the Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide.
Like other E-Business Suite applications, Oracle Configurator Developer uses Oracle's standard Browser Look and Feel (BLAF) for displaying common UI controls such as tables, buttons, toolbars, and menus. The appearance and functionality that BLAF provides ensures a more seamless integration with other Oracle Applications products, and is well-suited for most Web-based applications.
To provide greater flexibility regarding the appearance of Oracle Application product UIs, the Oracle Applications Personalization Framework allows a system administrator to customize the look and feel of Oracle's Web-based applications using the Customizing Look and Feel (CLAF) feature.
For more information about CLAF, see the Oracle Application Framework Personalization Guide.
You can customize the appearance of most Repository and Workbench areas using Views. Views control the order and title of table columns, and whether the columns appear when the View is applied. A list of available Views appears in the Main, Item Master, and Publications areas of the Repository, and the Structure, Rules, and User Interface areas of the Workbench. You apply a View by selecting it from the View list and then clicking Go.
Configurator Developer provides several predefined Views for areas that contain hierarchical tables. These Views are available for all users and can be set based on security level by the Configurator Administrator (in other words, a specific view may be assigned for each role). The predefined Views cannot be updated or deleted, but you can copy a predefined View and modify it, or create your own Views. You can also specify whether a View is used by default when you start Configurator Developer.
For more information about Views, see the Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide.
Related Topics
Some Models may have a large number of structure nodes or many rules, and it can be difficult to locate the one you want to select, view or edit. To help you locate objects, a Simple Search button appears in many Configurator Developer pages. For example, you can search for a Model in the Main area of the Repository, an Item in the Item Master area of the Workbench, or Model structure nodes when defining a rule. You can also perform an advanced search, which enables you to enter additional search criteria, and save a search as a View.
When searching for objects, you can also use wild-card characters. The wild-card for a complete string is "%" (the percent sign). The wild card for a single character is the underscore character ( _ ). If you need to search for an object whose name contains one of the wild-card characters, prefix the wild-card character with the escape character (/).
Searching for Model Nodes Using Wildcard Characters provides examples of search results using wild-card characters.
| Search Criterion | Finds |
|---|---|
| Feature/_10% | Feature_1040, Feature_1041, Feature_10 abc |
| Feature/_10_ | Feature_104, Feature_10A |
You can search for objects using the following criteria:
Name
Description
Type or Node Type: For example, when searching for objects in the Main area of the Repository, enter Model, Folder, Property, or UI Content Template. When searching in the Structure area of the Workbench, enter BOM Option Class, Component, or Boolean Feature. In the Rules area of the Workbench, enter Logic Rule, Rule Folder, or Statement Rule.
Locked: For example, enter Yes to view all locked objects, or No to view all unlocked objects.
Locked By: For example, enter your user name to view all objects that are currently locked by you.
For more information about searching for objects in Configurator Developer, see the Oracle E-Business Suite User’s Guide.
Warning: When you perform a search in Oracle Configurator Developer, the results are displayed in a table. Within the table, the name of each object appears as a link that you can click to navigate to an object to view or open for editing. You can also click on the Edit icon in the search results table to open the object for editing. In this case, when you return to the search results table after modifying or viewing the object, the table may be empty (in other words, the search results may not be retained). Oracle plans to resolve this issue in a future release.
Related Topics
Use the Actions list to modify Configurator Developer objects. The list of available actions is determined by the functions included in your login responsibility and the area of the Repository or Workbench in which you are currently working. The list of actions may include Copy, Delete, Move, Rename, Reorder Children, and so on.
To perform an action:
Select one or more objects.
Choose an option from the Actions list, then click Go.
Enter additional information as required, then click Finish. For example, if you are copying a Model, you must specify the Folder in which you want to store the copy.
For more information, see:
For more information, see the Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide.
Shortcut links appear in any page that has multiple, clearly defined sections. These links eliminate the need for scrolling when all of a page’s content will not fit within the visible area. For example, a Model node’s details page may have several sections, such as Properties, Effectivity, Associated Rules, and so on. Instead of scrolling, you can click on the Associated Rules shortcut link to "jump" to that section of the page. Each target section includes a Return to Top link, which returns you to the top of the current page.
For more information, see the Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide.
Clicking the icon in the Focus column allows you to "focus in" on a specific object in a hierarchical table. When you do this, Configurator Developer displays the object as the "root" of the hierarchical table and expands its contents to one level so all of its children are also visible. The Focus icon is useful when a hierarchical table contains many objects because it enables you to locate the object you want to view or open for editing more easily.
For example, when you click the icon in the Focus column next to a Folder:
The Folder becomes the root of the table you are viewing
All of the Folder’s child objects are visible
The other objects that were at the same level as the Folder no longer appear
The Focus icon is available only for parent or container objects. In other words, you cannot focus on objects that do not have children. Parent objects include Model structure nodes and some UI elements (such as UI Pages and Layout Regions). Container objects include Folders and the root node of a UI After focusing on a parent or container object, you can use the locator links at the top of the table to return to the previous display and view all objects in the table.
A Printable Page button appears in many read-only pages in Configurator Developer. For example, this button appears when you open a Model for viewing by clicking on its name in the Main area of the Repository. Click this button to display the page in a separate window in a format that is more suitable for printing. You can then send the page to a local printer using your browser’s Print option.
Because multiple users may be using Configurator Developer simultaneously, by default you must lock Models and UI Content Templates before editing them. This prevents other users from modifying the object at the same time. You or the Configurator Developer Administrator must unlock a Model or UI Content Template before another user can modify it.
Locking a Model does not lock any of its referenced Models.
Locking is controlled by a Site-level profile option, which means it affects all Oracle Configurator Developer users on a specific instance. The System Administrator can change the default behavior by modifying this profile option, but this is not recommended. For details, see the Oracle Configurator Installation Guide.
Warning: Configurator Developer refers to each user’s Oracle Applications user name when locking and unlocking objects. Therefore, it is essential that all Configurator Developer users have a unique Oracle Applications user name and password when locking is enabled. In other words, multiple users should not be able to log into Oracle Applications with the same user name and password, and then work in Configurator Developer.
Defining Oracle Applications users is described in the Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator’s Guide.
By default, locking is required to:
Edit a Model (includes creating or modifying Model structure, defining or modifying rules, and generating or editing User Interfaces)
Refresh or publish a Model, refresh a Model’s UIs, or generate logic
For details, see Automatic Model Locking.
Edit a UI Content Template
If an object is currently locked by another user, the icon in the Edit column is disabled. However, you always have read-only access to a locked object and can view its details. You can also view a Model or UI Content Template’s details without locking it.
You do not have to lock a Model or UI Content Template before copying or deleting it, but it cannot be locked by another user.
Additionally, if a Model has one or more referenced Models that are locked by another user, you cannot:
Copy the Model
Delete the Model
Generate logic for the Model
Refresh any of the Model’s UIs
In each case, a message indicates which Models are locked, and by whom.
You do not have to lock an object to move or rename it, and you can perform these actions even if the object is locked by another user. You can also generate a Model Report for a Model that is locked by another user.
If you are logged in as the Oracle Configurator Administrator, you can unlock any object. In other words, you can unlock an object that is locked by another user. However, this should be done only when absolutely necessary, such as when a user forgets to unlock a Model and then is unavailable for a period of time. Configurator Developer displays a confirmation message when you attempt to unlock an object that is locked by another user.
If you have a Model or UI Content Template open for editing and the Oracle Configurator Administrator unlocks it, Configurator Developer displays an error message when you attempt to modify an object. For example, you are editing a Model and are viewing the Structure area of the Workbench when the Oracle Configurator Administrator unlocks the Model. When you try to edit a Model node (by clicking the icon in the Edit column), an error message appears in the node’s details page indicating that the Model is no longer locked by you and you cannot make any changes. When you close the node’s details page and return to the Structure area of the Workbench, you have read-only access to the Model. You must return to the Main area of the Repository and lock the Model before you can edit it.
If you are modifying a Model or UI Content Template and are viewing an object’s details page when the Oracle Configurator Administrator unlocks the object, you can save any pending changes. However, you cannot make any additional changes because the object is no longer locked.
For example, you have a UI Content Template open for editing and are viewing a UI element’s details page when the Oracle Configurator Administrator unlocks the template. When you click Apply, Configurator Developer saves your changes but displays a message indicating that the template is no longer locked and you now have read-only access to it. You must return to the Main area of the Repository and lock the template before you can edit it.
When you submit an Oracle Applications concurrent request to import or refresh a BOM Model, the Model and all of its referenced Models must either be unlocked or locked by you.
A similar requirement applies when publishing a Model, generating logic, or refreshing UIs. When you submit an Oracle Applications concurrent request to publish Model data, the Model, any referenced Models, and any referenced UI Content Templates must either be unlocked or locked by you. This requirement does not apply when you are creating a publication in Configurator Developer. This procedure is described in Creating a New Model Publication.
If a Model references other Models, all of the referenced Models and referenced UI Content Templates must either be unlocked or locked by you before generating logic or refreshing the Model’s UI(s).
If none of the referenced objects are currently locked when you perform one of these tasks, Configurator Developer locks them until the operation is complete. Configurator Developer then unlocks all of the referenced objects.
If any of the referenced objects are locked by another user, an error message lists which objects are currently locked and by whom. In this case, you must either ask the other user(s) or the Oracle Configurator Administrator to unlock the object(s) before you can continue.
For general information about publishing, seeIntroduction to Publishing.
For details about the concurrent programs referred to in this section, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.
Following are the locking-related columns that may appear in the Main area of the Repository when locking is enabled:
Locking: Use the icon in this column to lock or unlock a Model or UI Content Template. If you locked the object, the icon is enabled and you can use it to unlock the object. If another user locked the object, the icon is disabled.
An icon does not appear in this column for predefined UI Content Templates, because these templates cannot be modified.
The icon is always enabled if you logged in as the Oracle Configurator Administrator. See Force Unlock.
The Locking column does not appear if your responsibility does not allow you to modify Models or UI Content Templates. For example, the Locking column does not appear when you select the Oracle Configurator Viewer responsibility.
Locked: A Yes or No in this column indicates whether the object is currently locked.
Locked By: This column displays the name of the user who locked the object.
Locked Date/Time: This column indicates when the object was locked.
When locking is enabled, you can control whether any of these columns appear by modifying the current View. These columns are not available when locking is disabled (that is, when the profile option CZ: Require Locking is set to No). For details, see Views.
You can also perform a search to view a list of all locked or unlocked objects. For details, see Search.
Global links appear in every page in the Configurator Developer user interface. These links display a separate page in which you can view information or perform additional actions.
By default, some Global Links appear in the runtime Oracle Configurator. If you do not want these links to appear, see Preventing Global Links from Appearing at Runtime.
For more information about global links, see the Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide.
Click this link to close Configurator Developer and return to the Oracle Applications E-Business Suite Home page. When you do this, Configurator Developer prompts you to save any pending changes.
Click this link to close Configurator Developer and log out of Oracle Applications. When you do this, Configurator Developer prompts you to save any pending changes.
Click the Preferences global link to display the Preferences page. The settings in this page enable you to define user-specific settings that apply when you are working in Oracle Applications and Configurator Developer. When you navigate to the Preferences page from the E-Business Suite Home page, you can view and modify user-specific settings that affect all of the Oracle Applications products to which you have access. These settings include your default language, time zone, notification preferences, and your Oracle Applications user name and password. These settings are described in detail in the Oracle E-Business Suite User’s Guide.
When you navigate to the Preferences page from Configurator Developer, you can also define settings that affect the display of Model structure nodes and tables in Configurator Developer. These settings affect all Models and pages in the CZ schema to which you are connected. Additionally, these settings are user-specific, so they remain in effect even after you exit and then restart Configurator Developer.
You can also enter custom initialization parameters used by the runtime UI and the Model Debugger when unit testing the configuration model. These settings are described below.
The Number of Rows Shown in Tables setting controls how many rows are displayed in tables. For example, this setting affects tables that appear in a node’s details page (in the Associated Properties, Associated Rules, and Associated UI Nodes sections), as well as the Add to Selected List table, which appears in the Choose Nodes page.
If a table contains more rows than the number you specify here, Configurator Developer provides links above and beneath the table so you can view the additional rows.
This setting does not affect how many rows appear in pages that display data in a hierarchy, such as all areas of the Repository and Workbench. This value is determined by the profile option CZ: Number of Table Rows Displayed. For details, see the Oracle Configurator Installation Guide.
Use this setting to control whether Model structure nodes and rules that are not effective appear when working in Configurator Developer. For general information about effectivity, see Introduction to Effectivity.
Select one of the following options:
Select All if you do not want to hide any Model nodes or rules based on their effectivity. This is the default value.
Select Current to display only Model nodes and rules that are effective "now" (that is, as of the current date and time). In other words, the date and time when you are working in Configurator Developer must fall between the object’s effective Start Date and End Date. (Start Date <= Current Date < End Date)
Select Future and Current to display only Model nodes and rules that are effective now or in the future, regardless of their start date. (End Date > Current Date)
The Effectivity Date Filter setting affects all Models you can view or modify in Configurator Developer, and it considers both effective date ranges and Effectivity Sets. It does not consider Usages. This setting is stored as a user-level profile option and persists across Configurator Developer sessions. In other words, it does not change when you exit and then log back into Configurator Developer.
Model nodes whose effectivity does not match the Effectivity Date Filter setting do not appear in the Structure area of the Workbench. Similarly, any rules whose effectivity does not match this setting do not appear in the Rules area of the Workbench. In the UI area of the Workbench, nodes that are not effective do not appear when you are specifying a UI element’s Associated Model Node or defining a runtime condition.
For example, if the Effectivity Date Filter is set to Current and the current date is 22-Feb-05, any nodes or rules whose effectivity does not include this date do not appear.
Configurator Developer also considers this setting when:
You are defining a rule or modifying a UI element and must select a node from the Model structure
You are viewing a Model node’s details page (in other words, any rules that are not effective do not appear in the Associated Rules section)
You use the Search feature to locate a specific node(s) or rule(s)
Configurator Developer does not consider this setting when you are viewing:
A rule’s details page: The Model nodes that participate in a rule are always visible here, regardless of the Effectivity Date Filter setting.
A User Interface’s structure: When the Model Node column is displayed in the UI area of the Workbench, a UI element’s associated Model node always appears in this column, regardless of its effectivity.
A UI element’s details page: The element’s associated Model node is always visible here, regardless of the Effectivity Date Filter setting.
A list of Effectivity Set members: See List Effectivity Set Members.
Model nodes and rules that are set to Always Effective are always visible, regardless of the Effectivity Date Filter setting.
If a Model node is not displayed due to this setting, none of its descendants are visible either (regardless of their effectivity).
The current value of this setting appears at the top of each Configurator Developer page for reference. It also appears at the top of the Associated Rules section in all Model node details pages.
For example:
Date Effectivity: Future and Current
The settings in this section control how Configurator Developer displays Model structure nodes in rules and in a UI element’s details page.
Settings are available for controlling the display of both BOM and non-BOM nodes. The default values settings are:
BOM Structure Nodes: View by Description
Non-BOM Structure Nodes: View by Name
These settings do not affect how nodes are displayed in the Structure area of the Workbench. In the Structure area of the Workbench, node names always appear and you can display node descriptions by applying a View that contains the Description column. For more information, see Views.
If a node does not have a description and either setting is set to View by Description, Configurator Developer displays the node’s name instead. (The opposite is not true, since all nodes must have a name.)
When a node that is a participant in a rule is deleted, it appears as "DELETED: Node Name or Description" in the rule’s details page.
If the Structure Node Display settings are different for BOM and non-BOM nodes, and a Statement Rule contains both types of nodes, both node names and descriptions appear when viewing the rule’s definition in the Rule Statement for Display section. Statement Rules are described in Overview of Statement Rules.
Configurator Developer uses the Structure Node Display settings when constructing a node’s path, which indicates its location in the Model. This information appears when viewing the details page for a Model structure node, rule, or UI element. For example, for your Model, BOM Structure Nodes is set to Description. When you open the details page for a BOM item, its path appears like this:
Premium Custom Laptop.Hard Drive Option Class.40 GB Hard Drive
If BOM Structure Nodes is set to Name, the same BOM item’s path appears like this:
CN62441C.OC68020.CM41020
You can also view an object’s path by placing the cursor over its associated icon. For example, when viewing a rule’s details page, you can view the path of each node that is a participant in the rule.
In the Custom Initialization Parameters field, enter any custom XML parameters you want to use when unit testing the selected Model in a runtime User Interface or the Model Debugger. For example, to display pricing and Available to Promise (ATP) information when unit testing, specify the required interface PL/SQL packages and procedures here.
This field accepts a maximum of 240 characters.
Enter initialization parameters using the following syntax:
<param name="parameter_name">parameter_value</param>
For example:
<param name="pricing_package_name">cz_price_test</param> <param name="price_mult_items_proc">price_multiple_items</param> <param name="price_single_item_proc">price_single_item</param> <param name="atp_package_name">cz_atp_callback_stub</param><param name="get_atp_dates_proc">call_atp</param>
Note: Be sure the parameters you enter follow this syntax and do not contain any typographical or spelling errors. Configurator Developer does not validate the syntax, and an incorrectly formatted parameter will produce an error at runtime.
When launching the runtime UI or Model Debugger from Configurator Developer, the custom parameters that you enter here are prepended to the initialization message. In other words, any parameters that you enter in Configurator Developer when launching a UI or the Model Debugger take precedence over the parameters you enter in this page.
For example, if you enter an effective date as a custom initialization parameter, and then enter a different date as a session parameter before unit testing a configuration model, the date you entered as a session parameter is used. Unit testing is described inIntroduction to Unit Testing .
When unit testing a configuration model, you cannot display pricing or ATP data by specifying the procedures and packages used by Oracle Applications products, such as Oracle Order Management. Specify parameters for displaying pricing and ATP data only if you want to test your own custom packages and procedures. For details about pricing and ATP when launching Oracle Configurator from a host application, see the Oracle Configurator Implementation Guide.
Click this link to display the Oracle Applications online help system. This system includes the entire contents of the Oracle Configurator Developer User’s Guide and the Oracle Configurator Constraint Definition Language Guide.
The online help is context-sensitive. This means that if you are working in the Rules area of the Workbench, for example, clicking the Help link displays information about creating rules.
Click this link to select what type of logged messages to display while working in Configurator Developer. The options available in the Diagnostics page include Show Log, Set Trace Level, and Show Log On Screen.
For more information about these options, see the Oracle Application Framework Documentation Resource, Release 12, on MetaLink.
When you navigate to another page before saving, Configurator Developer prompts you to either save your work, or cancel the pending transaction. For example, you are editing a rule and make some changes. If you click the Structure link to navigate to that area of the Workbench, Configurator Developer indicates that changes are pending and you must choose how to proceed. All changes you make in Configurator Developer are stored directly in the CZ schema when you click Apply or Finish at the end of a process flow. There is no "undo" feature, so if you create an object and then decide you do not need it, you must manually delete it.
Warning: Do not delete objects from the CZ schema directly using PL/SQL or SQL*Plus. The concurrent program Purge Configurator Tables is the only supported method of removing logically-deleted records in the CZ schema.
All Configurator Developer pages provide navigation controls such as buttons that enable you to apply or cancel a pending transaction. It is strongly recommended that when using Configurator Developer, you always use the buttons and links provided in the Configurator Developer user interface and not your Web browser’s navigation controls. Using the browser’s Back, Next, or Home buttons, for example, can result in errors or even loss of data.
However, you can use the browser’s Back button when an unrecoverable error occurs. In this case, no navigation controls appear in the Configurator Developer user interface, and the Back button is the only way to return to the page you were viewing when the error occurred.
Configurator Developer is an HTML-based application that provides various keyboard shortcuts to cut, copy, and paste text in input fields, select check boxes and radio buttons, and use the arrow keys to select options from a drop-down list. You navigate to each control on a page from left to right, and from the top of the page to the bottom, by pressing the Tab key. Press Shift+Tab to navigate in the opposite direction. Press Enter to execute the currently selected control, such as a button.
Configurator Developer Keyboard Shortcuts lists the keyboard shortcuts available in Configurator Developer.
| Command | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Cut | Ctrl-x |
| Copy | Ctrl-c |
| Paste | Ctrl-v |
| Activate UI control | Tab |
| Execute active UI control | Enter |
For general information about Views, see Views.
To create a view:
Click Personalize.
Click Create View, or select an existing View and then click Duplicate.
Enter a View Name and optionally a Description.
To apply this View whenever you begin using Configurator Developer, select Set as Default.
From the list of Available Columns, specify which columns appear when the View is applied.
To add a column, either double click the column name, or select the column, and then click Move. The column(s) you selected appear in the Columns Displayed list.
Click Move All or Remove All to add or remove all columns in a list.
Specify the order in which you want the columns to appear by selecting the column name, and then clicking the up or down arrows within the Columns Displayed list.
To rename any column headings, click the Rename Columns/Totaling button.
In the Rename Columns/Totaling page, modify column names as necessary, then click Apply.
Click Apply.
Click the link at the bottom of the Views page to return to the Repository or Workbench area in which you were working.
For general information about Views, see Views.
To modify a View:
Click Personalize.
Select a View, then click Update.
Modify the View as required, then click Apply.
For more information about Views, see the Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide.
For general information about Views, see Views.
To delete a View:
Click Personalize.
Select a View, then click Delete.
Click Yes to confirm the action.
You can save searches that you use often as a View. This is useful if you want to see only a specific set of objects at a time when working in Configurator Developer.
For example, you want to be able to quickly locate and begin modifying a specific Model each time you log into Configurator Developer. You search for the Model and save the search as your default View. The next time you log into Configurator Developer, the Model will be the only one that appears in the Main area of the Repository. If you do not set it as your default View, you can apply it at any time by selecting it from the View list and clicking Go.
For background information about this task, see Search.
To save a search as a View:
Click Simple Search.
Enter search criteria, and then click Go.
Click Save Search.
In the Create View page, enter a View Name and optionally a Description.
Specify whether the View is used by default when you begin using Configurator Developer, modify the list of columns that appear in the View, and optionally modify search criteria.
Click Apply or Apply and View Results.