Application Technology and Customizations
This chapter covers the following topics:
Chapter Overview
This chapter discusses the Oracle Applications Framework (OAF) technology on which Oracle iSupplier Portal is built and includes how to customize the Oracle iSupplier Portal user interface.
Customizing the Oracle iSupplier Portal User Interface
Oracle iSupplier Portal is built upon the OAF technology. There are many aspects of OAF applications that system administrators, developers, and end-users can personalize.
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Menus and Responsibilities - You can use the Menu and Responsibility forms to personalize and maintain security for Oracle Self-Service Web Applications. You can use the forms to assign specific responsibilities to your users and designate the menus that are available to the users of a given responsibility.
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FND Messages and Lookups - You can similarly use the Messages and Lookups forms to modify existing messages and lookups or define new messages and lookups. For example, you may have a need to create additional messages for display within an application that pertains to your users, or you may want to add new lookup values to a lookup type that are applicable to your site.
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Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) - You can also modify the visual presentation styles, such as fonts and colors, that appear in Oracle Self-Service Web Applications. The styles are controlled by cascading style sheets (CSS) to reinforce a standard look and feel throughout the applications. You can personalize the custom.xss style sheet document to modify the existing styles to your needs.
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User Interface (UI) Definition Overlays and Saved Views Through the OA Personalization Framework - You can use the functionality of OA Personalization Framework to personalize the UI of an application page. Administrators can create personalizations that overlay the existing UI and are targeted to specific audiences. End-users can create personalizations and save them as personalized views from which they can choose to display as the need arises.
OA Framework includes the OA Personalization Framework which allows you to personalize your UI look-and-feel, layout, or visibility of page content appropriate or your business needs without modifying any underlying code.
Following are some common types of personalizations you can accomplish with OA Personalization Framework:
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Change the prompt for a field or other text on a page.
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Hide or show a field on a page.
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Reorder fields or items on a page.
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Restrict data that a user can access.
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Add new buttons, links, text items, images, etc.
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Restrict query results in a table.
Note: With OA Personalization Framework, your personalizations are reflected immediately on the page
For example, you may change the color scheme of your user interface, change the order in which table columns are displayed, or save personalized views of a query result and retrieve them at a later time.
To enable personalization for Oracle iSupplier Portal, you need to set the Personalize Self-Service Defn (FND_CUSTOM_OA_DEFINTION) system profile option to Yes. This profile can be set at the site, application, responsibility or user level.
When you set this profile option to Yes, a global Personalize button appears on the the top right corner of all Oracle iSupplier Portal application pages.
Oracle iSupplier Portal Personalization Link
This link takes the user to the corresponding OAF personalization page, where all personalization tasks can be done.
The Personalize page is where you choose your personalizations. You can select your personalization context of shared regions from the Scope drop-down box.
You may search for and select your preferred function level. A function in Oracle Applications is a piece of application logic or functionality that is registered under a unique name for the purpose of assigning it to, or excluding it from, a responsibility. For example, a single region can be assigned to multiple functions, such that you can display the region from different menus on the responsibility menu tree. You can create personalizations for a region at the function level, such that the personalizations are visible only when you display the region by selecting a specific function. For example, suppose you have an updatable region and you want that region to be updatable when accessed from Function A in the menu, but to be read-only when accessed from Function B in the menu. To accomplish this, you create a function level personalization that makes all the fields read-only for Function B. You can have only one set of personalizations per region per function.
You may search for and select your preferred location.
Suppose you need to:
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Distribute to a particular location.
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Hide certain fields or buttons.
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Change labels to accommodate that location.
You can make those changes by creating location-level personalizations in the relevant regions. All end-users for the specific location will see the applied location personalizations.
A site refers to an installation of Oracle Self-Service Web Applications. Personalizations that you make at the site level affect all users of the current installation. For example, as a system administrator, you might want to make a site- level personalization where you change the table column labels to match your corporate standards. You can only save one set of personalizations per region per site.
Personalizations that you make at the organization level affect all users of that organization. For example, you might make a personalization at the organization level for a specific organization to hide certain fields because they are not pertinent to the context of that organization. You can only save one set of personalizations per region per organization.
A responsibility represents a specific level of authority within an application. Each responsibility lets you access specific functions or a set of product windows, menus, reports, and data to fulfill your role in an application. When you make personalizations at the responsibility level for a specific responsibility, the changes are effective only for the users of that responsibility. You can only save one set of personalizations per region per responsibility.
Remember to click Apply when you finalize your personalizations. After searching for and selecting the appropriate context, you can individually set personalization context by clicking Set to My Function.
For a detailed list of current functionality available through OAF personalization framework, and personalization features, see the Personalization section of the Oracle Applications Framework Personalization Guide, available on My Oracle Support.