Administrative Tasks

Manage Applications in the Service Instance

An Visual Builder administrator can manage any application in the service instance and does not need to be a team member to see an application on the Home page. Administrators can perform all the tasks of a developer, including adding and removing team members, and opening, staging and publishing applications.

The Home page displays a list of the applications in the service instance. Developers can only see and manage an application when they are a member of the application’s team. Administrators can select the Administered by me checkbox next to the Status dropdown list if they want the list of applications to include all the applications in the instance, even the applications where they are not a team member. The checkbox is not visible to developers who do not have the role of administrator.

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Note:

If you have any classic applications (apps that have the older Visual Builder project structure), open the Visual Applications dropdown list in the header and select Classic Applications.

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On the Home page for classic applications, administrators can select the Applications I administer checkbox in the Filter by pane to display the applications where they are not a team member.

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Access Instance Settings

An instance administrator can access the Tenant Settings page for managing the instance’s global settings from any Visual Builder page.

The Tenant Settings page contains three tabs: General, Tenant Database and Services. The General tab has panels for configuring security settings, specifying Access Denied messages, and configuring the Component Exchange details. You use the Tenant Database tab to switch to an Oracle database and to see how much database space your applications are using. You use the Services tab to add and edit the backend services that are accessible to apps in the tenant.

To open an instance’s Tenant Settings page:

In the upper-left corner of the Visual Builder title bar, click Navigation Menu .
Click Settings in the main menu.

If you are developing visual applications, open the main navigation pane on the Home page and select Settings.

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The settings available for the instance are grouped in the General, Tenant Database and Services tabs on the page.

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Choose Your Instance's Update Window

Functional updates for Visual Builder are provided in two windows, which are typically two weeks apart. You can select when you want an instance updated by selecting either Window 1 or Window 2. We recommend that non-production instances be updated in the first window (Window 1) and production instances in the second window (Window 2). This allows you to test your applications in your test and development environments before the update is applied to your production environment.

Note:

Oracle automatically sends notifications to the instance's account administrator each time it will be updated, confirming the instance's next update window. Once we send out the notification, it's too late to change your window for that update. If you do make a change, it won't be applied until the following update.

To set the update window option:

Open the Visual Builder instance's Tenant Settings editor.
Select the window option in the Patch Window dropdown list.

There are only two options: Window 1 and Window 2. The default update window is Window 1.

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If your Visual Builder instance was provisioned as part of Oracle Integration Generation 2, you specify the instance's update window in the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console, not the instance's Tenant Settings. See Choose Your Update Window in Provisioning and Administering Oracle Integration 3.

Configure Security Options for Applications

Administrators can use the Security panel in the Tenant Settings page to require authentication for all applications in the instance.

When an administrator enables the Allow only secure applications to be created option, all published and staged applications in the instance will require user authentication. When the option is enabled, users must be assigned a role by the identity domain administrator and log in to access the applications in the instance. When the option is not enabled, applications can be created that allow access to anonymous users.

When an application has the default security settings, any user with a valid login can access the pages in an application. A developer can modify the default security settings to define the roles that can access applications, pages and components.

When the secure application option is enabled, an administrator can enable the Only Visual Builder Users can access secure applications option so that only Visual Builder users (those assigned the default Service User role) can access the staged and published applications in the instance. For example, this allows you to configure security so that users assigned the Visual Builder Developer role can access the designer, but can’t access the published application and data because they are not assigned the Visual Builder Service User role.

An administrator can also use IDCS roles when configuring the instance's security so that a user's access is limited to just the secure applications. Users assigned the selected IDCS role would be able to access the applications, but would be prevented from accessing Visual Builder or Oracle Integration resources external to the application, such as other Oracle Integration integrations.

To configure the security options for all applications in the instance:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
In the Security panel, enable Allow only secure applications to be created.

Anonymous users can’t access the applications when this secure applications option is enabled.
Select the Only Visual Builder Users can access secure applications option if you want to allow only Visual Builder users (users assigned the Service User role) access to the applications.

To change the users allowed to access the application to those assigned a specific IDCS role instead of those assigned the default Service User role, select the IDCS role in the dropdown list under Allow access to application to users in role. This option is only available when both of the other security options are enabled.

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Specify what users denied access to the secure application will see:
1. Enter the URL you want the users redirected to when they can't access the app.
2. Enter an Access Denied message that they will see when denied access to a page in the app.

Assign Roles for Users to Access an Application

Administrators must assign roles to users, so they have the permissions required to access Visual Builder applications.

Privileges associated with a user role determine what tasks users assigned those roles can perform. See Privileges Available to Roles in Oracle Visual Builder.

To assign roles to users:	See this:
For Visual Builder	Assign Roles to Users

If your Visual Builder instance is part of Oracle Integration:

To assign roles to users:	See this:
For Oracle Integration Classic	Add Users, Groups, and Roles for an Existing Instance in Administering Oracle Integration Classic
For Oracle Integration Generation 2	About Setting Up Users and Groups in Provisioning and Administering Oracle Integration 3

Set Page Messages for Access Denied Errors

Administrators can use the instance’s settings page to specify a URL that users are navigated to when they are denied access to an application or page.

Authenticated users might see an Access Denied page or message when they attempt to access an application or page in an application that their user role is not permitted to access. Administrators can set the default page or message that users see when they are denied access to an application or page. Access Denied messages that are set at the application level in the General Settings of an application will override messages set in the instance’s settings page. The default Access Denied page and message is used if the message options in this panel are not set.

To specify an Access Denied page or message for applications in the instance:

Open the instance’s settings page.
In the Security panel, type a URL that users are directed to when denied access to an application.

The URL that you specify is used as the Access Denied page for all applications in the instance and should be accessible to users who are not logged in.

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Note:
If you are configuring settings for classic applications, the Access Denied settings are set in the Messages panel.
Type the message that you want users to see when they are denied access to a page.

The message that you enter will be displayed in the Access Denied page for all applications in the instance except for those where a message was set at the application level in the application’s General Settings page.

Allow Other Domains Access to Services

Use the Global Settings page to specify the domains that are permitted to interact with services in your instance.

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is a mechanism that enables you to specify the domains that are allowed to exchange data with applications in your instance. By default, incoming requests from domains not on your instance’s list of allowed origins are blocked from accessing application resources.

To add a domain to the list of allowed origins:

Open the instance’s settings page.
In the Allowed Origins panel, click New Origin and type the URL of the domain that you want to allow. Click Submit.

The Allowed Origins panel lists all origins that are permitted to retrieve information from the instance.

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Inspect Database Usage

An administrator can view how much space in the tenant's database is being consumed by each of the tenant's applications.

The capacity of the tenant's database is 5GB, so by viewing the database usage you can see how much of the database's capacity remains. If you require more than 5GB of storage, you can Switch to Your Own Oracle DB Instance.

To inspect your instance's database usage:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page, and then open the Tenant Database tab.

The Tenant Database has two panels: Tenant Database and Database Usage.

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Click Retrieve Database Usage in the Database Usage pane.

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The Database Usage meter in the panel shows how much of the database's capacity is currently used. The data usage is rendered in two charts:

The Development chart shows the space used for storing the business objects in each application in the design-time.
The Runtime chart shows the space used for each of the staged and published apps.

Switch to Your Own Oracle DB Instance

The database provisioned with your Visual Builder instance is used to store data for your business objects and your app's metadata, but this database has a 5GB limit and you can't access the data in the objects using regular SQL.

If the 5GB limit is insufficient for your tenant schema, you can configure your instance to use an Oracle DB instance that has more space instead of the default database. If you choose to switch to an Oracle DB instance, the database must be publicly accessible. You can connect to an Oracle DBaaS or Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) database instance. Using an ATP database will give you more space and direct SQL access to the objects VB creates. You can also use a Free Forever Oracle ATP, which provides 20GB of storage for free.

To use a different Oracle DB instance, you use a wizard in the Tenant Settings to create a connection to the database instance and export the applications stored in the tenant's current database.

If you decide to use JDBC to connect to your DBaaS instance, you must include the privileges required to enable the ADMIN user to create a tenant schema. The following SQL shows the grants that are needed:

CREATE USER [adminuser] IDENTIFIED BY [password];
GRANT CONNECT, RESOURCE, DBA TO [adminuser];

GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_PROFILES TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;
GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_USERS TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;
GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_DATA_FILES TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;
GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_SEGMENTS TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;

If you decide to use ATP, you'll need to include the wallet.zip file in the wizard in addition to the connection info. You might want to create a new ATP ADMIN user with the correct admin privileges. The following SQL statement shows how to create a second ATP ADMIN user in SQL*Plus or SQL Developer.

DROP USER [adminuser] CASCADE;
CREATE USER [adminuser] IDENTIFIED BY [password];
GRANT CREATE USER, ALTER USER, DROP USER, CREATE PROFILE TO [adminuser] WITH ADMIN OPTION;
GRANT CONNECT TO [adminuser] WITH ADMIN OPTION;
GRANT RESOURCE TO [adminuser] WITH ADMIN OPTION;
GRANT CREATE SEQUENCE, CREATE OPERATOR, CREATE SESSION,ALTER SESSION, CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE VIEW, CREATE JOB,CREATE DIMENSION,CREATE INDEXTYPE,CREATE TYPE,CREATE TRIGGER,CREATE TABLE,CREATE PROFILE TO [adminuser] WITH ADMIN OPTION;
GRANT UNLIMITED TABLESPACE TO [adminuser] WITH ADMIN OPTION;
GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_PROFILES TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;
GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_USERS TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;
GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_DATA_FILES TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;
GRANT SELECT ON SYS.DBA_SEGMENTS TO [adminuser] WITH GRANT OPTION;

Note:

If you get an error Failed to verify the target database in the Change Tenant Database dialog when switching the database, it might be because the database is not reachable (Visual Builder cannot reach databases in private subnets), or because you don't have the required privileges.

If you see the error, confirm that the ADMIN user (adminuser) has the required privileges. You might also need to assign the SYSOPER and SYSDBA roles to the ADMIN user:

GRANT SYSOPER, SYSDBA TO [adminuser];

You can run the following query to confirm the ADMIN user has the necessary privileges:

select * from v$pwfile_users;

In the wizard you need to select and export all the applications in your instance that you want to keep. After confirming that your instance is using the new database instance, you must import the exported applications into Visual Builder to save them in the new database instance.

Note:

If you have live applications already on the instance before migration, make sure to backup the data in their business objects using the export options in the Visual Builder data manager. You'll then be able to import that data back into the new apps you'll create from the application archives you export in the wizard.

To switch to a different Oracle DB instance:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page, and then open the Tenant Database tab.
Click Use Different Database in the Tenant Database panel to open the Change Tenant Database wizard.

In the Change Tenant Database wizard you supply the details for the connection to your Oracle DB instance.

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Select a Connection Type in the drop-down list.

You can connect to your Oracle DB instance using either JDBC or an ATP Cloud Wallet.
Provide the details for connecting to your database. Click Next.

The details you need to provide will depend upon the type of connection you selected.
Select all the applications that you want to export. Click Finish.

You must select and export all the applications that you want to keep. Any applications that are not exported will be lost.

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When you click Finish, the applications that you selected are downloaded to your local file system. Exported application archives include the details about the application's user roles, and they will be available when you re-import your app into the new database.

After switching the database, the Tenant Database pane displays the connection information for your tenant's database. In the following image you can see that the instance is now using an Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) database instance.

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Note:

If you decide to revert back to using the embedded database, you can click in the Tenant Database pane. You'll be prompted to confirm that you want to switch to using the instance's embedded database instead of the current one.

When you revert to using the embedded database, the visual applications in your current database are not transferred automatically. You'll need to export the apps you want to keep before switching the database, and then import them into the embedded database.

Visual Builder automatically manages the schemas and tables it uses for apps and business objects in your new DB, so you don't need to do anything further.

If you would like to access the business objects using SQL, you'll find that VB creates users/schemas with names that start with VB_ followed by randomly generated strings. By examining the data dictionary you'll be able to find the users that represent specific apps. Note that you'll see separate schemas for dev, stage, and published instances of an app. The schemas for the dev and test instances will be re-created with different names with every new version of the app that you create. If you want to prevent the schema name for a published app from changing, when you publish new versions of the app you should choose the option to not replace the data.

Note:

Instead of having Visual Builder create and manage schemas, you can make a schema that already exists in your database available to applications, so developers can create business objects based on existing DB tables and views. In this case, only one schema is used for the app's dev, staged, and published instances. See Make Schemas in an Oracle DB Instance Available to Applications.

Make Schemas in an Oracle DB Instance Available to Applications

When you connect an Oracle database instance with your Visual Builder instance, application developers can use schemas predefined in the tenant database to create business objects based on existing tables and views for an application. But for developers to access these schemas, you'll first need to make them available to applications.

To make a tenant database's existing schema available to applications:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
Click + New Schema in the Available Schemas panel.

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Enter a name for the schema and click the check mark icon.

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After the schema is added, you can edit its name or delete it entirely, but remember any changes you make might break applications that use the schema.

Schema that exists in the tenant database and has been added to the list of available schemas will become available for selection in an application's Settings editor (under Schema Selection in the Business Objects tab).

Reset an Expired Password or ATP Wallet for Your Oracle DB Instance

If you switch to use your own Oracle DB instance and the credentials you use to access the instance expire, you can renew the expired credentials using the Update Tenant Database Connection dialog.

To regenerate the expired values, you need to provide the ADMIN user credentials that you provided when you first switched to your own Oracle DB instance. Visual Builder uses the ADMIN user credentials to generate new Visual Builder tenant credentials to replace the expired credentials. Visual Builder does not store the ADMIN user credentials that you supply.

To reset expired credentials:

Open the General tab of the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
In the Tenant Database field, click the Edit icon to open the Update Tenant Database Connection wizard.

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In the Update Tenant Database Connection wizard, supply the ADMIN user credentials and ATP wallet that Visual Builder will use to reset the expired credentials, or update the expired wallet for your Oracle DB instance.

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Click Finish.

Add a Connection to Integration Applications

Administrators can use the Services tab in the Tenant Settings page to add a connection to an instance of Oracle Integration as a backend service.

When adding a connection to an instance of Oracle Integration as a backend service, you can use any of the available authentication options in the Create Backend dialog. If using Oracle Cloud Account or Delegate Authentication as the authentication type, the Oracle Integration instance should be co-hosted with Visual Builder. In most cases, this backend service (Oracle Integration) will be preconfigured for your Visual Builder instance.

If you are using multiple Visual Builder instances, for example, development and production instances, you might need to add connections to Oracle Integration in more than one instance.

To add a connection to an Oracle Integration instance:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
In the Services tab, click Create Backend and choose Integrations in the Create Backend dialog.

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In the dialog, type the Server URL of the backend service, configure other settings such as security as needed, and click Create.

See About Authentication and Connection Type in Developing Applications with Oracle Visual Builder.

Add a Connection to Oracle Cloud Applications

The list of REST services in the service catalog of a visual application is retrieved from an Oracle Cloud Applications backend service. Specify the instance URL of the Oracle Cloud Applications backend service in the Tenant Settings page.

All visual applications in the tenant will use the Oracle Cloud Applications instance URL specified in Tenant Settings, but a visual application can be configured to use a different Oracle Cloud Applications backend service by specifying a different instance URL in the Backends tab (which you access from the Navigator's Services tab). The tenant-level backend configuration is ignored if you or a visual application developer configures a different Oracle Cloud Applications backend service in a visual application’s Backends tab.

The authentication choices available to configure a tenant-level Oracle Cloud Applications backend are:

Basic Auth: Uses a fixed username and password for authentication.
Oracle Cloud Account: Needs federation between Oracle Cloud Applications and Visual Builder.
Delegate Authentication (previously called Propagate Current User Identity): Same as Oracle Cloud Applications. That is, it needs federation between Oracle Cloud Applications and Visual Builder.
None: This assumes your Oracle Cloud Applications REST API can be called without any authentication, which is not usually the case.

See About Authentication and Connection Type in Developing Applications with Oracle Visual Builder.

If the necessary prerequisites for setting a tenant-level Oracle Cloud Applications backend service are not available, then a visual application developer can set up a backend service at the visual application level where more options are available. Another option is for you (the service administrator) to configure the Oracle Cloud Applications backend with None and let the visual application developer override the authentication setting at the visual application level.

To specify an Oracle Cloud Applications service for the tenant:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
In the Services tab, click Create Backend, then choose Oracle Cloud Applications in the Create Backend dialog.

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When specifying the URL in the Tenant Settings, you (the service administrator) only need to provide the instance URL of the Oracle Cloud Applications backend service to retrieve the list of services.
In the dialog, type the Server URL of the backend service, and configure other settings, such as security, as needed.
(Optional) After you configure settings for the backend, add headers to the backend.
Backend headers that you add will be applicable for any service connection to this backend, irrespective of the server or application profile that is used.
Click Create.
Visual Builder automatically discovers the interfaceCatalogs endpoint of the Oracle Cloud Applications backend, which retrieves the list of services and their metadata. This endpoint is typically in the form:
```
https://<My Oracle Cloud Applications Instance URL >/helpPortalApi/otherResources/latest/interfaceCatalogs
```
This endpoint is publicly accessible without any authentication.

If there is a problem creating the connection, verify the instance URL of the Oracle Cloud Applications instance.

Add a Connection to Process Cloud Service

Administrators can use the instance’s Tenant Settings page to add a connection to an instance of Oracle Process Cloud Service as a backend service.

To add a connection to an instance of Oracle Process Cloud Service as a backend service, the instance of Oracle Process Cloud Service should be co-hosted with Visual Builder because the authentication types that Visual Builder supports for this configuration is Oracle Cloud Account or Propagate Current User Identity. In most cases, this backend service (Oracle Process Cloud Service) will be preconfigured for your Visual Builder instance.

If you are using multiple Visual Builder instances, for example, development and production instances, you might need to add connections to Oracle Process Cloud Service in more than one instance.

To add a connection to an Oracle Process Cloud Service instance:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
In the Services tab, click Create Backend and choose Process in the Create Backend dialog.

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In the dialog, type the Server URL of the backend service, configure other settings, such as security, as needed, and click Create.

Add a Connection to a Custom Backend

You can create your own backend to map to a custom server other than the Oracle Integration, Process, and Oracle Cloud Applications backend services. You can create a custom backend with a free-form URL, or create a custom ADF backend when you know the Describe URL that points to an ADF Describe service.

To add a connection to a custom backend:

Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
In the Services tab, click Create Backend.

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In the Create Backend wizard, select the type of backend you want to create:
- To create a backend with a free-form URL, click Custom.
- To create a backend with the Describe URL of an ADF service, click Custom ADF Describe. Use this option only when your custom ADF Describe endpoint does not have any child backends.
In the Name field, enter a name and description for the custom backend.
Add headers to the backend. Backend headers that you add will be applicable for any service connection to this backend, irrespective of the server or application profile that is used.
Click Next.
Enter the instance URL for the custom backend, configure other settings, such as security, and click Create.

Create a Child Backend

You can create child backends to extend the functionality provided by the top-level Oracle Cloud Applications or custom backend registered to your Visual Builder instance.

Let's say your instance's Oracle Cloud Applications backend connects to an Oracle Cloud Applications instance that provides access to these service catalogs: Enterprise Resource Planning Supply Chain, Sales and Service, and Human Capital Management. Now if you want to access another catalog (say, Search), you can create a child backend to access the search service.

A child backend inherits the parent backend's definition, which you can override as required. Its server URL is derived from the top-level backend, with vb-catalog://backends/ as the base URL. Continuing the Oracle Cloud Applications example, the Sales and Service child backend adds to the top-level Oracle Cloud Applications backend and has vb-catalog://backends/fa/crmRestApi/resources as its server URL.

Child backends can be created only for the Oracle Cloud Applications backend and custom backends that use a OpenAPI/Swagger service specification.

To create a child backend for the Oracle Cloud Applications backend:
1. Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
2. In the Services tab, click the + sign for the top-level Oracle Cloud Applications backend:
  
  Description of the illustration admin-settings-fa-child.png
3. Select Custom ADF Describe to create a backend with an ADF Describe URL. For backends not having a Describe URL, select Custom.
4. Enter a name and description for the child backend. Optionally, add static headers.
5. Click Next.
6. Enter the instance URL for the child backend (for example, vb-catalog://backends/fa/applcoreApi/search/). The child backend's URL will usually start with vb-catalog://backends/oracle-cloud-app-BackendId.
  
  Tip:
  To see the complete URL that the backend resolves to, click the Detach icon ().
7. Enter other settings, such as security and headers.
8. Click Create.
To create a child backend for a top-level custom backend:
1. Open the instance’s Tenant Settings page.
2. In the Services tab, click the + sign for a top-level custom backend:
  
  Description of the illustration admin-settings-custom-child.png
3. Enter a name and description for the child backend. Optionally, add static headers.
4. Click Next.
5. Enter the instance URL for the child backend (for example, vb-catalog://backends/demo/newdemo). You can click the Detach icon to see the complete URL that the backend resolves to.
6. Enter other settings, such as security and headers.
7. Click Create.

Edit Authentication for a Backend Service

Administrators can use the Services tab in the Tenant Settings page to edit the authentication and connection settings for the backend services available in the tenancy. Once a backend service is added, you can edit its details. In the case of child backends, you can also override the settings inherited from the backend service, for example, to allow connections to the child HCM backend to use basic authentication instead of using the Oracle Cloud Account authentication for logged-in users set at its parent backend.

For a description of the authentication options, see About Authentication and Connection Type in Developing Applications with Oracle Visual Builder.

To edit the connection details for a backend service:

Open the instance's Tenant Settings page.
In the Services tab, select the backend you want to edit.
Open the Servers tab of your backend, and then click Edit.

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In the Edit Server dialog box, edit the settings in the Security and Connection Type panes.

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In the case of a child backend, the authentication and connection type details for your backend service are inherited from the parent service, so you'll need to override the settings. If you want to revert your changes for a child backend, you can click Return to inherited to restore the default inherited setting.

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In the Security pane, select an authentication type in the dropdown list.

If you are editing a child backend, you'll click Override security in the Security pane, and then select an authentication type in the dropdown list.

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In the Connection Type pane, select a connection type in the dropdown list.

In the case of a child backend, click Override Connection Type and then select the connection type.
Click Save.

Manage Self-signed Certificates

Administrators can use the Certificates page to upload and manage the self-signed certificates used by the instance to enable inbound and outbound SSL communications to a service’s REST APIs

When creating connections to REST services that use self-signed certificates, you might need to add an API’s certificate to your Visual Builder instance to validate SSL connections to that service. You can use the Certificates page to upload and remove certificate files (.pem) for services. Uploading a service’s certificate file to the keystore will allow all applications in the instance to communicate with that service. The Certificates page displays a list of certificates that have been added. You can click the Delete button in a row to remove the certificate.

Note:

Your staged or published apps might stop working if they use service connections with self-signed certificates and the certificates have expired. Any certificates issued after 2020-09-01T00:00:00.00Z will automatically expire 398 days after they have been issued. If your apps use certificates issued before 2020-09-01T00:00:00.00Z, the certificates will not expire, but you should update them with a newer certificate.

To avoid disruptions, you should plan regular updates to refresh the self-signed certificates before they expire (for example, every 6 months). It's not recommended to use self-signed certificates in production apps.

To upload a self-signed certificate:

Open the Visual Builder main menu and click Certificates.

The Certificates page displays a list of the certificates already uploaded to the instance.

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Click Upload to open the Upload Certificate dialog box.

You use the Upload Certificate dialog box to create an alias for the certificate and upload the service’s certificate file from your local system.

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Type the alias in the Certificate Alias Name field.

The alias is used to identify the certificate in the table in the Certificates page. The Certificate Type dropdown list is read-only because only Trust Certificates are supported.
Drag the certificate file from your local system into the upload target area, or click the upload target area to browse your local system.
Click Upload to add the certificate to the service keystore.