Before you get started, here is some conceptual information to help you understand the check in and check out process.
When you check out a file, the file property is set to write in the file system. When you check in a file, the file property is set back to read-only.
Check in and check out always acts on the active Form as it exists in the file system. Therefore, to check in and check out files, you must open the form in Oracle Forms.
For example, if you open c:\work\admin_form.fmb in Oracle Forms, make changes to the form, and check it into SCM, it will check in the file c:\work\admin_form.fmb. If you do not save the changes that you made to your form, the changes will not be checked in.
If you try to save the changes after checking in the file, Oracle Forms will throw an alert saying that it could not create the file. This is because when you checked in the admin_form.fmb file, it was checked in as a read-only file. In order to save the changes, you must check out admin_form.fmb, save the changes in Oracle Forms, and check the file in again.
Similarly, if you open the admin_form.fmb file (which is now checked in and therefore read only on the file system) and make changes to it in Oracle Forms, you cannot save the changes. If you check out the form, the current version of admin_form.fmb in the work area will be downloaded from SCM to synchronize c:\work\admin_form.fmb. The admin_form.fmb is no longer read only, so you can save your changes.
However, if the admin_form.fmb file that you opened is not the same version as the one in SCM, for example because another developer made changes to the file and checked it in, that developer's changes are overwritten when you save your changes.
Therefore, it is important to remember that before you make any changes to
a file, check out the file first to ensure you have the correct source file
and will not overwrite another developer's work.