The format of the generated XML is consistent with and representative of the Forms model. A Forms XML schema is available for the format, and is generated from the Forms metadata. The XML that you want to convert back into a Forms module is always validated against the schema to ensure that it is entirely accurate.
Every Forms object is represented in the XML file by an element with the same
name as its corresponding JDAPI object class. For example, a Forms FormModule
is represented by a FormModule
element, a Block is represented
by a Block
element, and so on.
All of a Forms object's properties, including its name, are attributes on the
XML element. If the object has any child objects, then they are represented
as child elements within the parent element. For example, assume that your Form
contains a Block that owns an Item. If you use the Forms2XML
tool
to convert the form, the generated XML will contain an Item
element
within a Block
element. The generated XML file that illustrates
this situation will look like this:
<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8'?>
<Module version="101020001"
xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/Forms"/>
<FormModule Name="ONEBLOCK" Title="MODULE1">
<Block Name="BLOCK1">
<Item Name="ITEM1"/>
</Block>
</FormModule>
</Module>
In the example above, notice that only the Name
and Title
properties on the FormModule
have been set. This is because only
overridden properties are displayed in the generated XML file by default. All
of the other properties belonging to the FormModule
are either
defaulted or inherited.
The example illustrates other common characteristics of a generated XML file.
The root element in the generated XML file is always Module
. This
element has these characteristics:
Module
in an XML fileModule
elementModule
contains the namespace information for the Forms module;
that is, the xmlns
attributeModule
contains the version of Forms that the XML was created
with; that is, the version
attribute. This allows for checking
in the future against incompatible versions should the need arise.The first element within Module
is always one of the module objects:
FormModule
, ObjectLibrary
, or MenuModule
.
The Module
element can contain only one of these elements. Like
Module
, the entire module object (FormModule
, ObjectLibrary
,
or MenuModule
) is contained within the module object element. For
example, all of the information about an FormModule Forms object is contained
within the FormModule
element.
The integer values for enumerated properties are replaced by their constant name equivalents in the generated XML. For more information on this topic, see Using Constant Name Values for Enumerated Properties
Using Constant Name Values for Enumerated Properties
Using the Forms to XML Conversion Tool
Using the XML to Forms Conversion Tool
Using the Schema Generator Tool