A.1 About the ADF Metadata Files

Metadata files in the Oracle ADF application are structured XML files used by the application to:

• Specify the parameters, methods, and return values available to your application's Oracle ADF data control usages.

• Create objects in the Oracle ADF binding context and to define the runtime behavior of those objects.

• Define configuration information about the UI components in JSF and Oracle ADF Faces.

• Define application configuration information for the J2EE application server.

In the case of ADF bindings, you can use the binding-specific editors to customize the runtime properties of the binding objects. You can open a binding's editor when you display the Structure window for a page definition file and choose Properties from the context menu.

Additionally, you can view and edit the contents of any metadata file in JDeveloper's XML editor. The easiest way to work with these file is through the Structure window and Property Inspector. In the Structure window, you can select an element and in the Property Inspector, you can define attribute values for the element, often by choosing among dropdown menu choices. Use this reference to learn the choices you can select in the case of the Oracle ADF-specific elements.