43 Oracle Forms

This chapter describes issues associated with Oracle Forms. It includes the following topics:

43.1 General Issues and Workarounds

This section describes general issues and workarounds. It includes the following topics:

43.1.1 Backwards Compatibility with Earlier Releases

For information about upgrading from Forms 6i, see the "Upgrading to Oracle Forms Services 11g" chapter in Oracle Fusion Middleware Forms Services Deployment Guide. For information about changed or obsolete features, see the Oracle Forms Upgrading Oracle Forms 6i to Oracle Forms 11g Guide.

For upgrading from Oracle Forms 10g and prior releases, you can use the Upgrade Assistant. For more information, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Planning Guide and Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Portal, Forms, Reports, and Discoverer.

Additional information about backwards compatibility is included in My Oracle Support Note 113987.1 at: http://myoraclesupport.oracle.com

Regardless from which version of Oracle Forms you are upgrading, you will need to recompile your applications and restart Oracle Forms.

43.1.2 Linux/UNIX Issues and Workarounds

This section describes issues related to Oracle Forms and Linux/UNIX. It includes the following topics:

43.1.2.1 LD_PRELOAD Setting Required for Signal Chaining Facility

Included per bug rel note 8245262, 8229799

The LD_PRELOAD setting in default.env is required for the working of signal chaining facility in JVM version 1.5 and later. If you are creating or using other environment files, the setting in the environment file for LD_LIBRARY_PATH and LD_PRELOAD must be the same as in default.env.

43.1.2.2 Check the Reports Engine Logs for FRM-41214

Included per bug 8399805

If you encounter the Forms error FRM-41214:Unable to run report when trying to run Reports from a Forms session, check the Reports engine logs for more details on the error.

43.1.2.3 Forms Builder Does not Launch on Linux RHEL5

Included per bug 8485101

When attempting to launch Forms Builder using the command frmbld.sh in $ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/, the following error message is displayed:

$ORACLE_HOME/bin/frmbld: error while loading shared libraries: libXm.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

As a workaround, create a symlink named libXm.so.3 to libXm.so.4 in ORACLE_INSTANCE/bin/xm and add it to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Or install OpenMotif package using the command rpm -i openmotif22-2.2.3-18.i386.rpm

43.1.2.4 Changing User Permissions

Included per bug 8543780

The 11g installation sets the permissions of the files so that only the user who installed 11g can run the executables. Refer to the document Setting Developer Tools Permissions on Unix at http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/forms for instructions on changing permissions for other users to allow execution of the Forms development tools.

43.2 Configuration Issues and Workarounds

This section describes configuration issues and their workarounds. It includes the following topics:

43.2.1 Non-Internet Explorer Browser Proxy Settings when Using One-Button-Run

If you encounter a FORBIDDEN error when using One-Button-Run with any of the supported browsers other than Internet Explorer, verify if 127.0.0.1 (localhost) is in the proxy settings for your browser. If 127.0.0.1 is not in the exceptions list, then add it. This ensures that the browser will bypass the proxy server.

43.2.2 WebUtil Client Files Allow Configuration of Destination Directory

WebUtil downloads install.syslib libraries into the bin directory of the JRE or JVM on Windows and into the lib directory of JRE on Linux. This location can be specified in the parameter install.syslib.location.client.<OS> = <Path on client machine> (where <Path on client machine> represents the path to the location where libraries used on the client by WebUtil are stored and is either absolute or relative to client user home) in webutil.cfg.

43.2.3 webutil.properties Files Renamed for Different Libraries

When install.syslib libraries are downloaded, WebUtil creates the webutil.properties file which is located in the client user home. Different webutil.properties files are maintained on client side to allow different servers to download and manage their libraries on client. The files are named webutil.<HOST>.<CONFIG>.properties on the client, where HOST is the server computer name and CONFIG is the name of configuration section in formsweb.cfg.

43.2.4 Forms does not Work with JDK 1.6.0_12 on Client with WinRunner

Forms does not run when using JDK 1.6.0_12 and later versions on a client that also has WinRunner installed.

As a workaround, rename the two environment variables _JAVA_OPTIONS and JAVA_TOOLS_OPTIONS. For example, rename them to test_JAVA_OPTIONS and test_JAVA_TOOLS_OPTIONS. This will disable WinRunner but allows Forms to run.

43.2.5 JavaScript Communication Does not Work in IE7 for Framed HTML File

JavaScript communication does not work in framed HTML file that is opened in Internet Explorer 7 with file:// protocol.

As a workaround, use the IP address instead of the machine name in the URL for the frame. For example in testform.htm, change:

<frame noresize="noresize" 
 src="http://testform.us.oracle.com:8888/forms/java/js2frm1.html" name="fr2" 
 frameborder="0"> 
   <frame noresize="noresize" 
 src="http://testform.us.oracle.com:8888/forms/frmservlet?play=&record=forms& 
 form=js2frm1&userid=scott/tiger@adt10220" name="fr1" frameborder="0">

to

<frame noresize="noresize" 
 src="http://10.229.147.186:8888/forms/java/js2frm1.html" name="fr2" 
 frameborder="0"> 
   <frame noresize="noresize" 
 src="http://10.229.147.186:8888/forms/frmservlet?play=&record=forms&form=js2fr 
 m1&userid=scott/tiger@adt10220" name="fr1" frameborder="0">

43.2.6 Modification of Forms J2EE Application Deployment Descriptors

Post-deployment, Forms J2EE application deployment descriptors (weblogic.xml, web.xml, application.xml and weblogic-application.xml) cannot be modified in Oracle WebLogic Server.

As a workaround, perform the following steps to customize the Forms J2EE application deployment descriptors and redeploy the application:

  1. Back up the default formsapp deployment plan, $DOMAIN_HOME/ deploymentplans/formsapp/11.1.1/plan.xml.

  2. Add the deployment descriptors customizations to the Forms J2EE application's deployment plan.

  3. Using the WebLogic Administration Console, update the forms application (redeploy) and select the option Update this application in place with new deployment plan changes.

  4. Restart the Forms J2EE application using the WebLogic Administration Console.

Note:

For more information on updating the deployment plan, refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Deploying Applications to Oracle WebLogic Server 11g Release 1 (10.3.1).

For example, to override the Forms Servlet testMode parameter and set it to true, perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the following commands:

    Mkdir –p $CLASSIC_ORACLE_HOME/forms/j2ee/backup
    cd $CLASSIC_ORACLE_HOME/forms/j2ee
    cp $DOMAIN_HOME/deploymentplans/formsapp/11.1.1/plan.xml backup/
    Vi $DOMAIN_HOME/deploymentplans/formsapp/11.1.1/plan.xml
    
  2. Add the modifications to the deployment plan. The following is a sample of the deployment plan with the added entries highlighted in bold:

    <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
    <deployment-plan xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/deployment-plan"
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/deployment-plan
     http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/deployment-plan/1.0/deployment-plan.xsd"
     global-variables="false">
      <application-name>formsapp</application-name>
      <variable-definition>
        <variable>
          <name>vd-/scratch/t_work/Oracle/Middleware/as_1/forms</name>
          <value>/scratch/t_work/Oracle/Middleware/as_1/forms</value>
        </variable>
        <variable>
          <name>vd-/scratch/t_work/Oracle/Middleware/user
    _projects/domains/ClassicDomain/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS
    _FORMS/applications/formsapp_11.1.1/config/forms</name>
          <value>/scratch/t_work/Oracle/Middleware/user
    _projects/domains/ClassicDomain/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS
    _FORMS/applications/formsapp_11.1.1/config/forms</value>
        </variable>
        <variable>       
           <name>FormsServlet_InitParam_testMode</name>      
           <value>true</value>    
        </variable>
      </variable-definition>
      <module-override>
        <module-name>formsapp.ear</module-name>
        <module-type>ear</module-type>
        <module-descriptor external="false">
          <root-element>weblogic-application</root-element>
          <uri>META-INF/weblogic-application.xml</uri>
        </module-descriptor>
        <module-descriptor external="false">
          <root-element>application</root-element>
          <uri>META-INF/application.xml</uri>
        </module-descriptor>
        <module-descriptor external="true">
          <root-element>wldf-resource</root-element>
          <uri>META-INF/weblogic-diagnostics.xml</uri>
        </module-descriptor>
      </module-override>
      <module-override>
        <module-name>formsweb.war</module-name>
        <module-type>war</module-type>
        <module-descriptor external="false">
          <root-element>weblogic-web-app</root-element>
          <uri>WEB-INF/weblogic.xml</uri>
          <variable-assignment>
            <name>vd-/scratch/t_work/Oracle/Middleware/as_1/forms</name>
    <xpath>/weblogic-web-app/virtual-directory-mapping/[url-pattern="java/*"]
    /local-path</xpath>
          </variable-assignment>
          <variable-assignment>
            <name>vd-/scratch/t_work/Oracle/Middleware/as_1/forms</name>
    <xpath>/weblogic-web-app/virtual-directory-mapping/[url-pattern="webutil/*"]
    /local-path</xpath>
          </variable-assignment>
          <variable-assignment>
            <name>vd-/scratch/t_work/Oracle/Middleware/user
    _projects/domains/ClassicDomain/config/fmwconfig/servers/WLS
    _FORMS/applications/formsapp_11.1.1/config/forms</name>
    <xpath>/weblogic-web-app/virtual-directory-mapping/[url-pattern="registry/*"]
    /local-path</xpath>
          </variable-assignment>
        </module-descriptor>
        <module-descriptor external="false">
          <root-element>web-app</root-element>
          <uri>WEB-INF/web.xml</uri>
          <variable-assignment>
            <name>FormsServlet_InitParam_testMode</name>
    <xpath>/web-app/servlet/[servlet-name="frmservlet"]/init-param
    /[param-name="testMode"]/param-value</xpath>
          </variable-assignment>
        </module-descriptor>
      </module-override>
    </deployment-plan>
    
  3. Using the WebLogic Administration Console, update the Forms J2EE application deployment (formsapp (11.1.1)).

  4. Restart the Forms J2EE application using the WebLogic Administration Console.

43.3 Documentation Errata

This section describes documentation errata. It includes the following topics:

43.3.1 EVENT_PARAMETERS is a Keyword

EVENT_PARAMETERS is not documented as a keyword in Forms Builder Online Help.