Personalization FAQ

This appendix covers the following topics:

Overview
Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF)

Overview

This FAQ (frequently asked questions) document describes common problems and solutions related to personalizing OA Framework-based applications.

Customizing Look-and-Feel (CLAF)

Questions

When I create a new Look-and-Feel extending Simple Look-and-Feel, there is no space between the global links. How do I fix this?

(See answer)
In customizing fonts using the CLAF UI, when I change the DefaultFont style to use a different font size, the settings don't take effect. How do I fix this?

(See answer)
How do I package a new LAF configuration for delivery to a customer?

(See answer)

Answers

When I create a new Look-and-Feel extending Simple Look-and-Feel, there is no space between the global links. How do I fix this?

You need to redefine the style GlobalButtonText in your new custom look and feel with the following property-value pair:
- Property: padding
- Value: 5px (or whatever number of pixels you want to define as the space between the global links)
Verify that your custom style sheet file has the following tag generated:
```
<style name="GlobalButtonText">
<property name="padding">5px</property>
</style>
```
You can use the CLAF UI to add this style, or you can manually insert the above set of tags in your custom style sheet.

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In customizing fonts using the CLAF UI, when I change the DefaultFont style to use a different font size, the settings don't take effect. How do I fix this?

When you extend the Simple Desktop Look-and-Feel to create your custom Look-and-Feel, you also inherit browser- and locale-specific style sheets. The DefaultFont style is defined for the following combinations:
- browser=ie
- browser=ie, locale=windows
Hence when you use the CLAF UI to define the DefaultFont, it gets written for the no-browser, no-locale case, and would be overridden by the definitions in any matching browser/locale style sheets.

To fix this, you, in turn, need to override the most matching browser/locale combination. Currently, you have to do this manually by editing your custom style sheet as follows:
```
<styleSheet locale="windows" browser="ie"> 
<style name="DefaultFont"> 
<property name="font-size">7pt</property> 
</style> 
</styleSheet>
```
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How do I package a new LAF configuration for delivery to a customer?

Transferring a LAF to a different system requires these steps:
1. The individual .xml, .xss, .uit and .gif files need to be separately source controlled.
2. To make it easier to deliver to a customer, create a .zip archive of all of the relevant files and ship it to the customer.
  
  Make sure that you preserve the folder structure of the LAF configuration when creating and extracting the archive. The archive must contain the following files:
  - All custom LAF .xml files and metadata files generated in $HTML_TOP/cabo/lafs.
    
    Note: For every custom LAF you create, two .xml files are generated:
    - lookandfeel_id.xml
    - lookandfeel_id-metadata.xml
  - All of the style definition (.xss) files generated in $HTML_TOP/cabo/styles.
    
    Note: For every custom LAF you create, one .xss file is generated, named lookandfeel_id.xss.
  - All .uit files that you placed in the folder $HTML_TOP/cabo/templates/lookandfeel_id.
    
    Note: To customize the template renderer of each component, you must create a componentName.uit file and place it in $HTML_TOP/cabo/templates/lookandfeel_id.
  - All custom image (.gif) files that you placed in the folder $HTML_TOP/cabo/images/lookandfeel_id when you created the custom LAF by that ID.
    
    Note: To customize icons for a custom LAF, you must place its custom images in the folder $HTML_TOP/cabo/images/lookandfeel_id.
3. To make the newly transferred LAF accessible on the customer's site, you must add lookandfeel_id as a lookup value to the APPLICATIONS LOOK AND FEEL lookup type. You can do this in one of two ways:
  - Extract the LDT file for the original APPLICATIONS LOOK AND FEEL lookup and the Oracle Applications Look And Feel profile, and apply the LDT to the customer site. This will add the value of the new lookandfeel_id to the customer's APPLICATIONS LOOK AND FEEL lookup type.
    
    For more information, refer to the Generic Loader section in the Loaders appendix of the Oracle E-Business Suite System Administrator's Guide - Configuration, which you can find in the Oracle E-Business Suite Documentation Library.
    
    Warning: Although this is the preferred method, it will overwrite all of the existing lookup and profile values, including any that the customer has modified. To avoid this, use the following method.
  - Manually add the value of the new lookandfeel_id to the customer's APPLICATIONS LOOK AND FEEL lookup type. This method has the benefit of not disturbing any existing look and feel modifications on the customer's system.
    
    You need to use the developer form for Application Object Library Lookups. Access the APPLICATIONS LOOK AND FEEL lookup type, and add a new lookup entry with the same value as the name of the new LAF that you are implementing.
    
    For more information, refer to the section on Application Utilities Lookups and Application Object Library Lookups in the Additional Developer Forms appendix of the Oracle E-Business Suite Developer's Guide, which you can find in the Oracle E-Business Suite Documentation Library.
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