Oracle Cloud What's New in Oracle Visual Builder Studio, 24.01.0

New Features in Oracle Visual Builder Studio

Here's an overview of new features and enhancements added recently to Oracle Visual Builder Studio (VB Studio).

Topics:

Release 24.01 - December 2023
Release 23.10.1 - October 2023
Release 23.10 - September 2023
Release 23.07 - May 2023
Release 23.04 - February 2023

As soon as new and changed features become available, VB Studio instances are upgraded in the data centers where Oracle Cloud services are hosted. You don’t need to request an upgrade to be able to use the new features—they come to you automatically.

Release 24.01 - December 2023

Area	Feature	Description
DevOps	Option for project owners to change workspace ownership	A project owner can now change the ownership of any workspace that no longer has an owner. This is useful, for example, if the owner leaves the company or is unavailable when a merge conflict arises. See Manage Workspaces.
	Email notifications for user group changes	Email notifications are now sent to users in a particular user group when that group is added to or removed from a project, or when that group's membership privileges are changed. See Manage Local VB Studio Groups.
	Job and pipelines	Job and pipeline protection options Users can now use the Job and Pipeline protection options to prevent changes to their job and pipeline configurations, while still allowing other users to run these jobs and pipelines. An administrator, such as the project owner, can protect settings in any job or pipeline regardless of ownership. When a job or pipeline is protected, users who are not allowed to edit the configuration will no longer see the Configure option on the Action menu on the Jobs Overview or Pipelines Overview pages. See Configure Job Protection Settings and Protect Your Pipeline: Restrict Who Can Start It Manually or Edit Its Configuration. Pipeline search You can now search for pipelines on the Pipeline Protection page under the Project Administration Builds tile. This feature makes it quicker and easier when you have a long list of pipelines to sort through to find the one you want to protect. See Step 4 in Protect Your Pipeline: Restrict Who Can Start It Manually or Edit Its Configuration.
	Default Wiki home page	VB Studio now supports a default Wiki Home page. You can create the Wiki Home page when you start working on pages for the project or, if you already have several wiki pages, you can provide a more coherent structure under a new Wiki Home. You’ll also now find the My Drafts button on the Wiki Home page, which you can quickly access using the page’s breadcrumbs. See Create and Manage Wiki Pages.
	Templates for merge requests	You can now use a description template to improve the quality of the descriptions used with merge requests. Templated descriptions help focus the reviewers’ attention on the changes made in the branch’s code. See Use Templates to Improve MR Descriptions.
	Regular expressions in webhooks for event notifications	Regular expressions can now be used to define matching patterns for branches in the Slack, Hudson/Jenkins Build Trigger, and Hudson/Jenkins Git Plugin webhooks. You can still use the selector to choose a specific branch for configuration. See: Step 7 in Configure a Slack Webhook in VB Studio to Send Event Notifications Step 9 in Configure a Hudson/Jenkins Git Plugin Webhook Step 10c in Configure a Hudson/Jenkins Build Trigger Webhook.
Visual Applications	Business objects	UI changes for business objects based on your own schema When working with business objects that use your own schema, you'll notice some UI changes, primarily when adding or editing a business object's fields. See Create a Business Object Based on a DB Table or View and Add Fields to a Business Object Based on a DB Table or View. Improved error handling for business object diagrams When business objects and their relationships don't display on the Diagram canvas because of syntax errors, the editor now displays an error message and allows you to edit the JSON source file (`diagram.json`) to fix the error.
Extensions	Improvements for Edit Page in Visual Builder Studio workflow	When you use the Edit Page in Visual Builder Studio option to customize Oracle Cloud Applications, you can now take advantage of these enhancements: Option to re-use existing workspaces If you have an existing workspace in a project, you can now re-use that workspace; in fact, VB Studio will automatically open that workspace for you, instead of creating a new workspace and Git repo whenever you edit a page for the first time. Option to request project membership You can now request membership to a project directly from the wizard. VB Studio will send a request on your behalf to the project owners and notify you when you've been added to the project. Previously, you had to take note of the project owner's email and follow up on your own. See Configure an Oracle Cloud Application.
	Support to customize constants/components displayed in Page Designer's properties	You can customize how constants and dynamic components are organized and displayed in the Page Designer's Properties pane. Instead of an alphabetical list of extendable components and constants that show in separate tabs, you can now use a new page-level Design Time editor to organize items in a particular order, even group them in sections. See Organize How Constants are Listed in the Properties Pane.
	Business rule enhancements	Improved condition builder You can now select which criteria you want to include in a business rule's conditions, and add and remove conditions in the condition builder. You can also now group conditions to create more complex rule conditions. See Set Conditions for an Extension Rule. This functionality is also supported in Express mode for HCM extensions. See Set Conditions for an Extension Rule. Ability to nest business rules It's now possible to nest business rules. Nested rules enable you to use simple conditions to build more complex sets of rule conditions. See Use Nested Rules. This functionality is also supported in Express mode for HCM extensions. See Use Nested Rules.
	Role-based security for App UIs	You can now use roles defined in your Oracle Cloud Applications instance to control access to your App UI, as well as to individual flows and pages in the App UI. See Control Access to Your App UI.
	Local server for backends/service connections	You can now use a "local server" to override a backend's default server, allowing you to use a server definition more suitable for development. This way, you can connect to a server using (for example) Basic Authentication and add a static Authorization header that is used only during development, without those details going into the source code. See Add a Local Server to Use a Different Backend Definition During Development.
	Extension ID in Deployments tab	The Deployments tab now includes the extension ID, which you can use in a build step to delete an extension. Previously, you had to retrieve the identifier from the `vb-extension.json` file. See step 12 in Configure a Job to Delete an Extension.
	Classic application extensions no longer supported	Classic application extensions are no longer supported. With this change, you can no longer create new classic extensions from the Workspaces page or the New Project wizard. If the older version of your Oracle Cloud Application has been migrated to the newer App UI structure, you can find the new version of your app, which typically has a URL in the format `<hostname>/fscmUI/redwood/<appname>`. Once you do, click the Edit Page in Visual Builder Studio option to start building and configuring App UIs. Contact Oracle support if you need help.
Common to Visual Applications and Extensions	Page Designer improvements	Option to reopen closed tabs To reopen recently closed tabs, you can now simply right-click an empty space on the tab bar in the Page Designer and select Reopen Closed Tab—until you get to the tab you want to reopen. For visual apps, see Tour the Designer; for extensions, see What is the Designer? Live/Design toggle change To switch between Live and Design modes using the Ctrl key (Cmd on Mac), the cursor must now be on the canvas. This way, the mode won't switch when the canvas is not in focus. Releasing the key to switch the toggle back works anywhere. For visual apps, see Use the Page Designer; for extensions, see Use the Page Designer.
	JavaScript action chain enhancements	New options for local functions You can now convert a local function to an action chain so it can be used by other action chains. Simply right-click the local function and select the new Convert Function to Chain option. It's also possible to create a local function from an action on the canvas. Just drag an action on the canvas onto the Create Function button, or onto the green line that appears before or after a local function. For visual apps, see Design Editor; for extensions, see Design Editor. Summary button to simplify action chain view You can now visually simplify your view of an action chain by hovering over the canvas's upper-left corner and clicking the Summary button. The Summary button hides the input parameter details of each action (except for the Assign Variable and Reset Variables actions). Click the Full button to switch back to the complete view. For visual apps, see Design Editor; for extensions, see Design Editor. Simplified display for action parameters We've simplified and enhanced how parameters display in different actions. Parameters displayed in actions such as Open URL, Call REST, and Fire Data Provider Event are now grouped. Also, the Store Result In variable has been added to the header to make it more readable.
	New behavior type for custom events	The `transform` behavior type for custom events is deprecated and replaced by the new `tranformPayload` behavior type for new event listeners. The change does not impact existing apps with events configured to use the `transform` type, but the new `tranformPayload` type addresses issues with invoking event listeners in the correct order. You are, therefore, encouraged to switch to the new behavior type for your existing apps. For visual apps, see Choose How Custom Events Call Event Listeners; for extensions, see Choose How Custom Events Call Event Listeners.
	Fragments	Fragments as sections for dynamic containers It's now possible to add fragments as sections in a dynamic container. By default, all fragments tagged as `pageContent` become available for selection when you add a section to a dynamic container. You also have the option of indicating a particular fragment as preferred content for all sections in the container. For visual apps, see Add Fragments as Sections in a Dynamic Container; for extensions, see Add Fragments as Sections in a Dynamic Container. InstanceFactory types for fragments Types from code, known as InstanceFactory types, can now be defined in fragments, making these types accessible to fragments. As with all fragment artifacts, these types are local to the fragment. For visual apps, see Create a Type From Code; for extensions, see Create a Type From Code. New properties for fragment slots The Fragment Slot component now provides several new properties to help you configure a named slot, including a Preferred Content option that indicates the type of content the slot can contain. For visual apps, see Add Slots to a Fragment; for extensions, see Add Slots to a Fragment. Drag and drop for fragment slots Fragment consumers can now drag and drop their component of choice onto a fragment slot in the fragment's Properties pane, in addition to the Insert Component option. For visual apps, see Add Slots to a Fragment; for extensions, see Add Slots to a Fragment. Improvements on customizing fragment variable display in the Properties pane If your fragment variable uses an array of primitives (for example, `string[]`), you can now edit the fragment's JSON to display a drop-down menu showing all values for each item in the array. For visual apps, see Subtypes and valueOptions for arrays in Customize How a Fragment Variable is Displayed in the Properties Pane; for extensions, see Subtypes and valueOptions for arrays in Customize How a Fragment Variable is Displayed in the Properties Pane. When sectioning fragment properties, you can now use a Label field to provide a user-friendly name for the fragment variable. This is particularly useful for dynamic components with data that might take a while to display in the Page Designer. For visual apps, see Section Fragment Properties for Display in the Properties Pane; for extensions, see Section Fragment Properties for Display in the Properties Pane.

24.01 Runtime Version

This release of VB Studio uses Oracle JET 15.0.x libraries and components. We recommend that you upgrade your VB Studio apps to this latest JET version, as well as to the 24.01 Visual Builder Runtime, to take advantage of the full spectrum of 24.01 features. To see a list of what's new in JET 15.0.x, go to the JET Release Notes and select v15.0.0.

You can upgrade to the latest JET and Visual Builder Runtime versions from your app's Settings editor. See Manage Runtime Dependencies for Visual Applications.

Release 23.10.1 - October 2023

Area	Feature	Description
Visual Applications	Option to create workspace without an environment	You can now create an application workspace without an environment. This way, you get a chance to try out the visual development experience that VB Studio offers. While this setup has some restrictions—you won't be able to use business objects or deploy your app—you can define a connection to an external REST service, design your app's pages, and preview the app as it would appear to users. See Create a Workspace Without an Environment. It's also possible to create a project without an environment. See Without an Environment.
DevOps	Software versions	The Fn version in the System Default OL7 for Visual Builder template has been updated to 0.6.26. See Software for Build Executor Templates.

Area

Feature

Description

Visual Applications

Option to create workspace without an environment

You can now create an application workspace without an environment. This way, you get a chance to try out the visual development experience that VB Studio offers. While this setup has some restrictions—you won't be able to use business objects or deploy your app—you can define a connection to an external REST service, design your app's pages, and preview the app as it would appear to users. See Create a Workspace Without an Environment.

It's also possible to create a project without an environment. See Without an Environment.

DevOps

Software versions

The Fn version in the System Default OL7 for Visual Builder template has been updated to 0.6.26. See Software for Build Executor Templates.

Release 23.10 - September 2023

Area	Feature	Description
DevOps	Option to request project membership	You can now request to join projects that you don't have access to just by clicking a new Request Membership option, available on a project's Actions menu on the Organization page. VB Studio will send a request on your behalf to the project owners and notify you when you've been added to the project. See Request Membership in a Project You Can't Access.
	Changed options for Oracle Integration instances	On the Add Service Instance page, the default OCI compartment selection has been changed to Root and a Region selector has been added. See Add an Oracle Integration Instance to an Environment.
	Enhancements for Builds and Pipelines	Private pipelines Project owners can now set their pipelines as private and add users and/or groups that can view, edit, and run the pipelines. Users and groups that aren't in the allowed list won't be able to see the pipeline details, edit its configuration, or start it manually. See Protect Your Pipeline: Restrict Who Can Edit Its Configuration. Pipeline approval details in activity feed Approval-related pipeline events, including when a pipeline is paused for approval, approved or rejected, and when the pipeline resumes after approval, are now displayed in the project's activity feed. See Add Manual Pipeline Approvals. Variables for build triggers You can now use the STARTED_BY, STARTED_BY_ORIGIN, and STARTED_BY_UPSTREAM build variables to see what triggered a build (a user, a commit, a pipeline, or a periodic trigger), in addition to what started the first build that started the pipeline and what upstream jobs participated in the pipeline run. These additions provide more information in build logs and also make it possible to identify the logged-in user as a variable and pass its value as a parameter. See Build Executor Environment Variables. VM creation limits display The VM creation limits are now presented in a much easier-to-read format. See Add and Manage Build VMs. Edit button for Build executor templates On the Build Executor Templates page, the Edit icon that was formerly found in the template list to the left has been replaced with an Edit button on the right of the template panel, next to the Delete button. See Create and Manage Build Executor Templates. Docker summary Docker now conveniently displays a summary of how many images are in use and the number of images, if any, that are in an error state. This display is similar to the equivalent information provided for Compute VMs. See Add Your First Docker Deployment VM. JVM options for SQLcli builds The interface for SQLcli build steps provides a new field for adding JVM options. See step 15 in Configure a Job to Run SQLcl Commands. New REST call for Jobs API A new REST API call to the VB Studio Jobs API now allows you to programatically get a build's log. The API call returns the log file that you can store, with Splunk for example, and then analyze. See REST API for Oracle Visual Builder Studio.
	Issue archiving	You can now archive issues, which helps clean up old, obsolete, descoped, or decommissioned issues and avoids overloading the backlog. Archived issues display an Archived badge to the left of the summary text, but only in Agile backlogs, active sprints and reports. See Archive Issues.
	Software updates	Support for Podman You can now select a Podman software bundle on the OL8 Build Executor template. See Software for Build VM Templates. Support for JDeveloper and FindBugs Support for the deprecated JDeveloper Studio 11 and FindBugs software bundles is now dropped. See Deprecated Features.
Visual Applications	Mobile apps deprecated	Mobile apps have been deprecated in favor of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)—although mobile functionality won't be entirely removed from the product until July 2024. Starting with 23.10, you can no longer create a new mobile app, but you can import an existing mobile app and deploy it as a PWA for use on mobile devices. See Run Mobile Applications as PWAs. You can continue to use your existing mobile apps until July 2024 when mobile apps (including PWA-enabled ones) reach End of Life (EOL). To be able to use your mobile PWAs beyond July 2024, we strongly urge you to transition your mobile app as a web app and deploy it as a PWA. See Convert a Mobile PWA to a Web PWA.
Extensions	Simplified access for HCM apps	Users extending Oracle Cloud Applications in the HCM pillar will land in a new Express mode when they access pages in VB Studio. Express mode is a slimmed-down VB Studio experience, meant for functional administrators who use business rules to determine the logic governing runtime behavior. A toggle switch in the Designer's header provides easy access to Advanced mode, which provides the full suite of Designer functions. If you're looking to work with business rules in Express mode, What Can You Do with Oracle Visual Builder Studio in Express Mode? has everything you need. Advanced users can refer to Control Your Display with Business Rules.
Common to Visual Applications and Extensions	Slots in fragments	A new Fragment Slot component, available in the Components palette, now allows you to add slots to a fragment where users can drop in their own content. A fragment with slots, when used on a page, reveals its slots on the canvas, the page structure, and as part of the fragment's properties. Fragment slots are similar to component slots and users work with them in much the same way. For visual apps, see Add Slots to a Fragment; for extensions, see Add Slots to a Fragment.
	Service/backend enhancements	Backends mandatory for new service connections If you're looking to create a new service connection by providing a specification document or an endpoint URL, you now need an existing backend to be able to create the service connection. If a backend doesn't exist, you'll be prompted to create one as part of the Create Service Connection workflow. With this update, all new service connections will require a backend. Making backends mandatory simplifies the task of managing server connection attributes, especially credentials, across environments. Service connections created previously without a backend will continue to work and their configuration settings can be changed as well. Default service name change New service connections no longer include a default name. You can now specify your own service name for easier identification. For visual apps, see Create a Service Connection from the Catalog, Create a Service Connection from a Service Specification, and Create a Service Connection from an Endpoint. For extensions, see Create a Service Connection from the Catalog, Create a Service Connection from a Service Specification, and Create a Service Connection from an Endpoint.
	Enhanced payload for `vbBeforeExit` event	The `vbBeforeExit` event, which is triggered before navigating away from a page, now provides a new payload format when navigation is triggered by the browser's back or forward button. See Lifecycle (Page and Flow) Events.
	Usability improvements for action chains	List view for Actions palette The Actions palette in the Action Chains editor now has a new List view, in addition to the default Grid view, allowing you to view available actions alphabetically in each category. Customizing the view saves your palette preferences separately for each action chain. For visual apps, see About the Action Chain Editor; for extensions, see About the Action Chain Editor. "Surround With" options When working with an action in Diagram mode, you can now use the Surround With options in an action's right-click menu to wrap the action in an If or Try-Catch action. For visual apps, see Design Editor; for extensions, see Design Editor. Code insights When working with an action in Code mode, you can now use Code Insight to quickly reference scoped artifacts and local variables. Simply enter `$` to bring up the insights pop-up menu, then make your auto-fill selection. For visual apps, see Code Editor; for extensions, see Code Editor.
	Other enhancements	Multiple undo and redo options in the Designer When working in the Designer, you can now undo and redo multiple actions at one shot; previously, you could undo and redo only your most recent change. For visual apps, see Tour the Designer; for extensions, see What Is the Designer? Audit improvements We've made several performance improvements to enhance application auditing. As a part of this, a new Opened Artifacts setting audits only artifacts that are currently open. To audit the entire application, change this setting to All Artifacts. For visual apps, see Audit Application Code; for extensions, see Debug and Audit Your Code.

23.10 Runtime Version

This release of VB Studio uses Oracle JET 14.1.x libraries and components. We recommend that you upgrade your VB Studio apps to this latest JET version, as well as to the 23.10 Visual Builder Runtime, to take advantage of the full spectrum of 23.10 features. JET 14.1.x includes design updates for Timeline, Gantt, and Gauge components as well as a new Ghost chroming option for buttons. To see a list of what's new in JET 14.1.x, go to the JET Release Notes and select v14.1.0.

You can upgrade to the latest JET and Visual Builder Runtime versions from your app's Settings editor. See Manage Runtime Dependencies for Visual Applications.

Release 23.07 - May 2023

Area	Feature	Description
DevOps	Project enhancements	Private projects can be discoverable Private projects can now be set as "discoverable", so basic information such as the owner's name and contact information can be exposed for organization members that aren't org admins or project members. See Set Project Privacy. This private discoverable property enables Oracle Cloud Applications users who access VB Studio to extend their pages to select a project that is already associated with that page or create a new project. See Configure an Oracle Cloud Application. Ability to add users, groups during project creation You can now add users and groups as team members during project creation. This capability already exists on the Project Home page's Team tab as well as in the project wizard that users who aren't associated with a project see when they access VB Studio to extend Oracle Cloud Applications. For visual apps, see step 9 in Create a Project; for extensions, see step 8 in Create a Project for Extensions.
	Enhancements for Builds and Pipelines	Trigger builds for protected jobs Protected jobs can now be triggered by a timer or an SCM commit. By default, the option is disabled for all existing and new jobs, so you need to opt in to use the option. See Configure a Job's Privacy Setting. Manual approval in pipelines We've now added a manual approval process and workflow to pipelines. Developers can set up a manual review to halt pipeline execution until pipeline execution results have been approved. This workflow includes creating groups of approvers, adding an approval item in the Pipeline Designer to halt the pipeline run until the appropriate number of required approvals has been completed, and implementing a notification system that sends approvers an email when a pipeline is awaiting their approval. See Add Manual Pipeline Approvals. Packaging jobs for extensions Optimization can now be turned off when packaging Application Extensions, to match capability that already exists for Visual Applications. Packaging without optimization is useful when you're debugging or troubleshooting. See Create the Production Packaging Build Job. Build log navigation improvements Displaying a Build log's top 50-100 lines allows you to see information at the top of the log when the file is large. You can now use the Go To Top and Go to Bottom buttons to navigate to the top and bottom of a large log (where most of the relevant information such as status and parameters is found). To search the file, however, you still need to download it and open it in a text editor. See Examine Large Log Files. Snippets to populate Maven project's `settings.xml` VB Studio now populates your Maven project's `settings.xml` file with snippets for basic and token-based authentication that you can use with minimal changes. There's also a profile-specific configuration snippet that defines repositories and plug-in repositories used by the Maven build system. See Set Up and Populate Your settings.xml File.
	Software versions	Docker version for OL8 The Docker version for OL8 has been updated to 23.0.1. This version is now reflected in the Build Executor Templates page, the Configure Software page for executor templates, and the Software tab in the job configuration page. See Software for Build Executor Templates. Git version in the System Default OL7 The Git version in the System Default OL7 for Visual Builder template has been updated to 2.27.1. See Software for Build Executor Templates.
	Environment changes	Integration instances The Add Service Instance dialog has a new Instance Type: Visual Builder and Oracle Integration. Options for configuring the authentication type have changed too, so now you can add an Oracle Integration instance using Oracle Integration authentication credentials or add a Visual Builder Instance using Visual Builder credentials. See Add an Oracle Integration Instance to an Environment. Improved layout for Services Instances tab The layout for the Environments page's Services Instances tab has been improved with a tile approach, making it easier for you to access the information for each instance. See step 9 in Add an Oracle Integration Instance to an Environment.
	Enhancements for merge requests	Branch creation from an issue for merge requests You can create a merge request with a review branch directly from an issue and associate the two. This makes it very clear which code changes are related to the specific issue. See Edit an Issue and Associate a Branch with a Merge Request. Code owner approval changes Approvals from all code owners are no longer needed when there are multiple code owners. Now, only one code owner approval is mandatory. See Set Review and Merge Restrictions on a Repository Branch. Attachments support You can now add attachments, such as images, in merge requests. Previously, you could only provide a link to a wiki page where the image was embedded. See Add an Attachment to a Merge Request. Navigation between comments New navigation buttons—Previous (<) and Next (>)—enable you to move between comments with ease. See Navigate Multiple Comments.
Visual Applications	Hybrid mobile apps and Apache Cordova custom plug-in removed	Functionality relating to hybrid mobile applications (deprecated since April 2021) has been removed from the product. This means that the use of build configurations to build native `.ipa` and `.apk` files for distribution to iOS and Android devices—as well as the Cordova custom plug-in option—are no longer available. You can no longer create new hybrid mobile apps or new build profiles for existing apps; build configurations for existing apps will be ignored. For apps that target mobile devices, enabling Progressive Web App (PWA) support is the recommended approach for distribution. See Build a Mobile Application as a PWA.
Extensions	Option to create new project when editing pages	When you use the Edit Page in Visual Builder option to customize Oracle Cloud Applications, you can now create a new project for your extension if one doesn't already exist. If one or more projects exist, we identify recommended projects for you based on the Oracle Cloud Application you're looking to work with. See Configure an Oracle Cloud Application.
	Seamless sandbox management	Extension developers can manage sandboxes in their Oracle Cloud Applications environment without having to leave the VB Studio platform. The Sandbox menu in the header now allows you to publish, disassociate, and refresh a sandbox, enabling you to seamlessly manage the sandbox lifecycle right from the Designer in VB Studio. See Refresh a Sandbox, Disassociate a Sandbox, and Publish a Sandbox.
Common to Visual Applications and Extensions	Changed upgrade policy	Our upgrade policy has been changed to support applications built on the current runtime version as well as the three previous versions. Previously, it was the current runtime version and the two previous versions. See Upgrade Policy.
	JavaScript action chains	You can now create action chains in JavaScript. JS action chains allow you to debug them using the browser's developer tools; they are also easier to manage through Git actions. A Design view that reflects code structure helps you build functionality by dragging and dropping actions; you can also choose to work entirely in Code view. With this update, all new action chains (including those created by Quick Starts) will default to JavaScript—though you can still create JSON action chains. Existing JSON action chains will continue to work as before. For visual apps, see Work with JavaScript Action Chains; for extensions, see Work with JavaScript Action Chains.
	Variable enhancements	Variable tracking to detect unsaved changes You can now track a variable's state to detect unsaved changes in your app. Tracking a variable marks it as "dirty" any time its value changes. You can then query for dirty variables using a new JavaScript-based Get Dirty Data Status action. If you don't want a change to be considered dirty, you can reset variable state using the Reset Dirty Data Status action (also based on JavaScript). For visual apps, see Track Variables to Detect Unsaved Changes; for extensions, see Track Variables to Detect Unsaved Changes. Filter for input parameters A new Show Input Parameters only option on the Variables editor now allows you to filter variables used as input parameters. For visual apps, see Enable Variables as Input Parameters; for extensions, see Enable Variables as Input Parameters.
	Switch environment in workspace	A few releases ago, we gave you the ability to switch your workspace to a new identical environment when your environment is down, decommissioned, or replaced. We've now extended that functionality to help you switch your workspace's environment right from the Designer, by using the Workspace menu in the header. For visual apps, see Switch a Workspace's Environment; for extensions, see Switch a Workspace's Environment.
	Audit results in tree view	Results in the Audits pane now show in a tree view, instead of a column view. With this change, issues are grouped by artifact, helping you view all issues in a particular artifact. For visual apps, see Audit Application Code; for extensions, see Debug and Audit Your Code.
	Support for pinning columns in dynamic tables	You can now "freeze" table columns in dynamic tables, so that a column will remain visible when horizontally scrolling within a table. For visual apps, see Configure How Columns Render in a Dynamic Table's Layout; for extensions, see Configure How Columns Are Rendered in a Dynamic Table Layout.
	Fragment enhancements	Autowiring of fragment variables To simplify the process of creating pages with fragments, we've added a new property for fragment variables enabled as input parameters to be automatically created on the page where the fragment is used and wired back to the fragment variable's value. For visual apps, see Automatically Create and Wire a Fragment Variable on Its Container; for extensions, see Automatically Create and Wire a Fragment Variable on Its Container. Fragment input parameters bound to page constants Fragment input parameters can now be bound to page constants, allowing the value of the constant to be the value of the input parameter. This way, when the value of the constant is changed on the page, the new value is passed to the fragment input parameter it is bound to. This option gives extension authors the ability to effectively see and control the fragment input parameter values, which they normally wouldn't have access to. See Bind Fragment Input Parameters to Page Constants. Design Time support to display an enhanced UI for fragment input parameters A new Design Time tab in a fragment variable or constant's Properties pane now allows you to customize the UI component shown in the Properties pane when the fragment is selected on a page or container. Previously, you had to do this by editing the JSON metadata. For visual apps, see Customize How a Fragment Variable is Displayed in the Properties Pane; for extensions, see Customize How a Fragment Variable is Displayed in the Properties Pane. Support to display fragment input parameters in sections You can now group a fragment's input parameters and dynamic components by sections using a new Design Time editor that appears in the fragment's toolbar. Use this option to display a fragment's most important properties in the Properties pane when the fragment is selected on a page or container. For visual apps, see Section Fragment Properties for Display in the Properties Pane; for extensions, see Section Fragment Properties for Display in the Properties Pane. If the fragment is used as a page template to create a page, the sectioned view also shows on the page's Properties pane and the Structure view, with the fragment considered the root element instead of the page. For visual apps, see Create Pages From Fragments; for extensions, see Create Pages From Fragments.

23.07 Runtime Version

This release of VB Studio uses Oracle JET 14.0.x libraries and components. We recommend that you upgrade your VB Studio apps to this latest JET version, as well as to the 23.07 Visual Builder Runtime, to take advantage of the full spectrum of 23.07 features. You can upgrade to the latest JET and Visual Builder Runtime versions from your app's Settings editor. See Manage Runtime Dependencies for Visual Applications.

Release 23.04 - February 2023

VB Studio is now available as a native service on Oracle Cloud Generation 2 Infrastructure.

If you don't have access to VB Studio, here's how you can create a new VB Studio instance: Sign in to the Oracle Cloud Console, navigate to Developer Services, and look for Visual Builder Studio under the Visual Builder menu. See Set Up Oracle Visual Builder Studio Generation 2.
If you are an existing customer, Oracle will migrate your Generation 1 instance to Generation 2. Stay tuned for customer communication.

Some new VB Studio features can’t be used until you’ve upgraded your Visual Builder Runtime and/or Server to 23.04. See 23.04 Feature Dependencies for more information.

Area	Feature	Description
Identity/Access Control	Auto-synchronization of Oracle Cloud App roles disabled	As an administrator adding new users who can extend Oracle Cloud Applications with VB Studio, take note that synchronization of user roles from Oracle Cloud Applications to Oracle Identity Cloud Service (IDCS) is no longer automatic. Previously, users assigned Oracle Cloud Application roles such as ORA_FND_APPLICATION_ADMINISTRATOR_JOB and ORA_FND_APPLICATION_DEVELOPER_JOB were automatically assigned VB Studio IDCS roles and their membership synchronized from Oracle Cloud Applications to IDCS. Now users must be added to both Oracle Cloud Applications identity system and IDCS. See Set Up VB Studio Users.
DevOps	Last updated date for projects	The Project list now includes a column that shows each project's last updated date. Admins can use this information to remove obsolete projects to free up storage and clean up the project list. See See When a Project Was Created and Last Updated.
	Enhancements for Builds, Jobs, and Pipelines	JUnit test results view The Test Failures page in the Builds interface now provides a simple display that clearly shows additional information about recent passes and failures for each test. See "Access and Analyze Your JUnit Test Result History" in Publish JUnit Results. DST changes for scheduled jobs Scheduled jobs can be set up to adjust to Daylight Savings Time (DST). See Trigger a Build Automatically on a Schedule. Required Build parameter You can now mark a Build parameter as required, so a default value needs to be specified. This helps decrease the odds of Builds failing because of incorrect properties being set when prompted during a run or requiring properties to be supplied during a run instead of being able to run in unattended mode. See Use Build Parameters. Build updates for Oracle Integration: New Build steps now support export, import, and delete operations for Oracle Integration Lookups. See Manage Integration Lookups. There's a new Build step that supports reactivating previously active Integrations when a package is replaced. See Configure a Job to Activate an Integration. Pipeline redesign We've redesigned the Pipeline Designer to provide many new capabilities and to make it completely accessible. See Run Jobs in a Pipeline and Create and Manage Pipelines. Further, pipeline flows now show visual indicators for conditions. See Pipeline Layout.
	Search and sort Maven objects	You can now search and sort objects on the Maven page's Browse tab. See Search Maven Artifacts and Sort Maven Artifacts and Snapshots.
	File size and LOC for Git files	From the Git page and its tabs, you can now see a file's size and how many lines of code (LOC) it contains in the tree and in the File and Blame view headers. You can also see icons that represent the file mode in the tree and headers. Despite still not displaying the actual content for symlinks, submodules, and LFS files, you can now see more useful information about these kinds of files. See Manage Files from the Git Page.
	Updates for Merge Request comments	You can set a new option in the Project Administration page to prevent merging MRs with Need Attention comments. See Set Review and Merge Restrictions on a Repository Branch and Approve or Reject a Merge Request. Also, reviewers can now edit and filter their comments. They no longer have to enter additional comments to correct or amend the ones they previously entered. This should help clean up many conversations. See Add a General Comment, Add an Inline Comment to a File, and Filter a Merge Request Conversation.
	Changed options for an environment's Infrastructure Services	Options such as Start, Stop, and Restart for Infrastructure Services (Oracle Integration, JCS, or OCI resources) have been removed from the Environments page because administrators are typically the ones who manage those services externally. So if you're a user without lifecycle privileges (required to perform tasks on those services), you won't run into red-banner errors. All users can continue to refresh an instance and check its current status. See Manage an Environment.
Visual Applications	Offline support for PWA-enabled web apps	When you use Grunt build tasks to deploy your applications, offline support for PWA-enabled web apps is now on par with that of mobile PWAs. The Grunt-based `vb-pwa` task, which runs within the `vb-package` task, pre-caches application resources such as pages, CSS, and JavaScript files, so they are all available when a user goes offline. See vb-pwa.
	Business objects	Data type changes for fields You can now change the data type for business object fields—functionality that allows you to use a non-numeric field as the object's primary key field. Previously, you could change data types only when creating business objects from a file. See Change a Field's Data Type. For business objects that use your own schema, this functionality is now available for all data types, where previously it was only supported for the Datetime type. See Change the Data Type of a Field Based on a DB Column. Custom audit fields It's now possible to use your own fields to audit your business object's history. While this functionality is available for native business objects, it's most useful for business objects that use your own schema when you have existing DB columns that you want to use for auditing. See Set a Field for Auditing. It's also useful for business objects created from a file, when your data file has audit information that you can use to track the object's history, instead of the default audit fields. See Set Audit Fields for an Imported Business Object.
Extensions	Support for configuring customizers for constants	When developing an App UI, you can now customize a constant so that users extending the page have a more suitable component to edit the constant's value in the Page Designer's Properties pane. Previously, the Properties pane always used text field components for editing the values of constants. See Configure How a Constant is Customized in the Properties Pane.
	OAuth user assertion authentication for service connections	Service connections in an extension can now use "OAuth user assertion" authentication as another mechanism for identity propagation. See How Does Authentication with Identity Propagation Work? For instructions on how to configure your app to use this form of authentication, see Connect to Oracle Cloud Service REST APIs Using Identity Propagation.
	Environment's sandbox for a new workspace	When you use Edit Page in Visual Builder to change Oracle Cloud Application pages and you're accessing a workspace for the first time (that is, one was created but never opened), your workspace is automatically set to use your Oracle Cloud Application's active sandbox if one isn't associated with your workspace. See What's the Extension Lifecycle?
Common to Visual Applications and Extensions	Service connection enhancements	New type viewer for service endpoints You can now use a new Type viewer to see the type structure for an Endpoint's request/response. This means that you no longer have to create a web app and use a query string or type from the Endpoints tab in the Page Designer to see the type structure. For visual apps, see Create a Service Connection from an Endpoint; for extensions, see Create a Service Connection from an Endpoint. Audit warning for IP-based service URLs An IP address audit warning is shown for service connections that use IP-based addresses in URLs, as a reminder to use DNS-based URLs instead. For visual apps, see Create a Service Connection from an Endpoint; for extensions, see Create a Service Connection from an Endpoint.
	Option to change page templates	If you create pages from templates, either Redwood template patterns or fragments, you can now change the page's content at the click of a new Select Page Template button. This option allows you to remove everything from the page, including associated files, but keep the same page name. For visual apps, see Change Page Templates; for extensions, see Change Page Templates. Note: To work with Redwood template patterns, the Redwood components associated with your application must be on 2301 or later. Template patterns are not available in version 2210 or earlier.
	Advanced category in Components palette	For discoverability reasons, all JET components are now available in the Components palette, with those that don't have design-time properties showing under a new Advanced category. Components in the Advanced category typically require you to manually code different aspects of their functionality. For visual apps, see The Components Palette; for extensions, see The Components Palette.
	How to abort HTTP calls	We've added documentation to help you cancel long-running HTTP calls using `AbortController`, a browser-based interface that lets you abort a web request. `AbortController` was an experimental feature previously, but is now supported by all browsers. For visual apps, see Abort Pending REST Calls; for extensions, see Abort Pending REST Calls.

23.04 Feature Dependencies

This release of VB Studio uses Oracle JET 13.1.x libraries and components. We recommend that you upgrade your VB Studio applications to this latest JET version, as well as to the 23.04 Visual Builder Runtime, to take advantage of the full spectrum of 23.04 features. JET 13.1.x is primarily a bug fix release, but it does provide the means of formatting grouped data within a table. To see a list of what's new in JET 13.1.x, go to the JET Release Notes and (if needed) select v13.1.0.

Some VB Studio features also require the latest version of the Visual Builder server, which provides capabilities to host your app's business objects and their data through an embedded database, and manage access to external REST endpoints through the REST service proxy. You'll get the latest server version automatically when Oracle upgrades your Visual Builder or Oracle Integration server based on the upgrade window you chose for your instance.

Here are the features that require the 23.04 VB Runtime/Server:

Feature	Description	Runtime	Server
Data type changes for business object fields	You can now change the data type for business object fields—functionality that allows you to use a non-numeric field as the object's primary key field. Previously, you could change data types only when creating business objects from a file. See Change a Field's Data Type. For business objects that use your own schema, this functionality is now available for all data types, where previously it was only supported for the Datetime type. See Change the Data Type of a Field Based on a DB Column.		✓
Custom audit fields for business objects	It's now possible to use your own fields to audit your business object's history. While this functionality is available for native business objects, it's most useful for business objects that use your own schema when you have existing DB columns that you want to use for auditing. See Set a Field for Auditing. It's also useful when you create business objects from a file, when your file has audit information that you can use to track the object's history, instead of the default audit fields. See Set Audit Fields for an Imported Business Object.		✓

Feature

Description

Runtime

Server

Data type changes for business object fields

You can now change the data type for business object fields—functionality that allows you to use a non-numeric field as the object's primary key field. Previously, you could change data types only when creating business objects from a file. See Change a Field's Data Type.

For business objects that use your own schema, this functionality is now available for all data types, where previously it was only supported for the Datetime type. See Change the Data Type of a Field Based on a DB Column.

✓

Custom audit fields for business objects

It's now possible to use your own fields to audit your business object's history. While this functionality is available for native business objects, it's most useful for business objects that use your own schema when you have existing DB columns that you want to use for auditing. See Set a Field for Auditing.

It's also useful when you create business objects from a file, when your file has audit information that you can use to track the object's history, instead of the default audit fields. See Set Audit Fields for an Imported Business Object.

✓

You can upgrade to the latest JET and Visual Builder Runtime versions from your visual application's Settings editor. See Manage Runtime Dependencies for Visual Applications.

New Features in Oracle Visual Builder Add-in for Excel

The version of Oracle Visual Builder Add-in for Excel bundled in VB Studio 24.01 is 3.6. To see what's new in this release, go to the add-in's documentation page and click 3.6.0.

Supported Browsers

Visual Builder Studio supports the latest version of the Chrome browser running on Mac OS X and Windows. Other browsers and platforms are not supported.

Applications created using Visual Builder Studio can run on any browser supported by Oracle JET. For details, see What platforms are supported by Oracle JET?

JavaScript must be enabled for the browser.

Deprecated Features

Take note of features that have been deprecated and are no longer supported in VB Studio:

Area	Feature	Description	Notice of deprecation	End of support
DevOps	Software packages for Build executor templates	The SOA 12.2.1.3.0 software bundle is deprecated in the 23.10.0 release; support for it will be dropped in a future release.	23.10 - Aug 2023	Planned for a future release in 2024
		The JDeveloper Studio 12.2.1.3.0 software bundle is deprecated in the 23.10.0 release; support for it will be dropped in a future release.	23.10 - Aug 2023	Planned for a future release in 2024
		The FindBugs software bundle was deprecated in the 23.07.0 release. Starting with 22.10.0, this version is no longer available.	23.07 - April 2023	23.10 - August 2023
		The JDeveloper Studio 11 software bundle was deprecated in the 23.07.0 release. Starting with 22.10.0, this version is no longer available.	23.07 - April 2023	23.10 - August 2023
		The Docker 17 software bundle was deprecated in the 22.10 release. Starting with 23.01.0 (Nov 2022), all instances of this bundle were automatically upgraded to Docker 20.	22.10 - Aug 2022	23.01 - Nov 2022
		The Docker 1, Java 7, Node.js 10 and 12, Python3 3.6, SQLcl 19, and Oracle ATG 11 versions of software packages used in Build executor templates have been deprecated since 22.04 and are no longer available. Where possible, users are encouraged to move to later versions of these bundles: Docker 1 to Docker 20 Java 7 to Java 8 Node.js 10 and Node.js 12 to Node.js 14 Python3 3.6 to Python3 3.7 SQLcl 19 to the latest SQLcl version See Software for Build Executor Templates.	22.04 - Feb 2022	22.07 - May 2022
	Java versions for Build executor templates	The Java 18 software package, which Oracle dropped support for in December 2022, has been replaced with a Java 19 package. The following automatic updates have been made: Build executor templates that included Java 18 were configured to include Java 19 instead. Job configurations that used Java 18 were configured to use Java 19 instead.	23.01 - Nov 2022	23.04 - Feb 2023
	Java versions for Build executor templates	Java 1.8.x is deprecated in the 22.10.0 release. Java 17.x has been added as the default to all system build executor templates. Oracle recommends that you upgrade any of your jobs that currently use Java 1.8.x to one of the later supported versions.	22.10 - Aug 2022	22.10 - Aug 2022
	OL6 for Build executors	Support for running Build executors on Oracle Linux 6 (OL6) has been deprecated since 22.04. Existing Build executor templates that were created for OL6 will be migrated automatically to use Oracle Linux 7 (OL7). The following software, which only runs on OL6 in those templates, will also be migrated: Docker 1 will be migrated to OL7 and Docker 20 Node.js 10 will be migrated to OL7 and Node.js 14	22.04 - Feb 2022	22.07 - May 2022
	Forms 12.2.1.3	Build executor template support for Oracle Forms 12.2.1.3.0 has been dropped since 22.01. Starting with 22.04 (February 2022), templates that included Forms 12.2.1.3.0 have been automatically migrated to use Forms 12.2.1.4.0 instead.	22.01 - Dec 2021	22.04 - Feb 2022
	SSH tunnel for JCS deployment	Support for using the SSH tunnel protocol in build steps for deployments to an Oracle Java Cloud Service (JCS) instance has been dropped. The Oracle WebLogic RESTful Management Interface protocol is now the only supported protocol for JCS deployments.	22.01 - Dec 2021	22.04 - Feb 2022
Visual Applications	Alta theme	Apps created on VB Studio version 20.07 or earlier were created with Oracle JET's Alta theme as the base theme. The Alta theme was deprecated in JET 10 and will not be supported beyond JET 13. To be able to publish new versions of an Alta-based app beyond January 2024 (when JET 13 reaches End of Life), we strongly urge you to transition your app to use the Redwood theme. Starting with JET 14, only best-effort support will be available for Alta; no bug fixes or new features will be provided for Alta-only issues. To check the theme used by your web or mobile application, navigate to the application's Settings editor and look for the Theme field. If Theme is set to Alta, take time to redesign your app using the Redwood theme before support for the Alta theme ends.	22.01 - Dec 2021	Planned for Jan 2024
	Implicit grant for backends and service connections	The Enable implicit grant for Service Connections option used for backends and service connections in a web app has been deprecated. The change does not impact existing apps that enable this option—though it won't be available for new web apps starting from June 2024. If your existing web apps use the Enable implicit grant for Service Connections option, we recommend updating them. The Enable implicit grant for Service Connections option was used in conjunction with the Delegate Authentication setting found in a backend or service connection's server configuration. It enabled a direct Implicit OAuth flow with IDCS for Oracle Cloud Application REST APIs when a service connection used by the web app was configured for Delegate Authentication. Implicit OAuth is no longer a recommended option. If your existing apps use this option, take action as follows: Update the backend or service connection's server configuration in your visual application: Change any backends or service connections that use Delegate Authentication to Oracle Cloud Account authentication. If the REST API doesn't support CORS, change the Connection Type to Always use proxy, irrespective of CORS support; otherwise, leave the configuration as is. Test the service connection from the Test tab to identify any issues. Open the web app's Settings editor, then deselect the Enable implicit grant for Service Connections option in the Security tab. Test the web app to make sure the service connection doesn't have any issues. No action is needed if your web apps don't have Enable implicit grant for Service Connections enabled and if none of your backends/service connections are set to Delegate Authentication.	24.01 - Nov 2023	Planned for Jan 2024
	`transform` behavior type for custom events	The `transform` behavior type for custom events is deprecated and replaced by the new `tranformPayload` behavior type. The change does not impact existing apps with events configured to use the `transform` type, but the new `tranformPayload` type addresses issues with invoking event listeners in the correct order. Where possible, users are encouraged to switch to the new behavior type.	24.01 - Nov 2023	24.01 - Nov 2023
	Mobile apps	Functionality relating to mobile applications has been deprecated and removed from the product. Starting with 23.10, you will no longer be able to create a new mobile app, but you can import an existing mobile app and deploy it as a PWA. You can continue to use your existing mobile apps until July 2024 when mobile apps, including PWA-enabled ones, reach End of Life (EOL). To use your mobile PWAs beyond July 2024, we strongly urge you to transition your mobile app as a web app and deploy it as a PWA for use on mobile devices.	23.04 - Feb 2023	Planned for July 2024
	Hybrid mobile apps and Apache Cordova custom plugin	Functionality relating to hybrid mobile applications (deprecated since April 2021) has been removed from the product. This means that the use of build configurations to build native `.ipa` and `.apk` files for distribution to iOS and Android devices—as well as the Cordova custom plug-in option—are no longer available. You can no longer create new hybrid mobile apps or new build profiles for existing apps; build configurations for existing apps will be ignored. For apps that target mobile devices, enabling PWA support is the recommended approach for distribution.	21.07 - April 2021	23.07 - April 2023
	Select One component	The Select One (oj-select-one) component, deprecated since JET 8.1.0, has been removed from the Components palette and is visible only if you select the Show Deprecated option. Switch instead to Select Single (oj-select-single).	22.04 - Feb 2022	N/A
	Oracle SaaS R13 Light Theme	The Oracle SaaS R13 Light Theme application template has been deprecated, although we will continue to support it until version 22.01 reaches End of Life (EOL). See Updating an Oracle SaaS application template for more information.	22.01 - Dec 2021	N/A
	`navigateToPageAction` action	The `navigateToPageAction` action is deprecated in 21.07. When you upgrade your app to version 21.10 or later, any existing action chains that use `navigateToPageAction` are automatically migrated to `navigateAction` (introduced in 21.07).	21.07 - May 2021	N/A
	Internet Explorer 11	Visual Builder runtime has deprecated the use of Internet Explorer 11 since 19.4.3. Users who try to access a deployed Visual Builder application from Internet Explorer will see a deprecation warning. Starting with 21.04, Oracle Support will no longer address issues pertaining to Internet Explorer 11.	19.4.3 - Aug 2020	21.04 - Feb 2021
	OCI Process Automation	Built-in support for Oracle Process Cloud (Gen 2) (which includes Process-based quick starts and actions such as Start Process and Perform Task) does not extend to OCI Process Automation, which is a different product. If you are building visual applications connecting to OCI Process Automation instances, you must create a backend based on your instance, then create service connections for the REST APIs you want to use in your visual application.	N/A	N/A

Upgrade Policy

When you create a new visual app, VB Studio automatically sets your runtime dependencies to the latest Visual Builder Runtime and JET versions. If you’ve already deployed (shared or published) an app, however, it’s up to you to decide when to upgrade, as long as you do so within a certain time period. As a general rule, VB Studio supports applications built on the current Runtime Version, as well as the three previous versions. So for 24.01, for example, VB Studio supports not only the 24.01 Runtime Version, but also apps built with 23.10, 23.07, and 23.04. Once 24.04 comes out, however, support for the 23.04 Runtime Version will drop off, so we'll ask you to upgrade those apps before you can work on them in the Designer. If you choose not to upgrade at that time, you run the risk that newer browser versions will break your app. You also won’t be able to take advantage of any important security and performance improvements. For all of these reasons, we encourage you to build time into your development cycle to keep abreast of current changes, and to make sure you upgrade your app (you should version it first) before support for your current runtime version expires.

See Manage Runtime Dependencies for Visual Applications for details on how to upgrade.

Getting Oriented

VB Studio brings you all the functionality previously available with Oracle Developer Cloud Service. You also get the ability to build web and mobile applications in the Visual Builder Designer, as well as to extend certain Oracle Cloud Applications to customize the UI for your business needs.

VB Studio offers end-to-end functionality for your development team, from planning releases and managing development backlog, to hosting source code in Git, to designing, building, testing, and deploying cloud-native applications to your Oracle Cloud Applications and Oracle Cloud instances.

For Former Developer Cloud Service Users

If you were a Developer Cloud Service user, the following table will help you understand the primary differences between Developer Cloud Service and VB Studio:

How Developer Cloud Service and VB Studio Differ?	Find out more:
You don’t need to migrate your Developer Cloud Service projects. A VB Studio instance replaces your Developer Cloud Service instance, and you can continue to use your existing projects and corresponding DevCS features just as they are, without any impact to you.	Using Oracle Developer Cloud Service has been restructured and rewritten for VB Studio and is now called Managing Your Development Process with Visual Builder Studio. If you’re an administrator, you’ll want to check out Administering Visual Builder Studio as well.
VB Studio comes equipped with the Designer, a graphical user interface that enables you to develop web and mobile apps using components from the Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit (JET). To test these applications, or to release them for production, you must deploy the apps to a separate Visual Builder instance, which serves as the runtime environment. Of course, you can still use VB Studio to build apps with a third-party IDE or code editor and use VB Studio as the code repository, just as you did with DevCS. You can also use VB Studio to test, deploy, and maintain those apps throughout their lifecycles—nothing’s changed there.	Building Web and Mobile Applications explains how to use the VB Studio Designer to build web and mobile apps.
If you purchased Oracle Cloud Applications subscriptions that have front ends built with JET components, you can also use the VB Studio Designer to extend those apps to customize them for your business needs.	See Extending Oracle Cloud Applications.
Developer Cloud Service used tags to associate service instances with environments. In VB Studio, you’ll need to add service instances again to environments, because the service instances associated with the environments were removed as part of the upgrade. The environments themselves were not removed, just the service instances associated with them.	For information about how to add a service instance to an environment, see Manage an Environment.

For Former Visual Builder Users

In VB Studio, you still use the Designer to create your visual applications, but the infrastructure surrounding that process has changed significantly, as described here:

How Visual Builder and VB Studio Differ?	Find out more:
In VB Studio, you and your team belong to an organization. Within that organization are projects, which help to organize the work for a given endeavor. A project contains a Git repository, where your source code is stored, along with build jobs that package up your app’s artifacts and deploy them to the target environment. Each project also contains tools to help you manage your visual application’s lifecycle, like an Agile board, issue tracker, team wikis, and more.	What Is Oracle Visual Builder Studio?
Whereas Visual Builder used to contain the runtime environment where you could test and deploy your visual applications, VB Studio requires you to have a separate Visual Builder instance to serve as your runtime environment, and to establish communication between the two services. VB Studio manages the runtime environment instances that serve as your development, test, and production environments in the Environments page. Within the Environments page, you can view the status of the various service instances that have been added to your environment.	If you’re an administrator, see Set Up VB Studio for Developing Visual Applications to find out how to hook up your runtime to VB Studio. If you’re an app developer, see Share, Publish, and Deploy Visual Applications.
Your work in the Designer now takes place in a workspace, which is an entirely private area within a project that only you can access. The workspace brings together everything you need to build your visual app: a private branch within the Git repository and a VB Studio environment that points to your Visual Builder runtime instance.	If you’re an app developer, see Create Visual Applications in VB Studio.
If you want others to collaborate with you in developing your project's apps, your project owner will need to add them to the project and you’ll need to commit your workspace to a branch in a Git repository that is shared with these project members. To facilitate collaboration, the Designer in VB Studio includes built-in support for Git with a Git menu in the toolbar that accesses the Git commands you’re likely to use most frequently (Pull and Push, for example). There's also a new navigator tab (Git Panel) that provides a view to uncommitted changes in your workspace, and tools to resolve issues when your changes conflict with other changes in the Git repository branch that you want to commit to.	If you're a project owner, see Add and Manage Project Users. If you're an app developer, see Manage Your Visual Applications With Git.
In Visual Builder, the Stage and Publish actions were key parts of your development cycle. In VB Studio, however, you use Share to share your application with others for testing purposes, and Publish to push your changes from your local Git repository to the master branch of your remote repository (that is, the project's version) and deploy it to the Visual Builder runtime environment.	If you’re an app developer, see Share a Visual Application and Manage Deployed Visual Applications.
For business objects, VB Studio maintains one database schema per workspace. As a best practice, we recommend that you use the same workspace and branch to create and edit business objects in a visual application.	See Work with Business Objects.
VB Studio provides the following options to manage your visual application’s business object data: Menu options to import and export data. You access these options from the Visual Applications tab for the deployed visual application in the Environments page Build jobs to import and export business object data	See Manage Business Object Data During Development.
You can use the visual applications you built in Visual Builder within VB Studio by importing them, then performing a few post-import tasks.	See Learn About Migrating to Oracle Visual Builder Studio.
VB Studio manages connections to backend services differently to Visual Builder, where a Visual Builder administrator added these services to the Tenant Settings page. In VB Studio, the steps to create a connection depend on the backend service. If your visual applications need to access REST services from an Oracle Cloud Applications catalog, you add the Oracle Cloud Applications instance to the runtime environment. If the Visual Builder instance that you use in your environment is provided by Oracle Integration, visual applications in VB Studio inherit the catalog of Integration and Process backend services.	See Manage Backend Services in Your Visual Application.
The `grunt-vb-build` NPM package includes tasks to build visual applications that you develop in VB Studio and deploy to a Visual Builder runtime instance: The `vb-process-local` task processes the sources of the visual application that you cloned from VB Studio’s Git repository to your local Git repository for usage in the Visual Builder runtime instance. The `vb-process-local` task replaces variables and placeholders in `index.html`, downloads libraries from the Component Exchange, and so on. The archive that the `vb-process-local` task produces does not include absolute links to the Visual Builder runtime instance. The `vb-credentials` task transfers the credentials (service connection information and mobile build configurations) from secure storage in VB Studio to the target Visual Builder runtime instance. The `vb-deploy` task deploys the environment-independent artifact that the `vb-process-local` task produced to the target Visual Builder runtime instance and inserts environment-specific information, such as URLs and Oracle Identity Cloud Service information. The `vb-deploy` task also produces native mobile packages, if your visual application includes mobile applications.	If you want to use the Grunt tasks described here to build and deploy a visual application to a Visual Builder runtime instance, see Build and Deploy Your Application.
Although you’ll now do almost all the administration tasks for your visual applications in VB Studio, someone with administrator privileges for the Visual Builder runtime needs to sign in to the Visual Builder runtime to do certain tasks. Examples include configuration changes to connect your Visual Builder runtime to an Oracle DB instance with more space, or to configure a custom domain if users access an application deployed on the Visual Builder runtime from a custom app URL.	If you’re a Visual Builder runtime administrator, sign in to the Visual Builder runtime to complete the following tasks, that are described in Administering Oracle Visual Builder Generation 2 . Access Instance Settings Configure Security Options for Applications Set Page Messages for Access Denied Errors Allow Other Domains Access to Services Switch to Your Own Oracle DB Instance Reset an Expired Password or ATP Wallet for Your Oracle DB Instance Manage Self-signed Certificates Configure Support for a Custom Domain

Extending Oracle Cloud Applications

If Oracle built your Oracle Cloud Application using Oracle JET, you can extend that app to customize it for your business needs. You can also create your own pages and page flows based on the Redwood theme, and deploy them alongside Oracle apps in your Oracle Cloud Applications instance.

To find out if you have such an app, see if you have an Edit Page in Visual Builder Studio option in your Oracle Cloud Application’s edit menu. If you do, click it to jump over to VB Studio and start creating your extension. To help you along the way, have a look at What Do You Want to Do in VB Studio?

Like everything built in VB Studio, the source code for your extension is stored within a project’s Git repository, and you work on your own branch of that repo in the context of your own private workspace.

Documentation Accessibility

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Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers that have purchased support have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Title and Copyright Information

Oracle Cloud What's New in Oracle Visual Builder Studio, 24.01.0

F88019-01

December 2023

Primary Author: Oracle Corporation