Contents

• Title and Copyright Information
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1 Introduction

• Terminology
• Where You'll Use Groovy in Your Application
• Ensuring Your Scripts Are Easy to Maintain

2 Groovy Basics

• Commenting Your Scripts
• Defining Variables
• Referencing the Value of a Field in the Current Object
• Working with Numbers, Dates, and Strings
• Using Substitution Expressions in Strings
• Using Conditional Expressions
• Using the Switch Statement
• Returning a Boolean Result
• Assigning a Value to a Field in the Current Object
• Writing Null-Aware Expressions
• Understanding the Difference Between Null and Empty String
• Understanding Secondary Fields Related to a Lookup
• Using Groovy's Safe Navigation Operator
• Assigning a Value to a Field in a Related Object
• Printing and Viewing Diagnostic Messages
  • Writing Diagnostic Log Messages from Your Scripts
  • Clearing the Diagnostic Log Message Viewer
  • Viewing the Most Recent Messages by Minute, Hour, or Day
• Working with Lists
• Working with Maps
• Working with Ranges

3 Examples of Each Context Where You Can Use Groovy

• Providing an Expression to Calculate a Custom Formula Field's Value
  • Read-Only Calculated Fields
• Providing an Expression to Calculate a Custom Field's Default Value
• Providing an Expression to Make a Custom Field Conditionally Updateable
• Providing an Expression to Make a Custom Field Conditionally Required
• Defining a Field-Level Validation Rule
• Defining an Object-Level Validation Rule
• Defining Utility Code in a Global Function
  • Context Information Available in a Global Function
• Defining Reusable Behavior with an Object Function
• Controlling the Visibility of an Object Function
• Defining an Object-Level Trigger to Complement Default Processing
• Defining a Field-Level Trigger to React to Value Changes

4 Groovy Tips and Techniques

• Simplifying Code Authoring with the Expression Palette
  • The Expression Editor Toolbar
  • Showing and Hiding the Expression Palette
  • Inserting an Expression for Fields of Related Objects
  • Inserting Field Name of Object in Related Collection
  • Inserting a Related Object Accessor or Related Collection Accessor Field Name
  • Validating the Syntax and Correctness of Your Script
• Using the Related Object Accessor Field to Work with a Parent Object
• Using the Related Object Accessor Field to Work with a Referenced Object
• Using the Related Collection Accessor Field to Work with Child Rows
• Accessing Current Date and Time from the Application Server
• Accessing Current Date and Time from the Database
• Understanding ADF's Additional Built-in Groovy Functions
• Testing Whether a Field's Value Is Changed
• Avoiding Validation Threshold Errors By Conditionally Assigning Values
• Prefer "Before" Save-time Triggers to "After" Ones for Best Performance
• Detecting Row State in After Changes Posted to Database Trigger
• Avoiding Posting Threshold Errors By Conditionally Assigning Values
• Functional Restrictions in Trigger Scripts
• Passing the Current Object to a Global Function
• Referencing Original Values of Changed Fields
• Raising a Warning From a Validation Rule Instead of an Error
• Throwing a Custom Validation Exception
• Returning Locale-Sensitive Custom Strings
• Raising a Trigger's Optional Declaratively-Configured Error Message
• Accessing the View Object for Programmatic Access to Business Objects
• Defining the Sort Order for Query Results
• Finding an Object by Id
• Finding Objects Using a View Criteria
  • Using a Simple View Criteria
  • Syntax of View Criteria Filter Expressions
  • Tips for Formatting Longer Criteria Across Multiple Lines
  • Using String Substitution for Literal Values into a View Criteria Expression Used Only Once
  • Using Custom Bind Variables for View Criteria Used Multiple Times
  • Using View Criteria to Query Case-Insensitively
  • Limitations of View Criteria Filter Expressions
  • Finding Rows in a Child Rowset Using findRowsMatchingCriteria
  • Using a Predefined View Criteria on a Standard Object
• Accomplishing More with Less Code
  • Embracing Null-Handling in Conditions
  • Embracing Null-Handling in Loops
  • Understanding Groovy's Null-Safe Comparison Operators
  • Using Functions as Objects with Closures
  • Working More Cleverly with Collections
    • Finding Items in a Collection
    • Generating One Collection from Another
    • Sorting Items in a Collections
    • Grouping Items in a Collection
    • Computing Aggregates Over a Collection
      • Computing the Count of Items in a Collection
      • Computing the Minimum of Items in a Collection
      • Computing the Maximum of Items in a Collection
      • Computing the Sum of Items in a Collection
    • Joining Items in a Collection
  • Using Optional Method Arguments
  • Simplifying Business Logic Queries
    • Using Query Helper Functions
    • Defining Query Helper Functions
• Creating a New Object
• Updating an Existing Object
• Permanently Removing an Existing Object
• Reverting Changes in a Single Row
• Understanding Why Using Commit or Rollback In Scripts Is Strongly Discouraged
• Using the User Data Map
• Referencing Information About the Current User
• Using Aggregate Functions
  • Understanding the Supported Aggregate Functions
  • Understanding Why Aggegrate Functions Are Appropriate Only to Small Numbers of Child Rows
  • Understanding How Null Values Behave in Aggregate Calculation
  • Performing Conditional Counting
  • Inserting an Aggregate Expression Using the Expression Palette
• Understanding When to Configure Field Dependencies
  • Configuring Depends On Fields for a Formula
  • Configuring Depends On Fields for Conditional Updateability or Conditional Mandatory
  • Understanding Automatic Dependency Information for Cascading Fixed-Choice Lists
• Enforcing Conditional Updateability of Custom Fields for Web Service Access
• Implementing Non-Formula Field Changeable Only From Script
• Understanding When Field Default Value Expressions Are Evaluated
• Understanding the Difference Between Default Expression and Create Trigger
• Deriving Values of a Field When Other Fields Change Value
  • Deriving the Value of a Formula Field When Other Fields Change Value
  • Deriving the Value of Non-Formula Field When Other Fields Change Value
    • Deriving a Non-Formula Field Using a Before Trigger
    • Deriving a Non-Formula Field Using an After Field Changed Trigger
• Setting Invalid Fields for the UI in an Object-Level Validation Rule
• Determining the State of a Row
• Understanding How Local Variables Hide Object Fields
• Invoking Web Services from Your Scripts
  • Using Groovy Maps and Lists with Web Services
  • Registering a Web Service Connection
  • Browsing Available Web Service Methods
  • Calling Web Service Methods in Groovy
  • Calling the Find Method on an Oracle Service Interface
  • Understanding View Criteria Item Operators
• Accessing the Display Value of the Selected Item(s) in a List Field
• Formatting Numbers and Dates Using a Formatter
  • Example of Formatting a Number Using a Formatter
  • Formatting a Date Using a Formatter
• Working with Field Values Using a Parameterized Name
• Determining the Object Type of a Row

5 Best Practices for Groovy Performance

• Search Using at Least One Indexed Field
• Explicitly Select Only the Attributes You Need
• Test for Existence by Retieving a Single Row
• Avoid Using newView() Inside a Loop
• Set Field Values in Bulk
• Avoid Revalidating Known Valid Data
• Use Left Shift Operator To Append to Lists

6 Understanding Common JBO Exceptions in Groovy Scripts

• JBO-25030: Detail entity X with row key Y cannot find or invalidate its owning entity
• JBO-26020: Attempting to insert row with no matching EO base

7 Supported Classes and Methods for Use in Groovy

• Supported Classes and Methods for Use in Groovy Scripts