How Flexfields Work with Oracle Application Cloud Architecture

To capture additional data, administrators or implementors configure flexfield segments that represent attributes of business objects. Business objects are enabled for both descriptive flexfields and extensible flexfields.

The figure displays the workflow of defining flexfield and adding capacity in the database to enable flexfield segments through applications development. After a flexfield is created and registered, administrators configure it so that the definition is stored in the database. The associated business components are deployed to the Metadata Services repository. As a result, the attributes representing the flexfields are available in the user interface, making those business components accessible.

Application developers create a flexfield and register it so that it's available for configuration. Administrators and implementation consultants configure segments and other properties of the available flexfields. This information is stored as additional flexfield metadata in the database. Deploying the flexfield generates ADF business components based on the flexfield metadata in the database.

The following aspects are important in understanding how flexfields and Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications architecture work together:

Integration
Deployment
Import and export
Runtime
Patching

Integration

The attributes that you add by configuring flexfields are available throughout the Oracle Middleware technology stack. You can use the flexfield segment's Application Programming Interface (API) to identify segments and integrate the flexfields in the following:

User interface pages
Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) infrastructure
Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence
Extended Spread Sheet Database (ESSbase)

Flexfield configurations are preserved across application updates.

Deployment

The metadata for the flexfield is stored in the application database as soon as you save your configuration changes. Deploying the flexfield generates the ADF business components so that the user interface reflects the latest flexfield definition in the metadata.

Importing and Exporting

Using the Setup and Maintenance work area, you can import and export flexfields across the implementation site. The deployment status must be either Deployed or Deployed to sandbox. Therefore, before you attempt migration, verify and ensure that a flexfield is successfully deployed.

Runtime

The latest definitions of a flexfield reflect on the user interface only if the flexfield is deployed. When the user interface accesses a business object, the deployed flexfield definition identifies the attributes associated with the captured values. On a page, if you add display configurations for a flexfield using the Application Composer tool, the same flexfield segments can appear differently on different pages.

Patching

Flexfield configurations are preserved during patching and upgrading.