Overview of the Migration Process

2 Overview of the Migration Process

Oracle Application Express Application Migration is an effective tool for converting Oracle Forms to Oracle Application Express.

Why Migrate to Oracle Application Express?

Oracle Forms modernization projects are often undertaken to convert legacy applications to the latest Oracle Database version and enable developers to satisfy user demands for greater user interactivity and Web 2.0 capabilities.

Migrating to Oracle Application Express provides a robust, scalable, secure application development tool that takes full advantage of the Oracle Database. Oracle Application Express requires only a web browser and no client software for development, deployment, or run time. The resulting web pages are rendered as hypertext mark-up language (HTML). The Oracle Application Express development environment provides many out-of-the-box features, such as interactive reports and charts, and enables developers to rapidly deploy web application that greatly enhance user interactivity.

Parent topic: Overview of the Migration Process

Before Starting the Conversion Process

Before starting a conversion project, it is important to learn how to build applications with Oracle Application Express. The first step is to install Oracle Application Express within an Oracle Database instance. Oracle Application Express requires an Oracle database that is release 11.2.0.4 or later.

The Oracle Application Express development environment utilizes wizards within a declarative environment and enables you to easily extend components using SQL and PL/SQL. You can further extend the Oracle Application Express framework by incorporating JavaScript and Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax).

About the Benefits of Using a Migration Project

Thanks to how quickly you can build a new application within Oracle Application Express, it may seem quicker to just build an application from scratch rather than loading the source application definitions into an Oracle Application Express migration project. The value of utilizing a migration project comes from being able to view and annotate all of the business logic, generally hidden in the many Forms triggers.

Developers do not need to be an expert in Oracle Forms and need to know how to locate this business logic within Oracle Forms, as it is easily viewed within the migration project. Developers can readily cut and paste any SQL into the new component within Application Express. Also developers do not need to have Oracle Forms installed onto their computers.

The migration project is designed to ensure all of the important business logic implemented in the Oracle Forms application is migrated. However, it also helps to allocate work and track migration progress.

Parent topic: Overview of the Migration Process