2 What's New in this Release
Learn the features, enhancements, and changes made to Oracle Forms.
The following section introduces the new and changed features for Oracle Forms and Reports, and provides pointers to additional information:
New Features
This section contains information about new and changed features that are being introduced in the release, features that have been enhanced, and changes to existing features.
Oracle Forms
The following list provides an overview of new features and enhancements:
- Oracle Forms Standalone Launcher Improvements
- Forms Translation Tool
- Forms Builder Enhancements
- Forms Runtime Enhancements
- Updated Database Client Software
Refer to the Oracle Forms product page for more information.
Oracle Forms Standalone Launcher Improvements
This release includes the following improvements to the Oracle Forms Standalone Launcher (FSAL).
SSL/TLS Certificate Importer
A new Forms Certificate Importer automates the certificate importing process. Manually importing server certificates into the user's Java keystore was often problematic and often required an administrator's intervention.
Refer to the provided HTML page included in the full Forms installation at this URL:
http://<SERVER>:<FORMS PORT>/forms/html/fsal.htm
Specify Required Java Version
A new Forms Web Configuration parameter, fsalJavaVersion, allows administrators to enforce which Java version is used on the user-tier. Refer to Web Configuration Parameters in Working with Oracle Forms.
Automatically Detect User Language
Added support for unique configuration settings based on the user's language settings. Refer to Enabling Language Detection in Working with Oracle Forms for usage details.
Expanded showDetails Command Line Argument
The latest FSAL showDetails parameter helps in troubleshooting application runtime problems. Refer to the provided HTML page included in the full Forms installation at this URL:
http://<SERVER>:<FORMS PORT>/forms/html/fsal.htm
Allow Applications to Run when JARs not Found
A new Forms Web Configuration parameter, ignoreMissingSaaArchives, allows an application to run when optional resources are not found.
Unlike when running with other client configuration, FSAL terminates processing during startup if any resource (such as the icons.jar file) is not found. This behavior can be frustrating when trying to troubleshoot or when the contents is not relevant when running tests.
To allow the application to continue during testing and/or development, set ignoreMissingSaaArchives. Refer to Web Configuration Parameters in Working with Oracle Forms.
Launch FSAL from Web Pages Using Custom Protocol Handlers
Added support for using the custom protocols, fsal (for non-SSL/TLS requests) and fsals (for SSL/TLS requests). Forms applications can be launched from a web page.
Forms Translation Tool
This release includes the following new functionality for the Forms Translation Tool.
Forms XLIFF Extract and Merge Translation Tool
With the new Forms XLIFF Extract and Merge translation tool, applications can be translated to other languages quickly and easily. This tool uses XLIFF, an industry-standard XML file format used for storing localization data (i.e. translations). The tool's output can be edited with any plain text editor or any third-party XLIFF 1.0 compatible editor.
The tool supports Forms fmb, mmb, and olb files.
Forms Builder Enhancements
Copy PLSQL Code Editor Errors to Clipboard
This release includes the following enhancements to the Forms Builder.
Errors exposed in the Forms PLSQL Code Editor can be copied to the system clipboard using the mouse.
FSAL Logging to File
A new Builder environment variable, FORMS_BUILDER_FSAL_LOGGING, allows you output runtime information to a log file when running modules from the Builder using the OneButtonRun option along with enabling FSAL. This log file can be used for reviewing the application status or troubleshooting issues at design time.
Forms Runtime Enhancements
This release includes the following Forms runtime enhancements.
New Applet Parameter
The new applet parameter, clientDPIRatio, allows administrators to dynamically set the clientDPI parameter relative to a display size. The clientDPIRatio parameter allows the user to use more of the display screen. This is helpful on high resolution monitors that result in application objects appearing extremely small and difficult to view.
WebUtil Logging Enhancement for CLIENT_HOST
The underlying Java layer used by Forms has strict syntax requirements related to how it handles calls being sent to external processes. This syntax requires that Forms breaks the request into individual pieces. Forms uses escaping to determine where to break up the command into array elements. Various special characters, spaces, and other character combinations must be properly escaped before they can be processed. As a result, it can sometimes be difficult to properly format calls made with the WebUtil CLIENT_HOST or WEBUTIL_HOST functions.
To make diagnosing problems with such calls easier, the WebUtil "Detailed" logging level has now been enhanced to show more detail about such calls. In short, the call is broken down into individual components and stored as an array. The first array entry is the command and the second is the argument for that command (if one is provided).
Any subsequent array entries will be in the form of a string value. Each string should be complete. This means, for example, that a directory path should not be broken into multiple array cells.
Output Example:
WUH[HostCommand.execute()] cmd /c "dir C:\ > \"C:\tmp\my directory\dir.txt\""
WUH[HostCommand.execute() command array[0]] cmd
WUH[HostCommand.execute() command array[1]] /c
WUH[HostCommand.execute() command array[2]] "dir C:\ > "C:\tmp\my directory\dir.txt""