5 Known Issues and Workarounds

This chapter lists the known issues and workarounds associated with Oracle Forms.

The following topics are included:

• Oracle Forms Issues and Workarounds

Oracle Forms Issues and Workarounds

This section details issues pertaining to Oracle Forms, and their workarounds.

Table 5-1 Oracle Forms Issues and Workarounds

Issue	Operating System	Description
JVM crashes when you attempt to use Forms JDAPI, Forms Application Deployment Services (FADS), or Forms XML Converter	Microsoft Windows	After you update the JDK used by Oracle Home to version 8U261+, JVM may crash when you attempt to use JDAPI, FADS, or the XML Converter. When using: FADS, applications fail to deploy. JDAPI, applications fail to run. The XML Converter, modules are not converted. This issue did not occur with earlier versions of the JDK. Solution: Apply Patch 32460115.
Shortcut Keys not Working with JAWS	Microsoft Windows	When using Forms Builder with JAWS, the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Insert to create items are not working. As a workaround, use the menu-mnemonics. Use Alt+E to open the Edit menu, then R to choose Create to create items.
Stop dejvm Before Stopping and Restarting WLS_FORMS	Microsoft Windows	Before restarting the Oracle WebLogic managed server, all the JVM Controller processes (dejvm) started by that server must be stopped. Otherwise, WLS_FORMS will not restart after a shutdown.
Unclear Text and Image Rendering	Microsoft Windows	On desktops where the Display scaling value is set to any value other than 100%, some distortion may be seen when using Java 11 with Forms Standalone Launcher. https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8194165 As a workaround, change the Windows Display scaling setting to 100%. It may be necessary to log out of the current Windows session and log in again for the changes to completely restore proper rendering.
LD_PRELOAD Setting Required for Signal Chaining Facility	Linux/UNIX	The LD_PRELOAD setting in default.env is required for the working of signal chaining facility in JVM version 1.5 and later. If you are creating or using other environment files, the setting in the environment file for LD_LIBRARY_PATH and LD_PRELOAD must be the same as in default.env.
Unable to Generate some Modules Types Using some NLS_LANG Settings	Linux/UNIX	When setting the NLS_LANG Territory to some regions, the compiler may fail and throw FRM-30312. To workaround the issue change the NLS_LANGUAGE from the typical region's language to AMERICAN. For example, change CROATIAN_CROATIA.UTF8 to AMERICAN_CROATIA.UTF8.
Forms Builder does not Start	Linux 7 (OEL and RedHat) and SLES 12 SP1	Forms Builder will not start on Linux OEL7 or RedHat7 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 or newer operating system. The following error appears: Error while loading shared libraries: libXm.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory. This is the result of the Forms Builder expecting to find libXm.so.3. This version does not exist for newer Linux versions. To workaround the problem, create a soft link. Create a soft link named libXm.so.3 to libXm.so.4 under /usr/lib64/ ln -s /usr/lib64/libXm.so.4.0.4 libXm.so.3 Add it to LD_LIBRARY_PATH export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:/usr/lib64
Runtime Issue in Oracle Forms Compiler	Solaris	To resolve crash of Oracle Forms compiler at exit, while running compiler, Forms Builder and setting the NLS_LANG, user also needs to set the environment variable LC_ALL. export LC_ALL=C
Oracle Forms Builder Run Form Button Fails	All	Attempting to use the Run Form button in the Forms builder may fail if the form is not first saved in a directory included in FORMS_PATH. Alternatively, add the working directory to FORMS_PATH. This will generally be the MIDDLEWARE_HOME \bin directory. This is an intended change in behavior, which prevents directory paths from being added to a URL. Although not recommended, the behavior of previous versions can be restored by removing (or commenting) the entire FORMS_MODULE_PATH entry from default.env.
Web Start Does Not Work When WLS_FORMS is Behind a Proxy	All	Attempting to start a Forms application using Web Start will fail if WLS_FORMS is behind a proxy server. To correct this problem, set WEBSTART_CODEBASE in formsweb.cfg to the fully qualified path of the CODEBASE as it appears from the external server. For example, http://OHShost:OHSport/forms/java.
Changes and Workarounds Affecting the Number of Characters that can be Typed into an Item	All	Issue When a form is created using the Forms builder (frmbld), the item property Query Length defaults to zero. When a form was compiled in releases before 11g, this value (zero) caused the Query Length to default to the value of the Maximum Length property. In Oracle Forms 11g, the Query Length defaults to two plus the value of the Maximum Length property. If the behavior of prior releases is desired, then you must set the environment variable FORMS_QUERY_LENGTH_DELTA to '0' when the form is compiled. The DATE format masks determine the number of characters that can be typed into a text item or combo box. In general, this number is the maximum of the number of characters required for the "output" format mask and for any allowable "input" format mask. The process how "input" and "output" format masks are selected for a combo box, or for a text item whose format mask is not set is described in About Format Elements for Dates. Notice that the FORMS_USER_DATE_FORMAT or FORMS_USER_DATETIME_FORMAT environment variable may specify multiple input format masks. Also observe that for any input format mask that does not contain FX, alternate format masks are also allowable, as described in String-to-Date Conversion Rules in Format Models in the SQL Reference in the Oracle Forms Builder Online Help. Note one exception to the rules spelled out above. The behavior described in String-to-Date Conversion Rules allow a fully spelled-out month to be entered for a numeric month (MM form mask element) or abbreviated month (MON form mask element). However, in this case, the number of characters that can be typed into a text item or combo box allows only enough room for an abbreviated month. Prior to 11gR1, input DATE format masks were not taken into account. In 10gR2 (10.1.2), the number of characters the end user was allowed to type into a DATE item was determined solely from the output format mask. In Forms 6i (6.0.8), the Maximum Length property of the DATE item was also taken into account. Workaround The changes in behavior documented above may affect users who have set the Auto-Skip property for a DATE item. The end user may now be allowed to type more characters into a specific DATE item, in which case auto-skip will not occur in cases where it did occur before 11gR1. To ensure that auto-skip occurs, add the FX modifier to the format mask that will be used for the item, for example, FXYYYY/MM/DD. If there is no item-specific format mask (that is, no format mask is set either in the item's property palette or programmatically), then the item's format mask will be derived from environment variables. The FORMS_USER_DATE_FORMAT and FORMS_USER_DATETIME_FORMAT environment variables are recommended as they take precedence over any NLS environment variables that might affect DATE format masks. Notice that specifying the FX modifier will disallow the alternate format masks that are described in String-to-Date Conversion Rules in Format Models of the SQL Reference. Also observe that the FORMS_USER_DATE_FORMAT and FORMS_USER_DATETIME_FORMAT environment variables can explicitly specify alternate format masks, separated by vertical bars, for example, FXDD-MON-YYYY|FXMON-DD-YYYY. If the FORMS_OUTPUT_DATE_FORMAT and FORMS_OUTPUT_DATETIME_FORMAT environment variables are not set, the output format masks are derived from the first format mask specified in each of the FORMS_USER_DATE_FORMAT and FORMS_USER_DATETIME_FORMAT environment variables.
ORA-01031 error	All	Forms Builder throws an "ORA-01031: Insufficient Privileges" error when connecting to ATP-S (Shared). This error can be ignored. However, as a result of this condition, Remote Dependency Mode is set to "TIMESTAMP".
Forms Application Deployment Service (FADS) fails to deploy some applications.	All	Deployments that contain SQL scripts fail when attempting to connect to ATP (Shared and Dedicated). The following error appears in the Deployment Details: "IO Error: Got minus one from a read call Error establishing connection with the database." Note: The deployment of SQL scripts is not supported on IBM AIX. Solution: Apply Patch 32645990.