This chapter includes the following sections:
For definitions of unfamiliar terms found in this and other books, see the Glossary.
You can use Oracle Application Development Framework (Oracle ADF) to simplify the development of interactive, databound web applications, known as Fusion web applications (or simply ADF applications). Applications built with Oracle ADF follow Java EE standards and integrate with the Oracle Fusion Middleware stack.
The Oracle ADF builds on Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) standards and open-source technologies to provide a complete framework for implementing service-oriented applications.
You can use this framework to provide enterprise solutions across different platforms. You can build applications that search, display, create, modify, and validate data for web, web services, desktop, or mobile interfaces.
You use Oracle JDeveloper with Oracle ADF to develop applications with an environment that supports the full development lifecycle of design, test, and deployment. For more information about ADF development, see Introduction to Building Fusion Web Applications with Oracle ADF in Developing Fusion Web Applications with Oracle Application Development Framework.
After you have developed and tested your ADF application in test environments, you can deploy your application to production environments using the tools described in this book. You can monitor the performance of applications as they are running. You can also manage and configure properties and attributes.
Oracle ADF architecture is a model-view-controller (MVC) model that has four layers in its MVC implementation. Use these four layers and stack components of Fusion web application technology to build ADF applications.
Oracle ADF supports the industry-standard MVC architecture to achieve separation of business logic, navigation, and user interface.
The MVC architecture provides:
A model layer that represents the data values
A view layer that contains the UI components
A controller layer that handles input and navigation
A business service layer that encapsulates business logic
The Fusion web application technology stack components are:
ADF Model, for accessing declarative data binding metadata
ADF Business Components, for building business services
ADF Faces rich client, for AJAX-enabled UI components for web applications built with JavaServer Faces (JSF)
ADF Controller, for input processing, navigation, and reusable task flows
ADF Business Components are application objects you can use to implement service-oriented Java EE applications. You implement ADF Business Components for clients to query, insert, update, and delete business data. You can apply business rules to the Business Components to enforce proper usage. The key components of ADF Business Components are the entity object, the view object, and the application module.
An entity object represents a row in a database table. It uses data manipulation language (DML) operations to modify data. Entity objects are used with others to reflect relationships in the database schema.
A view object represents a SQL query. You use the SQL Language to query the database to obtain the results. You can also link a view object with other entity objects to create master-detail hierarchies.
An application module is the transactional component that allows UI components to access data. It presents a data model and methods to perform certain tasks.
ADF Model implements a service abstraction called data control. Data control uses metadata interfaces to abstract business services. This metadata is used to describe data collections, properties, methods, and types. In JDeveloper, data controls appear in the Data Controls panel. When you drag and drop attributes, collections, and methods onto a page, JDeveloper automatically creates the bindings from the page to the associated services.
ADF Controller provides a navigation and state management model that works with JSF. You can create navigational flows called task flows that encapsulate a specific task sequence.
ADF Faces provides over 100 rich components that can be used out of the box to create web applications. ADF Faces components provide built-in AJAX functionality to allow requests to be sent to the server without fully rendering the page. JSF provides server-side control to reduce the dependency on JavaScript. The components support skinning, internationalization, and accessibility options.
ADF Faces has a large set of components, including tables, trees, dialogs, accordions, and a variety of layout components. It also includes ADF Data Visualization components, which are Flash- and SVG-enabled, for displaying graphs, charts, and gauges.
ADF Desktop Integration provides a framework for Oracle ADF developers to extend the functionality provided by a Fusion web application to desktop applications, such as Excel, even when they are disconnected from the network.
Using Excel's familiar user interface, end users can undertake information management tasks, such as performing complex calculations or uploading a large amount of data.
You can deploy, manage, monitor, and configure applications developed with Oracle ADF. Use the different tools to perform these administration tasks.
You can perform a variety of administration tasks on ADF applications. You can deploy ADF applications using Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control, WLST commands, the ojdeploy command, scripts, or the WebLogic Administration Console.
After the ADF application has been deployed, you can configure application properties using Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control. You can also configure some properties using the MBean Browser to change values in the ADF MBeans. For example, you can use Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control to change the URL connection or WebService connection endpoints or seed the production credentials.
When you run the application, you can monitor performance data on the application modules, application module pooling, and task flows.