This chapter describes issues associated with Oracle Forms. It includes the following topics:
This section describes general issues and workarounds. It includes the following topics:
For information about changed or obsolete features, see the Oracle Forms Upgrading Oracle Forms 6i to Oracle Forms 12c Guide.
For upgrading from Oracle Forms 10g or Oracle Forms Services 11g (11.1.x), see the Planning an Upgrade of Oracle Fusion Middleware and Upgrade Guide for Forms and Reports.
This section describes issues related to Oracle Forms and Microsoft Windows. It includes the following topics:
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.
This section describes issues related to Oracle Forms and Linux/UNIX. It includes the following topics:
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.
This section describes configuration issues and their workarounds. It includes the following topics:
If you encounter a FORBIDDEN error when using One-Button-Run with any of the supported browsers other than Internet Explorer, verify if 127.0.0.1 (localhost) is in the proxy settings for your browser. If 127.0.0.1 is not in the exceptions list, then add it. This ensures that the browser will bypass the proxy server.
Oracle Forms 12c, when configured with Webutil at runtime, supports JACOB version 1.18-M2 to perform the client side OLE integration. Notice that this version of JACOB is different from the versions supported in the previous releases of Oracle Forms.
JACOB is a JAVA-COM bridge that enables you to call COM automation components from Java. It uses JNI to make native calls to the COM libraries. JACOB runs on x86 and x64 environments supporting 32 bit and 64 bit JVMs.
Oracle Forms 12c, colorscheme default value has been changed from TEAL to SWAN. This value has been set in the formsweb.cfg as part of the initial installation configuration.
colorScheme=SWAN
This colorscheme presents Forms with an updated and modernized look and feel. It also resembles the Fusion Middleware Control and all other components that are used to manage Forms12c. If you want the old colorscheme, change the value in the default section of the Forms Web Configuration (formsweb.cfg).
Oracle Forms uses time zone data to support the ADJUST_TZ built-in and to adjust the date/time displayed in DATETIME items. Values loaded from the database or set by application logic are interpreted as being in the "server" time zone, whereas values displayed in DATETIME items are converted from the server time zone to the end-user "local" time zone. The server time zone is specified by FORMS_DATETIME_SERVER_TZ, and defaults to GMT. The end-user local time zone is specified by FORMS_DATETIME_LOCAL_TZ, and defaults to the time zone of the java client. Notice that the default values for FORMS_DATETIME_SERVER_TZ and FORMS_DATETIME_LOCAL_TZ are usually different.
In previous release, Forms interpreted a null value for FORMS_TZFILE as an indication that no time zone adjustment should occur for DATETIME items. As of Forms 12.2.1.1 release, FORMS_TZFILE is no longer inspected, so there is no specific mechanism for suppressing time zone adjustment of DATETIME items. Therefore, customers who were leaving FORMS_TZFILE unset will see a change in behavior compared to Forms 11.1.2 and older unless they take some action to ensure that the end-user local time zone is identical to the server time zone. To ensure this you must add FORMS_DATETIME_LOCAL_TZ=GMT to the environment variable configuration file, for example, default.env.
FORMS_DATETIME_SERVER_TZ defaults to GMT, so there is no need to set it to GMT explicitly if you are planning to use the above procedure.
The section describes known issues. It includes the following topics:
When created a new Report object in the Forms Builder Object Navigator, attempts to open the Report Builder will fail and show this error; FRM-10400 Unable to open Report Builder. As a work-around, manually open the Report Builder as needed.
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.
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.
For applications that use the Oracle Forms built-in RUN_REPORT_OBJECT to integrate with Oracle Reports, it will be necessary to add a new environment variable to the Forms environment configuration (that is, default.env). The new variable name is COMPONENT_CONFIG_PATH and its value should be the fully qualified path to the Reports Tools Component. For example: DOMAIN_HOME/config/fmwconfig/components/ReportsToolsComponent/<reports_tools_component_name>
Some of the links found on the Oracle Forms home page in Fusion Middleware Control are not working. Use the Oracle Forms Deployment Guide as an alternative source of similar information.
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 work-around 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
Solution: Apply the following patch to the Forms middle tier - for Windows 21892409 / for Unix 21534616
Oracle Forms audio functionality does not works if the URL, to obtain an audio files, is served by Oracle WebLogic Server. The audio file will fail to load.
The URL for the audio files must be served by the Oracle HTTP Server. Audio files delivered in JAR file can use URL served by either Oracle WebLogic Server or Oracle HTTP Server.
This section describes documentation errata. It includes the following topics:
The following information must be added to Oracle Forms Builder online help.
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. Refer to "About Format Elements for Dates" for information about how "input" and "output" format masks are selected for a combo box, or for a text item whose format mask is not set. 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 documented in "String-to-Date Conversion Rules" in section "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 in place of 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.
Workarounds
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 documented in "String-to-Date Conversion Rules" in section "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.
Oracle Forms Builder now includes a new feature - Auto Backup. This feature is intended to protect module updates in the event the Forms Builder is unexpectedly terminated. Auto Backup time can be set in the Forms Builder Preferences dialog, General tab. Time is represented in minutes, however valid values are 2 - 1440. Any values less than two, invalid entries, or a null entry will disable the Auto Backup feature.
Once a valid value has been entered, the Forms Builder will monitor open modules for changes. If a change is detected since the last backup was created, an updated backup will be generated. To ensure that a module's backup is properly created, it is recommended that new modules be named and saved immediately upon creation. In the unlikely event of an unexpected shutdown, reopen the Forms Builder and reopen the module that was previously open. A dialog will appear asking if the backup copy of the module is necessary or not.
The following are the limitations of Auto Backup feature:
Auto Backup will only function while the Forms Builder is in use. In other words, if the Forms Builder has been minimized or is otherwise not receiving interactions from the user, backups will not be created. In most cases, this will not be an issue because changes are not being made during this time.
Until an valid Auto Backup Time has been entered and the Forms Builder has been properly exited, the value set will not be retained. It means that if the Forms Builder has not been properly exited after making a change to the Auto Backup Time and an unexpected termination occurs, upon restarting, the setting will revert to its previous value.