Oracle Forms Builder and Oracle Form Services have been upgraded to simplify the development and deployment of Forms applications on the Web. A number of features have been added.
In restructuring the Oracle Forms product, some legacy features have been dropped or scaled back. The future of Forms includes improving the Java-based Web user interface and extending product "openness" by allowing Java integration on all three tiers.
The following sections are included:
Basic steps to upgrade your Forms 6i applications to Forms 12c Release.
To upgrade your Oracle Forms applications, open your Forms 6i source files (FMB, MMB, PLL, and so on) in the latest Oracle Forms Builder, save them, then compile them. You can also use the Oracle Forms Compiler to upgrade your Forms 6i applications.
You can use the Forms Migration Assistant to perform batch upgrades, as described in About Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant.
Note:
You must compile rp2rro.pll into rp2rro.plx if your Form depends on this library. rp2rro.pll can be found in ORACLE_HOME/forms/rp2rro.pll
. The resulting plx
should be in your FORMS_PATH
.
List the features that has been removed from Oracle Forms 10g and later.
The following features have been removed:
Graphics Integration
Chart Items
List the features that has been removed from Oracle Forms 9.0.2 and later.
The following features have been removed:
Client-server Runtime
Character mode Runtime
Various runform command line options
Character mode properties and logical attributes
Item types that are specific to operating systems
Various Built-ins
Various properties
Various menu features including:
Character mode menu properties
Obsolete types from the Menu-Items command type property
Menu parameters
Menu Built-ins
Full screen menu style
Bar (Lotus) menu style
Forms version 2 style triggers and list of values (LOVs)
Graphics Chart Wizard
In addition, rules enforcing trigger usage have become stricter.
List of obsolete components dropped from the Forms 6i Developer Product Suite.
Table 1-1 Components removed from Developer Suite
Obsolete Component | Upgrade Notes |
---|---|
Oracle Graphics |
If your applications use the Graphics Web Cartridge or Oracle Graphics Runtime, you should rewrite your applications and redevelop the graphics using other means such as Java, BI Beans. |
Oracle Forms Listener and Load Balancing Components |
Use the Forms Listener Servlet to manage Forms sessions on the Web. The Forms Listener Servlet provides:
|
Oracle Forms Server Cartridge and CGI |
Use the Forms Servlet. The functionality available with the Oracle Forms Server cartridge and CGI was incorporated into the Forms Servlet, which was first available in Oracle Forms Release 6i patchset 2. |
Oracle Procedure Builder |
Use the facilities for editing and debugging local and server-side PL/SQL code in Forms Developer, which has been considerably improved for this release. |
Oracle Project Builder |
No upgrade path or replacement functionality. |
Oracle Translation Builder |
Use TranslationHub to translate resource strings in Forms modules to deploy the modules in multiple languages. |
Oracle Query Builder/Schema Builder |
No upgrade path or replacement functionality. |
Oracle Terminal |
The resource files used by Web-deployed forms are text based and can be edited using a conventional text editor. As a result, Oracle Terminal is no longer required for the product. |
Open Client Adapters (OCA) |
In order to provide platform-independent access to a wider range of non-Oracle data sources, use the Oracle Transparent Gateway and Generic Connectivity solutions instead of OCA. |
Tuxedo Integration |
No upgrade path or replacement functionality. |
Performance Event Collection Services (PECS) |
No upgrade path. Use Forms Trace and Oracle Trace, as described in Tracing and Diagnostics. |
When you open a Forms application, obsolete item types are listed after the item-type poplist in the Property Palette.
The property values for obsolete items are indicated as obsolete. For example, the property value for VBX would be "VBX Control (Obsolete)".
Note:
If you are upgrading from pre-6i you must upgrade to 10g and then to 12c. If you are upgrading from 6i or later, you can go directly to 12c, as described in Upgrade from Pre-Forms 6i Applications to Oracle Forms.
You can use the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant, as described in About Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant, to resolve many upgrade issues.
Oracle Forms Migration Assistant helps in upgrading Forms applications.
The Oracle Forms Migration Assistant is provided with Oracle Forms to help you upgrade your Forms 6i applications, as described in About Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant.