- Forms are used in Oracle Apps to build application interfaces and allow users to view and interact with data. They contain components like canvases, windows, blocks, items, and triggers. - Blocks organize form data and can be connected to database tables. Items display and collect user input. Triggers contain PL/SQL code that runs on events. - The form development process involves designing the layout, adding components, writing trigger code, and registering/compiling the form to generate an executable that can be deployed.

1. Forms 6i
By Chandrasekhar Redrouthu

2. Topics Covered
• Introduction to forms
• Components in forms
• Forms in Oracle Apps

3. Application Development in
Forms
Two Parts in Forms Development
• Forms painting
– Designing the layout of the forms
• Coding
– Coding in Triggers and Lovs

4. Major Components of a form
• Canvas
• Windows
• Blocks
• Items
• PL/SQL blocks

5. Canvas
• It’s the background on which you place
the interface objects.
• Items in a block can be placed on
different canvas views and can be displayed
in different windows.
• Different Types of canvas are tab canvas
stack canvas and content canvas

6. Windows
• A form can include any number
of windows.
• A new form will by default have
one window named window1.
• A window must be attached to a
canvas.

7. Block
• They are logical containers and have
no physical representation in the form
• They are very similar to the tables in
the database .
• Each block may or may not be
connected to the database table .
• There are 2 types of blocks Control
and Database block

8. Block – Cont..
• Block connected to database(Table)
is called a database block.
User can query , update , insert and
delete data in the base table because
of this direct relationship.
• Two blocks can be connected using
Master- Detail relation ship.

9. Items - Basic building blocks of a form
• Types
– Text Item: A single- or multi-line text
box that supports a variety of data types,
format masks, and editing capabilities.
– Display Item: A read-only text box
whose value must be fetched or assigned
programmatically. Operators cannot
navigate to a display item or edit the text
it contains.

10. Cont..– List Item: A List of choices displayed
as either a drop-down List, a List box, or a
combo box.
– Push Button: A rectangle with a text label
or an icon graphic inside.
– Radio Group: A group of radio buttons, one
of which is always selected.
– Check Box: A text label with a graphic state
indicator that displays the current value as
either checked or unchecked. Clicking on a
check box toggles it to the opposite state.

11. Items – Cont..
• Bean Areas
• Chart Items
• Image Items
• Hierarchical Tree Item
• User Area

12. Triggers• All the coding for a form is done in a
trigger• Triggers are defined/attached at three
levels-Form level, Block level,Item level.•
Trigger contains one or more PL/SQL
statements.• There are triggers defined for all
events and actions which can take place in a
form• Trigger names correspond to runtime
events.• A trigger must be attached to a
specific object in the form, either an item, a
block, or the form itself

13. Triggers Contd..
• Trigger types
-- When Triggers
-- Pre Triggers
-- Post Triggers
-- On Triggers
-- Key Triggers

14. Triggering Sequence When a form is
Opened
• Pre-Form
• Pre-Block
• Pre-Record
• Pre-Text-Item
• When-New-Form-Instance
• When-New-Block-Instance
• When-New-Record-Instance
• When-New-Item-Instance

15. Contd..When Form is closed
• Post-Text-Item
• Post-Record
• Post-Block
• Post-Form

16. Program Units
• Procedure
• Function
• Package Spec
• Package Body

17. Libraries
• Procedures and functions
used across the forms
• It is a type of module (.PLL)
• Attaching libraries
• Can be accessed from
forms, menus, libraries

18. Some other concepts
• Alerts
• LOV
• Record Groups
• Parameters

19. Tools in Forms Designer
• Object Navigator : The Object navigator displays
each object you have created and allows you to
navigate through the hierarchy
• Properties Palette: This allows you to examine
and set the properties of each of the objects
defined by the user.
• Layout Editor: The sizing , positioning ,
alignment of the user created objects are done
through this screen
• PL/SQL editor: Used for writing PL/SQL code
• Menu editor : Tool to create menus

20. Steps in creating a form
• Name the form
• Connect to the database
• Create blocks (Can use Data Block
Wizard)
• Create the layout( Can use Layout
Wizard)
• Set the properties
• Add code in triggers
• Test

21. Forms registration
• TEMPLATE.fmb should be used for
building all forms
• Register the Form
• Register the Function
• Attach the function to a menu
• FTP the form to the UNIX box
• Compile the form using f60gen
command to generate executable (fmx)

29. FTP and Compiling the form
•FTP the form to the custom_top/forms using any FTP Tool.
•Go to UNIX and set environment by typing . qoedv2 at the prompt .
•Go to AU_TOP/forms/US
•Compile the form using the command
•F60gen $CUSTOM_TOP/forms/US/form_name.fmbusername/password

30. Other components in Forms Object Libraries
• Create, store, maintain, and distribute standard and
reusable objects.
• Rapidly create applications by dragging and dropping
predefined objects to your form.PL/SQL Libraries
• These are special type of module in oracle form that
serve the purpose of central repository for all the program
units of the applications.
• Once these PLLs are created they can be accessed from
any form or menu module.

31. Contd..Menus
• This is a form builder design tool which is used to
create custom form menus and popup menus Built
in packages
• Forms Developer and Reports Developer provide
several built-in packages that contain many PL/SQL
constructs which can be referenced while building
applications

32. Common Issues
• TNS names not found
• Cannot attach PL/SQL Library
• Errors while compiling the form in UNIX

33. Thank You