Tutorial de formulários e relatórios do Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g e Oracle 11g Developer Suite

1. Introdução ao Tutorial de relatórios e formulários do Oracle 9i / 10g / 11g Developer Suite

Conteúdo do tutorial do Oracle Forms

• 1. Introdução
• 2. Pré-requisitos
• 3. Ferramentas do desenvolvedor
  • 3.1 Iniciando as ferramentas do desenvolvedor no Windows
• 4. A tela principal do Oracle Forms Builder
  • 4.1 Navegador de Objetos do Oracle Forms
  • 4.2 Conectando-se ao banco de dados
• 5. Projeto de formulários Oracle
• 6. Criando e executando um formulário Oracle com um único bloco
  • 6.1 Criando um novo bloco
  • 6.2 O Editor de Layout
  • 6.3 Exibindo propriedades
  • 6.4 Salvando, Gerando e Executando Formulários
    • 6.4.1 Salvando um formulário
    • 6.4.2 Compilando/construindo um formulário
    • 6.4.3 Executando um formulário
    • 6.4.4 Executando um formulário Oracle em 9iDS
    • 6.4.5 Executando um formulário Oracle em 11g
    • 6.4.6 Consulta por exemplo
  • 6.5 Exercício:Criando um formulário de bloco único
• 7. Criando um formulário mestre/detalhe
  • 7.1 A relação mestre/detalhe
  • 7.2 Etapas para criar um formulário mestre/detalhe
    • 7.2.1 Criar o bloco mestre
    • 7.2.2 Criar o bloco de detalhes
  • 7.3 Propriedades de relação de um formulário mestre/detalhe
  • 7.4 Unidades do programa em um formulário mestre/detalhado
  • 7.5 Estendendo formulários mestre/detalhe
  • 7.6 Exercício:Criando um formulário mestre/detalhe
• 8. Lista de Valores (LOVs) e Campos da Tabela Não Base
  • 8.1 Criando uma lista de valores
  • 8.2 Campos da Tabela Não Base
    • 8.2.1 Adicionando um novo item a um bloco de dados existente
    • 8.2.2 Criando um acionador
    • 8.2.3 Criar uma nova lista de valores
  • 8.3 Exercício:Criando um campo LOV e Tabela Não Base
• 9. Unidades de Programa Oracle Forms e Unidades de Programa Armazenadas
  • 9.1 Criando Procedimentos no Oracle Forms
    • 9.1.1 Adicionar um novo item ao bloco EMPLOYEE
    • 9.1.2 Criar um procedimento para contar outros membros do departamento
    • 9.1.3 Criar um gatilho para chamar o procedimento
    • 9.1.4 Salvar, compilar e executar o formulário
  • 9.2 Criando Unidades de Programa Armazenadas (Procedimentos) no SQL*Plus
  • 9.3 Procedimentos Armazenados Adicionais e Acionadores
    • 9.3.1 Gerando identificadores únicos ou consecutivos usando a tabela
    • 9.3.2 Gerando identificadores únicos ou consecutivos usando uma sequência Oracle
    • 9.3.3 Verificando restrições no cliente
    • 9.3.4 Adicionando alertas (mensagens pop-up)
    • 9.3.5 Consulta automática de formulários
    • 9.3.6 Preencher itens com valores padrão
    • 9.3.7 Anexando funcionalidades aos botões de comando
    • 9.3.8 Passando parâmetros entre formulários
  • 9.4 Exercício:Procedimentos e Acionadores
• 10. Noções básicas de Oracle Reports
  • 10.1 Iniciando as ferramentas do desenvolvedor no Windows
  • 10.2 O Navegador de Objetos do Oracle Reports
  • 10.3 Criando relatórios no Oracle Reports
  • 10.4 Criando um relatório de tabela única
    • 10.4.1 Especificar o modelo de dados e layout
    • 10.4.2 Salvando, gerando e executando o relatório
  • 10.5 Exercício:criando um relatório
  • 10.6 Criando um relatório mestre/detalhe
    • 10.6.1 Especifique o modelo de dados mestre/detalhe e o layout
    • 10.6.2 Salvando e executando o relatório mestre/detalhe
  • 10.7 Exercício:Criando um relatório mestre/detalhe
  • 10.8 Formulários de parâmetros no Oracle Reports
    • 10.8.1 Criando um formulário de parâmetro personalizado
• 11 Criando Menus no Oracle Forms
  • 11.1 A hierarquia do menu Oracle Forms
  • 11.2 Criando um menu personalizado

2. Pré-requisitos

CREATE TABLE employee
  (FNAME           VARCHAR2(15),
   MINIT           VARCHAR2(2),
   LNAME           VARCHAR2(15),
   SSN             NUMBER(12) NOT NULL,
   BDATE           DATE,
   ADDRESS         VARCHAR2(35),
   SEX             VARCHAR2(1),
   SALARY          NUMBER(7) NOT NULL,
   SUPERSSN        NUMBER(12),
   DNO             NUMBER(2) NOT NULL) ;

ALTER TABLE employee ADD CONSTRAINT pk_employee
PRIMARY KEY (ssn);

CREATE TABLE DEPARTMENT
  (DNAME          VARCHAR2(15),
   DNUMBER        NUMBER(2) NOT NULL,
   MGRSSN         NUMBER(12),
   MGRSTARTDATE   DATE) ;

ALTER TABLE department ADD CONSTRAINT pk_department
PRIMARY KEY (dnumber);

CREATE TABLE DEPENDENT
(ESSN                   NUMBER(12),
 DEPENDENT_NAME         VARCHAR2(15),
 SEX                    VARCHAR2(1),
 BDATE                  DATE,
 RELATIONSHIP           VARCHAR2(12)) ;

ALTER TABLE dependent ADD CONSTRAINT pk_dependent
PRIMARY KEY (essn, dependent_name);

ALTER TABLE dependent ADD CONSTRAINT fk_employee
FOREIGN KEY (essn) REFERENCES employee (ssn);

ALTER TABLE employee ADD CONSTRAINT fk_department
FOREIGN KEY (dno) REFERENCES department (dnumber);


INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT VALUES ('RESEARCH',       5, 333445555, '22-MAY-1978') ;
INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT VALUES ('ADMINISTRATION', 4, 987654321, '01-JAN-1985') ;
INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT VALUES ('HEADQUARTERS',   1, 888665555, '19-JUN-1971') ;

INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('JOHN','B','SMITH',123456789,'09-JAN-1955','731 FONDREN, HOUSTON, TX', 'M',30000,333445555,5) ;
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('FRANKLIN','T','WONG',333445555,'08-DEC-1945','638 VOSS,HOUSTON TX', 'M',40000,888665555,5) ;
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('ALICIA','J','ZELAYA',999887777,'19-JUL-1958','3321 CASTLE, SPRING, TX', 'F',25000,987654321,4) ;
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('JENNIFER','S','WALLACE',987654321,'20-JUN-1931','291 BERRY, BELLAIRE, TX', 'F',43000,888665555,4) ;
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('RAMESH','K','NARAYAN',666884444,'15-SEP-1952','975 FIRE OAK, HUMBLE, TX', 'M',38000,333445555,5) ;
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('JOYCE','A','ENGLISH',453453453,'31-JUL-1962','5631 RICE, HOUSTON, TX', 'F',25000,333445555,5);
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('AHMAD','V','JABBAR',987987987,'29-MAR-1959','980 DALLAS, HOUSTON, TX', 'M',25000,987654321,4) ;
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES
('JAMES','E','BORG',888665555,'10-NOV-1927', '450 STONE, HOUSTON, TX', 'M',55000,NULL,1) ;

INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (333445555,'ALICE','F','05-APR-1976','DAUGHTER') ;
INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (333445555,'THEODORE','M','25-OCT-1973','SON')  ;
INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (333445555,'JOY','F','03-MAY-1948','SPOUSE');
INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (123456789,'MICHAEL','M','01-JAN-1978','SON');
INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (123456789,'ALICE','F','31-DEC-1978','DAUGHTER');
INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (123456789,'ELIZABETH','F','05-MAY-1957','SPOUSE');
INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (987654321,'ABNER','M','26-FEB-1932','SPOUSE');

3. Ferramentas do Oracle 9i, 10g e 11g Developer Suite

1. Formulários Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g e Oracle 11g – Para criar formulários de entrada de dados.
2. Relatórios Oracle 9i e Oracle 10g – Para criar relatórios.
3. Oracle 9i, 10g ou 11g JDeveloper – Para desenvolver aplicativos ou applets Java
4. Oracle 9i, 10g ou 11g Warehouse Builder and Discoverer – ferramentas OLAP para
   criar data warehouses e interfaces de usuário OLAP
5. Oracle 9i, 10 ou 11g Designer – ferramentas CASE da Oracle que incluem modelagem
   e recursos de geração de código.

3.1 Iniciando as ferramentas do desenvolvedor no Windows

3.1.1 Oracle Developer Suite 9i (9iDS)

3.1.2 Oracle Forms and Reports 11g

1. Instalando o Oracle Fusion Middleware / Weblogic Server 11g
2. Instalando o Oracle Forms and Reports 11g Versão 2

3.1.3 Outras versões do Oracle Forms and Reports

4. A tela principal do Oracle Forms Builder

4.1 Navegador de Objetos do Oracle Forms

• O menu Arquivo possui opções para criar, abrir, salvar e imprimir formulários. Este menu também inclui uma opção para conectar-se ao banco de dados e a opção Administração que é usada para compilar formulários e código de menu. A última opção no menu Arquivo é a opção Sair que sairá do Oracle Forms Builder.
• O menu Editar tem opções para recortar, copiar e colar objetos, invocar um editor e desfazer uma operação.
• O menu Exibir alterna a exibição do navegador de objetos entre elementos visuais e elementos de propriedade.
• O menu Layout tem itens que controlam objetos em um formulário de forma muito semelhante a um pacote de desenho. Os objetos podem ser redimensionados, movidos, pintados e manipulados de outra forma usando itens neste menu.
• O menu Programa possui itens que controlam a compilação, geração e execução do formulário (Run). Triggers, Procedures e outros códigos PL/SQL também podem ser criados neste menu. A opção de menu Smart Triggers exibe os triggers mais usados ​​de acordo com o tipo de objeto atualmente selecionado no navegador de objetos.
• O menu Debug tem opções para depurar formulários enquanto eles são executados. Inclui itens de menu para estabelecer pontos de interrupção e passar por cima da execução do código uma linha por vez.
• O menu Ferramentas tem opções para alternar entre várias telas diferentes, incluindo o editor de layout, o editor de menus e o Navegador de objetos. Existem também vários assistentes que podem ser iniciados a partir deste menu, incluindo o assistente Data Block, o assistente Layout e o assistente LOV (List of Values).
• O menu Windows exibe itens de menu para cada uma das janelas que você abriu. Por padrão, apenas um item – o Object Navigator – é exibido.
• Finalmente, o menu Ajuda pode ser usado para exibir tópicos de ajuda.

1. Formulários – Contém objetos de formulário e todos os seus subobjetos, como blocos de dados, gatilhos, alertas, telas, unidades de programa (procedimentos e funções), parâmetros e janelas. Mais de um formulário pode ser aberto por vez.
2. Menus – Contém objetos de menu e todos os seus subobjetos, como itens de menu, parâmetros e unidades de programa. Mais de um menu pode ser aberto por vez.
3. Bibliotecas PL/SQL – São bibliotecas de código PL/SQL (armazenadas no banco de dados ou em arquivos .plb). As bibliotecas podem ser compartilhadas entre diferentes formas e entre diferentes desenvolvedores.
4. Bibliotecas de Objetos – São bibliotecas contendo uma coleção de objetos (qualquer coisa que possa aparecer em um formulário).
5. Pacotes internos – Lista todos os pacotes (procedimentos PL/SQL) disponíveis por padrão para todos os formulários, relatórios etc.
6. Objetos de banco de dados – Lista todos os objetos de banco de dados (tabelas, exibições, bibliotecas PL/SQL e unidades de programa armazenadas) no esquema de banco de dados Oracle do usuário.

4.2 Conectando-se ao banco de dados

5. Projeto de formulários Oracle

Formulário de bloco único. Este formulário contém um único bloco de dados correspondente a uma única tabela de banco de dados.	Formulário de bloco único com campo de pesquisa. Este formulário contém um único bloco de dados correspondente a uma única tabela de banco de dados com a adição de um ou mais campos que exibem dados de algumas outras tabelas. Esses dados são “pesquisados” quando o formulário é executado.
Formulário mestre/detalhe. Este formulário contém dois blocos de dados que são organizados em um relacionamento mestre/detalhe (um para muitos).	Formulário mestre/detalhe com campos de pesquisa. Este formulário é semelhante ao Mestre/Detalhe, mas possui os campos de pesquisa adicionais nos blocos mestre e/ou de detalhes.

6. Criando e executando um formulário Oracle com um único bloco

1. O Assistente de bloco de dados orienta o desenvolvedor pelas etapas de escolha de uma tabela e colunas base.
2. O Assistente de layout orienta o desenvolvedor na organização da tabela base e das colunas no formulário.

6.1 Criando um novo bloco

6.2 The Layout Editor

• Move a field or a field label by clicking and dragging the item with the left mouse button.
• Change the text of a label by choosing the text tool button from the tool bar and then clicking on a label. To stop editing the label, click anywhere outside of the label text.
• Add text to the block by choosing the text tool button from the tool bar and then clicking on a open area. Type the new text. To change the font, highlight the text, pull down the Format menu and click on the Font menu item.
  To change the text color of a label, use the pointer tool to highlight a label and then click on the Text Color palette button to choose the color.
• Change the width of a field by clicking on the field. Then drag one of the handles (small black boxes around the field) to re-size the field.
  
  For exampe, on the employee form, you may wish to make the FNAME field wider to accomodate longer first names.
• Use the Zoom In tool to zoom in to the form (e.g., make everything appear larger). Or use the Zoom Out tool to zoom out of the form.

6.3 Displaying Properties

• WHERE Clause – specify a WHERE clause to filter the selection of rows from the base table.
• ORDER BY Clause – specify an ORDER BY clause to alter the displayed order of the records.
• Delete Allowed, Insert Allowed, Query Allowed and Update Allowed – toggle these properties to allow or prevent the action. For example, setting Delete Allowed to FALSE prevents users from deleting records from the corresponding base table using this form.
• There are numerous other properties that affect the fonts, colors, size and position of objects in the block.

6.4 Saving, Compiling and Running Forms

6.4.1 Saving a Form

6.4.2 Compiling/Building a Form

6.4.3 Running a Form

6.4.4 Running a Form using Oracle 9iDS

• The height and width settings for the Java applet that displays the forms are set in the formsweb.cfg file located in \forms90\server directory under the Oracle9iDS installation home. Edit the formsweb.cfg file with a text editor and scroll down to Section 3) Values for the Forms applet parameters:
  Change the width= and height= parameters accordingly and save the file. You may need to restart the OC4J server. Note that you can also set the width and height parameters to percentages. For example setting width=100% will cause the applet to use up the entire width of the web browser.
• Error FRM-18125:Could not find the web browser appears if you do not have a web browser installed or your web browser is not found in the PATH. If you are certain you have a web browser installed, set its location in the Preferences section in the Forms builder (Edit -> Preferences -> Runtime tab).
• Error FRM-10142:The HTTP listener is not running on… appears if the OC4J is not running. Start the OC4J Instance.

6.4.5 Running Oracle Forms 11g

6.4.6 Query By Example

SELECT fname, lname, ssn, bdate, salary, dno  FROM   employee  WHERE  dno = 5;

6.5 Exercise:Creating a Single Block Form

• Select and display all of the columns in the DEPARTMENT table.
• In the layout wizard, use the Tabular layout and display 5 Records in the form. Add a scrollbar.
• In the Layout Editor, make the DNAME field a bit wider to accommodate longer department names.
• Change the Properties of the DEPARTMENT block so that that data is ORDER BY DNAME.
• Save the form under the file name:depart.fmb

7. Creating a Master/Detail Form

7.1 The Master/Detail Relationship

• A Customer Order with many OrderItems.
• A Department with many Employees.
• An Employee with many Dependents.
• A Company with many Branch Offices.
• A Recipe with many Recipe Steps.
• An Inventory location with many Inventory Items.

• Oracle Forms coordinates values between the two blocks through a series of form and block level triggers .
• Oracle Forms guarantees that the detail block will display only records that are associated with the current record in the master block.

7.2 Steps to Create a Master/Detail Form

7.2.1 Create the Master Block

1. Pull down the Tools menu and choose the Data Block wizard.
2. Create a data block for a table/view.
3. Specify the DEPARTMENT table and select all of the columns (DNAME, DNUMBER, MGRSSN and MGRSARTDATE).
4. Create the data block and then go on to the Layout wizard.
5. Apply the Department data block to a new canvas.
6. Add all of the columns as Displayed Items.
7. Change the labels to:
   Dept. Name
   Dept. Number
   Mgr. Ssn
   Mgr. Start Date
8. Choose a Form layout.
9. Specify a frame title of “Departments” and select only 1 record to be displayed.
10. Save the form as deptemp.fmb and then compile and run it to make sure it is working properly.
11. Use the QBE features to retrieve only those departments with DNUMBER greater than 2. Then, do another QBE query to retrieve only those departments with the letter H in their name (try %H%).

7.2.2 Create the Detail Block

1. Return to the Object Navigator (pull down the Tools menu and choose Object Navigator).
2. In the Object Navigator, click on the Data Blocks branch of the DEPTEMP form (do not click on the department data block, however).
3. Pull down the Tools menu and choose the Data Block wizard.
   Note: If the DEPARTMENT data block (or any of its items) is still selected, activating the Data Block wizard will cause the existing block to be edited instead of creating a new block (which is what is required in this part of the tutorial).
4. Select the EMPLOYEE table and include the FNAME, LNAME, SSN, BDATE, SALARY and DNO columns.
   
   
   
5. Because at least one data block already exists in the form, the next step in the wizard will be to create a relationship between the existing data block (DEPARTMENT in this case) and the new block being created.
   The wizard can construct the relationship based on table level constraints it learns from the database schema. For example, in the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE statements given at the start of this tutorial, foreign key constraints were specified between DEPARTMENT and EMPLOYEE, and between EMPLOYEE and DEPENDENT. However, such relationships are not always implemented in table level constraints.
   The developer can also specify the relationship manually. In this case, the relationship will be specified manually.
   
   De-select the Auto-join data blocks option.
   Click on the Create Relationship button to list the available data blocks.
   In the next dialog box Relation Type, choose Based on a join condition and click the OK button.
   
   
   When the list of blocks appears, choose the DEPARTMENT data block.
   Arrange the Detail Item (DNO) and Master Item (DNUMBER) such as that the join condition becomes:EMPLOYEE.DNO =DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER
   
   
   
6. Name the data block EMPLOYEE.
7. Create the data block and then call the Layout wizard.
8. Be sure to choose the existing canvas (CANVAS4 in this example) and include all of the items except the DNO as displayed.
   The DNO column (item) will still be a part of the EMPLOYEE data block, however, it will not be displayed to the user.
   
   
9. Touch up the labels for the fields and choose the Tabular layout.
10. Give the Frame Title as “Employees” and select 5 Records displayed with 0 distance between records.
11. Save the form (it should already have the name deptemp.fmb) and then compile and run it. Note that after compilation, any errors encountered will be displayed.

• To go to the next block:Press CTRL-PageDown or pull down the Block menu and choose Next
• To go to the previous block:Press CTRL-PageUp or pull down the Block menu and choose Previous

7.3 Relation Properties of a Master/Detail Form

• Name – The name of the Relation. This is typically made up of the names of the blocks.
• Relation Type – The type of the relation:Join or Ref.
  A Join relation uses the typical SQL join (in the Where clause) to bring the two tables (data blocks) together. The Ref relation type is used for abstract data types and object references.
• Detail Data Block – The name of the detail data block specified when the detail data block was created.
• Join Condition – This is the join condition in effect for queries to the database. This was specified when the detail data block was created.
• Delete Record Behavior – Used to specify how the deletion of a record in the master block affects records in the detail block. It supports the following settings:
  • Non-isolated:Prevents the deletion of a master record if associated detail records exist in the database.
  • Isolated:Deleting the master record will not affect the associated detail records in the database.
  • Cascading:Deletes the master record and automatically deletes any associated detail records.
• Coordination – Deferred – Indicates when detail records should be queried when a master record is queried.
  • Yes:Form does not query the detail records until the user navigates to the detail block.
  • No:Detail records are fetched immediately when a user queries the master record.
  
  Deferred is sometimes set to Yes in cases where there are a lot of detail records for each master record. In such cases, a lot of data must be queried and delivered to the client each time a new record is displayed in the master block. When Deferred is set to Yes, the user can scroll down to the master record of interest and then navigate to the detail block (CTRL-PageDown) to query the related detail records.
• Coordination – Auto-query – Applied to deferred queries only
  • Yes:the query is automatically executed when the user navigates to the detail block.
  • No:the query must be executed manually by the user after they navigate to the detail block.
• Prevent Masterless operation – Specifies whether users are allowed to query or insert records in a detail block when no master record is in place.
  • Yes:Users may not query or insert when no master record is in place.
  • No:Users may query or insert when no master record is in place.

7.4 Program Units in a Master/Detail Form

PROCEDURE Query_Master_Details(rel_id Relation,detail CHAR) IS
oldmsg CHAR(2);  -- Old Message Level Setting
reldef CHAR(5);  -- Relation Deferred Setting
BEGIN
--
-- Initialize Local Variable(s)
--
reldef := Get_Relation_Property(rel_id, DEFERRED_COORDINATION);
oldmsg := :System.Message_Level;
--
-- If NOT Deferred, Goto detail and execute the query.
--
IF reldef = 'FALSE' THEN
Go_Block(detail);
Check_Package_Failure;
:System.Message_Level := '10';
Execute_Query;
:System.Message_Level := oldmsg;
ELSE
--
-- Relation is deferred, mark the detail block as un-coordinated
--
Set_Block_Property(detail, COORDINATION_STATUS, NON_COORDINATED);
END IF;

EXCEPTION
WHEN Form_Trigger_Failure THEN
:System.Message_Level := oldmsg;
RAISE;
END Query_Master_Details;

7.5 Extending Master/Detail Forms

7.6 Exercise:Creating a Master/Detail Form

1. Create the Employee data block and include the FNAME, LNAME, SSN, ADDRESS and SEX fields on the form. Use the Form layout and only display one record at a time.
2. Go back to the Object Navigator and select the “Data Blocks” tree. Make sure the EMPLOYEE block is not selected and run the Data Block Wizard again.
3. Create the Dependents data block and include all of the columns.
   For the master/Detail relationship, de-select the “auto” option, use a Join relationship, choose the EMPLOYEE data block as the Master and set DEPENDENT.ESSN =EMPLOYEE.SSN for the join relationship.
4. In the Layout Wizard for the Dependents data block, display all of the fields except the ESSN field . The ESSN field will remain part of the data block but it will not be visible on the form. Choose a Tabular style and display 4 up to records at once with 0 space between each record.
5. Save the form using the name:empdepn.fmb

8. List of Values (LOVs) and Non-Base Table Fields

8.1 Creating a List of Values

8.1.1 Create a new LOV Object

8.2 Non-Base Table fields

1. First the new item will have to be added to the EMPLOYEE data block. We’ll call this new item DEPTNAME.
2. Next, the DEPTNAME field should be populated with the department name each time the value of the DNO field changes. A trigger will be created to handle this functionality.
3. Finally, the list of values will be changed to include the Department name in the LOV.

8.2.1 Adding a New Item to an Existing Data Block

• Switch to the Layout Editor by clicking on the Tools menu and selecting the Layout Editor menu item.
• Click on the Text Item tool and create a new field on the EMPLOYEE block by clicking and dragging the mouse next to the DNO item.
  
  
  
• Display the properties for the new Text Item by double clicking on it. Change its name to DEPTNAME. Change the following properties for DEPTNAME:
  
  
  Enabled: Yes
  Keyboard Navigable: No
  Database Item: No
  Query Only: No
  Primary Key: No
  Insert Allowed: No
  Query Allowed: No
  Update Allowed: No
  
  
  
  
• By setting Keyboard Navigable to No , we prevent the user from tabbing into this field. Since this field is not used for data entry or querying, this prevents the potential confusion.
• The Database Item property is set to No which indicates that this filed does not map to an actual column in the EMPLOYEE table.
• The remaining properties are all set to No to keep the field from participating in any of these activities:Delete, Insert, Update and Query.

8.2.2 Creating a Trigger

• PRE- Trigger fires before an event is executed.
• POST- Trigger fires after an event is executed.
• WHEN- Trigger fires in place of the execution of an event.
• KEY- Trigger fires when a particular key is pressed.

• Switch to the Object Navigator view by clicking on the Tools menu and choosing the Object Navigator menu item.
• Open up the EMPLOYEE data block and the DNO item.
• Click on the Triggers property and create a new trigger by pulling down the Edit menu and choosing the Create menu item.
• A list of possible trigger names appears. Choose the POST-CHANGE trigger and click on the OK button.
  
  
  

• When the PL/SQL editor appears, type the following PL/SQL code:

     
          -- Populate the non-base table field :EMPLOYEE.DEPTNAME  
          -- using a value from the DEPARTMENT table.  
          BEGIN  
          SELECT DNAME  
          INTO   :EMPLOYEE.DEPTNAME  
          FROM   DEPARTMENT  
          WHERE  DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER = :EMPLOYEE.DNO;  
          END; 
          

  
  Items on a block are preceded by a full colon to differentiate them from columns in a table.
• Compile the trigger by clicking on the Compile button (this icon is in the upper left corner of the PL/SQL editor window).
  
  
  
• Close the PL/SQL editor by clicking on the Close button.
  Save, compile/build and run the form to test the functionality. Notice that when the EMPLOYEE block is queried, the associated department name now appears in the new DEPTNAME field. Each time the DNO field is changed, the POST-CHANGE trigger will fire and will fetch the appropriate DNAME column from the DEPARTMENT table and place it in the DEPTNAME field on the form.
  
  
  

8.2.3 Create a new List of Values with descriptions

• From the Object Navigator, click on the LOVs for the EMPLOYEE form. Pull down the Edit menu and choose the Create menu item. Choose the LOV Wizard.
• Type the following SQL statement into the Query Text field:

  SELECT DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER, DEPARTMENT.DNAME FROM DEPARTMENT  

  
  Then click on the Next button.
  
  Include both the DNUMBER and DNAME columns from the Record Group in the LOV.
  Map the DNUMBER LOV column to the :EMPLOYEE.DNO text item and map the DNAME LOV column to the :EMPLOYEE.DEPTNAME text item (created in the previous section).
  
• Give a title for your list of values and return both DNUMBER and DNAME from the LOV.
• Finally, Save, Compile and Run the form. Note that displaying the LOV for the DNO item now causes both the department number and the name to appear.

8.3 Exercise:Creating an LOV and Non-Base table field

• Create a new form called departmg.fmb that includes all of the columns in the DEPARTMENT table. In the layout wizard, use the Tabular layout and display 5 Records in the form. Add a scrollbar.
• In the Layout Editor, create a new text item called MGR_LAST_NAME in the DEPARTMENT data block. Be sure the DEPARTMENT block is selected when the new item is created. Change the properties of MGR_LAST_NAME so it is not a Database item.
  Add a text label to this new MGR_LAST_NAME field.
  
• Create a list of values called LOV_MGR based upon the query:

  SELECT ssn, lname  FROM  employee  

  
  Map the employee.ssn column to the :DEPARTMENT.MGRSSN field.
  Map the employee.lname column to the :DEPARTMENT.MGR_LAST_NAME field.
  



• Create a POST-CHANGE trigger on the MGRSSN item so that when it changes, the following code will execute:

      SELECT lname
      INTO   :DEPARTMENT.MGR_LAST_NAME
      FROM   employee
      WHERE  employee.ssn = :DEPARTMENT.MGRSSN;  

  
  This will automatically populate the non base table field MGR_LAST_NAME on the form when the form is queried.

9. Oracle Forms Program Units and Stored Program Units

9.1 Creating Program Units in Oracle Forms

9.1.1 Add a new item to the EMPLOYEE Block

9.1.2 Create a Procedure to Count Other Department Members

-- Given an Employee's SSN, return the number of other employees
-- in the same department.
PROCEDURE OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER,
  OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER) IS

TEMP_COUNT NUMBER;   -- Placeholder for count

BEGIN
  TEMP_COUNT := 0;     -- Initialize to 0

  --  Try and fill TEMP_COUNT with the count of other
  --  Employees in the department
  SELECT COUNT(*)
  INTO   TEMP_COUNT
  FROM   EMPLOYEE
  WHERE  EMPLOYEE.DNO =
  (SELECT EMPLOYEE.DNO
  FROM   EMPLOYEE
  WHERE  EMPLOYEE.SSN = IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN);

  -- See if we got a meaningful result
  IF (NVL(TEMP_COUNT, 0) <> 0) THEN
    OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := (TEMP_COUNT - 1 );
  ELSE
    OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := 0;
  END IF;
END;

9.1.3 Create a Trigger to Call the Procedure

      DECLARE
  	  return_count NUMBER;
        BEGIN
          -- Call the Forms Procedure to get the
          -- count of others in the department.
          OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS(:EMPLOYEE.SSN, return_count);
          -- Assign the return count to the field on
          -- the EMPLOYEE block.
          :EMPLOYEE.OTHER_MEMBERS := return_count;
        END;

9.1.4 Save, Compile/Build and Run the Form

9.2 Creating Stored Procedures in SQL*Plus

1. A local call from the POST-CHANGE trigger to the procedure passing an employee’s SSN.
2. A remote access from the procedure to the database passing a SQL query.
3. A remote return from the database containing a count.
4. A small amount of processing in the procedure (IF … THEN).
5. A local return from the procedure to the trigger.

CREATE PROCEDURE OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS
 (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER,
  OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER)  AS
  -- Given an Employee's SSN, return the number of other employees
  -- in the same department.
TEMP_COUNT NUMBER;   -- Placeholder for count

BEGIN
  TEMP_COUNT := 0;     -- Initialize to 0
  --  Try and fill TEMP_COUNT with the count of other
  --  Employees in the department
  SELECT COUNT(*)
  INTO   TEMP_COUNT
  FROM   EMPLOYEE
  WHERE  EMPLOYEE.DNO =
    (SELECT EMPLOYEE.DNO
    FROM   EMPLOYEE
    WHERE  EMPLOYEE.SSN = IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN);

  -- See if we got a meaningful result
  IF (NVL(TEMP_COUNT, 0) <> 0) THEN
    OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := (TEMP_COUNT - 1 );
  ELSE
    OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := 0;
  END IF;
END;

ORA-01031: insufficient privileges 

SQL> SELECT * FROM user_errors;

no rows selected

SQL> CREATE PROCEDURE test AS
2  BEGIN
3    SELECT SYSDATE INTO :temp FROM dual;
4  END;
5  /

Warning: Procedure created with compilation errors.

SQL> show errors
buffer overflow. Use SET command to reduce ARRAYSIZE or increase MAXDATA.
No errors.

SQL>   SET ARRAYSIZE 2

SQL> show errors
Errors for PROCEDURE TEST:

LINE/COL ERROR
-------- --------------------------------------------
3/23     PLS-00049: bad bind variable 'TEMP'

CREATE PROCEDURE OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS
 (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER,
  OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER)  AS

PROCEDURE OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS
 (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER,
  OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER) IS

9.3 Additional Stored Procedures and Triggers

9.3.1 Generating unique or consecutive identifiers using the table

BEGIN
  SELECT MAX( dnumber ) + 1
  INTO :department.dnumber
  FROM  department;
END;

9.3.2 Generating unique or consecutive identifiers using an Oracle Sequence

CREATE SEQUENCE department_seq
INCREMENT BY 1
START WITH 1
MAXVALUE 99999
NOCYCLE;

BEGIN
  -- Get the next value for DNUMBER from the
  -- department_seq sequence.
  SELECT department_seq.nextval
  INTO :department.dnumber
  FROM  dual;
END;

9.3.3 Checking constraints at the client

BEGIN
  IF (:SUPERSSN = :SSN) THEN
    MESSAGE('Employees may not supervise themselves!');
    RAISE FORM_TRIGGER_FAILURE;
  END IF;
END;

9.3.4 Adding Alerts (Pop-up Messages)

• Use the Object Navigator to display the Alerts area. Pull down the Navigator menu and choose Create. Click on the default name that is given for the new alert (something
  like ALERT4) and rename it:SUPERVISOR_ALERT
• Bring up the Property Palette for this Alert and fill in the following properties:
  Title: Supervisor Alert Message
  Message: Employees may not supervise themselves!
  Alert Style: STOP
  Button 1 Label: OK
  Leave the Button 2 Label and the Button 3 Label blank
  Default Alert button: Button 1
  Leave all of the other properties with their defaults and close the Property palette.
• Change the above WHEN-VALIDATE-ITEM trigger on the SUPERSSN item in the EMPLOYEE data block to:

  DECLARE
  return_alert NUMBER;
  BEGIN
    IF (:SUPERSSN = :SSN) THEN
       return_alert := SHOW_ALERT ('SUPERVISOR_ALERT');
       RAISE FORM_TRIGGER_FAILURE;
    END IF;
  END;
  

  
  The SHOW_ALERT procedure calls up the specified alert and obtains the return value (based on the button the user clicks on) to assign to a local variable called return_alert .

9.3.5 Automatic Forms Query

BEGIN
  GO_BLOCK('EMPLOYEE');
  EXECUTE_QUERY;
END;

9.3.6 Populate items with default values

BEGIN
  IF :SUPERSSN IS NULL THEN
    SELECT department.mgrssn
    INTO   :employee.superssn
    FROM   department
    WHERE  department.dnumber = :employee.dno;
  END IF;
END;

9.3.7 Attaching functionality to command buttons

DECLARE
  return_alert NUMBER;
BEGIN
  return_alert := SHOW_ALERT ('EXIT_ALERT');
  IF (return_alert = alert_buttin1) THEN
    EXIT_FORM;
  END IF;
END;

9.3.8 Passing parameters between forms

• On the EMPLOYEE form, create a button and label it “Query Dependents”.
  Create a WHEN-BUTTON-PRESSED trigger with the following code (comments are enclosed in the code):
  

  DECLARE -- Declare pl_id as the identifier for the parameter list pl_id ParamList; BEGIN -- See if that parameter list already exists. If so, destroy it pl_id := Get_Parameter_List('tmpdata'); IF NOT Id_Null(pl_id) THEN Destroy_Parameter_List( pl_id ); END IF; -- Create a fresh parameter list */ pl_id := Create_Parameter_List('tmpdata'); -- Add a new parameter to this list called EMPLOYEESSN -- Assign this parameter the current value of the :SSN field Add_Parameter(pl_id, 'EMPLOYEESSN', TEXT_PARAMETER, :SSN); -- Now run a new form called 'empdepn' (must be in the same -- directory as the employee form we are now editing.) -- Pass along the identifier of our parameter list (pl_id) Run_Product(FORMS, 'empdepn', SYNCHRONOUS, RUNTIME, FILESYSTEM, pl_id, NULL); -- Note: In newer version of Forms, you may need to call -- formsid := FIND_FORM_OBJECT('empdepn'); -- view_forms := RUN_FORM_OBJECT(formsid, pl_id); -- or if running a Report from a form you may need to call: -- reportid := FIND_REPORT_OBJECT('myreport'); -- view_report := RUN_REPORT_OBJECT(reportid, pl_id); -- Note that 'myreport' must be created under the Reports entry in the -- Object Navigator in Forms END;

  
  
  
  
  Note:In 9iDS, you may need to use either RUN_REPORT_OBJECT or RUN_FORM_OBJECT .
  
  
  Important note:You may also have to include the full path of to the file name of the form you are launching with the Run_Product function call. Por exemplo:
  

   Run_Product(FORMS, 'd:\myfiles\empdepn', SYNCHRONOUS, RUNTIME,
       FILESYSTEM, pl_id, NULL);
  

  
  If you receive error FRM-40010 Cannot read form empdepn.fmx then you will need to include the full directory path to where your forms are located. Make sure the path does not contain spaces (such as “My Documents “).
• Compile and save this form.
• Now open up the empdepn (EMPLOYEE/DEPENDENT) form.
• Using the Object Navigator, create a new PARAMETER called EMPLOYEESSN. This parameter will automatically be assigned a value based on the parameter list passed to the form by the above RUN_PRODUCT procedure call.
• Create a new trigger called WHEN-NEW-FORM-INSTANCE. This trigger will execute whenever the form is first run.
  

  DECLARE -- Declare a forms block identifier blk_id Block; BEGIN -- Obtain the block ID of the EMPLOYEE block. This is the -- Master block in the empdepn master/detail form. blk_id := Find_Block('EMPLOYEE'); IF NOT Id_Null(blk_id) THEN -- Check to make sure our parameter has a value. If this form -- were executed by itself, then the parameter will be null. -- If this form is called from EMPLOYEE then the parameter will -- be passed along and assigned to: PARAMETER.employeessn IF (:PARAMETER.employeessn is not null) THEN -- Since we have a parameter, use it to alter the WHERE Clause -- property so that it becomes WHERE ssn=:PARAMETER.employeessn SET_BLOCK_PROPERTY(blk_id,DEFAULT_WHERE,'ssn=' || : PARAMETER.employeessn); -- Navigate to the EMPLOYEE block and execute a query automatically GO_BLOCK('EMPLOYEE'); EXECUTE_QUERY; END IF; END IF; END;

  
  
  
  
• save and Compile the empdepn Formato.
• Now run the EMPLOYEE form, query an employee record and click on the “Query Dependents” button. The empdepn form should appear with the dependents automatically queried.

9.4 Exercise:Procedures and Triggers

• Use a simple Department data entry form and create an Oracle Sequence (using SQL*Plus) that will generate new Department numbers for the DEPARTMENT table. Add the
  requisite PRE-INSERT trigger code to insert a unique DNUMBER each time a new department record is created.
• Add a WHEN-NEW-FORM-INSTANCE trigger to the above Department form that will automatically query the DEPARTMENT table when this form is opened.
• Use a simple Employee data entry form and create an alert that displays a warning if an employee’s salary is larger than their supervisor’s. In a WHEN-VALIDATE-ITEM trigger, run a query to check if the employee’s salary is greater than their supervisor’s and if so, show the alert.
• Use the Employee/Dependent Master/Detail form you created in exercise 7.6 and put in some validation code that will check to make sure if a DEPENDENT is a SON or DAUGHTER, then the DEPENDENT’s BDATE must be less than the EMPLOYEE’s BDATE. If this is not the case, show an alert.
• After you learn how to create Reports (see the next section) create a simple DEPARTMENT data entry form with a button that, when pressed, will run a report for that department (show all employees for example) by passing along the DNUMBER as a parameter.
  
  Note that you will need to use some code in your button similar to the following:
  

  DECLARE reportid REPORT_OBJECT; view_report VARCHAR2(100); report_result VARCHAR(30); rep_status VARCHAR2(20); -- Declare pl_id as the identifier for the parameter list pl_id ParamList; BEGIN -- NOTE: In order to launch a report from Forms, you must have the Reports server -- running on your local machine. -- At a DOS prompt type: rwserver -install localhost autostart=yes -- This will install a reports server for your machine (localhost) and start it up. -- Next, create a Reports Object in Forms Object Navigator. -- This is named "MYREPORT" for this example. This reports -- object will have properties including the path to the actual -- report file (.rdf file) you want to run. pl_id := Get_Parameter_List('tmpdata'); IF NOT Id_Null(pl_id) THEN Destroy_Parameter_List( pl_id ); END IF; -- Create a fresh parameter list pl_id := Create_Parameter_List('tmpdata'); -- Add a new parameter to this list called MYDNUMBER -- Note that in the report being called (empreport.rdf) the -- report query should use :MYDNUMBER in the WHERE clause -- as in SELECT * FROM employee WHERE dno = :MYDNUMBER -- Assign this parameter the current value of the : DNUMBER field Add_Parameter(pl_id, 'MYDNUMBER', TEXT_PARAMETER, : DNUMBER); -- Now execute the report object. This object must be created -- in the Object Navigator under REPORTS (just below "Record Groups") report_result := RUN_REPORT_OBJECT('MYREPORT', pl_id); -- Check on the report status and loop until it is done rep_status := REPORT_OBJECT_STATUS(report_result); WHILE rep_status in ('RUNNING','OPENING_REPORT','ENQUEUED') LOOP rep_status := report_object_status(report_result); END LOOP; -- When the report is done, open up a new window and display it IF rep_status = 'FINISHED' THEN WEB.SHOW_DOCUMENT('http://localhost:8888/reports/rwservlet/getjobid' || substr(report_result,instr(report_result,'_',-1)+1) || '?' || 'server=localhost','_blank'); END IF; END;

10. Oracle Reports Basics

10.1 Starting Developer tools under Windows 2000/XP/7

10.2 The Oracle Reports Object Navigator

1. Reports which include:
   • Data Model – Contains information about queries used for a report.
   • Web Source – A web page or web service that returns a data set.
   • Paper Layout – Contains information about how a paper or screen a report is formatted including headers, footers, margins, fonts, etc.
   • Paper Parameter Form – Contains information about the initial screen that is displayed when a form first runs.
   • Report Triggers – PL/SQL code that can be executed before, during or after a report has been executed.
   • Program Units
   • Attached Libraries
2. Templates – Existing templates that can be used to create new reports.
3. PL/SQL Libraries – Libraries of PL/SQL code.
4. Debug Actions – Actions the debugger is scheduled to track.
5. Stack – The current state of execution of a procedure.
6. Built-in Packages – The built-in packages already in the database.
7. Database Objects – Tables, sequences, views, etc.

10.3 Creating Reports in Oracle Reports

1. Define the Data Model – This step specifies which queries should be run on the database including how multiple queries are related and how they are grouped. This step must be done by hand. Queries that have been created elsewhere can be imported into Oracle Reports.
2. Define the Layout – This step specifies the layout of the report including the overall orientation of query results and the suppression of repeating groups. There are a number of default report layouts that can automatically be applied to a data model.
3. Create and/or Customize the Parameter Form – If some user input is required in order to run the report, then a parameter form must be customized. All reports have a default parameter form.
4. (optional) Create any triggers or program units that will be executed with the report.

10.4 Creating a Single-Table Report

10.4.1 Specify the Data Model and Layout

1. Tabular – Simple table with column headings at the top and data records in consecutive rows below.
2. Form – Column headings on the left hand side with data values next to them on the right.
3. Mailing Label – No column headings and records grouped into repeating sections sized to print directly to a sheet of mailing labels.
4. Form Letter – Arbitrary placement of data items within a text body.
5. Group-Left – A Master/Detail/Detail style where the master records are grouped on the left hand side with details to the right.
6. Group-Above – A Master/Detail/Detail style where the master records appear above the detail records.
7. Matrix – Column labels on both the left and the top with data values in the middle. Similar to a spreadsheet.
8. Matrix with Group – A combination of Master/Detail (Group-Above) and Matrix.

10.4.1 Specify the Data Model and Layout – Continued

1. Express Server Query – a query based on a stored Oracle Express Server (OLAP)
2. JDBC Query – A Query posed to a JDBC (Java DataBase Connectivity) Source
3. SQL Query – A traditional SQL query to an Oracle database
4. Text Query – A query posed against a text data source
5. XML Query – A query posed against an XML data source (the Document Type Definition (DTD) of the XML data source is also required to use this type of query).

SELECT FNAME, LNAME, SSN, SALARY, DNO  FROM EMPLOYEE ;  

10.4.2 Saving, Generating and Running the Report

10.5 Exercise:Creating a Report

• Start up the Report wizard. Use “Departments” as the title and enter the following SQL Statement as the query:

  SELECT dnumber, dname, mgrstartdate, mgrssn, lname, salary  FROM   department, employee  WHERE  department.mgrssn = employee.ssn;  

• Summarize the report with an average of the Salary column.
• Save the new report as departmg.rdf

10.6 Creating a Master/Detail Report

10.6.1 Specify the Master/Detail Data Model and Layout

1. Choose both Web and Page Layouts
2. For the Report Title use:Departments and Employees
3. For the Report Style , choose Group Above .
4. Choose a SQL Statement and the SQL Query:

   SELECT DNAME, FNAME, LNAME, SALARY
   FROM DEPARTMENT, EMPLOYEE
   WHERE DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER = EMPLOYEE.DNO
   

5. Designate the DNAME field as a Group field (Level 1). Click on the DNAME field and then on the right arrow button.
6. Display all fields in the report.
7. Choose Average Salary as a Totals campo. Click on the SALARY field and then click on the Average button.
8. Touch up the fields and labels as follows:

   Fields and Totals   Labels
   DNAME               Department Name
   FNAME               First Name
   LNAME               Last Name
   SALARY              Salary
   AvgSALARYperDNAME   Average:
   AvgSALARYperRep     Average For all Employees:
   

9. Use the Blue pre-defined template.

10.6.2 Saving, Generating and Running the Master/Detail Report

10.7 Exercise:Creating a Master/Detail Report

• Create a new Report using the wizard. Give a title:“Employees and Their Dependents”
• Select the Group Above report type and use the following SQL query:

  SELECT  employee.fname, employee.lname,
  employee.bdate AS EmpBdate,
  employee.sex AS EmpSex, dependent.dependent_name,
  dependent.bdate AS DepBdate,
  dependent.sex AS DepSex, dependent.relationship
  FROM    employee, dependent
  WHERE   employee.ssn = dependent.essn;
  

  
  Note the use of column aliases (AS) to differentiate the bdate and sex columns.
• Select the lname, fname, empsex, empbdate fields as the “Group 1” fields. These should all be from the EMPLOYEE table.
• Select all fields to display in the report and do not select any fields for the calculate totals step.
• Touch up the report in the live previewer to fit on one screen.
• Save the report as file:empdepen.rdf

10.8 Parameter forms in Oracle Reports

1. Create a new report using the report wizard. Specify “Employees” as the report title and use a Tabular report layout.
2. Use the following SQL query exactly as written. Note the use of the full colon in the WHERE clause.

   SELECT *
   FROM   employee
   WHERE  employee.dno = :DNO_PARAMETER;
   
   

   
   In the above query, :DNO_PARAMETER is the name of a run time parameter . When the report is executed at run time, the user will supply a value for this parameter thus completing the WHERE clause for the query.
   Clicking on the Next button will produce the following alert:
   
   
   
   
3. Choose all of the columns (fields) for display in the report. Do not choose any fields for summary information.
4. When the report wizard is finished, the report and parameter form (based upon the parameters given in the SQL query) will be created. As the live previewer is running, the new parameter form will be displayed:
   
   
   For this example, choose department 5 (type the number 5 in the field) and press the enter key. Notice that only employees in department 5 are displayed in the live previewer.
   

10.8.1 Building a Custom Parameter Form

1. Switch to the Object Navigator, pull down the Tools menu and choose the
   Parameter Form Builder . This is shown below:
   
   
   
   A number of built-in system parameters are displayed and can be highlighted by clicking on them with the right mouse button. Note that at the bottom of this list is the
   DNO_PARAMETER and it should already be selected.
   
   
2. For this example, in addition to the DNO_PARAMETER also select the DESTYPE, DESNAME and COPIES parameters. Then click the OK botão. A new parameter form will be automatically created.
   
3. Save the report as empparam.rdf . When the form is executed (pull down the Program menu and choose Run Report ), the new parameter form will be displayed as shown below:

11. Creating Menus in Oracle Forms

1. The default menu which includes the Action, Edit, Block, Field, Record, Query, Window, Help menus. The structure of the default menu cannot be changed.
   
   
   
2. A custom menu that you define as a separate module and then attach to the form for runtime execution.
3. No menu at all.

• an .FMX form module
• an .MMX menu module

1. Select the name of the form/module in the Object Navigator. Click with the right mouse button and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. In the Menu Module property, type DEFAULT&SMARTBAR to get the default menu and a button bar below it.
   If you want the form to run without a menu, leave the Menu Module property blank.
   

1. Select the name of the form/module in the Object Navigator. Click with the right mouse button and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. In the Menu Module property, type DEFAULT.
   If you want the form to run without a menu, leave the Menu Module property blank.
   

11.1 The Oracle Forms Menu Hierarchy

1. Menu modules – Like form modules, a menu module can contain its own items (menus and menu items), program units and other objects.
2. Menus – Including main menus, individual menus, and submenus
3. Menu items – The items the user can select from a menu (or submenu). Menu Items are generally used to launch forms, reports or other programs.

11.2 Creating a Custom Menu

1. Creating a menu module
2. Creating menus and menu items
3. Assigning commands to menu items
4. Saving and generating (Compiling) the menu module (creates the .mmx file)
5. Attaching a menu module to a form

11.2.1 Creating a Menu Module

1. Pull down the File menu, highlight the New menu item and then select the Menu menu item.
2. Navigate down to the Menus subtree in the Object Navigator, pull down the Edit menu and choose the Create menu item.

11.2.2 Creating menus and menu items

11.2.3 Assigning Commands to Menu Items

1. Select the desired menu item in the Menu Editor. Click with the right mouse button and choose Properties to bring up the properties of that menu item.
   Note:The pop-up menu may show Property Palette
2. The properties of interest here are:
   • Command type: Indicates what kind of command should be run:Form, Report, PL/SQL, other menu. In general, the PL/SQL command type is used to launch Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports. The specific Form and Report command types are maintained for backwards compatibility only.
   • Menu Item Code (or Command Text ):The text of the actual command to run.
   
   To run a form from the menu item, choose Command Type PL/SQL. Double click on the Menu Item Code (or Command Text ) property and type in the PL/SQL editor:
   

   BEGIN
     RUN_PRODUCT(FORMS, 'employee', SYNCHRONOUS, RUNTIME, FILESYSTEM, '', '');
   END;  
   

   
   
   RUN_PRODUCT is a PL/SQL built-in function that runs another Oracle Developer product. The parameters to RUN_PRODUCT are:
   
   • Product:FORMS or REPORTS
   • Document/Module:name of the file in single quotes (Note that you may also provide an explicit path to the .fmx file here)
   • Command Mode:SYNCHRONOUS or ASYNCHRONOUS
   • Executable Mode:RUNTIME
   • Location:FILESYSTEM or DATABASE
   • Parameter List:A list of parameters to pass to the form or NULL
   • Display:Type of display to show the product on. Can be NULL to indicate the current display. Note:Starting with Forms 5.0, (which uses PL/SQL version 2.3) you may not use NULL in the call to RUN_PRODUCT here. You must use two single quotes (indicating a zero length character string).

BEGIN  EXIT_FORM;  END;  

11.2.4 Save and Generate the Menu Module

11.2.5 Attaching a Menu Module to a Form