Strategies to Move Forward with Oracle Forms: What Now? What Next?

1. Strategies to Move Forward with Oracle Forms What Now? What Next? Mia Urman @miaurmanmiaurman@AuraPlayer.com

2. Who am I Mia UrmanOracle ACE, CEO, AuraPlayer • Oracle Development Geek for 14 years. • 7 years at Oracle as a senior support analyst and local product manager of Forms and ADF. • CEO and Founder of AuraPlayer- Addressing Oracle Forms modernization challenges encountered at blue chip customers. Including: ADF Integration, Forms to Mobile, Cloud and SOA. • Board member of ODTUG, Leader of the ilOUGOracle Developer Groupand presenter of Oracle tools at international conferences OOW, Kscope, UKOUG …

3. Our Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!

4. HUGE Forms investment Trained developer pool Mission critical, complex systems Best development tool for OLTP Systems - Desktop Low maintenance, stable system for over 10 years Mostly undocumented systems VERY fast productive development NOW – Forms Today

5. Whats Next…

6. Then Next ….

7. State of the Union “Oracle has no plan to discontinue support of Oracle Forms.” “…continue to leverage their existing investments for many years while offering a path to incrementally move to Java EE, at their own pace.” Oracle Application Development Tools SOD , March 2012 http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/2010/toolssod-3-129969.pdf “Oracle Forms remains a viable and valuable technology asset for mainstream IT strategies, but has limited scope in next-generation” Gartner: Modernization and Migration Strategies for Oracle Forms Nov. 2011 http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-198LN9P&ct=120208&st=sb

8. Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!

9. Clean UpDon’t Migrate/Upgrade What’s Not in Use • 10 Year old system – Are any modules obsolete? • Review usage of the system • What forms are now obsolete? • What reports are not run? • Do we will use PLL / OLBs? • Remove dead code - PITSS • Delete multiple copies of same sources • Merge forms that perform similar tasks

10. Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!

11. Why Upgrade Your Forms? • Ensure support (C/S de-supported 2004/10g Dec. 2011) • Certification – New browsers, O/S, Java versions • New features - SOA, REUI, JavaScript • Strategic Middleware - Runs on WebLogic • Upgrade is Seamless from 10g to 11g • Platform for integration

12. Basic Architecture Forms 11g

13. WebLogic High Availability Topology Porafrm1,2,3 Poralnx Porafrm1,2,3 Desktop Internet Oracle DB Oracle HTTP Server WLS Load Balancer

14. Forms Services Architecture Middle tier:WebLogic managed server Client tier Database tier Forms Listener Servlet Forms Servlet Forms Runtime Net Services User interface layer DB Applicationlogic layer UI rendered to client Data manager/PL/SQL engine JRE Forms Client FMX containingapp code

15. Upgrade RoadMap Forms 3.0 Forms 11g Weblogic Server Oracle Forms 4.0 – 6i Client Server Oracle Forms 9i/10g IAS

16. Suggested Work Plan • Backup ALL related files !! • Pilot Upgrade of application (50-100 forms) • Check forms for C/S or OS Specific features • Get an estimate of the work, time, cost • Clean up environment – unused, dead code • Modernize Look and Feel of the application • Freeze C/S - all new developments should be web • Do full upgrade in modules / Phases • Testing should be with each module! • Do Production Pilot (Phased rollout)

17. Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!

18. Forms Look and Feel Modernization • Toolbar and navigation • Look and Feel Project • Color / Font / Size • Prompts / Titles • Images • Frames • OLB, templates for visual standards

21. Dynamic LAF UI of Forms runtime. Read from a CSS file then applied to the Forms elements at runtime. Have a more «HTML» look Look and Feel (LAF) Project • Components • Set of Java Beans/PJCs (laf_xxx.jar) • PL/SQL library (laf.pll) • External CSS file

22. Java Beans Java Bean Area - layout object on canvas Use custom trigger to get and set properties PJC – Portable Java Component Change default behavior/properties of objects Java Classes – Run webservices Run Java code in forms triggers Java importer – PLSQL java wrapper JavaScript Interact with objects in the browser page - Maps Yes - Java in Forms!

23. Java Beans & PJCs

24. Java ImporterImporting Java Classes into Forms

25. WebservicesCall External Services From Forms • Run external Webservices from within Oracle Forms triggers • Create a Web Service proxy in Jdeveloper • Call the WS client from the Forms application using the Java Importer package CurrencyConverter /* currconv3.mypackage.CurrConv3Stub */ IS function new return ora_java.jobject; function getrate( objora_java.jobject, a0 varchar2, a1 varchar2) return ora_java.jobject; end;

26. Javascript IntegrationTwo way client Side communication

27. JavaScript Two Way JavaScript Communication • HTML page uses raiseEvent JavaScript method on applet object to pass event with payload to the form • document.forms_applet.raiseEvent(event_name, payload); • Trigger: WHEN-CUSTOM-JAVASCRIPT-EVENT • Variables: system.javascript_event_value , name • Form executes JavaScript in the browser • web.javascript_eval_expr_function • web.javascript_eval_expr • JavaScript event handling can be disabled in the forms configuration files

28. Javascript Integration • Communicate between forms and browser page objects • web.javascript_eval_expr • web.javascript_eval_function – With return value • JavaScript calls from Applet page (Forms object in the DOM ) into the form • document.forms_applet.raiseEvent(event_name, payload); • Two new forms system variables: • system.javascript_event_value (payload) • system.javascript_event_name (event_name) • Oracle Forms fires new trigger called:WHEN-CUSTOM-JAVASCRIPT-EVENT. • enableJavascriptEventin formsweb.cfg to enable or disable JavaScript integration • FORMS_ALLOW_JAVASCRIPT_EVENTSin default.env to override

29. Using Events in Forms

30. Advanced QueuesHighly Available Asynchronous Communication • Messages are pushed to forms from DB msg queue • New event object in forms builder attached to queue • WHEN-EVENT-RAISED trigger • Code that should be initiated when a message is received in the subscribed queue • Use DBMS_AQ package from within forms triggers • DBMS_AQ.ENQUEUE( queue, enqopt, msgprop, payload, enq_msgid);

31. Steps Required to Use Database Events: • Database • Create a queue table • Create a queue • Start the queue • Enqueue a message • Forms Builder • Create an event object • Subscribe event object to the queue • Code necessary notification • Forms Server • Run the form and register the subscription • Invoke the When-Event-Raised trigger upon event notification

32. Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!

33. Hybrid Options • Living Side By Side Forms running alongside new technologies • Visual IntegrationCreate a common UI – Forms & ADF/APEX/Java • Process / Service Integration Run common business logic DB/Events • InnovationRun Forms business process from new environments -AuraPlayer

34. Forms & External Apps Living In Harmony Form System External System web.javascript_eval_expr Web.show_document AQ Messages Common Bus Logic Security / Management

35. What is Visual Integration?Portal \ Unified Desktop \ Dashboards Concept • Integrating Oracle Forms and Other Technologies Into a single user experience • One point of access - SSO • Customized based on users business needs Implementation • iFrames • Javascipt • guiMode – Remove menus

36. Process / Service IntegrationShare Forms Business Logic – SOA / BPM Concept • Reuse the business logic locked inside your Forms – Separate GUI from business logic Implementation • Decoupling – Remove and Centralize bus logic to DB • Events – Use AQ events for messaging

37. Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!

38. Evolving With Oracle Forms Block Mode • Character • Mode Client Server Web SOA ?? AuraPlayer

39. What is AuraPlayer Leverage existing Oracle Forms systems by … modernizing them to work in new environments like Mobile, Cloud and SAAS

40. Oracle Development Today Web Services Cloud Web Desktop Mobile Office Legacy Systems Database Applications Unlimited Web Services

41. The Oracle Forms Modernization Challenge Preserve Oracle Forms investments while … • Enabling Forms business processes as WebServices in the cloud. • Launching new ADF Mobile applications on Forms business logic • Integrating with Oracle’s next generation development technologies – ADF, ADF Mobile, Webcenter Suite • Running Forms silently from SOA / BPM systems • Creating collaborative applications – Dashboards, Portals … Avoiding risky and costly migration/re-development

42. Solution Architecture DMZ External Network Internal Network Mobile Oracle 11g DB Webservices FW Desktop Any UI

43. Don’t run Forms on mobile Run your BUSINESS on the mobile <iPad Demo from OOW> Customer Story

44. AuraPlayer Same Forms Business Logic Multiple UIs ADF Mobile

45. Innovation By Migration • Benefits of Migration • No Oracle Forms maintenance/licenses • Fully portable system • No applet, full HTML client • Larger developer pool Things to Consider • This is a PROJECT. No silver bullet • Need a business reason to redevelop • Need thorough understanding of the Forms application • No tool can re-write your business logic • Need deep knowledge of the new technologies • UI implications – HTML vs Applet • Investigate 3rd party tools for migration assistance

46. “Forms isn’t dead it just smells funny” Francois Degrellewww.oracleformsinfo.com

47. Moving Forward Considerations For Modernization Projects • Asses Your Requirements • What systems do we need to integrate with? UI requirements? • What platforms do we need to deploy to? • Understand Your Existing System • Where does the business logic sit today? • What functionality is duplicated in other systems? • Do we have documentation? Developer resources? • Define Timeline and Budget • Decide on Implementation Method • Integrate, Migrate, 3rd party solution

48. Summary • Clean up Forms environment – unused, dead code • Upgrade to Latest version – Forms 11gR2 • Modernize Look and Feel - Incorporate Java elements • Chose right tool for the job • Refactor code to the DB • Systems on common infrastructure Weblogic – SSO • Slowly evolve teams and systems • Start thinking about system INNOVATION – ADF Mobile • Use AuraPlayer to move systems to the next generation platforms / environments without migration

49. Questions?

50. Mia Urman (Me ) miaurman@AuraPlayer.com @miaurman Oracle Forms Homepage ADF Mobile on OTN Forms Community Blogwww.oracleformsinfo.com AuraPlayerwww.AuraPlayer.com PJC Master sitehttp://forms.pjc.bean.over-blog.com/ Forms Look and Feel Projecthttp://fdtool.free.fr/LAF/doc/Oracle_Forms_Look_and_Feel_project.htm PITSS www.pitss.com More Information