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Chapter 9 Adding Menus, Popup Menus, Alerts, Timers, and Hierarchical Tree Items to Forms

Chapter 9 Adding Menus, Popup Menus, Alerts, Timers, and Hierarchical Tree Items to Forms. In this chapter you will: Use menus to consolidate applications into systems Create and use popup menus Use alerts to grab an operator’s attention Create timers in your forms

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Chapter 9 Adding Menus, Popup Menus, Alerts, Timers, and Hierarchical Tree Items to Forms

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  1. Chapter 9 Adding Menus, Popup Menus, Alerts, Timers, and Hierarchical Tree Items to Forms Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  2. In this chapter you will: • Use menus to consolidate applications into systems • Create and use popup menus • Use alerts to grab an operator’s attention • Create timers in your forms • Add and use hierarchical tree items • Create database objects through your form • Trap and handle error messages • Learn about mouse events Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  3. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Systems contain a large number of applications that operators access. • Operators must be able to easily and handily call each of the system’s forms. • Drop-down menus enable operators to quickly find needed forms and task options. • Menus can consists of submenus that allow the operator to open additional palettes to the right of the option. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  4. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  5. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Drop-down menus that appear at the top of the form are not part of the form module. • Drop-down menus are modules of their own and are associated to the form using the Menu Module property. • Each application can have its own menu or can assume the menu of a calling application. • Forms Builder menu modules have a file extension of .mmb. • Compiled menu modules have a file extension of .mmx. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  6. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Menu modules have the the following objects: • Attached libraries • Menus • Object groups • Program units • Property classes • Visual attributes • The Menus objects group has the menu palettes that contain the menu options. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  7. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  8. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • The Menu Editor graphically depicts the menus. • The Menu Editor is opened by double-clicking a menu module object. • The Menu Editor has a Create Down tool for creating an option below the current item. • The Menu Editor has a Create Right tool which creates a new submenu that is called from the item. • The Delete tool is used to delete the current menu item. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  9. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • A menu item can execute one of five different types of statements or commands. • Null - Specifies that the item does not perform an action. It is used for separator items. • Menu - Calls another menu object contained in the Menu object section. • PL/SQL - Invokes a PL/SQL script or built-in subprogram. • Plus - Opens an SQL*Plus session. • Macro - Executes an SQL*Menu macro and should be avoided. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  10. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • The Command Type property determines the type of command used by the menu item. • Commands are entered into the Command Text property using the PL/SQL editor. • The PL/SQL editor is launched by double-clicking the menu item on the Object Navigator. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  11. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Menus have a security tool that can be used to prevent an operator from executing certain items. • Menu security is based upon database roles. • Menu modules have a Module Roles property used to record the roles that can access the menu items. • The roles are entered into the Menu Modules Roles dialog box. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  12. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  13. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Menu items have two properties that control access to the option. • Item Roles - Determines the roles that can access the option. • Display Without Privilege - Determines whether the option is displayed on the menu when the operator has not been granted the role. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  14. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • The Menu Type property controls the type of menu item. Options are: • Plain - Consists of a menu option displaying text (default). • Radio - Places radio buttons on the menu. • Check - Places a check box next to the item that can be toggled on and off. • Separator - Displays a horizontal line. Used to segregate options. • Magic - Associates the menu item to a standard operating system function such as copy. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  15. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  16. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Magic items can also display the operating system’s hot keys adjacent to the name of the function. • Forms Builder will also enable or disable the menu option if it cannot be used. For example, the Copy function is only enabled if a value is selected. • The default menu module is called Default&Smartbar. It cannot be modified. • Forms Builder provides a replica menu module called Menudefs.mmb that can be modified. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  17. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Menu items have a number of properties of note: • Command Text • Command Type • Display Without Privilege • Enabled • Keyboard Accelerator • Icon Filename • Icon in Menu • Item Roles • Label Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  18. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Additional menu item properties of note: • Magic Item • Menu Item Code • Menu Item Radio Group • Menu Item Type • Submenu • Visible in Horizontal Toolbar • Visible in Vertical Toolbar • Visible in Menu Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  19. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • A form has an internal menu object called a Popup Menu. • Popup menus are similar to a regular menu except they are launched by clicking the right mouse button over a data block item or canvas. • Popup menus are associated to a data block item or canvas using the data block item or canvas’ Popup Menu property. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  20. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  21. Using Menus to Consolidate Applications into Systems • Menu items can be displayed as tools on the toolbar using the following properties: • Icon Filename • Visible in Horizontal Toolbar • Visible in Vertical Toolbar Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  22. Using Alerts to Grab an Operator’s Attention • An alert is a form object that consists of modal dialog box that displays a message and has one or more buttons that must be pressed before the alert can be closed. • The operator is forced to press one of the buttons before continuing with the session. • Alerts are often used to warn an operator about an event. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  23. Using Alerts to Grab an Operator’s Attention • There are three styles of alerts: • Stop • Caution • Note • Each of the styles displays a different symbol in the dialog box. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  24. Using Alerts to Grab an Operator’s Attention Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  25. Using Alerts to Grab an Operator’s Attention • Alerts have several properties of note: • Alert Style • Button 1 Label • Button 2 Label • Button 3 Label • Default Alert Button • Message • Title Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  26. Using Alerts to Grab an Operator’s Attention • The alert can display three different buttons, but must display at least one. • If a button label property is blank, the button will not display. • Alerts are displayed using the Show_alert built-in. • Show_alert is a function and it returns a value indicating which button was pressed. • It is a good practice to have a single generic alert and change the alert’s properties with the Set_alert_property built-in. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  27. Using Alerts to Grab an Operator’s Attention • The following is a template of a typical statement launching an alert. • Declare • Alert_button number; • Begin • Set_alert_property (‘alert_name’, title, ‘Error’); • Set_alert_property (‘alert_name’, alert_message_text, • ‘Alert_message’); • Alert_button := show_alert(‘alert_name’); • if alert_button = 1 then • action1 • else • action 2 • end if; • End; Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  28. Creating Timers • Forms Builder has a tool called a timer that fires a When-Timer-Expired trigger when the allotted time is expended. • Timers track time in milliseconds and are created using the Create_timer built-in. • The Create_timer built-in has three settings: • Name of the timer • Number of milliseconds • A repeat/no_repeat value Timer := Create_time(‘timer_name’, 60000, no_repeat); Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  29. Creating Timers • When-Trigger-Expired trigger template • Declare • timer_that_expired timer; • Begin • timer_that_expired := get_application_property(timer_name); • if timer_that_expired = ‘first_time’ then • action1; • else • action2; • end if; • End; Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  30. Creating Timers • Multiple timers can be created. • Each works autonomously and causes a When-Timer-Expired trigger to fire when the time is elapsed. • The Delete_timer built-in is used to destroy the time. • The Set_timer built-in is used to change the timer settings. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  31. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • Forms Builder has the ability to display a set of data as a hierarchical tree. • It is a tree with nodes that expands displaying increasingly more detailed information about the parent record. • Hierarchical tree items are actually data block items that display a Select statement result set. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  32. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  33. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  34. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • The Select statement that populates the hierarchical tree must contain five expressions: • State - Determines whether the node is expanded or collapsed. (Expression 1) • Level - Determines the node on which the data is displayed. (Expression 2) • Value - Determines the displayed value. (Expression 3) • Icon - Determines the icon displayed before the node. (Expression 4) • Primary Key- Contains a value used to identify child records. (Expression 5) Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  35. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • The most difficult part of creating a hierarchical tree item is to sort and rank the values. • Result set values generally do not match the order that they need to be sorted in. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  36. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  37. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • Unless the data is in a unary relationship a special Select statement will need to be created using a view. • Data from a unary relationship comes from the same table and the levels can be calculated using the Connect By clause. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  38. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • More commonly, hierarchical data is contained in multiple tables related in a binary one-to-many relationship. • The data source will likely consist of a series of unionized Select statements with each statement returning records for a different node. • It is virtually impossible to sort the data from the different Select statements properly without a special technique. This technique is a view with a computed sort expression. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  39. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • The view is needed in order to create a sixth expression that can be used to sort records. • The sort expression is a concatenation of the parent record primary keys along with the primary key of the current record. • This special expression is used in the Order By clause and will properly sort the records under the proper parent. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  40. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  41. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • Creating a hierarchical tree item is no different than creating a data item on a control block. • Hierarchical tree items must be placed on a control block and they must be the only item on the block. • The Select statement is placed into the Data Query property. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  42. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • Hierarchical items contain the following properties of note: • Allow Empty Branches • Data Query • Multi-Selection • Record Group • Show Line • Show Symbols Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  43. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • Hierarchical tree items are populated by the Populate_tree procedure. • The procedure is part of the Ftree package. • The procedure can be placed in a When-Button-Pressed trigger or a When-New-Form-Instance trigger. • Hierarchical tree items are similar to a LOV. They execute a Select statement and place the values into memory. This can cause a performance problem when large result sets are returned. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  44. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • If the result set is large it is best to populate the tree item incrementally. • This means the child records are only returned to the item as the nodes are expanded. • This requires the creation of a separate view for each level returned. The parent’s primary key value is used in the Select statement to return the proper records. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  45. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  46. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  47. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • A When-Tree-Node-Activated trigger can be used to launch the Select statement. • The trigger executes an Ftree.Add_tree_date built-in that will populate the target node. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  48. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • The Ftree package contains a number of built-ins of note: • Add_tree_data • Add_tree_node • Delete_tree_node • Find_tree_node • Get_tree_node_parent • Get_tree_node_property • Get_tree_property Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  49. Adding and Using Hierarchical Tree Items • Additional Ftree package built-ins of note: • Get_tree_selection • Populate_group_from_tree • Populate_tree • Set_tree_node_property • Set_tree_property • Set_tree_selection Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

  50. Creating Database Objects Through Your Form • Forms Builder has a built-in called Forms_ddl that allows the developer to create database objects from the form at runtime. • The built-in allows the developer to create tables that hold form data, messages, or created data. • The built-in also allows the developer to create custom DML and SQL statements at runtime. Oracle9i Developer: Developing Web Applications with Forms Builder

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