Page 945
This interface is recommended over building user exits because libraries are only linked in as needed, and thus the form modules can be smaller. Additionally, user exits require that the Oracle Forms runtime designer be recompiled and that all forms run the version of the tools with the embedded user exit. As a result,
This chapter shows how you can use the Oracle Developer/2000 tools to integrate with each other, as well as with non-Oracle applications and subprograms. As one of the key features of Oracle Corporation's concept of open enterprise computing, Developer/2000 integration is highly useful for state-of-the-art powerful applications.
One thing to note in using these features is the fact that all these tools demand a large amount of resources. When you combine multiple application modules and tools, the limited resources of a PC are quickly consumed, resulting in applications that perform slowly or not at all.
I am by no means attempting to dissuade
Page 946
Page 947
Page 948
Developer/2000 is the
The better news is that many of the new features address the needs and wants of the developer community. These changes include more object orientation, stronger database support, and new elements that will greatly improve your applications. Changes have also been made that will improve development productivity and enhance application performance. This chapter will explore many of the new features that will be provided in Developer/2000 Release 2.0.
To reduce confusion between the various Oracle product offerings, Oracle has changed the
Release 2.0 of Developer/2000 has improved the capability to integrate various modules in each of the Developer/2000 components into a single, integrated application. The Forms Builder component allows you to construct Oracle reports and graphics from within the Object Navigator. Previously, you had to start the Reports Designer or Graphics Designer in order to build these component modules. This change will allow you to quickly build more robust applications while conserving precious memory resources.
Forms 5.0 contains many changes that improve the product significantly. At the same time, any techniques used in Forms 4.5 development will carry over to Forms 5.0. However, to truly utilize this product, you should take advantage of the new features. This section will outline many of the most significant new features.
Page 949
In Forms 4.5, you were able to use objects that were in another form by using copying and referencing. This was a good first step toward providing standardization and reusability in Forms development. You could maintain an object in one module, and any changes could then be inherited by each module that referenced the object. Although this was useful, there were many limitations that could not be
Forms 5.0 improved this capability by allowing you to subclass objects in another form. You can reference an object in a master form and modify individual properties of the object in the secondary form, while maintaining the original link. In this way, the original object can be modified and all changes will be inherited to the secondary object unless the property was customized in the subclassed item. Furthermore, you can add items to a subclassed block.
To further facilitate this feature, Oracle Forms 5.0 provides the concept of an Object Library. An Object Library is a repository in which you can construct standard, reusable objects that can be used throughout the development effort. This feature will greatly enhance your ability to enforce standards throughout the application (or quite possibly, enterprise). To use an object from the object library in any module, you can simply select it from the Object Library, and drag and drop it into the Object Navigator or Layout Editor.
{% if main.adsdop %}{% include 'adsenceinline.tpl' %}{% endif %}
Smartclasses are another new object-orientation feature that allows you to specify property classes that are used frequently within your development process. As with other class objects, these objects can also be subclassed to create other smartclass objects. This feature may be used to create standard
Finally, Forms 5.0 now has the capability to create template forms. When creating a template form, you can define all the objects that you want to appear on every form throughout an application. For example, you might want a logo or specific toolbar to be displayed on each form. When you create a new form, a dialog box will allow you to define the template to be used for the form.
Oracle Forms 5.0 provides several new features that enhance the performance and reliability of an Oracle application. First, you can define the
Forms 5.0 also has segmented Windows DLLs more intelligently than in Forms 4.5. This process has been occurring with each
Page 950
To further enhance performance, Oracle Forms 5.0 utilizes array processing for all DML transactions. In prior versions of Oracle Forms, array processing was used for fetching data from the database, but all
Finally, you can now base a block on a set of stored procedures. This will allow you to use a ref cursor variable (a new Oracle7.2 feature) or a table of records (a new Oracle7.3 procedure).
Several new features have been added that allow you, as an application developer, to work
Perhaps the most significant productivity enhancement in Developer/2000 is the concept of wizards. Wizards allow you to quickly create data blocks based on tables, views, or stored procedures. Although similar to the new block dialog in Forms 4.5, this feature improves on the previous version by allowing for re-
Another productivity-enhancing feature is a new item called a calculated field. A calculated field may be based on a summary function or formula. In Forms 4.5, to display a running total that reflects any edit changes to data fields, you must create several triggers to maintain the value. This becomes very difficult (or
Forms 5.0 has also greatly enhanced the property palette (formerly called property sheet) by allowing developers to expand and collapse sections of the palette and to edit in place on the same line as the property