0838-0838

Previous Table of Contents Next

Page 838

Module Access

All the Developer/2000 components use a similar interface for loading existing application units into their respective Designer environments. Based on the tool in use, an initial option dialog box is displayed for you to select the location (file system or database) and the module type of the application unit to be opened. If you choose to open the program unit from the database, a second dialog box appears that displays all stored units of the requested type in the database. If, on the other hand, you choose to open the application unit from the file system, the standard Windows 3.x Open dialog box appears, enabling you to select the source drive, directory, and file that should be opened.

Summary

Oracle Developer/2000 consists of three distinct products: Oracle Forms 4.5 for online data maintenance and presentation, Oracle Reports 2.5 for large-volume data reporting or hard-copy report generation, and Oracle Graphics 2.5 for graphical presentation of data. These products require substantial system resources, but due to their reliable handling of integrity and transactional issues, they are superior to most other products for diverse enterprise database needs.

Developer/2000 features a point-and-click interface, intelligent defaulting, user extensibility, portability, integration, and the capability to access non-Oracle databases. These features are unique among the tools available that access Oracle databases. Although some of these features might exist in other products, no other products feature all these attributes combined.

To facilitate ease of use between the three integrated tools, Oracle provided several common functions such as the Object Navigator, database connectivity, and access to the individual application units. These units are similar between each of the tools so that the developer who learns to use one automatically knows how to use the others.

The next three chapters explore each of these tools individually and in depth. After explaining each tool separately, the fourth chapter explains how to integrate these tools with each other and with external applications to provide a seamless application system for end users. Finally, the last chapter provides an overview of some of the key enhancements that will be included in the next release 2.0 of Developer/2000.

Although you will examine many advanced topics, it is not possible to fully dissect each and every option for every application component in this book section. Not a single major-league baseball player ever got where he was by reading how to play the game, but did so through a lot of dedicated practice and experience. Likewise, this section of the book can impart to you enough knowledge that you can work out the rough spots and become an adept, all-star Developer/2000 programmer.

Previous Table of Contents Next