Oracle Forms to Mobile is Now a Reality! ADF Mobile Support for Oracle Forms

Last Thursday, on February 7, we ran our first ADF Mobile ODTUG webinar, where we showed a live demo of running Oracle Forms on the iPhone using an ADF Mobile UI. You can download the slides and see the demos here or download the full webinar recording from ODTUG if you are a member here.  

Don’t forget to vote on the Oracle Forms to ADF Mobile Poll on OTN.

Creating the above demo was a truly exciting project for us. We had developed in ADF in the past but had never ventured into the world of iOS or mobile development. To our surprise working in ADF mobile came very naturally us and in only a matter of days we had developed small but fully functional application.  The development experience in Jdeveloper was very similar, even though the resulting UI would be mobile.

In planning our demo, it was important for us to show the entire development cycle and not just a demo of the final product. We began development by creating the sample application that we posted on the blog Oracle Forms to ADF Mobile: The Ultimate Modernization Challenge. The response we got was incredible. We got suggestions from customers and Oracle Directors alike on what they would like to see as a proof of concept in the follow up demos.  So with guidance from 2 Oracle gurus, Denis Tyrell, Director of Oracle ADF UI product management and Grant Ronald Director of product management for Oracle Forms and ADF, we set out to create a demo that could be the best of both worlds—leverage the existing Oracle Forms investment without redevelopment while taking advantage of the incredible visual elements and features the mobile world provides when using ADF Mobile framework.

This project also really helped us understand the meaning of modernization.  At first, as Forms developers we were just so happy and shocked to see the existing forms system running on the iPhone, we did not even think about how the system looked. It was only when Denis said, “wouldn’t the users want to look at a map and not at that plain grey address field?”  that we understood what it would mean to deploy forms on a mobile. When we expose Oracle Forms to the mobile it’s not enough to run the same existing form in its same design just on the mobile. We must fully understand the functionality needed in the mobile application and make use of the  added features ADF Mobile has to offer. This allowed us to take the existing Summit application and, for example, add location based mapping, and SMS functionality as well as graphing capabilities that did not exist in the original form system.

Once the demo was completed it was great to hear from Grant Ronald, who asked all the tough questions from a Forms developer point of view. What would happen if data in the form changed? What would happen if the fmx changed? Could we do inserts over the mobile UI as well?  This helped us come up with additional demos that showcased the full power of running Oracle Forms as a webservice using an ADF Mobile UI on an iPhone.

If you missed it, you can download the slides here and view all the demos here.

Don’t forget to vote on Oracle Forms to Mobile Poll on OTN.

Watch this space for more webinar announcements in the near future. We also have an exciting announcement in the bag!

Sign up to receive updates by entering your email address on the right!

Oracle Forms to ADF Mobile: The Ultimate Modernization Challenge

The world has gone mobile.
So why haven’t our Oracle Forms system caught up?

In our constant effort to show how we can achieve Oracle Forms modernization without re-development we decided to rise to the ultimate challenge and show how we can run Oracle Forms from the newly released ADF Mobile.

In our demo we decided to use the traditional Oracle Forms Summit application as it was developed by Oracle as “go to” demo application  to demonstrate Forms functionality, version upgrades and even Forms redevelopment  as ADF. In our demo we show the “insert order”  business process of the Oracle Forms Summit application running with an ADF Mobile UI on an iPhone using OraPlayer.

The final product can be seen here:

We will be presenting the full process in detail in a FREE webinar hosted by ODTUG called Take Your Oracle Forms on the Road Using ADF Mobile,  I will be presenting alongside Denis Tyrell, Oracle Director and overall ADF Mobile guru.  Register for FREE here

In creating this demo we did not do any redevelopment of the Forms system functionality. We are running the existing Oracle Forms business process on the Forms server using OraPlayer from ADF Mobile. Although it sounds challenging this was achieved in 4 simple steps:

Step 1: Define the business process you want to run on a mobile 

Oracle Forms screens are mainly suited for massive data entry and are jam-packed of items and not easily translatable to mobile screens. It was not our intention to replicate the entire Forms system with our solution. This would be both impractical and  in most cases unnecessary since applications running on mobile platforms are usually only a subset of the full system. It is therefore critical, as the first step, that we determined the specific system processes we wished to run on the mobile.  This included:

1) Understanding the business process we want to translate to the small screen. In our demo we created a  flowchart of the business process to assist us (see below)

2) Selecting what data we needed to get from the user in order to run the business process. Including identifying all fields necessary to have on our new mobile UI in order to insert a new order.

3) Identifying the expected results of the application. Including all output data and messages we must receive from the Forms system to understand if the process was run successfully. As well as error messages to explain if and why the process has failed.

The full business process for the “Insert Order Process” can be seen in this flow chart:

The process can be summed up as follows:

1.  Login to the System
2.  Insert a new order to an existing customer ID.
3.  If the customer exists, and order was inserted successfully then return the order ID.
4.  If the customer does not exist, then create a new customer and then insert the order. If successful return the order ID.
5.  If any steps of the process fails return the Forms error messages and text.

Step 2: Record and deploy the Forms business processes using OraPlayer

Once the business process was selected in step 1, we recorded the scenario as it was performed in the Oracle Forms system using the OraPlayer Recording Toolbar (similar to recording a macro). Any items that were selected, entered or manipulated in our recording will be available as fields /actions  in the new ADF Mobile application.

We can see an example of  the recording process in this demo where we recorded the “Creating a new order for existing customer scenario“ for our demo here 

Once the recording was completed and deployed, a Java API to run the Forms process was created automatically using the OraPlayer Web Wizard.

Step 3: In Jdeveloper create a new ADF Mobile project with ADF DataControls and AMX Pages (the New UI)

Once we had our Oracle Forms scenario ready, we began to create the Mobile front end of our application. In Jdeveloper, we first created a new ADF Mobile project. We then created the ADF Datacontrol based on the OraPlayer Java API (automatically generated in step 2)  to give us the basis for binding the ADF Mobile page items to the Forms system items.  This was easily done with the wizard based development in Jdeveloper.

We then used the visual editor of Jdeveloper to create the ADF Mobile AMX pages. In our demo we created 3 insert pages: Login, insert order and create customer as well as 3 results pages : 2 for error handling and the other for successful results of the process.

The beauty of ADF Mobile is, that we develop the pages once using the drag and drop and WYSIWYG editing features, and we can deploy them on any mobile platform. Upon deployment it is rendered as a native application on whatever platform we chose. So we can benefit from  the “design once deploy to many environments”  feature of ADF Mobile that Oracle promises.

Step 4: Create task flow of the pages and add validation / navigation code

Finally after we created the necessary pages, we designed the navigation flow between the pages and added the validations that should occur upon success or failure of events on the page. In our demo the taskflow is critical since we perform navigation based on analyzing the responses we get from the Forms server (such as error messages like frm-xxxx or ora-xxx) and only then navigate to the correct page.

You can see our taskflow diagram here:

In summary, by using OraPlayer in conjunction with  the powerful ADF Mobile framework, we are able to develop modernized mobile applications without redevelopment.

Using this method, we can create mobile applications in no time for a multitude of use cases and complex business processes found in our existing Oracle Forms systems. Also, with OraPlayer’s ability to retrieve all Forms messages, we can ensure that the new mobile application can behave just like the current Forms systems does.

We will be presenting the full process in detail in a FREE webinar hosted by ODTUG called Take Your Oracle Forms on the Road Using ADF Mobile,  I will be presenting alongside Denis Tyrell, Oracle Director and overall ADF Mobile guru. We will have all new demos with the latest ADF Mobile bells and whistles such as maps and gauges to show off.

To receive more information email us with this form: 

Name(required)

Email(required)

Company Website

Comment(required)

Contact me about Seeing a live demo

Talking to OraPlayer consultant

My UK Oracle User Group Conference 2012 Highlights – UKOUG 2012

So needless to say that I am wildly jealous of everyone who will be attending UK Oracle User Group Conference on Dec. 3 -5 in Birmingham.

I was honored to be accepted as a speaker this year but as I am due to give brith on Dec. 9 it would be a bit problematic for me to attend. As those of you who caught my session at Oracle Open World can attest, me in my third trimester is quite a sight up on that podium.  But just because I can’t make it to the conference doesn’t mean I won’t do my usual and point out great sessions that I’d love to attend. I will have to live vicariously through all the participants who will be attending the sessions and update us using the social media venues.

Also I want to give a special thanks to Luc Bors and the Amis team for agreeing to present my session in my absence.

Monday – This is by far the best day for Forms developers looking to learn about Oracle’s next generation technologies and how to move forward with their existing systems.

I’d start with the KEYNOTE session: The Future of Development for Oracle Fusion – from Desktop, to Mobile, to Cloud by Duncan Mills. He is a great speaker and after attending this session at OOW I felt it was a great overview on Oracle’s vision moving forward.  Next I’d go to Frank Nimphius session (he’s got quite a sense of humor in his presentations) on Oracle JDeveloper and ADF 12c New Features . Next I’d have a hard time deciding what session to go since both What a Server Administrator Needs to Know About ADF by Sten Vesterli, Oracle ACE Director and Providing a Multi-Platform Mobile Solution with Oracle ADF Mobile by Luc Bors – AMIS Services seem really interesting. In the end I’d probably go mobile.  Then I’d be presenting my session. Survival of the Fittest: How to Evolve Your Oracle Forms to the 21st Century - But I’m excited that Luc will be standing in for me. His background on Oracle Forms coupled with his deep knowledge of the next generation ADF and ADF Mobile tools, I could not ask for better. We have also prepared with him a great demo to run an Oracle Forms system with ADF mobile on a iPhone . Its not to be missed!

Then I’d go to Grant’s session on Implementing Fusion Applications User Experience Design Patterns with Oracle ADF . I always enjoy his sessions since I end up learning new things even when the topic is familiar to me. Then I’d top off the day with John King What’s Old is New Again: Oracle Forms 11gR2 New Features. This is a great session that I think actually won best developer session in the ODTUG Kscope conference this year.

Tuesday – This is a day filled with sessions by world-class ADF masterminds to drill down into more advanced ADF concepts.

I’d start off the day with the Development Tools Roundtable with Andrew Clarke from Logica. Its a good way to put into context all the tools available now to Oracle developers and when to use what.

Then I’d dive into to the many ADF sessions covering all concepts such as:

• Building Highly Reusable ADF Taskflows  and What You Need to Know About Java Server Faces to be Successful with Oracle ADF by Steven Davelaar,  the mastermind behind JHeadstart
• In a Nutshell: The ADF UI Shell by Chris Muir, the fearless leader of the ADF EMG.
• The Ultimate Sales Pitch for ADF – An Open Discussion on Strategic Importance and Practical Value - Chris Muir, Oracle Employee ACE – Oracle
• Improve Your ADF Fusion Application’s Response Time by as Much as 70% - Frank Houweling – AMIS
• And just for a chance this session sounds really interesting Building a Private Cloud with Oracle Fusion Middleware (Including Forms/Reports!) and Enterprise Manager - Roger Freixa – Oracle
• ADF Development from the Trenches - Aino Andriessen – AMIS Services

Wednesday – For me this would be an all handson day! I’d do the ADF masterclass beginning with Chris Muirs 1/2 day ADF Fundamentals and then do the ADF Mobile handson. You can register to them here

• One Size Doesn’t Fit All – Oracle ADF Architecture Fundamentals 
• Mobile Development Hands-on Labs - For more information on this you can checkout Grants’ blog.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

Well that’s just my 2 cents on the UKOUG 2012 agenda. If you want you can get a view of Grant Ronalds “ADF  highlights” of the conference here on the weblogic blog.

I hope all of you who are in the area choose to attend and have a great conference. You can add comments on the highlights for you!

Future So Bright I Got to Wear Shades – Thoughts on Future of Forms Conference – May 15

Yesterday I presented at the Future of Oracle Forms event sponsored by AMIS in the Netherlands.

I must say it was literally one of the most impressive gatherings of Oracle Forms minds I ever saw.  All the speakers themselves could fill a room but to have Lucas Jellma, Grant Ronald, Steven Davelaar,  Francois Degrelle etc.. all together in the same conference was amazing. Its no wonder there were 13 HOURS of content.  It was a modernization marathon.

The format was very original (the brain child of Lucas Jellma) -He gave each speaker a half hour to present, sort of a business card about their solution, then the attendants needed to choose 2 solutions to learn more about in a later session of 45 minutes. Finally into the wee hours of the night people were given the option of doing a deep dive Hands On on the solution of their choice. It was like technology speed dating.

The solutions presented covered 4 main areas:

1) Forms migration – Jheadstart, Pitss

2) Forms to new platforms / mobile – OraPlayer, YoForms

3) Modernizing forms – Look and Feel project and Forms PJC and Java Beans, AMIS consulting

4) Integration of forms in hybrid environments – OraPlayer, OraFormsFaces

I thought it would be helpful to do a sort of flowchart of the solutions and the modernization challenges they help with.

I think this is the best way to sum up the day.

I also wanted to thank AMIS for an incredible hosting job. It’s not everyday you see such a perfectly organized event. It’s not an easy feat to navigate almost 100 people around the offices and provide them with breakfast, lunch ,snacks, dinner and drinks. They spoiled us

For those of you who attended, let me know what you thought!

Mia

Oracle Forms is Alive and Kicking! Oracle Forms Modernization Day

This past Tuesday, I had the privilege of running the Oracle Forms user group conference. It all started when Grant Ronald (Oracle Forms and JDeveloper product manager) and I got to talking at Open World 2011. We were saying how Oracle Forms developers are a huge community but  the forgotten people. Every Oracle conference of recent years has been filled with sessions on ADF, SOA, APEX, BPEL and all other 3 letter curse words (OOPS  I mean buzz words). But for the past few years Forms has dropped off the “session titles” map.

Well we decided then and there to make a conference specifically geared to the Oracle Forms developers community. With the help of Eyal Shani, CTO of Oracle Israel and Ami Aharonovitch, head of the Israel Oracle User Group (our heroes), we set out to prove that the Forms development community is a force to be reckoned with.

And rest assured, there were plenty of nay sayers:  “No one still develops in forms”,  “You won’t get more than 50 people” – Sound familiar? Well, this Tuesday, I got to say those three precious words: “TOLD YOU SO! ” With nearly 200  developers who attended, the event was a rousing success.

כנס טכנולוגי חינם ייחודי למפתחי אורקל – ינואר 24 – Oracle & ilOUG

 יום שלישי, 24 בינואר , 2012
מלון הרודס תל אביב

ארגון משתמשי אורקל בישראל ואורקל ישראל שמחים להזמין אתכם לכנס ייחודי למפתחים שיעסוק בנושא Forms 11g ו- ADF. כנס יומי זה מיועד למפתחי Forms אשר מעוניינים ללמוד על השדרוג של ה- Forms לגרסת 11g וכן על תהליך המיגרציה והמעבר של ה-Forms לסביבת SOA ו- Cloud.

אורח הכבוד של הכנס, מר Grant Ronald, מנהל מוצר Oracle Forms & JDeveloper מ- Oracle EMEA, יספר על מפת הדרכים והאסטרטגיה של אורקל למוצר ה- Forms וכן יעביר 2 הרצאות מעמיקות בנושא פיתוח בסביבת ADF במיוחד עבור מפתחי Forms.

כניסה חינם בכפוף להרשמה – הרשמו עכשיו

ilOUG and Oracle Developers Day Jan 24, 2012 – Don’t Miss It !

I am very excited to invite you all to a incredible event. As we all know its been a while since Oracle Israel has addressed the Oracle development community. Every year we all look at Oracle Week and other conference and feel left out of the party since no sessions address Oracle Forms developer. I vowed to change this last year when I took over the Israeli User Group forum for Oracle Forms and Reports. And this year Eyal Shani CTO of Oracle Israel and Grant Ronald product manager of Oracle development tools have come together to help me bring power back to the Oracle development community. Oracle Israel has taken it upon themselves as a mission this year to help all customers upgrade to Oracle Forms 10-11g. And they are already putting money where there promises are. They are sponsoring this one of a kind event at the Herods Hotel in Tel-Aviv on Jan 24, 2012 and brining in the world expert on Oracle Forms to talk to us and share future visions for the Oracle developer community.