Oracle Forms Developer Oracle Forms Services

2 Introduction to Oracle Forms Services 2-1 2 Introduction to Oracle Forms Services This chapter introduces Oracle Forms. It provides an overview of the development and deployment environment for Oracle Forms, and provides references where you can find more information on associated components in Oracle Fusion Middleware. This chapter contains the following sections: ■ Section 2.1, Oracle Forms ■ Section 2.2, Oracle Database ■ Section 2.3, Oracle WebLogic Server ■ Section 2.4, Oracle Fusion Middleware ■ Section 2.5, About Installing or Upgrading Oracle Forms ■ Section 2.6, Oracle Forms Services Architecture

2.1 Oracle Forms

Oracle Forms is a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware. Oracle Forms is used to develop and deploy Forms applications. The Forms applications provide a user interface to access Oracle Database in an efficient and tightly-coupled way. The applications can be integrated with Java and web services to take advantage of service oriented architectures SOA. Oracle Forms includes the following: ■ Oracle Forms Developer, used to develop and compile Forms applications. ■ Oracle Forms Services, a server component, used to deploy the applications.

2.1.1 Oracle Forms Developer

Oracle Forms Developer is used to develop a form that can access an Oracle database and present the data. Wizards and utilities are provided to speed up application development. The source form .fmb is created and compiled into an executable .fmx. The Forms application is run interpreted by the Forms Runtime process. For more information about the Oracle Forms Developer, refer to the following documentation: ■ Oracle Forms Builder Online Help, which is accessible from Oracle Forms Builder, provides information on how to use Oracle Forms Developer to develop and compile Forms applications. ■ Upgrading Oracle Forms 6i to Oracle Forms 11g: describes obsolete features of Oracle Forms Developer and instructions for upgrading your Forms applications. 2-2 Forms Services Deployment Guide

2.1.2 Oracle Forms Services

Oracle Forms Services is a comprehensive application framework optimized to deploy Forms applications in a multitiered environment. It takes advantage of the ease and accessibility of the Web and elevates it from a static information-publishing mechanism to an environment capable of supporting complex applications. The Form applications that you design and develop in Oracle Forms Developer are deployed on Oracle Fusion Middleware. These applications run on the middle tier see Figure 2–2 . The user interface is presented on the client tier as a Java applet in the clients browser. This guide describes the configuration files, and environment variables that can be used to customize deployment of Forms applications. It also provides information on performance, logging and monitoring your deployment. You can use Oracle Fusion Middleware Enterprise Manager Control to manage the configuration files, and environment variables, and monitor the deployment.

2.1.3 How Oracle Forms Services Launches a Forms Application