Oracle Database Tutorial Pdf Free Download

Oracle Developer
A Tutorial on Oracle Forms, Reports and Graphics

Covering Developer version 6.0 and 6i for Windows 95/98/NT/2000

Richard Holowczak

Computers Information Systems Department
Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, CUNY
richard_holowczak@baruch.cuny.edu

Version 4.0 Thu Apr 12 21:07:06 EDT 2001

Please feel free to use these tutorials for your own personal use, education, advancement, training, etc. However, I kindly ask that you respect the time and effort I have put into this work by not distributing copies, either in whole or in part, for your personal gain. You may not under any circumstances download, cache or host copies of these tutorials on your own servers. Use of these tutorials for commercial training requires a special arrangement with the author or authors.

1. Introduction
2. Prerequisites
3. Developer Tools
- 3.1 Starting Developer tools under Windows 95/98/NT/2000
- 3.2 Starting Developer tools under UNIX
4. The Oracle Forms Designer Main Screen
- 4.1 Oracle Forms Object Navigator
- 4.2 Connecting to the Database
5. Forms Design
6. Creating a Form with a Single Block
- 6.1 Creating a New Block
- 6.2 The Layout Editor
- 6.3 Displaying Properties
- 6.4 Saving, Generating and Running Forms
  - 6.4.1 Saving a Form
  - 6.4.2 Compiling/Building a Form
  - 6.4.3 Running a Form
  - 6.4.4 Running a Form as a Java Application or Applet
  - 6.4.4 Query By Example
- 6.5 Exercise: Creating a Single Block Form
7. Creating a Master-Detail Form
- 7.1 The Master-Detail Relationship
- 7.2 Steps to Create a Master-Detail Form
  - 7.2.1 Create the Master Block
  - 7.2.2 Create the Detail Block
- 7.3 Relation Properties of a Master-Detail Form
- 7.4 Program Units in a Master-Detail Form
- 7.5 Extending Master-Detail Forms
- 7.6 Exercise: Creating a Master/Detail Form
8. List of Values (LOVs) and Non-Base Table Fields
- 8.1 Creating a List of Values
  - 8.1.1 Create a new LOV Object
  - 8.1.2 Specify the LOV Query Text
  - 8.1.3 Specify the Column Mapping Properties
  - 8.1.4 Attach the LOV to the item
  - 8.1.5 Test the LOV
- 8.2 Non-Base Table fields
  - 8.2.1 Adding a New Item to an Existing Data Block
  - 8.2.2 Creating a Trigger
  - 8.2.3 Create a new List of Values
- 8.3 Exercise: Creating an LOV and Non-Base Table field
9. Oracle Forms Program Units and Stored Program Units
- 9.1 Creating Procedures in Oracle Forms
  - 9.1.1 Add a new item to the EMPLOYEE Block
  - 9.1.2 Create a Procedure to Count Other Department Members
  - 9.1.3 Create a Trigger to Call the Procedure
  - 9.1.4 Save, Compile and Run the Form
- 9.2 Creating Stored Program Units (Procedures) in SQL*Plus
- 9.3 Additional Stored Procedures and Triggers
  - 9.3.1 Generating unique or consecutive identifiers using the table
  - 9.3.2 Generating unique or consecutive identifiers using an Oracle Sequence
  - 9.3.3 Checking constraints at the client
  - 9.3.4 Adding Alerts (Pop-up Messages)
  - 9.3.5 Populate items with default values
  - 9.3.6 Attaching functionality to command buttons
  - 9.3.7 Passing parameters between forms
- 9.4 Exercise: Procedures and Triggers
10. Oracle Reports Basics
- 10.1 Starting Developer tools under Windows 95/98/NT/2000
- 10.2 The Oracle Reports Object Navigator
- 10.3 Creating Reports in Oracle Reports
- 10.4 Creating a Single-Table Report
  - 10.4.1 Specify the Data Model and Layout
  - 10.4.2 Saving, Generating and Running the Report
- 10.5 Exercise: Creating a Report
- 10.6 Creating a Master-Detail Report
  - 10.6.1 Specify the Master-Detail Data Model and Layout
  - 10.6.2 Saving and Running the Master-Detail Report
- 10.7 Exercise: Creating a Master-Detail Report
- 10.8 Parameter forms in Oracle Reports
  - 10.8.1 Building a Custom Parameter Form
11 Creating Menus in Oracle Forms
- 11.1 The Oracle Forms Menu Hierarchy
- 11.2 Creating a Custom Menu
12 Graphics and the Chart Wizard
- 12.1 Graphics and the Chart Wizard
- 12.2 Exercise: Adding a Chart to a Report
13 Oracle Schema Builder
- 13.1 Creating New Schema Objects
- 13.2 Displaying Existing Schema Objects
- 13.3 Adding Relationships between Tables

1. Introduction

This tutorial introduces the Oracle Developer 6.0 and 6i suite of tools which include Oracle Forms 6.0, Oracle Reports 6.0, Oracle Graphics 6.0, Oracle Schema Builder 6.0 and Oracle Procedure Builder 6.0. The main objectives are to demonstrate and provide hands-on instructions on creating and modifying data entry and query forms in various configurations, reports and graphics. In addition, the final section gives some instructions on the use of the Schema Builder.

This set of Oracle tools (as of April, 2001) is now bundled along with WebDB and Oracle JDeveloper in the Oracle Internet Developer Suite CD Pack.

Caveats: Please note that Oracle tends to change things like menu items, prompts and other small things between each major (certainly) and often minor release. Depending on the exact release of Developer 6 or 6i you have, you may find some small discrepencies between what is shown in this tutorial and what you see on your screen.

2. Prerequisites

Before following this tutorial, a student must have a valid user account in an Oracle server. Contact your DBA or systems administrator to learn the details of how Oracle server is set up in your organization.

This tutorial relies on the existence of a few tables in the student's schema. Use the Oracle SQL*Plus tool to create three tables named EMPLOYEE, DEPARTMENT and DEPENDENT with the following attributes. Note: This schema originally appears in the book: Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems. Second Edition. Addison-Wesley Pub Co, 1994.

Attribute	Data Type
EMPLOYEE Table
FNAME	VARCHAR(8)
MINIT	VARCHAR(2)
LNAME	VARCHAR(8)
SSN	NUMBER(12)
BDATE	DATE
ADDRESS	VARCHAR(30)
SEX	VARCHAR(1)
SALARY	NUMBER(7)
SUPERSSN	NUMBER(12)
DNO	NUMBER(2)

Attribute	Data Type
DEPARTMENT Table
DNAME	VARCHAR(15)
DNUMBER	NUMBER(2)
MGRSSN	NUMBER(12)
MGRSTARTDATE	DATE

Attribute	Data Type
DEPENDENT Table
ESSN	NUMBER(12)
DEPENDENT_NAME	VARCHAR(10)
SEX	VARCHAR(1)
BDATE	DATE
RELATIONSHIP	VARCHAR(10)

The following CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements can be used to create the above tables and insert some baseline data using the Oracle SQL*Plus tool. Note that different versions of Oracle accept either 2 digit or 4 digit year designations in the DATE datatype. It seems the latest versions (Oracle8 and Oracle8i) default to accept 4 digit years. The INSERT statements below should be formatted accordingly.

CREATE TABLE employee (FNAME VARCHAR2(15), MINIT VARCHAR2(2), LNAME VARCHAR2(15), SSN NUMBER(12) NOT NULL, BDATE DATE, ADDRESS VARCHAR2(35), SEX VARCHAR2(1), SALARY NUMBER(7) NOT NULL, SUPERSSN NUMBER(12), DNO NUMBER(2) NOT NULL) ; ALTER TABLE employee ADD CONSTRAINT pk_employee PRIMARY KEY (ssn); CREATE TABLE DEPARTMENT (DNAME VARCHAR2(15), DNUMBER NUMBER(2) NOT NULL, MGRSSN NUMBER(12), MGRSTARTDATE DATE) ; ALTER TABLE department ADD CONSTRAINT pk_department PRIMARY KEY (dnumber); CREATE TABLE DEPENDENT (ESSN NUMBER(12), DEPENDENT_NAME VARCHAR2(15), SEX VARCHAR2(1), BDATE DATE, RELATIONSHIP VARCHAR2(12)) ; ALTER TABLE dependent ADD CONSTRAINT pk_dependent PRIMARY KEY (essn, dependent_name); ALTER TABLE dependent ADD CONSTRAINT fk_employee FOREIGN KEY (essn) REFERENCES employee (ssn); ALTER TABLE employee ADD CONSTRAINT fk_department FOREIGN KEY (dno) REFERENCES department (dnumber); INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT VALUES ('RESEARCH', 5, 333445555, '22-MAY-1978') ; INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT VALUES ('ADMINISTRATION', 4, 987654321, '01-JAN-1985') ; INSERT INTO DEPARTMENT VALUES ('HEADQUARTERS', 1, 888665555, '19-JUN-1971') ; INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('JOHN','B','SMITH',123456789,'09-JAN-1955','731 FONDREN, HOUSTON, TX', 'M',30000,333445555,5) ; INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('FRANKLIN','T','WONG',333445555,'08-DEC-1945','638 VOSS,HOUSTON TX', 'M',40000,888665555,5) ; INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('ALICIA','J','ZELAYA',999887777,'19-JUL-1958','3321 CASTLE, SPRING, TX', 'F',25000,987654321,4) ; INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('JENNIFER','S','WALLACE',987654321,'20-JUN-1931','291 BERRY, BELLAIRE, TX', 'F',43000,888665555,4) ; INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('RAMESH','K','NARAYAN',666884444,'15-SEP-1952','975 FIRE OAK, HUMBLE, TX', 'M',38000,333445555,5) ; INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('JOYCE','A','ENGLISH',453453453,'31-JUL-1962','5631 RICE, HOUSTON, TX', 'F',25000,333445555,5); INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('AHMAD','V','JABBAR',987987987,'29-MAR-1959','980 DALLAS, HOUSTON, TX', 'M',25000,987654321,4) ; INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES ('JAMES','E','BORG',888665555,'10-NOV-1927', '450 STONE, HOUSTON, TX', 'M',55000,NULL,1) ; INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (333445555,'ALICE','F','05-APR-1976','DAUGHTER') ; INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (333445555,'THEODORE','M','25-OCT-1973','SON') ; INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (333445555,'JOY','F','03-MAY-1948','SPOUSE'); INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (123456789,'MICHAEL','M','01-JAN-1978','SON'); INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (123456789,'ALICE','F','31-DEC-1978','DAUGHTER'); INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (123456789,'ELIZABETH','F','05-MAY-1957','SPOUSE'); INSERT INTO DEPENDENT VALUES (987654321,'ABNER','M','26-FEB-1932','SPOUSE');

3. Developer Tools

Oracle Developer contains 3 main components:

Oracle Forms - For designing data entry forms.
Oracle Reports - For designing reports.
Oracle Graphics - For designing graphics such as charts that can be added to forms or reports.

Additional components include:

Procedure Builder - An integrated development environment to write and debug stored procedures (program units) for use in the Oracle database or in any of the Developer tools.
Query Builder - A GUI based query builder tool. Queries can be stored in the data dictionary or in a file system for later use and sharing.
Schema Builder - A GUI tool for creating and modifying tables, views and constraints.
Translation Builder - A tool for creating foreign language versions of applications written in Developer.
Project Builder - A software development project management system that manages source code for all Developer components.
PECS - The Oracle Performance Evaluation/Collection System - For profiling the execution and performance of applications developed with Oracle tools.
Discoverer - A data browsing tool that can be customized for end-users.

This tutorial covers the Developer Forms, Reports and Graphics components and gives a brief introduction to the Schema Builder and Procedure Builder tools.

In the following section, the procedures to run Oracle Forms under MS Windows 95/98/NT/2000 will be given.

3.1 Starting Developer tools under Windows 95/98/NT/2000

A typical installation of Developer creates several folders under the Start Programs menu. The main folders for the Developer programs for Oracle Forms 6i are found under the menu item: Oracle Forms 6i and include the following items:

To run Oracle Forms 6i under Windows 95/98/NT/2000, click on the Start -> Programs -> Oracle Forms6i -> Form Builder menu item.

To run Oracle Reports under Windows 95/98/NT/2000, click on the Start -> Programs -> Oracle Reports 6i -> Report Builder menu item.

To run Oracle Graphics under Windows 95/98/NT/2000, click on the Start -> Programs -> Oracle Forms & Reports 6i -> Graphics Builder menu item.

For older versions of Oracle Developer the start menu would might have items such as: Developer 2000 R2.1 or Developer 2000 R2.0 and so on.

Note: In your organization, Developer may be installed or configured slightly differently. In particular, the programs may be grouped under different menus. Please contact your DBA or systems administrator, or refer to any local documentation to learn how to run the Developer tools.

3.2 Starting Developer tools under UNIX

Oracle also makes a version of Developer 6i that runs under UNIX. This version uses X-Windows with the Motif X-Windows libraries as a graphical user interface.

If your version of Developer is installed under UNIX, use the following command lines to start the different tools:

Developer Tool	UNIX Command
Forms Developer 6.0 for X-Windows Motif	f60desm
Graphics Developer 6.0 for X-Windows Motif	g60desm
Procedure Builder 6.0 for X-Windows Motif	plbild60m
Reports Developer 6.0 for X-Windows Motif	rwbld60

Under UNIX, it may be necessary to set certain environment variables such as TK60_ICON, UI_ICON, FORMS60_PATH and so on. Upon installation, example shell scripts to set these environment variables are installed in the Oracle Home directory.

4. The Oracle Forms Designer Main Screen

Once the appropriate menu item has been clicked on (for Windows 95/98/NT/2000), the Oracle Forms Builder Welcome Screen will appear:

Oracle Forms 6.0 Welcome Screen
Forms 6.0 displays this welcome screen as a quick way to start working and designing forms. For this tutorial, we will work directly from the Object Navigator since this is this most general way to work with forms.

To continue to the Object Navigator from the Welcome screen, click on the Cancel button or select the "Build a form Manually" option and click OK. In either case, the Object Navigator will appear.

4.1 Oracle Forms Object Navigator

After starting up Oracle Forms, the main screen will be presented.

This screen is called the Object Navigator and displays all of the form elements, data blocks, menu items, user defined code libraries, built in procedures and functions, and database objects (tables, views). The display is in the form of a collapsible tree. In general, clicking on a + will expand the current item to show its details. Clicking on a - will collapse the current list details.

The menu bar across the top provides access to almost all of the features of Oracle Forms.

The File menu has options to create, open, save and print forms. This menu also includes an option to connect to the database and the Administration option that is used to compile forms and menu code. The last option on the File menu is the Exit option that will exit Oracle Forms Builder.
The Edit menu has options to cut, copy and paste objects, to invoke an editor and to undo an operation.
The View menu toggles the object navigator display between visual elements and ownership elements.
The Navigator menu has items that control the display of the object navigator including expanding and collapsing tree branches. The Navigator menu can also be used to create and delete objects using the Create and Delete menu options respectively.
The Program menu has items that control form compilation, generation and execution (Run). Triggers, Procedures and other PL/SQL code can also be created from this menu. The Smart Triggers menu option displays the most commonly used triggers according to the type of object currently selected in the object navigator.
The Tools menu has options to switch between several different screens including the Layout editor, Menu editor and Object Navigator. There are also several wizards that can be launched from this menu including the Data Block wizard, the Layout wizard, the Chart wizard and the LOV (List of Values) wizard.
The Windows menu displays menu items for each of the windows you have open. By default, only one item - the Object Navigator - is displayed.
Finally, the Help menu can be used to display help topics.

By default, a button bar is provided on the left hand side of the Object Navigator window. Each button duplicates some functionality on the menus. For example, clicking on the top icon (an opened folder) is the same as pulling down the File menu and choosing the Open option. To see what a button might do if pressed, place the mouse cursor over the button and a short message will appear describing the button's function.

In Developer 6.0, a form, report or graphic is generally referred to as a Module. When first starting the Forms Builder, a default module is created called: MODULE1

The content of the Object Navigator is broken down into 6 major sections:

Forms - Contains form objects and all of their sub-objects such as data blocks, triggers, alerts, canvases, program units (procedures and functions), parameters and windows. More than one form can be open at a time.
Menus - Contains menu objects and all of their sub-objects such as menu items, parameters and program units. More than one menu can be open at a time.
PL/SQL Libraries - These are libraries of PL/SQL code (stored either in the database or in .plb files). Libraries can be shared among different forms and among different developers.
Object Libraries - These are libraries containing a collection of objects (anything that can appear on a form).
Built-in Packages - Lists all of the packages (PL/SQL procedures) available by default to all forms, reports, etc.
Database Objects - Lists all of the database objects (Tables, Views, PL/SQL Libraries, and Stored Program Units) in the user's Oracle database schema.

As objects are created, they are displayed under the appropriate section. Context sensitive menus can be displayed for each object by clicking on an object with the right mouse button.

4.2 Connecting to the Database

The first step in working with any of the Developer tools is to establish a connection to an Oracle database. This is accomplished by pulling down the File menu and selecting the Connect menu item.

Fill in your Oracle Username and Oracle Password (press the tab key to move between the fields).

For the Database field, type in the service name for your Oracle database. For example, if you are using Personal Oracle Lite, the Database: would be ODBC:POLITE. If you have a local database running on the same machine, you may be able to connect directly to it by leaving this field blank. If you are working in a client/server environment where the Oralce server resides on another machine, you will have to configure the Oracle Net8 middleware to establish a connection with that server. You would then supply the Net8 service name in the Database field. Alternatively, contact your system administrator to learn the service name for your Oracle database and provide that information in the Database: field.

Click on the Connect button to complete the connection (Under some versions of UNIX, the button is labeled OK). If the user name or password is mistyped or incorrect, the dialog box will be re-displayed. Be sure to provide your Oracle username and password (not your UNIX host or Local Area Network password).

Each time any of the Developer Builder tools are executed, the first step will be to connect to an Oracle database in this fashion.

5. Forms Design

A typical database schema contains dozens of tables, each with several columns of various data types. We develop applications (forms, reports, menus, etc.) to make the job of manipulating data in those tables easier for users. In Oracle Forms, a form (or data entry form) acts like a window into the database schema. An individual focuses the attention of the user to one or a few of the tables at a time. In addition, a form can give prompts so the user knows what kind of input is expected and how data is to be entered and manipulated.

By default, every form in Oracle Forms has the capability to query existing data in a table, modify existing data and add new data (records) to the table. A form is built up using one or more data blocks that correspond to tables in the database. Fields within the data block correspond to columns in the database table. A data block is similar to a DataWindow object in PowerBuilder. In the following figure, a typical form is shown.

This form has two data blocks, one for the EMPLOYEE table, and one for the DEPENDENT table. These data blocks are arranged in a Master/Detail setup where a single Employee record (the master) is associated with one or more Dependents records (the details).

By default, forms also gives a button bar and a menu. These can be used to scroll through the records in a block, navigate between blocks, set up and perform queries against the tables, insert, update and delete records, clear the form and exit the form. Finally, at the bottom of each form is a status bar that displays any relevant prompts or error messages and an indication of the records in the current data block.

There are four main types of forms that can be designed.

There are additional variations such as a Master/Detail/Detail form with 3 blocks and so on. However, the four types illustrated above are the most common ones. In this tutorial, all four types will be demonstrated.

6. Creating and Running a Form with a Single Block

In this section, the basic steps for creating a basic data entry and query form for a single database table will be covered.

In general, a Data Block on a form corresponds to a table in the database. This is called the Base Table for the data block. For each table displayed on the form, a new data block will be created. For this example, only one data block will be created for the EMPLOYEE table.

A block appears on a Canvas which is contained in a Window. There are many options to control multiple canvas views and multiple windows per form. In these examples, we concentrate on a simple arrangement using a single canvas and a single window.

There are a number of ways to create a data block. One way is to manually define the base table and columns, and their positions on the form. While this is possible, it can be very tedious.

Oracle Forms 6.0 provides two wizards (programs that guide the developer in performing common tasks) to create data blocks:

The Data Block wizard guides the developer through the steps of choosing a base table and columns.
The Layout wizard guides the developer through arranging the base table and columns on the form.

6.1 Creating a New Block

To create a new block, pull down the Tools menu and select the Data Block wizard menu item. The following dialog box will appear:

Click on the Next button. The following dialog box will appear:

There are two types of data blocks that can be created. Table/View and Procedures. For this example, choose Table/View and click on the Next button.

The next step is to choose a base table and columns that will belong to the data block. The following dialog box should appear:

To associate a database table with the block, click on the Browse... button to the right of the Table or View field. The following dialog box will pop up.

Make sure the Current User and Tables buttons are selected A list of your tables will appear. Highlight the name of the database table (EMPLOYEE in this example) and click on the OK button.

The wizard should reappear with the name of the table and a list of available columns displayed. To include a column in the data block, highlight the column name and click on the right arrow. The name of the column should move over to the right hand side.

For this example, select the FNAME, LNAME, SSN, BDATE, SALARY and DNO as in the following figure:

Click on the Next button, and the final dialog box for the Data Block wizard will appear:

In this example, we want to continue on to the Layout wizard in order to specify how the new form will appear. Make sure the Create the block, then call the Layout wizard option is selected and click on the Finish button.

The data block will be created (as can be seen in the Object Navigator in the background). The objects created include the EMPLOYEE data block containing items for each of the columns that were selected in the third step of the wizard.

Once the new data block and items are created, the first dialog box in the Layout wizard will appear:

Click on the Next button and the following dialog box will appear:

The layout for a data block may be placed on any existing canvas. In this case, there are no canvases so the only option available is to create a new canvas.

Click on the Next button to display the following dialog box:

In this dialog box, the columns from a given base table on a data block can be added to the layout. Since we are laying out the EMPLOYEE data block, it is highlighted automatically. Move all of the Available Columns over to the Displayed Items side by clicking on the double right arrow and click on the Next button.

In this dialog box, the field labels, field sizes and field heights can be altered. Change the field labels as below and click on the Next button:

The following dialog box will appear:

There are two main styles for forms. A Tabular layout arranges the field labels across the top of the form with a number of records below as in a spreadsheet.

A Form layout places the field labels to the left of the fields. Generally only one record is displayed at a time.

For this example, choose a Form layout and click on the Next button.

In the following dialog box, type a title for the frame (around the data block) and check the option to include a scroll bar.

The number of records displayed for a Form layout should be 1. The number of records displayed in a Tabular layout can be more than 1.

Click on the Next button and the final dialog box for the Layout wizard will appear.

Click on the Finish button to create the layout. A new Canvas will be created

At this point the Layout Editor should appear and the new form with the data block will appear.

6.2 The Layout Editor

To view the actual form and its blocks and fields, pull down the Tools menu and select the Layout Editor menu item (if it not already displayed).

In the Layout Editor, fields and labels can be moved around by clicking and dragging. Other text, lines and boxes, etc. can be added using the tool palette on the left side of the window.

Some common operations on the Layout Editor include:

6.3 Displaying Properties

While in the Layout Editor, double clicking on an object will bring up that object's properties. Optionally, clicking on an object with the right mouse button will bring up a small menu which has the Properties menu item on it. The following figure shows the properties for the FNAME item.

Each type of object has a slightly different set of properties. For example, double clicking on the EMPLOYEE data block in the Object Navigator will display that data block's properties.

Some properties of interest for a data block include:

WHERE Clause - specify a WHERE clause to filter the selection of rows from the base table.
ORDER BY Clause - specify an ORDER BY clause to alter the displayed order of the records.
Delete Allowed, Insert Allowed, Query Allowed and Update Allowed - toggle these properties to allow or prevent the action. For example, setting Delete Allowed to FALSE prevents users from deleting records from the corresponding base table using this form.
There are numerous other properties that affect the fonts, colors, size and position of objects in the block.

6.4 Saving, Compiling and Running Forms

Forms can be saved in files in a directory of your choosing. The "source code" for a form is stored in a file with a .fmb extension. Compiled forms have a .fmx extension.

Under MS Windows 95/98/NT/2000, forms can be saved in a folder (subdirectory) on the local hard disk, on a file server or on a floppy disk. It is desirable to maintain separate subdirectories (folders) for forms associated with different projects.

6.4.1 Saving a Form

To save a form, pull down the File menu and select the Save menu item.

Under MS Windows 95/98/NT/2000, this dialog box looks like:

Note that in your company or organization, forms and other files may have to be saved on floppy disk or in a special directory. The above figure is simply an example.

Fill in a file name in the File Name: field. Be sure it ends with .fmb

Click on the Save button to save the file. For this example, use the file name employee.fmb

To save this form on a floppy disk in the A: drive, use the file name: A:\employee.fmb

To enhance portability of forms across different operating systems, use file names that begin with a letter, contain no spaces or punctuation (except for the underscore character), have all lower case letters and are relatively short.

If you are working on a form and wish to save it under a different file name, follow the same steps as above, only select the Save As menu item in place of the Save menu item. For example, if you have finished working on the Employee form and wish to save off a copy before adding some code or programming some program units, the Save As menu item can be used to save off a copy before proceeding.

6.4.2 Compiling/Building a Form

Before a form can be executed (run), it must be Compiled and Built. Compiling runs a PL/SQL compiler on all of the procedures and triggers in the form. Building (or compiling the file) creates the .fmx file that is then used to run the form.

To compile a form, first make sure the form is saved. Pull down the Program menu and select the Compile menu item. Then choose All in the flyout menu.

If a form has errors (e.g., in the PL/SQL code, or if the database schema changes) they will be displayed in a window as they are encountered. A record of the compilation process, including error messages, is kept in a file with a .err extension. For example, if the form is named employee then the record of the compilation will be stored in employee.err

To Build the .fmx file for a form, pull down the File menu, click on the Administration menu item and then choose Compile File from the fly-out menu. If the forms generation is successful, the phrase Module built successfully will appear on the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

Alternatively, Oracle Forms defaults to automatically building the form each time it is executed (run) from the forms designer as will be demonstrated in the next step. For more details on the default behavior, pull down the Tools menu and check the Preferences menu item.

6.4.3 Running a Form

After a form has been saved and built, it can be executed. To run the form, pull down the Program menu and select the Run Form -> Client/Server menu item. The form will display in a new window. The Oracle Runform program is executed by passing in the name of the form (employee.fmx in this case) as a parameter.

Use the various menus and items to query the form, enter new data and save new and changed data. Please read the section below on Query By Example to see how to query data from the underlying tables and populate the fields in the form.

6.4.4 Running a Form as a Java Application or Applet

If you have also installed the Forms Server (Windows NT/2000 only) you may also run the form in "Web" mode by selecting the Program menu and then "Web". In Oracle Forms 6 and 6i, the .fmx file is loaded and executed in a Java Application. In this mode the Forms server handles the processing of the business logic and interacts with the user interface elements that run in the Java Application.

An example of a simple Employee data entry form running in a Java Application is shown below:

Another option for running Oracle forms is to run them within a web browser as a Java Applet. The basic steps for this involve setting up a web server (such as Oracle Application Server or Oracle WebDB) to serve the .fmx file and a series of Java application class files to the web browser client. Oracle provides their own Java runtime environment (JRE) called the J-Initiator that must be installed on each client. J-Initiator hooks into the client's web browser using a special MIME data type that launches Oracle JRE when an Oracle form is loaded into the browser. Below is an example of the same data entry form running as a Java Applet inside of the Netscape Navigator web broswer.

Forms 6i provides a simple test web page located under the Oracle Forms 6i program group called "Run a Form on the Web". One can make use of that to test if the Forms server, load balancer, and web server on the middle tier are running correctly.

Please note that getting Oracle Forms and Reports to run in this fashion is not a trivial undertaking. It requires extensive knowledge of web servers, Windows NT/2000 services and the way in which the forms applications are processed across the three tier architecture.

The above discussion is meant as a basic introduction to the Java Application and Applet features of Oracle Forms. It is beyond the scope of this tutorial to present the details for configuring servers and services to provide this capability. Please refer to the on-line documentation that comes with FOrms 6i for more detailed descriptions and configuration instructions.

6.4.4 Query By Example

When a Developer Form is first executed, no records will appear. That is, the blank form will appear with no data in the fields. This is similar to running a word processor where the opening screen is blank. From this blank or empty form, the user can immediately begin to enter new data records by simply typing them in.

However, in may cases, the user would first like to see if there are any records in the database. To do this, the user must query the database using the query capabilities that are built into every Oracle form. This will bring a copy of the records from the database into the form.

When a tool such as SQL*Plus is used, the user must form the SQL query by typing it directly in. In the case of embedded SQL, the SQL statements are programmed into the host language (such as "C" or Java) and automatically executed for the user. In the case of Oracle Forms, complex queries can be formulated and submitted to the database using a technique called Query By Example or QBE. In QBE, the name of the table or tables is fixed as are the names of the columns that will be returned from the tables. The user can supply their own criteria by supplying values for the fields. These values become part of the query that is submitted to the database on behalf of the user.

Querying a form in Oracle Forms is a two step process. Clicking on the Query button or choosing Enter Query from the Query menu places the form in Enter Query mode. In enter query mode, the form is cleared and the user can navigate in the various fields. Example values can be supplied as criteria for the query. For example, a user looking for all employees in the RESEARCH department might type a "5" in the DNO field while in enter query mode.

Clicking on the Query button a second time executes the current query using any supplied data as criteria in a WHERE clause. If no criteria are supplied, then all records in the table will be displayed. Continuing the above example, supplying a "5" for the DNO field while in enter query mode would cause the following SQL query to be submitted to the database:

SELECT fname, lname, ssn, bdate, salary, dno FROM   employee WHERE  dno = 5;

Most of the commands on the menus and on the button bar can also be activated using special key combinations or function keys. For example, under MS Windows 95/98/NT/2000, pressing the F7 function key places the form in Enter Query mode. Pressing the F8 function key executes a query. To see a list of keys and their functions, pull down the Help menu and choose the Keys option.

Once data has been queried, it is retrieved from the database and stored in a buffer in the associated data block on the form. This means that a local copy of the data now exists in the client's memory. Appropriate locks are placed on the data so that the client maintains a consistent view of the data in the associated tables.

The user can navigate through the data in a block by pressing the up and down arrow keys to scroll between records. To change data in a form, the user can TAB to the field of interest, and type over the existing data.

To enter new data into the form, the user can scroll to the last record and then down once more to move to a blank record. Data can then be typed into the fields and the TAB key can be pressed to move between fields on the form.

To save both changed and new records on a form, pull down the Action menu and choose the Save menu item. Any records that have been changed are collected and submitted to the database as SQL UPDATE statements. Any new records are collected and submitted to the database as INSERT statements. These statements are submitted as a single logical unit of work. Thus if a failure occurs during any of the statements, the entire transaction will be rolled back.

If the user attempts to clear the block or exit the form and there are some changes that have not yet been applied to the database, they will be prompted to commit the changes before exiting or clearing the form. The block is cleared when the Enter Query mode is invoked. A block can also be cleared using the Clear Block and Clear Form menu items.

To exit from a running form, pull down the Action menu and select the Exit menu item.

As a review, here are a few basic functions that can be performed by default in any Form:

Forms function	Notes
Querying a form	To see all records in the table, simply "Execute Query" (via Query menu or by pressing F8 in Windows). To filter the record, "enter query" mode, specify the query parameters in the fields and then "Execute Query".
Inserting new records	Scroll to the last record and then scroll once more to get a blank record. Type in data for each field and then commit these changes by pulling down the `Action` menu and choose the `Save` menu item. For master/detail forms (discussed below) first either query a master record or insert and save a master record (in the master data block), then navigate to the detail block and insert new records there.
Updating existing records	Query the database and scroll to the record of interest. Change the values in the fields and then save the changes. For master/detail forms, changes to the key in the master block may be prevented if detail records exist (thus insuring relational integrity).
Deleting records	Query the database and scroll to the record of interest. Pull down the Records menu and choose Delete record. Then save the changes. For master/detail forms, attempting to delete a master record when detail records exist typically results in an error. In such cases, all of the detail records should be deleted first and then the master record should be able to be deleted.

6.5 Exercise: Creating a a Single Block Form

For this exercise, create a simple data entry form for the DEPARTMENT table with the following characteristics:

Select and display all of the columns in the DEPARTMENT table.
In the layout wizard, use the Tabular layout and display 5 Records in the form. Add a scrollbar.
In the Layout Editor, make the DNAME field a bit wider to accommodate longer department names.
Change the Properties of the DEPARTMENT block so that that data is ORDER BY DNUMBER.
Save the form under the file name: depart.fmb

The resulting form should look like the following:

[Exercise result form]

Use the enter query mode and execute query functions to query the department table for a specific department name and/or number.

7. Creating a Master-Detail Form

In this section, the basic steps for creating a Master/Detail form are introduced. A Master/Detail form is a form that has two blocks arranged in a master-detail relationship.

7.1 The Master-Detail Relationship

The Master-Detail relationship is a common relationship between entities in a business. In an Entity-Relationship diagram, these are shown as "One to Many" relationships. In a physical database design, a single Master record references one or more detail records in another table. A record in the detail table will relate to exactly one master record in the master table. Another name for this relationship is called parent-child. Examples of this relationship include:

A Customer Order with many OrderItems.
A Department with many Employees.
An Employee with many Dependents.
A Company with many Branch Offices.
A Recipe with many RecipeSteps.
An Inventory location with many Inventory Items.

Oracle Forms implements the master-detail relationship using two data blocks. The first block corresponds to the master table and the second block corresponds to the detail table. There are two major functions in a Master-Detail form:

Oracle Forms coordinates values between the two blocks through a series of form and block level triggers.
Oracle Forms guarantees that the detail block will display only records that are associated with the current record in the master block.

Note that a Master-Detail form is simply one way of viewing the data in two related tables. Forms do not affect the schema in terms of creating, dropping or enforcing database level referential integrity constraints.

7.2 Steps to Create a Master-Detail Form

In this section, a set of step by step instructions for creating a Master-detail form are given. The form will allow a user to query a given department in the company and then will display all of the employees in that company.

The schema used is the same one suggested in the Prerequisites section at the beginning of this tutorial. Notice that the DNO column in the EMPLOYEE table gets its values from the DNUMBER column in the DEPARTMENT table. In other words, to join the two tables in a query, one might specify a WHERE clause such that: EMPLOYEE.DNO = DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER.

7.2.1 Create the Master Block

In the Object Navigator, click on the Forms branch at the very top. Create a new form by pulling down the File menu and choosing the New menu item. Then choose Form from the flyout menu.

Using the same steps given in the prior section on Creating a Form with a Single Block, create a new block named DEPARTMENT that contains all of the columns in the DEPARTMENT table. Briefly:

Pull down the Tools menu and choose the Data Block wizard.
Create a data block for a table/view.
Specify the DEPARTMENT table and select all of the columns (DNAME, DNUMBER, MGRSSN and MGRSARTDATE).
Create the data block and then go on to the Layout wizard.
Apply the Department data block to a new canvas.
Add all of the columns as Displayed Items.
Change the labels to:
Dept. Name
Dept. Number
Mgr. Ssn
Mgr. Start Date
Choose a Form layout.
Specify a frame title of "Departments" and select only 1 record to be displayed.
Save the form as deptemp.fmb and then compile and run it to make sure it is working properly.
Use the QBE features to retrieve only those departments with DNUMBER greater than 2. Then, do another QBE query to retrieve only those departments with the letter H in their name (try %H%).

After this first step, the deptemp form should look like the following:

7.2.2 Create the Detail Block

Now that we have the master block DEPARTMENT created, we can now create the detail block EMPLOYEE and associate it with the master block. Perform the following steps:

Return to the Object Navigator (pull down the Tools menu and choose Object Navigator).
In the Object Navigator, click on the Data Blocks branch of the DEPTEMP form (do not click on the department data block, however).
Pull down the Tools menu and choose the Data Block wizard.
Note: If the DEPARTMENT data block (or any of its items) is still selected, activating the Data Block wizard will cause the existing block to be edited instead of creating a new block (which is what is required in this part of the tutorial).
Select the EMPLOYEE table and include the FNAME, LNAME, SSN, BDATE, SALARY and DNO columns.
Because at least one data block already exists in the form, the next step in the wizard will be to create a relationship between the existing data block (DEPARTMENT in this case) and the new block being created.
The wizard can construct the relationship based on table level constraints it learns from the database schema. For example, in the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE statements given at the start of this tutorial, foreign key constraints were specified between DEPARTMENT and EMPLOYEE, and between EMPLOYEE and DEPENDENT. However, such relationships are not always implemented in table level constraints.
The developer can also specify the relationship manually. In this case, the relationship will be specified manually.

De-select the Auto-join data blocks option.
Click on the Create Relationship button to list the available data blocks.
In the next dialog box Relation Type, choose Based on a join condition and click the OK button.

When the list of blocks appears, choose the DEPARTMENT data block.
Arrange the Detail Item (DNO) and Master Item (DNUMBER) such as that the join condition becomes: EMPLOYEE.DNO = DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER
Create the data block and then call the Layout wizard.
Be sure to choose the existing canvas (CANVAS2 in this example) and include all of the items except the DNO as displayed.
The DNO column (item) will still be a part of the EMPLOYEE data block, however, it will not be displayed to the user.
Touch up the labels for the fields and choose the Tabular layout.
Give the Frame Title as "Employees" and select 5 Records displayed with 0 distance between records.
Save the form (it should already have the name deptemp.fmb) and then compile and run it. Note that after compilation, any errors encountered will be displayed.

The following figure shows the master-detail form running:

Notice that by scrolling the master block DEPARTMENT to a new department number (using the up and down arrow keys), the employees for that department are automatically queried and displayed.

To navigate between the Master and Detail blocks, use:

To go to the next block: Press CTRL-PageDown or pull down the Block menu and choose Next
To go to the previous block: Press CTRL-PageUp or pull down the Block menu and choose Previous

7.3 Relation Properties of a Master-Detail Form

There are a number of properties in a master-detail form that can be changed to suit particular behavior of the form. In the figure below, the Object Navigator has several new objects on it including Relations.

To view the properties for the DEPARTMENT_EMPLOYEE relation, open up the DEPARTMENT block and then open the Relations block by clicking on the + symbols. Then click on the DEPARTMENT_EMPLOYEE relation with the right mouse button and select Properties.

There are several interesting properties in the relations property sheet:

Name - The name of the Relation. This is typically made up of the names of the blocks.
Relation Type - The type of the relation: Join or Ref.
A Join relation uses the typical SQL join (in the Where clause) to bring the two tables (data blocks) together. The Ref relation type is used for abstract data types and object references.
Detail Data Block - The name of the detail data block specified when the detail data block was created.
Join Condition - This is the join condition in effect for queries to the database. This was specified when the detail data block was created.
Delete Record Behavior - Used to specify how the deletion of a record in the master block affects records in the detail block. It supports the following settings:
- Non-isolated: Prevents the deletion of a master record if associated detail records exist in the database.
- Isolated: Deleting the master record will not affect the associated detail records in the database.
- Cascading: Deletes the master record and automatically deletes any associated detail records.
Coordination - Deferred - Indicates when detail records should be queried when a master record is queried.
- Yes: Form does not query the detail records until the user navigates to the detail block.
- No: Detail records are fetched immediately when a user queries the master record.
Deferred is sometimes set to Yes in cases where there are a lot of detail records for each master record. In such cases, a lot of data must be queried and delivered to the client each time a new record is displayed in the master block. When Deferred is set to Yes, the user can scroll down to the master record of interest and then navigate to the detail block (CTRL-PageDown) to query the related detail records.
Coordination - Auto-query - Applied to deferred queries only
- Yes: the query is automatically executed when the user navigates to the detail block.
- No: the query must be executed manually by the user after they navigate to the detail block.
Prevent Masterless operation - Specifies whether users are allowed to query or insert records in a detail block when no master record is in place.
- Yes: Users may not query or insert when no master record is in place.
- No: Users may query or insert when no master record is in place.

These settings are used to "tune" the overall performance of a master-detail form. As mentioned above, in cases where a large number of detail records are associated with each master record, it is a good idea to set coordination-Deferred to Yes to avoid unnecessary transfers of data between the server and client. This will also speed up the display of master records as the user can freely scroll through them without a pause to query and deliver the detail records.

7.4 Program Units in a Master-Detail Form

When a Master-detail form is created, three basic Program Units (PL/SQL Procedures) are created by default. These procedures are used to coordinate the query and navigation of the detail records when the master record is changed (e.g., when the user scrolls to a different master record), updated or deleted. The procedures can be seen listed in the Object Navigator:

PL/SQL is Oracle's procedural language extensions to SQL. To view the PL/SQL code for a Program Unit, click on the name of the program unit with the right mouse button and then choose PL/SQL Editor from the pop-up menu. The code for the CHECK_PACKAGE_FAILURE procedure is show here:

The CHECK_PACKAGE_FAILURE procedure checks to see if a prior form command or SQL statement was successful or if it failed.

Below is the PL/SQL code for the QUERY_MASTER_DETAILS procedure. The text after the -- (two minus signs) are comments.

PROCEDURE Query_Master_Details(rel_id Relation,detail CHAR) IS oldmsg CHAR(2); -- Old Message Level Setting reldef CHAR(5); -- Relation Deferred Setting BEGIN -- -- Initialize Local Variable(s) -- reldef := Get_Relation_Property(rel_id, DEFERRED_COORDINATION); oldmsg := :System.Message_Level; -- -- If NOT Deferred, Goto detail and execute the query. -- IF reldef = 'FALSE' THEN Go_Block(detail); Check_Package_Failure; :System.Message_Level := '10'; Execute_Query; :System.Message_Level := oldmsg; ELSE -- -- Relation is deferred, mark the detail block as un-coordinated -- Set_Block_Property(detail, COORDINATION_STATUS, NON_COORDINATED); END IF; EXCEPTION WHEN Form_Trigger_Failure THEN :System.Message_Level := oldmsg; RAISE; END Query_Master_Details;

The QUERY_MASTER_DETAILS procedure is executed whenever the user navigates to the detail block in a master detail form. If the Deferred Coordination property is set to false, then the detail block is automatically queried.

Finally, the CLEAR_MASTER_DETAILS procedure is called each time a new master record is retrieved (e.g., when the user scrolls to a different master record) or deleted. In this case, if any of the detail records have been inserted, updated or deleted, the changes must be saved into the database before the detail block can be cleared. If there are any outstanding changes to be saved, the user will be prompted to save those changes before the detail bock is cleared.

7.5 Extending Master-Detail Forms

Master-Detail forms can be extended to include additional levels of details. For example, consider a Customer listing with detail on Orders a customer has placed. For each Order, there are then many Items. An extension to the above example would be to include the DEPENDENTS of the employees as a details of the EMPLOYEES block. The steps outlined above can be repeated allowing several levels of detail to be added. Each additional level of detail will add a new block that is related to the level above it.

7.6 Exercise: Creating a Master/Detail Form

For this exercise, create a Master/Detail form using the EMPLOYEE and DEPENDENT tables. Employee will be the Master block and Dependents will be the Detail block. The join condition between the two tables is where the SSN column of EMPLOYEE is equal to the ESSN column of DEPENDENT.

The following is an outline of the steps:

Create the Employee data block and include the FNAME, LNAME, SSN, ADDRESS and SEX fields on the form. Use the Form layout and only display one record at a time.
Go back to the Object Navigator and select the "Data Blocks" tree. Make sure the EMPLOYEE block is not selected and run the Data Block Wizard again.
Create the Dependents data block and include all of the columns.
For the master/Detail relationship, de-select the "auto" option, use a Join relationship, choose the EMPLOYEE data block as the Master and set DEPENDENT.ESSN = EMPLOYEE.SSN for the join relationship.
In the Layout Wizard for the Dependents data block, display all of the fields except the ESSN field. The ESSN field will remain part of the data block but it will not be visible on the form. Choose a Tabular style and display 4 up to records at once with 0 space between each record.
Save the form using the name: empdepn.fmb

The completed form should look like the following:

Query the master block and practice navigating between the two blocks using the CTRL-PageDown and CTRL-PageUp keys.

While in the Employee block, scroll to the Employee named JENNIFER WALLACE, navigate to the Dependents block and add a new record for a SON named ANDREW born on 20-OCT-1962. Navigate back to the Employee block and attempt to scroll to another employee record. A prompt should be displayed to save the new Dependent record.

While in the Master block for Employees, scroll to an employee who has some dependents. Try to delete the Employee record and see if an error message appears.

Finally, alter the EMPLOYEE_DEPENDENT relation properties and set the Coordination-Deferred to Yes and then run the form. Notice now that the detail records will not be displayed automatically. Navigate to the Dependents block and hit the Execute query button (or pull down the Query menu and choose Execute). Notice that only those Dependent records matching the Employee are displayed.

8. List of Values (LOVs) and Non-Base Table Fields

It is cumbersome for a user to have to remember various codes and numbers while entering data into a data entry form. For example, in the Employee form, it might be difficult to have all of the department numbers memorized when inserting new employee data.

One solution to this problem is to make a list of appropriate values available when the user navigates to Department Number field (DNO). In Oracle Forms, these are called List of Values (LOVs). The next section will illustrate creating LOVs for fields. These examples are based on the single block Employee form created at the beginning of this tutorial.

To prepare for this part of the tutorial, close any forms you currently have open by pulling down the File menu and selecting the Close menu item.

Once all of the forms are closed, pull down the File menu and choose the Open menu item to open up the employee.fmb form that was created previously.

A List of Values is based on a Record Group. In Oracle Forms, a record group is a query that returns some collection of records. Record groups can be used to populate blocks or LOVs and they can be used in procedures. When the user navigates to an item with an LOV attached to it, the LOV key (F9 in MS Windows) can be pressed to call up the LOV. At that time, the query associated with the record group is executed and the results are displayed in a pop up window. Once the user makes a selection from the list, the value or values are returned to the form and placed in the appropriate fields.

In the example below, a record group and LOV for the DNO (department number) field in the Employee table will be created.

8.1 Creating a List of Values

Creating a List of Values requires 4 basic steps.

8.1.1 Create a new LOV Object

To create an LOV, click on the LOVs node in the Object Navigator. Then pull down the Navigator menu and choose the Create menu item. A dialog box will appear asking if you would like to create the LOV manually or if you would like to use the LOV Wizard.

Choose "Use the LOV Wizard" and click the OK button. The first step of the LOV Wizard will appear as below:

The default is set to create a new Record Group. Make sure this selection is highlighted and then click the Next button.

In most cases, you will not have a record group created previously. However, one can be created on the fly at this point by specifying a query. In this example, enter the LOV query as follows: SELECT DNUMBER FROM DEPARTMENT

Then click on the Next button.

The next step is to specify which columns in the record group will be returned to for use by the LOV. In this example, we only return DNUMBER so select that column as shown below and click Next.

The next step is to specify the display properties of the LOV columns and also to map the LOV item to the field on the form.

To map the LOV column to a field, click on the DNUMBER entry and then click on the "Look up return Item" button. Highlight the EMPLOYEE.DNO field and click on the OK button.

Note that if your LOV contains more than one item, at this time you would also map them as well (this is not the case with this example, but in the next example we will need to map two LOV columns). Click on the Next button.

Specify a title for LOV window. At this point you may also specify the size and positioning of the LOV. For this example, leave them as the defaults and click the Next button.

The advanced properties relate to how the records should be fetched for the LOV. If there are many hundreds or thousands of possible records returned by the LOV, you may consider changing these options. Otherwise, for this example, simply click Next.

In this final step, the LOV is returning some columns and they were assigned to fields on the form in a previous step. At this point, we need to associate the LOV with a particular item on the form. For example, by assigning the LOV to the EMPLOYEE.DNO field, the user will be able to call up the LOV only when the cursor is positioned in the EMPLOYEE.DNO field. Choose EMPLOYEE.DNO and click the Next button.

Finally, click Finish to create the Record Group and the LOV.

In the figure below, the LOV has been created. A default name of LOV4 was given to both the LOV and to its associated record group. Depending on what other parts of this tutorial you have completed, the default name may be slightly different.

Save, Compile and Run the form. When entering new data, navigate to the DNO (Department number) field. Notice at the bottom of the form, a message appears: List of Values indicating a list of values is available for this field.

Under UNIX, the key to display the list of values is Control-l.

Under MS Windows 95/98/NT/2000 the key to display the list of values is F9.

To see the appropriate keys to press, pull down the Help menu and choose the Keys item.

8.2 Non-Base Table fields

In the previous example of adding a List of Values, the supplied list of appropriate values can be useful in cases where the values themselves are self-explanatory. However, in the prior example, the department numbers may not have meaning to the user.

It would be more helpful to include the name of the department both in the pop-up list of values and on the form. However, the department name is not part of the EMPLOYEE table or data block. Thus we need a way to display this information on the EMPLOYEE data block in a non base table field.

Adding this item and making it functional will take several steps:

First the new item will have to be added to the EMPLOYEE data block. We'll call this new item DEPTNAME.
Next, the DEPTNAME field should be populated with the department name each time the value of the DNO field changes. A trigger will be created to handle this functionality.
Finally, the list of values will be changed to include the Department name in the LOV.

8.2.1 Adding a New Item to an Existing Data Block

Switch to the Layout Editor by clicking on the Tools menu and selecting the Layout Editor menu item.
Click on the Text Item tool and create a new field on the EMPLOYEE block by clicking and dragging the mouse next to the DNO item.
Display the properties for the new Text Item by double clicking on it. Change its name to DEPTNAME. Change the following properties for DEPTNAME:

Enabled: Yes
Keyboard Navigable: No
Database Item: No
Query Only: No
Primary Key: No
Insert Allowed: No
Query Allowed: No
Update Allowed: No
By setting Keyboard Navigable to No, we prevent the user from tabbing into this field. Since this field is not used for data entry or querying, this prevents the potential confusion.
The Database Item property is set to No which indicates that this filed does not map to an actual column in the EMPLOYEE table.
The remaining properties are all set to No to keep the field from participating in any of these activities: Delete, Insert, Update and Query.

At this point, the new item DEPTNAME has been added to the EMPLOYEE data block as a non-base table field.

Save the form at this point by pulling down the File menu and choosing the Save option.

8.2.2 Creating a Trigger

Next, we will create a trigger to populate the DEPTNAME field whenever the value of DNO changes. Triggers in Oracle Forms have four general forms:

PRE- Trigger fires before an event is executed.
POST- Trigger fires after an event is executed.
WHEN- Trigger fires in place of the execution of an event.
KEY- Trigger fires when a particular key is pressed.

In this example, we would like to populate the DEPTNAME field with the appropriate department name just after the DNO field changes on the EMPLOYEE block. Thus we will use a POST-CHANGE trigger on the :EMPLOYEE.DNO field.

Switch to the Object Navigator view by clicking on the Tools menu and choosing the Object Navigator menu item.
Open up the EMPLOYEE data block and the DNO item.
Click on the Triggers property and create a new trigger by pulling down the Navigator menu and choosing the Create menu item.
A list of possible trigger names appears. Choose the POST-CHANGE trigger and click on the OK button.
When the PL/SQL editor appears, type the following PL/SQL code: Items on a block are preceded by a full colon to differentiate them from columns in a table.
Compile the trigger by clicking on the Compile button.
Close the PL/SQL editor by clicking on the Close button. Then save, compile/build and run the form to test the functionality. Notice that when the EMPLOYEE block is queried, the associated department name now appears in the new DEPTNAME field.

8.2.3 Create a new List of Values

Finally, a new list of values should be created to display both the department number and name when the user calls up the LOV.

From the Object Navigator, click on the LOVs for the EMPLOYEE form. Pull down the Navigator menu and choose the Create menu item. Choose the LOV Wizard.
Type the following SQL statement into the Query Text field:
```
            SELECT DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER, DEPARTMENT.DNAME FROM DEPARTMENT          
```
Then click on the Next button.
Include both the DNUMBER and DNAME columns from the Record Group in the LOV.
Map the DNUMBER LOV column to the :EMPLOYEE.DNO text item and map the DNAME LOV column to the :EMPLOYEE.DEPTNAME text item (created in the previous section).
Give a title for your list of values and return both DNUMBER and DNAME from the LOV.
Finally, Save, Compile and Run the form. Note that displaying the LOV for the DNO item now causes both the department number and the name to appear.

8.3 Exercise: Creating an LOV and Non-Base table field

For this exercise, create a new, single data block form based on all of the columns in the DEPARTMENT table. Then add a non-base table field for the last name of the department manager and create an LOV to populate it:

Create a new form called departmg.fmb that includes all of the columns in the DEPARTMENT table. In the layout wizard, use the Tabular layout and display 5 Records in the form. Add a scrollbar.
In the Layout Editor, create a new text item called MGR_LAST_NAME in the DEPARTMENT data block. Be sure the DEPARTMENT block is selected when the new item is created. Change the properties of MGR_LAST_NAME so it is not a Database item.
Create a list of values called LOV_MGR based upon the query:
```
SELECT ssn, lname  FROM  employee          
```
Assign LOV_MGR to the MGRSSN item.
Create a POST-CHANGE trigger on the MGRSSN item so that when it changes, the following code will execute:
```
SELECT lname INTO   :DEPARTMENT.MGR_LAST_NAME FROM   employee WHERE  employee.ssn = :DEPARTMENT.MGRSSN;          
```
This will automatically populate the non base table field MGR_LAST_NAME on the form when the form is queried.

The form should look like the following:

[Example: List of Values]

9. Oracle Forms Program Units and Stored Program Units

Oracle Forms provides a mechanism to store procedures (called Program Units) written in the PL/SQL language within a form. Program Units can be used to add functionality that is not possible through Structured Query Language (SQL) or through the Oracle Forms interface. Some examples of Program Units were given in the discussion on Program Units in a Master-Detail Form. By storing a Program Unit within a form, many blocks in the form can take advantage of the same procedure which reduces code duplication and improves the maintainability of the code.

Procedures written in PL/SQL may also be stored within the Oracle Database itself as an object in the schema. Such Stored Program Units (also called Stored Procedures) are ideal for situations where highly standardized business rules or applications logic must be implemented across many forms or applications. In addition, procedures that require several queries be made to the database may be best implemented in the database as this reduces the network traffic and can significantly improve performance. A user may create stored procedures with the Oracle SQL*Plus command line tool.

Oracle Forms can make calls to both internal Program Units as well as to Stored Program Units. This flexibility allows application designers extensive control over the execution of applications and facilitates performance tuning.

In the following sections, examples of Oracle Forms Program Units and Stored Program Units will be given.

9.1 Creating Program Units in Oracle Forms

In this section, we will augment the EMPLOYEE form by adding a count of other members of a given employee's department. To add this functionality, we will add a new field item to the EMPLOYEE block, write a Procedure in PL/SQL to gather the data and then write a Trigger that will call the Procedure each time a new Employee record is queried.

9.1.1 Add a new item to the EMPLOYEE Block

Add a new item on the EMPLOYEE block to store the count of other employees in the department. See the section on Adding a New Item to an Existing Block for details.

Call this field OTHER_MEMBERS. Be sure it is a non-database field and that a user will not be able to navigate there, insert, update or delete data in the field. Go to the Properties and check each of them:

Enabled: True
Navigable: No
Database Item: No
Query Only: No
Primary Key: No
Insert Allowed: No
Query Allowed: No
Update Allowed: No

Add a label to this field by switching to the Layout Editor, choosing the text tool and clicking next to the OTHER_MEMBERS field.

9.1.2 Create a Procedure to Count Other Department Members

In this step, create a Program Unit (procedure) in Oracle Forms to count the number of other members in the same department. For this procedure, we will pass in a parameter called IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN that will contain an employee's social security number. The procedure will return a value in the parameter OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS that will contain the number of other employees who are in the same department.

To create this procedure, switch to the Object Navigator and scroll down to the Program Units branch. Pull down the Navigator menu and choose the Create menu item. A dialog box will appear asking you to name the new procedure. Type in the name OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS and click on the OK button.

At this point, the PL/SQL editor will appear. Type in the following procedure body. An explanation of each part of the procedure is given afterwards:

-- Given an Employee's SSN, return the number of other employees -- in the same department. PROCEDURE OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER, OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER) IS TEMP_COUNT NUMBER; -- Placeholder for count BEGIN TEMP_COUNT := 0; -- Initialize to 0 -- Try and fill TEMP_COUNT with the count of other -- Employees in the department SELECT COUNT(*) INTO TEMP_COUNT FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EMPLOYEE.DNO = (SELECT EMPLOYEE.DNO FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EMPLOYEE.SSN = IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN); -- See if we got a meaningful result IF (NVL(TEMP_COUNT, 0) <> 0) THEN OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := (TEMP_COUNT - 1 ); ELSE OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := 0; END IF; END;

The procedure is written in three main sections. Any lines starting with -- are comments and are ignored by Oracle forms.

The heading for the procedure definition indicates that one parameter, IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN, is a NUMBER data type and the procedure should expect a value to be passed in. The other parameter, OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS, is also a NUMBER data type and a value will be passed back to the calling program through it.

To finish off the procedure header, the TEMP_COUNT variable is declared for use within this procedure only.

The BEGIN statement starts the body of the procedure. TEMP_COUNT is initialized to 0 and then a query is performed on the database to find the total number of employees in the same department as the employee whose SSN was supplied to the procedure.

The result in TEMP_COUNT is checked to see if it is a NULL value. If TEMP_COUNT is not NULL and it is not 0, then OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS is set to equal TEMP_COUNT-1. Otherwise OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS is set to 0.

The last END statement ends the body of the procedure.

Be sure to check to see that the procedure compiles by clicking on the Compile button. Any errors in the procedure will be highlighted. Some common problems include forgetting to use := in an assignment statement (like the Pascal language) and leaving off the END IF to finish up IF ... THEN statements.

When done, click on the Close button to close the PL/SQL editor.

9.1.3 Create a Trigger to Call the Procedure

Create a trigger to call the OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS procedure. In the Object Navigator, open up the EMPLOYEE block and the SSN item. Highlight the Trigger branch for the SSN item, pull down the Navigator menu and choose the Create menu item.

A pop up list of trigger names will appear. Choose POST-CHANGE and click on the OK button to open the PL/SQL editor for this new trigger. Type in the following code for the POST-CHANGE trigger on the SSN item:

DECLARE return_count NUMBER; BEGIN -- Call the Forms Procedure to get the -- count of others in the department. OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS(:EMPLOYEE.SSN, return_count); -- Assign the return count to the field on -- the EMPLOYEE block. :EMPLOYEE.OTHER_MEMBERS := return_count; END;

Again, click on the Compile button to be sure the trigger compiles correctly and then click on the Close button to return to the Object Navigator.

9.1.4 Save, Compile/Build and Run the Form

To this point, we have added a new non-base table field to the EMPLOYEE block, written a procedure (Program Unit) to count other employees in the same department and added a trigger to call the procedure each time a new employee record is queried.

To save you work, use the Save As menu item on the File menu and save this form under the name: emp_memb.fmb

Save, Compile/Build, and Run the form to check its functionality. Note that when scrolling to a new employee's record, the OTHER_MEMBERS field is automatically populated with values indicating the number of other employees in the same department.

9.2 Creating Stored Procedures in SQL*Plus

In the previous example, we added a procedure (Program Unit) in Oracle Forms to perform a query on the database. The procedure is stored as part of the form's source code and is compiled when the form is built. Upon examination, each call of this procedure produces:

A local call from the POST-CHANGE trigger to the procedure passing an employee's SSN.
A remote access from the procedure to the database passing a SQL query.
A remote return from the database containing a count.
A small amount of processing in the procedure (IF ... THEN).
A local return from the procedure to the trigger.

In this exchange, the highest costs are incurred by the network traffic required to go back and forth between client and server (steps 2 and 3). The lowest costs are incurred by the local calls between trigger and procedure and the local processing (steps 1, 4 and 5).

In this example, the SQL Query in steps 2 and 3 does not return a significant amount of data. However, there are situations where, if a large amount of data were to be returned for each query, such queries would severely impact performance.

One solution to this problem is to move the queries and as much processing as possible "closer" to the data in the database. Thus our example for this section will be to implement the OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS procedure in the Oracle database. To achieve this, we will need to use Oracle SQL*Plus (a command-line tool) to create a stored procedure.

Log in to SQL*Plus and enter the following CREATE PROCEDURE statement. Alternatively, save this statement in a text file and execute it using the START command in SQL*Plus.

CREATE PROCEDURE OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER, OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER) AS -- Given an Employee's SSN, return the number of other employees -- in the same department. TEMP_COUNT NUMBER; -- Placeholder for count BEGIN TEMP_COUNT := 0; -- Initialize to 0 -- Try and fill TEMP_COUNT with the count of other -- Employees in the department SELECT COUNT(*) INTO TEMP_COUNT FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EMPLOYEE.DNO = (SELECT EMPLOYEE.DNO FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE EMPLOYEE.SSN = IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN); -- See if we got a meaningful result IF (NVL(TEMP_COUNT, 0) <> 0) THEN OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := (TEMP_COUNT - 1 ); ELSE OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS := 0; END IF; END;

After typing in this statement, be sure to RUN the command in the SQL*Plus buffer by typing RUN or by typing the forward slash /

Note: While creating a stored procedure, you may receive an error similar to the following:

        ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

This indicates the DBA has not granted you the authorization to create stored procedures. Please contact your DBA to obtain this authorization.

To see if the procedure compiled correctly, look in view USER_ERRORS as follows:

SQL> SELECT * FROM user_errors; no rows selected If the message no rows selected appears, then no errors were found in the trigger.

Another alternative is to use the SQL*Plus command called show errors. After submitting a trigger or a stored procedure, any errors found during compilation can be displayed using the show errors command.

In some versions of SQL*Plus, the show errors command will not work due to a lack of buffer memory on the client computer. An error message may appear as in the following example:

SQL> CREATE PROCEDURE test AS 2 BEGIN 3 SELECT SYSDATE INTO :temp FROM dual; 4 END; 5 / Warning: Procedure created with compilation errors. SQL> show errors buffer overflow. Use SET command to reduce ARRAYSIZE or increase MAXDATA. No errors.

If the buffer overflow message appears, set the ARRAYSIZE variable to a lower number such as 2 with the following command:

SQL> SET ARRAYSIZE 2

Then use the show errors command as described:

SQL> show errors Errors for PROCEDURE TEST: LINE/COL ERROR -------- -------------------------------------------- 3/23 PLS-00049: bad bind variable 'TEMP'

To see what stored procedures you have created, query the USER_SOURCE view in the data dictionary.

The only major difference between the stored procedure created in the database schema through SQL*Plus and the procedure created in Oracle Forms is the way the header is formatted. Creating a stored procedure uses the following syntax:

        CREATE PROCEDURE        OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS          (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER,           OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER)        AS

Contrast this with the procedure done in Oracle Forms:

        PROCEDURE        OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS          (IN_EMPLOYEE_SSN IN NUMBER,           OUT_COUNT_OTHER_MEMBERS OUT NUMBER)        IS

Once the OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS procedure (Program Unit) has been created in SQL*Plus, it is stored as an object in your schema and will remain there until a DROP PROCEDURE OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS statement is issued. Any Oracle Form, Report or other procedure can make calls to OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS as if it were a local procedure.

To see the stored procedure in action, open the emp_memb.fmb form and remove (delete) the Program Unit (procedure) OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS from it. Save the form, compile, generate and run it.

The POST-CHANGE trigger on :EMPLOYEE.SSN will automatically make a call to the stored procedure version of OTHER_DEPARTMENT_MEMBERS located in the schema.

To view the available Stored Program Units from within Oracle Forms, switch to the Object Navigator and open up the Database Objects tree. From there, a list of schemas (users) will appear. Scroll down to your username and open it up. Then open up the Stored Program Units tree. A list of your stored procedure should then appear.

9.3 Additional Stored Procedures and Triggers

There are countless ways in which stored procedures and triggers can be used to enforce business rules and to process data in an application. In this section, a few of the most commonly used triggers and procedures are described.

9.3.1 Generating unique or consecutive identifiers using the table

Many of the keys used in tables are based on a number sequence. For example, in our DEPARTMENT table, the DNUMBER is an integer that should increase for each new department. To automatically generate a new DNUMBER, create a query to capture the largest current DNUMBER value and add 1 to it. Then assign this new value to the DNUMBER item in the DEPARTMENT data block. A trigger to do this could be created at the block level and should execute before any new record is inserted into the database. A PRE-INSERT trigger on the DEPARTMENT data block would be used for this example:

BEGIN SELECT MAX( dnumber ) + 1 INTO :department.dnumber FROM department; END; A PRE-INSERT trigger executes just before the INSERT statement for a new record is sent to the database.

9.3.2 Generating unique or consecutive identifiers using an Oracle Sequence

One problem with the above method is that many users working on the same form to insert new records will run into concurrency problems. For each new record to be inserted, a full table scan must be done to find the largest identifier.

One solution to this problem is to use an Oracle Sequence. An Oracle Sequence is a schema object that keeps track of a simple integer and automatically increments this counter when it is accessed.

For example, in our DEPARTMENT table, the DNUMBER is an integer that should increase for each new department. To automatically generate a new DNUMBER, create an Oracle Sequence using the SQL*Plus tool:

CREATE SEQUENCE department_seq INCREMENT BY 1 START WITH 1 MAXVALUE 99999 NOCYCLE; The above department_seq sequence will begin counting from 1 and increment by 1 until it reaches 99999. After that, accessing the sequence will produce an error. This is reasonable since it is highly unlikely an organization will ever have more than 99999 departments.

The next step is to assign the next value of the sequence to the DNUMBER item in the DEPARTMENT data block. A trigger to do this would be created at the block level and should execute before any new record is inserted into the database. A PRE-INSERT trigger on the DEPARTMENT data block would be used for this example:

BEGIN -- Get the next value for DNUMBER from the -- department_seq sequence. SELECT department_seq.nextval INTO :department.dnumber FROM dual; END; The dual table is a dummy table that contains exactly one record (row). We can use it in a SELECT...INTO statement to consistently return a single value. The nextval accessed in the sequence will return the current sequence value and then automatically increment it to the next value.

A PRE-INSERT trigger executes just before the INSERT statement for a new record is sent to the database.

Oracle Sequences are not applicable for master-detail forms such as purchase orders where an item number needs to be assigned in the detail table. For example, purchase order items are typically numbered: 1, 2, 3.... The next PO will also number the items 1, 2, 3, .... An Oracle Sequence is designed to deliver unique identifiers for primary keys and should not be used for such item numbers.

9.3.3 Checking constraints at the client

In any database system, it is always desirable to constrain the values certain columns can take on. It is possible to add constraints to the database tables themselves in order to enforce constraints, however, the enforcement only takes place when a transaction reaches the database. In addition, many constraints on the data that involve values of data from other tables may not be easily implemented as table constraints.

Many types of constraints on data can be checked in the client using triggers. For example, in our EMPLOYEE data entry form, we may want to enforce a constraint that no employee can act as their own supervisor. Thus for any record, SSN may not equal SUPERSSN. To implement such a constraint, add the SUPERSSN field to the EMPLOYEE form and then create a WHEN-VALIDATE-ITEM trigger on the SUPERSSN item in the EMPLOYEE data block:

BEGIN IF (:SUPERSSN = :SSN) THEN MESSAGE('Employees may not supervise themselves!'); RAISE FORM_TRIGGER_FAILURE; END IF; END; The FORM_TRIGGER_FAILURE will cause the execution of the item validation to be halted and the user will have to change the SUPERSSN before moving on to another item.

9.3.4 Adding Alerts (Pop-up Messages)

In the previous example, the MESSAGE procedure is used to display the error along the status bar at the bottom of the Forms window. A better approach may be to force the user's attention to the problem. This can be accomplished by creating a pop-up dialog box that forces the user to read the message and click an OK button (or some other button). In Oracle Forms, this is called an Alert.

To set up an Alert:

Use the Object Navigator to display the Alerts area. Pull down the Navigator menu and choose Create. Click on the default name that is given for the new alert (something like ALERT4) and rename it: SUPERVISOR_ALERT
Bring up the Property Palette for this Alert and fill in the following properties:
Title: Supervisor Alert Message
Message: Employees may not supervise themselves!
Alert Style: STOP
Button 1 Label: OK
Leave the Button 2 Label and the Button 3 Label blank
Default Alert button: Button 1
Leave all of the other properties with their defaults and close the Property palette.
Change the above WHEN-VALIDATE-ITEM trigger on the SUPERSSN item in the EMPLOYEE data block to: The SHOW_ALERT procedure calls up the specified alert and obtains the return value (based on the button the user clicks on) to assign to a local variable called return_alert.

Below is an example of the Alert in action:

In general, Alerts may provide several different buttons for the user to click on. For example, to confirm exiting a form, a POST-FORM trigger might invoke an "Are you sure you want to Exit" Alert with "Yes" and "No" buttons. Or, to confirm deleting a record, a PRE-COMMIT trigger might invoke an "Are you sure you want ot delete this Employee?" Alert with "Yes" and "No" buttons. Based on the return_alert value, either a commit or rollback might be issued.

9.3.5 Populate items with default values

There are many cases where default values can be suggested for certain data items based upon values already supplied in other data items. The method here is to use a POST-ITEM or WHEN-VALIDATE-ITEM trigger to populate another field, only if the other field is currently blank. For example, to populate the SUPERSSN data item of the EMPLOYEE block based upon the MGRSSN of the employee's department, the following WHEN-VALIDATE-ITEM trigger code might be used on the DNO data item:

BEGIN IF :SUPERSSN IS NULL THEN SELECT department.mgrssn INTO :employee.superssn FROM department WHERE department.dnumber = :employee.dno; END IF; END; Note that the IF statement uses :SUPERSSN IS NULL to check to see if any value has been supplied for SUPERSSN. If nothing was typed into the SUPERSSN data item, then its value is NULL. If the user types anything at all into the SUPERSSN data item, then the IF statement will evaluate to false and no value will be suggested.

9.3.6 Attaching functionality to command buttons

Command buttons can be added on a form to carry out functions such as exiting a form, committing/saving changed records and so on. The basic command button object contains properties for the button Label (the text provided on the button itself). Additional properties include visual attributes including the ability to display a bitmap image in place of the button's normal appearance.

Once a button has been physically placed on a form, functionality is added but writing a WHEN-BUTTON-PRESSED trigger. As one might expect, this trigger executes when the user clicks on the button. So, for example, to create a button to exit the form when the user clicks on it the WHEN-BUTTON-PRESSED trigger might look like:

DECLARE return_alert NUMBER; BEGIN return_alert := SHOW_ALERT ('EXIT_ALERT'); IF (return_alert = alert_buttin1) THEN EXIT_FORM; END IF; END; The above code assumes there is an Alert called EXIT_ALERT with two buttons: "Yes" and "No". If the user clicks on the first button ("Yes") then the EXIT_FORM procedure is called and the form will exit (close). If the user clicks on any other button, then the Alert will close and the form will remain open.

9.3.7 Passing parameters between forms

There are many occasions that require the passing of data from one form to another. One such example is when we query a certain record on one form and then wish to call up another form with the same record automatically retrieved. In general, data values can be passed between forms using GLOBAL variables (treat :GLOBAL as a block available in all forms) or by using Parameter lists. In the example, below, the parameter list features will be used to demonstrate how data can be passed from one form to another.

For this example, we wil make use of two forms: A basic EMPLOYEE form with all fields and the EMPLOYEE/DEPENDENT master/detail form (created in a previous exercise - the file name should have been empdepn.fmb). The idea is to place to button on the EMPLOYEE form that when pressed, will call the EMPLOYEE/DEPENDENT form and automatically query the dependents for the employee being viewed on the EMPLOYEE form. The main steps are:

On the EMPLOYEE form, create a button and label it "Query Dependents".
Create a WHEN-BUTTON-PRESSED trigger with the following code (comments are enclosed in the code):
Compile and save this form.
Now open up the empdepn (EMPLOYEE/DEPENDENT) form.
Using the Object Navigator, create a new PARAMETER called EMPLOYEESSN. This parameter will automatically be assigned a value based on the parameter list passed to the form by the above RUN_PRODUCT procedure call.
Create a new trigger called WHEN-NEW-FORM-INSTANCE. This trigger will execute whenever the form is first run.
Compile and save the empdepn form.
Now run the EMPLOYEE form, query an employee record and click on the "Query Dependents" button. The empdepn form should appear with the dependents automaticaly queried.

The above examples are just a few of the great many things one can do with Oracle Forms. The on-line help that ships with Forms 6 contains many example forms and example pieces of code (see the Forms PL/SQL Reference) that go far beyond the simple techniques demonstrated above.

9.4 Exercise: Procedures and Triggers

The following are some suggested exercises using various combinations of triggers and procedures:

Create an Oracle Sequence (using SQL*Plus) that will generate new Department numbers for the DEPARTMENT table. Add the requisite PRE-INSERT trigger code to insert a unique DNUMBER each time a new department record is created.
Create an alert that displays a warning if an employee's salary is larger than their supervisor's. In a WHEN-VALIDATE-ITEM trigger, run a query to check if the employee's salary is greater than their supervisor's and if so, show the alert.
Put in some validation code that will check to make sure if a DEPENDENT is a SON or DAUGHTER, then the DEPENDETN's BDATE must be less than the EMPLOYEE's BDATE. If this is not the case, show an alert.
After you learn how to create Reports (see the next section) create a simple DEPARTMENT data entry form with a button that, when pressed, will run a report for that department by passing along the DNUMBER as a parameter.

10. Oracle Reports Basics

We now turn our attention to another Developer tool called Oracle Reports. The Oracle Reports Builder allows the developer to create sophisticated reports in a variety of layouts and contains many customization features. In this section, the basic steps for creating a simple report and a Master-Detail report will be given.

10.1 Starting Developer tools under Windows 95/98/NT/2000

A typical installation of Developer creates several folders under the Start Programs menu. The main items for the Oracle Reports 6i programs are found under the menu item: Oracle Reports 6i and include the following items:

To run Oracle Reports Builder under Windows 95/98/NT/2000, click on the Start -> Programs -> Oracle Reports 6i -> Report Builder menu item.

As with Oracle Forms, an initial screen will appear:

Click on the Cancel button to proceed directly to the Object Navigator.

10.2 The Oracle Reports Object Navigator

The Oracle Reports main screen is called the Object Navigator (similar to Oracle Forms) and can be seen in the following figure:

The main sections of the Object Navigator are:

Data Model - Contains information about queries used for a report.
Layout - Contains information about how a report is formatted including headers, footers, margins, fonts, etc.
Parameter Form - Contains information about the initial screen that is displayed when a form first runs.
Report Triggers - PL/SQL code that can be executed before, during or after a report has been executed.

As with Oracle Forms, the first step in using Oracle Reports is to Connect to an Oracle server. This is accomplished by pulling down the File menu and selecting the Connect menu item.

Fill in your Oracle Username and Oracle Password (press the tab key to move between the fields).

For the Database field, type in the service name for your Oracle database. For example, if you are using Personal Oracle Lite, the Database: would be ODBC:POLITE. Contact your system administrator to learn the service name for your Oracle database and provide that information in the Database: field.

10.3 Creating Reports in Oracle Reports

Creating reports follows a 4 step process:

Define the Data Model - This step specifies which queries should be run on the database including how multiple queries are related and how they are grouped. This step must be done by hand. Queries that have been created elsewhere can be imported into Oracle Reports.
Define the Layout - This step specifies the layout of the report including the overall orientation of query results and the suppression of repeating groups. There are a number of default report layouts that can automatically be applied to a data model.
Create and/or Customize the Parameter Form - If some user input is required in order to run the report, then a parameter form must be customized. All reports have a default parameter form.
(optional) Create any triggers or program units that will be executed with the report.

Oracle Reports 3.0 and 6.0 support a wizard that takes the developer through all of these steps. This approach will be demonstrated next.

10.4 Creating a Single-Table Report

In this section, we go through the steps for creating a report that views the contents of a single table.

10.4.1 Specify the Data Model and Layout

The first step is to specify the data model and layout of the report. We will use the Report wizard to accomplish this. From the Object Navigator, pull down the Tools menu and choose Report wizard...

The first screen for the reports wizard will appear prompting for the style of the report and for the Report Title.

The eight layout choices include:

Tabular - Simple table with column headings at the top and data records in consecutive rows below.
Form-Like - Column headings on the left hand side with data values next to them on the right.
Mailing Label - No column headings and records grouped into repeating sections sized to print directly to a sheet of mailing labels.
Form Letter - Arbitrary placement of data items within a text body.
Group-Left - A Master/Detail/Detail style where the master records are grouped on the left hand side with details to the right.
Group-Above - A Master/Detail/Detail style where the master records appear above the detail records.
Matrix - Column labels on both the left and the top with data values in the middle. Similar to a spreadsheet.
Matrix with Group - A combination of Master/Detail (Group-Above) and Matrix.

For this report, type in "Employee Report" as the title, choose the Tabular Layout and click on the Next button.

The next step is to specify the Type of query the report will be based on. The two main choices are a SQL query and an Oracle Express (OLAP) query. FOr this example, choose the "SQL Statement" and click the next button.

The next step is to specify the query that will form the basis of the report. In this case, type the following query in the SQL Query Statement: text box:

SELECT FNAME, LNAME, SSN, SALARY, DNO FROM EMPLOYEE ;

Then click on the Next button to move to the next step. Note: If you did not Connect to the database, you will be prompted for the Username, Password and Database.

In the next wizard dialog box, specify which columns from the SQL Query will be displayed in the report output. To specify all columns, click on the double right arrow to bring all of the Available Fields to the Displayed Fields side.

Click on the Next button to move to the next dialog box.

In the next step, aggregate functions can be applied to the fields on the report. For this example, we will display the average salary as well as a count of employees. Highlight the SALARY field and click on the Average button. Then highlight the SSN field and click on the Count button.

The next dialog box allows you to change the field labels and display widths for various fields in the report.

As a final step, a design template can be applied to the report. Design templates include specifications for fonts, colors and layout of the report. For this example, choose the Corporate 2 template and then click on the Finish button.

After a short delay, the Reports Live Previewer will appear showing the executing report.

It is possible to make changes to the layout of the report by using the tool palette on the left hand side. When you have finished touching up the report, close the Reports Live Previewer and the Object Navigator will reappear. To view the report again, pull down the Program menu and choose Run Report.

10.4.2 Saving, Generating and Running the Report

To save a report, pull down the File menu and choose the Save option. This is similar to saving an Oracle Form. The source code for Oracle Reports are saved in files with an .rdf file name extension. Compiled and generated reports are saved with a .rep extension.

For this example, save this report as employee.rdf

Once the report is saved, it can be run by pulling down the View menu and choosing the Runtime Preview menu item.

As the report is running, an Activity screen will appear giving an indication of the processing that is currently underway.

The Activity will go through 3 stages: Client Activity while the queries are prepared, Server Activity when the queries are executed and finally Client Activity as the report is formatted. When this is finished, the report will appear on screen.

10.5 Exercise: Creating a Report

For this exercise, create a report to display all of the records in the DEPARTMENT table including a join with the EMPLOYEE table to display the last name of the department manager.

Start up the Report wizard. Use "Departments" as the title and enter the following SQL Statement as the query:

SELECT dnumber, dname, mgrstartdate, mgrssn, lname FROM   department, employee WHERE  department.mgrssn = employee.ssn;

Summarize the report with an average of the Salary column.
Save the new report as departmg.rdf

The finished report should look something like the following:

10.6 Creating a Master-Detail Report

In this section, the steps for creating a report that views the contents of two tables in a Master-Detail (one to many) relationship are given. To avoid any confusion, Save and Close any existing reports before proceeding.

10.6.1 Specify the Master-Detail Data Model and Layout

As in the single-table report, we begin by specifying the data model and layout for the Master-Detail report by using the Report Wizard.

Invoke the wizard by pulling down the Tools menu and choosing Report wizard. Following these steps to complete the wizard:

For the Report Title use: Departments and Employees
For the Report Style, choose Group Above.

Choose a SQL Statement and the SQL Query:

            SELECT DNAME, FNAME, LNAME, SALARY   FROM DEPARTMENT, EMPLOYEE   WHERE DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER = EMPLOYEE.DNO

Designate the DNAME field as a Group field (Level 1). Click on the DNAME field and then on the right arrow button.
Display all fields in the report.
Choose Average Salary as a Totals field. Click on the SALARY field and then click on the Average button.

Touch up the fields and labels as follows:

            Fields and Totals   Labels   DNAME               Department Name   FNAME               First Name   LNAME               Last Name   SALARY              Salary   AvgSALARYperDNAME   Average:   AvgSALARYperRep     Average For all Employees:

Use the Corporate 2 template.

From this point, click on Finish to display the Live Report Preview:

10.6.2 Saving, Generating and Running the Master-Detail Report

At this point, the report can be saved and Execute (Run).

For this example, save the Master-Detail report as dept_emp.rdf

10.7 Exercise: Creating a Master-Detail Report

In this exercise, a master-detail report will be created that displays each EMPLOYEE record, with a group of DEPENDENT below.

Create a new Report using the wizard. Give a title: "Employees and Their Dependents"

Select the Group Above report type and use the following SQL query:

SELECT  employee.fname, employee.lname,          employee.bdate AS EmpBdate,          employee.sex AS EmpSex, dependent.dependent_name,         dependent.bdate AS DepBdate,           dependent.sex AS DepSex, dependent.relationship FROM    employee, dependent WHERE   employee.ssn = dependent.essn;

Note the use of column aliases (AS) to differentiate the bdate and sex columns.

Select the lname, fname, empsex, empbdate fields as the "Group 1" fields. These should all be from the EMPLOYEE table.
Select all fields to display in the report and do not select any fields for the calculate totals step.
Touch up the report in the live previewer to fit on one screen.
Save the report as file: empdepen.rdf

The report should look similar to the following when completed:

10.8 Parameter forms in Oracle Reports

For each of the Oracle Reports examples thus far, all of the records in the respective tables were returned as part of the report. However, there may be situations where only a subset of the database records are required. In these cases, we would like to prompt the user to enter some criteria that can be used to filter the report. In Oracle Reports, a Parameter Form fulfills this role.

Parameter forms are simple Oracle forms that prompt the user for some information before a report is executed. This information can become part of the WHERE clause in the report query and is used to filter the records returned in the report. Parameters in Oracle Reports can either be filled in by the user on a parameter form or can be filled in automatically by passing the parameters in from another Oracle Forms form (see the example of parameter passing in the previous section on Oracle Forms).

In the following example, a simple parameter form is automatically created by Oracle Reports to restrict a query on the EMPLOYEE table by showing only employees in a given department number (DNO) supplied by the user.

Create a new report using the report wizard. Specify "Employees" as the report title and use a Tabular report layout.
Use the following SQL query exactly as written. Note the use of the full colon in the WHERE clause.
```
            SELECT *    FROM   employee    WHERE  employee.dno = :DNO_PARAMETER;          
```
In the above query, :DNO_PARAMETER is the name of a run time parameter. When the report is executed, the user will supply a value for this parameter thus completing the WHERE clause for the query.
Clicking on the Next button will produce the following alert:
Choose all of the columns (fields) for display in the report. Do not choose any fields for summary information.
When the report wizard is finished, the report and parameter form (based upon the parameters given in the SQL query) will be created. As the live previewer is running, the new parameter form will be displayed:

For this example, choose department 5 (type the number 5 in the field) and press the enter key. Notice that only employees in department 5 are displayed in the live previewer.

10.8.1 Building a Custom Parameter Form

At this point, whenever the report is run, a default parameter form showing the DNO_PARAMETER will be displayed. However, it is possible to create a custom parameter form as shown in the following steps.

Switch to the Object Navigator, pull down the Tools menu and choose the Parameter Form Builder. This is shown below:

A number of built-in system parameters are displayed and can be highlighted by clicking on them with the right mouse button. Note that at the bottom of this list is the DNO_PARAMETER and it should already be selected.
For this example, in addition to the DNO_PARAMETER also select the DESTYPE, DESNAME and COPIES parameters. Then click the OK button. A new parameter form will be automatically created as shown below.
Save the report as empparam.rdf. When the form is executed (pull down the Program menu and choose Run Report), the new parameter form will be displayed as shown below:

In the above example, 1 copy of the report will be sent to the printer named "HP LaserJet Series II". The report will only show employees in department 4.

Other Destination Type options include Screen, File and E-mail.

Parameter forms can be highly customized to include list of values user prompts and other user-friendly features. The techniques used for Oracle Forms can be easily applied to parameter forms in Oracle Reports.

11. Creating Menus in Oracle Forms

Note: The properties for Menus in different versions of Forms seem to change with every minor revision. Please keep in mind, the version of Forms you are working with may differ slightly from what is shown in this tutorial.

Thus far, we have covered the basics for creating forms and reports using Oracle Developer. Some advanced features such as using stored procedures (Program Units) have also been introduced.

In a complete Database System, the applications consist of many forms and reports that might be used by a number of users. Access to forms and reports is typically accomplished through menus. In Oracle Developer, menus can be created to guide users into forms and reports of interest. Menus are designed as part of the Oracle Forms designer.

In Oracle Forms, every form runs with one of the following:

The default menu which includes the Action, Edit, Block, Field, Record, Query, Window, Help menus. The structure of the default menu cannot be changed.
A custom menu that you define as a separate module and then attach to the form for runtime execution.
No menu at all.

The default menu is part of the form module. However, custom menu modules are separate from form modules. So, when a single-form application runs using a custom menu, there will be two executable files:

an .FMX form module
an .MMX menu module

In a multi-form application, Multiple forms can share the same menu, or each form can invoke a different menu.

To explicitly specify the default menu in Forms 6i:

Select the name of the form/module in the Object Navigator. Click with the right mouse button and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
In the Menu Module property, type DEFAULT&SMARTBAR to get the default menu and a button bar below it.
If you want the form to run without a menu, leave the Menu Module property blank.

To explicitly specify the default menu in older versions of Developer:

Select the name of the form/module in the Object Navigator. Click with the right mouse button and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
In the Menu Module property, type DEFAULT.
If you want the form to run without a menu, leave the Menu Module property blank.

The default menu is suitable for control over the current form being executed, however, it does not contain custom menu items pertaining to a specific application. In the following section, the steps to create a custom menu structure will be introduced.

11.1 The Oracle Forms Menu Hierarchy

The Oracle Forms menu hierarchy contains three object categories:

Menu modules - Like form modules, a menu module can contain its own items (menus and menu items), program units and other objects.
Menus - Including main menus, individual menus, and submenus
Menu items

11.2 Creating a Custom Menu

Designing a custom menu requires five basic steps:

Creating a menu module
Creating menus and menu items
Assigning commands to menu items
Saving and generating the menu module
Attaching a menu module to a form

11.2.1 Creating a Menu Module

The first step in designing a custom menu is to create a menu module. There are several ways to create a new menu module:

Pull down the File menu, highlight the New menu item and then select the Menu menu item.
Navigate down to the Menus subtree in the Object Navigator, pull down the Navigator menu and choose the Create menu item.

A new menu module will be created and a default name will be assigned. Click on this default menu name and assign it a more meaningful name such as mymenu.

11.2.2 Creating menus and menu items

Creating menus and menu items can be accomplished using the Menu Editor. To activate the menu editor, first highlight the name of your menu, then pull down the Tools menu and click on the Menu Editor item.

The main menu items go across the top of the screen. To add a new menu across the top, click on the Build Across icon on the toolbar:

Sub-menus and menu items appear below each one. To add a new sub-menu or menu item, click on the Build Down icon on the toolbar:

To change the name of a menu or menu item, click in the menu object and over-write the name that appears there.

Using the icons, create and re-label several menus and menu items to appear as follows:

Once this is completed, the basic menu structure will be in place. The next step is to add functionality to each menu item.

11.2.3 Assigning Commands to Menu Items

The default behavior for clicking on any menu is for that menu's items to be displayed. The next step is to assign commands to each of the menu items so that when a user clicks on a menu item, a form, report or SQL*Plus script is executed.

To assign a command to a menu item:

Select the desired menu item in the Menu Editor. Click with the right mouse button and choose Properties to bring up the properties of that menu item.
Note: The pop-up menu may show Property Palette
The properties of interest here are:
- Command type: Indicates what kind of command should be run: Form, Report, PL/SQL, other menu. In general, the PL/SQL command type is used to launch Oracle Forms and Oracle Reports. The specific Form and Report command types are maintained for backwards compatibility only.
- Menu Item Code (or Command Text): The text of the actual command to run.
To run a form from the menu item, choose Command Type PL/SQL. Double click on the Menu Item Code (or Command Text) property and type in the PL/SQL editor:
```
BEGIN   RUN_PRODUCT(FORMS, 'employee', SYNCHRONOUS, RUNTIME,               FILESYSTEM, '', ''); END;          
```
RUN_PRODUCT is a PL/SQL built-in function that runs another Oracle Developer product. The parameters to RUN_PRODUCT are:
- Product: FORMS or REPORTS
- Document/Module: name of the file in single quotes
- Command Mode: SYNCHRONOUS or ASYNCHRONOUS
- Executable Mode: RUNTIME
- Location: FILESYSTEM or DATABASE
- Parameter List: A list of parameters to pass to the form or NULL
- Display: Type of display to show the product on. Can be NULL to indicate the current display. Note: Starting with Forms 5.0, (which uses PL/SQL version 2.3) you may not use NULL in the call to RUN_PRODUCT here. You must use two single quotes (indicating a zero length character string).
Compile this code by clicking on the Compile button. Then close the PL/SQL editor.

Repeat the above steps for each menu item.

A final menu item should be created to Exit the application. Call the menu: Exit Application and enter the following PL/SQL code:

BEGIN   EXIT_FORM; END;

EXIT_FORM is a built-in procedure that exits the current form.

A View of the complete mymenu is show below:

11.2.4 Save and Generate the Menu Module

At this point, all of the menu structure has been created and commands for each menu item have been specified. The menu module must now be saved to a file (with a .mmb extension) and Generated or Compiled.

To save the menu module, make sure the name of the menu is highlighted, pull down the File menu and choose the Save menu item. Specify a file name with a .mmb extension. This is the "source code" for the menu. For this example, use the file name mymenu.mmb.

To generate or compile the menu module, pull down the File menu, click on the Administration menu item and choose Generate from the flyout menu. In some versions of the Forms Builder, the menu item might be called Compile File. Generating or compiling a menu module results in a file with a .mmx extension. In this example, the generated menu module becomes: mymenu.mmx

11.2.5 Attaching a Menu Module to a Form

A custom menu must be attached to a form in order to be displayed. Typically, a form with no data entry on it is used as the main screen to host the custom menu.

The following steps are different depending on the version of Forms being used.

For Oracle Forms version 4.5 For Oracle Forms version 6i

For Oracle Forms version 4.5	For Oracle Forms version 6i
Create a new form with no blocks or items on it. Pull down the `File` menu, select `New` and then select `Form`. Display the properties for the form and set the Menu Module property to the file name of the menu module (see previous step). For this example, it should be: `mymenu.mmx` Make sure the Use File property is set to `True`. Save the form as file `blankform.fmb` and generate this form. (Note you should save the this form in the same drive and directory as your menu's `.mmx` file). Run the form.	Create a new form with no blocks or items on it. Pull down the `File` menu, select `New` and then select `Form`. Click on the name of the form in the object navigator and rename it as `blankform`. Open up the property palette for the form and set the following properties: Menu Source: File - The menu information will come from a file. Menu Module: `mymenu.mmx` - The file name of the compiled menu module. You may have to give the explicit path to this `.mmx` file. For example, if this file is on your A: drive then type `a:\mymenu.mmx` Save the form as file `blankform.fmb` and generate this form. (Note you should save the this form in the same drive and directory as your menu's `.mmx` file). Run the form.

Create a new form with no blocks or items on it. Pull down the File menu, select New and then select Form.
Display the properties for the form and set the Menu Module property to the file name of the menu module (see previous step). For this example, it should be: mymenu.mmx
Make sure the Use File property is set to True.
Save the form as file blankform.fmb and generate this form. (Note you should save the this form in the same drive and directory as your menu's .mmx file).
Run the form.

Create a new form with no blocks or items on it. Pull down the File menu, select New and then select Form.
Click on the name of the form in the object navigator and rename it as blankform.
Open up the property palette for the form and set the following properties:
Menu Source: File - The menu information will come from a file.
Menu Module: mymenu.mmx - The file name of the compiled menu module. You may have to give the explicit path to this .mmx file. For example, if this file is on your A: drive then type a:\mymenu.mmx
Save the form as file blankform.fmb and generate this form. (Note you should save the this form in the same drive and directory as your menu's .mmx file).
Run the form.

Notice that when running this blank form, the default menu is replaced by the mymenu Menu Module.

The blank form that is used to host the menu need not be blank. You may wish to use the Layout Editor to place some graphics and a title of the application on the canvas.

Another use for this space would be for some simple instructions the user can read to get started with the database application.

12.1 Graphics and the Chart Wizard

The Oracle Graphics Designer can be used to create a variety of graphs and charts including bar charts, line plots and pie graphs. Typically, a graphic object designed with Oracle graphics is included on either a form or a report. The Oracle Forms Designer includes a wizard that will automatically construct an Oracle graphic object using data from an existing data block.

12.1 Adding a Chart to a Form

In the following example, an Oracle Graphics object will be added to a basic Master/Detail form. As a first step, create a new Master/Detail form using the DEPARTMENT table (DNUMBER and DNAME columns) as the master block and the EMPLOYEE table (FNAME, LNAME, DNO and SALARY columns) as the detail block. The chart added to this form will compare the SALARY values of the employees in a given department.

An example layout is shown below (note the DNO column in the EMPLOYEE block is not displayed):

Be sure to save this form on disk before moving on to create the chart.

To start the Chart Wizard, click on any open area of the form while in the layout view. Then pull down the Tools menu and choose the Chart Wizard. The first screen of the Chart Wizard will appear as below:

Click the Next button to move to the next step in the wizard. In the next step, choose the type of chart (and subtype if applicable) to be created. For this example, choose Pie and Depth as shown below and click on the Next button:

The next step is to choose which data block the chart should be based on. All of the data blocks on the current form should be displayed. For this example, choose the EMPLOYEE block as shown below and click on the Next button:

The next step is to choose which field in the data block should be used for the X-Axis (or category labels) for the chart. For this example, choose the LNAME field as shown below and click on the Next button:

The next step is choose which field in the data block should be used as the Y-Axis values. For this example, choose the SALARY field as shown below and click on the Next button:

In the last step for the wizard, the new Oracle Graphics object must be saved in a file. Give a new name for the graphics object such as employee.ogd as shown below and click on the Finish button:

At this point, the graphics object will be created and placed on the form. Use the mouse to move and re-size the object as desired. When finished, save the form again and run it. The following figure shows the form as it is running. Notice that when the form is queried and as new department records are retrieved, the employees and their associated salaries for that department are displayed in the pie chart.

When copying forms files that use Oracle Graphics, be sure to also copy the associated graphics object files. These files typically have an .OGD file extension.

12.2 Exercise: Adding a Chart to a Report

For this exercise, add a bar chart depicting the employees salaries to a report showing additional Employee data.

Start by creating a basic tabular Report making use of the following query:

SELECT FNAME, LNAME, DNO, SALARY FROM EMPLOYEE

The basic report is shown below:

Next, add the Chart using the Chart wizard. Specify "Salaries" as the chart title, and use a Bar chart style with "Depth" as the sub-type.

For the X Axis, choose LNAME and for the Y Axis choose SALARY.

Choose to place the chart at the end of the report and give the chart object the name "repsal.ogd".

Important: Make sure that the chart object (the .ogd file) and the report file are in teh same directory. By default chart objects may be stored in another location. If they are not together, you will get an error such as "Reports is unable to find the chart object".

Below is the final output of the report with the embedded Oracle Graphics chart object:

13. Oracle Schema Builder

The Oracle Schema Builder provides an easy to use graphical user interface for defining and modifying tables, views and other schema objects.

To run the Schema Builder, choose it from the Oracle menu. As with most Oracle development tools, the first step will be to connect to the database. The Connect dialog box will appear as below:

Provide a valid username, password and connect string (Host string) and click on the Connect button to establish a connection to the database.

The main Schema Builder screen will appear:

13.1 Creating New Schema Objects

Creating a new table is a straight forward process. First, pull down the Schema menu and choose the Create Table menu item. A small menu will appear. Choose Table. The mouse pointer will change to an arrow with a + sign. Click in the open space of the Schema Builder main screen and the new table will be created.

Note that the new table is given a default name (TABLE1) and it contains several examples columns.

To change the name of the table, click on the current name and type over it with a new name. Do not use spaces in the table name. When finished, press Enter or Return to set the new name for the table.

To change the name of a column, click on a column name and type over the existing name.

To add more columns to the table, simply click the lower right hand corner of the table display and drag it downwards. Additional columns will appear with their default names.

To change the data type and other characteristics of columns, double click on the column name. The Define Column dialog box will appear. Highlight the column you wish to modify and change its datatype and other options on the right hand side. In the figure below, the NAME column has been changed to VARCHAR(20) and a NOT NULL constraint has been added by checking off the Required checkbox.

In the following figure, the CUSTOMERID column has been designated as the key by checking off the Primary Key and Unique check boxes.

In the following figure, each of the columns in the CUSTOMER table have been defined:

Once each of the columns has been renamed and defined, the table must be saved in the database. To see the SQL statements that will be sent to the database server, pull down the Schema menu and choose the Show SQL menu item.

At this point, the SQL statements that will be used to create the schema can be saved into a text file for future use. To save the SQL statements, pull down the File menu and choose Save SQL. A standard windows file save dialog box will appear. The default file extension for SQL files is .sql

To commit the schema in the database, either click on the Commit button in the Show SQL dialog box or, from the main Schema Builder screen, pull down the Schema menu and choose the Commit Schema menu item. A dialog box will appear showing the progress.

To review, a typical Schema Builder session would consist of adding new tables to a schema using the Create Table menu item on the Schema menu. Columns in tables can be defined by double clicking on the table icons. Once all of the tables have been defined in the Schema Builder main screen, save off the SQL to a file and then commit the schema in the database.

13.2 Displaying Existing Schema Objects

If the schema has some tables or views already defined, these can be displayed by pulling down the Data menu and choosing the Select Data Tables menu item. A dialog box will appear displaying the available tables.

To include a table in the Schema Builder main screen, highlight a table and click on the Include button. The table should appear on the main screen and the name of the table will be grayed out in the dialog box.

In this example, the EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT tables were included in the main screen. When all of the desired tables have been displayed, click on the Close button to close the dialog box. Below is the resulting main screen after the EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT tables were added:

13.3 Adding Relationships between Tables

Once the tables have either been created or displayed in the Schema Builder main screen, relationships between tables can be defined. In this example, the DNUMBER column of the DEPARTMENT table is related to the DNO columns in the EMPLOYEE table. The DNUMBER column in DEPARTMENT must be defined as a Primary Key.

To create the appropriate constraints for this relationship, pull down the Schema menu and choose the Define Relationship menu item.

A dialog box will appear with spaces for the Foreign Key and Primary Key. Fill these in as appropriate for the relationship. In this example, the Foreign Key is EMPLOYEE.DNO and the Primary Key is DEPARTMENT.DNUMBER as shown in the figure below:

Click the OK button to confirm the relationship. The display will then change. A line will appear linking the Primary Key and Foreign Keys.

Once again, Schema Builder provides a view of the SQL that will be used to create the Foreign key constraints that will implement the relationship in the database schema. To see the SQL, pull down the Schema menu and choose the Show SQL menu item.

As before, the SQL statements to create the foreign key constraints can be saved to a file using the File menu and Save SQL menu item.

Finally, to commit the changes to the database, pull down the Schema menu and choose the Commit Schema menu item.

The next time both DEPARTMENT and EMPLOYEE are displayed in Schema Builder, the relationship will automatically appear.

Source: http://web2.uwindsor.ca/courses/cs/rituch/470/Oracle%20Developer%20-%20A%20Tutorial%20on%20Oracle%20Forms,%20Reports%20and%20Graphics.htm

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