Note: This software and information is offered to the public domain without charge or guarantee. Neither the authors nor other entities from which this site is linked are liable for bugs or failures associated with the software. Also, since this is freeware, the authors are not responsible for support. By downloading these files, you agree to these conditions.

Hint: As time goes on, this page grows and becomes difficult to sort through. Use your browser's Find in Page feature to look for a word or phrase. Since there is a description of each technique and utility on this page, it is likely that, if something fits your need, you will be able to find it in this way.

Oracle Developer (formerly Developer/2000)

Oracle Designer (formerly Designer/2000) 

SQL*Plus, SQL, Export, and WebDB

Shrink Your Drawings to Fit On Designer/2000

Submitted by David Hay (June 1997)

Problem: One of the shortcomings of Designer/2000 is the fact that you cannot draw a large E/R model or function hierarchy and then directly tell the tool to squeeze it down to an 8 1/2" by 11" or A4 piece of paper when printed. There is no scaling feature within Designer/2000.

Solution

Drawing Straight Lines in the Diagrammers

Submitted by Peggy Spears, Alcon Laboratories, Inc. (June 1997)

Problem: You do an autolayout or Edit->Include in a diagrammer (ERD or Data Diagrammer for example) and then move the boxes around. The lines are all over the place and it is a pain to redraw them.

Solution: Select the lines with Edit->Select Same Type. Then press the Autolayout button which will just redraw the lines between the boxes.

Using [F7] to Query the RON Hierarchy

Submitted by J.B.H. Koyen.

Problem: You can't find some element definitions in the Repository Object Navigator (RON) in Designer 1.x.

Solution: When you are looking and searching in the RON it is often quite handy to use the F7-Key "Add Where Clause Filter". This is not a very well-known feature. An example: Click on "ENTITIES" and press [F7]; the filter box pops up. Enter a where clause "EL_NAME LIKE '%PAYMENT%" and Press OK. All entities with the word "PAYMENT" are displayed.

Warning: Don't be confused if you expect some objects and they do not show up in the list. Just check your where clause. When you are filtering MODULES you need to use "EL_SHORT_NAME" in the where clause to filter on the name.

[Note from the editor: See the PowerPoint handout for my "Top 20 Tips" talk (downloadable in the Conference Papers area) for more information on this feature and how to find the name of columns other than EL_SHORT_NAME to query on.]

Note: In Designer v.2 and v.6, there is a Navigator-Search Repository option in the menu.

Workaround a Des2K Trace File Bug

Problem: A user is logged into NT 4.0 (Designer/2000 v 1.3.2) with some NT account other than Administrator. The user tries to run any Des2K product but gets the following error:

The user did not even ask for a trace file. The product does not load and the user is very unhappy.

 Solution: This is a known bug that will be "fixed in version 2.0." The workaround is to do the following:

1. Log in as Administrator (to NT 4.0).
2. Start-Run and enter: REGEDT32 (do not use REGEDIT).
3. Expand the hierarchy on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for Software\Oracle.
4. Find the Designer/2000 node under this and highlight it.
5. Choose Security-Permissions from the menu.
6. Change the permissions on Everyone to "Full Control."

That's it.

Workaround a Dev2K File Save Bug

Problem: When you try to save a file in Forms Designer, you get a message:

You cannot save the file to any drive or directory. This will surely affect work you do in the Des2K Forms Generator as well.

Solution: Different possible solutions to this one.

1. There is a Dev2K for NT bug that requires write and delete access to the root directory (C:\). If you are working as an NT user other than Administrator and are not able to write and delete a file in the root directory, this affects you. Log in to NT as Administrator and change the permissions on the root directory (click on it in Windows Explorer and popup the menu and choose Properties, Security, Permissions; Grant Change access to Everyone).
2. You have to have a TEMP=C:\TEMP variable defiined in AUTOEXEC.BAT or the NT environment (Control Panel, System, Environment). Go to a "DOS" command prompt and type: SET TEMP. If you see a setting, the variable is set correctly. Do the same for the TMP variable (can be the same directory).
3. The directory referenced in the previous hint must have Full Control to Everyone (if you are using NT with NTFS) and the drive must have enough disk space to create files.

The reason for this problem is that Forms writes a temporary file before saving the file you request in the file dialog box. This temporary file should go in the directory specified by the TEMP variable, but it seems to go into the root directory (this is the bug). NT 4.0, Dev2K 1.3.2.

Yep, I've seen a lot of this one. Your .FMB is not corrupted but obviously not being able to save changes to the source that generated the executable is a maintenance nightmare. I wasted a huge amount of time on it and came up with a couple of issues. One: If you are using a template which has PC specific references, the references should be removed. For example, the template I had referenced the MDI window in more than one place. MDI doesn't exist in our UNIX world. Two (and I believe the more crucial): The visual attributes in my template were created using the copy and paste properties icons. Oddly enough, if I recreated each of the visual attributes from scratch I was then able to save my .FMB. There is a very obscure reference to this in the ORACLE problem logs.

Brenda Kononen

Deinstall C++ Generator to Save Space

Problem: Disk space is at a premium and Designer/2000 takes up 400 M or so

Solution: Deinstall the C++ Object Layer Generator (using Oracle Installer) if you do not plan to use it. It will save you about 78 Meg (lots of library files) and will not affect the repository in any way.

Make Your Dev2K Alerts Behave

Problem: You write an ON-ERROR trigger and capture the standard error text so you can present it in a custom alert. The problem is that the form changes the cursor to a "waiting" symbol before the alert appears and does not change it back once the alert is showing. Therefore the user sits and waits for the normal cursor to press the alert button. It never happens.

Solution: This seems to be a Forms bug. It does not happen in ON-MESSAGE triggers. Nor does it happen when you just call the alert outside of the error-trapping function. The solution is to set the cursor style to DEFAULT before calling show_alert.

Solve a Problem with NT 3.51 and Items at 0,0

Problem: This is hearsay, but apparently NT 3.51 will lock up a form that has an item at position x=0, y=0 (or anywhere near that). This may only happen to items of width 0 and height 0.

Solution: Don't put items at 0,0 or near that coordinate.

Prevent a Forms Page Fault When Closing a Library

Problem: When you try to close a library file in Forms Designer, the form shuts down with a page fault in the PLC12W32.DLL at location 0137:00c0a46e. Forms that have this library attached to them will page fault when you open or run them in Forms Designer. Developer 1.3.2.

Solution: Spent about 8 hours on this one and Oracle Support helped point me in the right direction. The issue was that I was using a named notation parameter in a procedure call. Removing the named procedure syntax and supplying all parameters solved the problem. "This is fixed in 5.0."

Named notation parameters allow you to call a procedure or function and skip passing of some parameter values. For example, you have a procedure that is declared as follows.

In this example, p_zip and p_charzip are optional, but you always need to pass p_state. Let's say you wanted to pass only the p_state parameter and not the other two. With standard positional parameter notation, you would call this procedure using the following code.

The problem is that, since the first two parameters will default to NULL anyway, you do not want to have to pass the NULL values to the procedure. Named notation parameters remedy this. The syntax would be:

This skips the two default values and explicitly sets the last parameter to the value indicated. While it is true that you can declare this procedure with the parameters in a different order to solve the problem, this may not always be possible and why pass values when you don't need to anyway?

Gain Pixel by Pixel Control Over Your Forms Generator Layout

Submitted by Dr. Paul Dorsey, Dulcian, Inc.

Problem: The Forms Generator does not allow you to enter anything other than character coordinates in the properties. This means that the layout has a large granularity and you can't declare the exact positioning of many items because the generated item will snap to a character grid mark. This is not necessarily what you want

Solution: Open the template in Forms Designer (Developer/2000). Display the form-level property window (click on the form name and show the properties). Edit the Coordinate Information and change the character cell width and height to 1. This means the generator will layout items using a character box of 1 pixel (or point if that is your unit).

Know About a Graphics 3.0 Bug

Problem: Graphics 3.0 (in Developer/2000 version 2.0) does not allow references to database objects without the schema owner name as a qualifier. This occurs even if the user has the proper grants and synonyms. For example, if Scott owns the EMP table, and is logged into the Graphics Builder, it is necessary to use SCOTT.EMP as the table name in PL/SQL program units. You cannot just use EMP. This occurs for every database object (procedures, packages, functions, synonyms, etc.) and means you cannot even use a reference to the DUAL table. Bug #597037.

Solution: Use the table qualifier (schema name) to prefix all database objects. This is fixed in Developer 2.1.

Fix a Problem with LOV Buttons

Problem: You set LOVBUT to Y and generate a form that shows a button for your LOVs. The button is navigable, though, so if you click on it without having a value in its item, you will get a Forms error that says a value is required. This happens no matter what the mouse preferences are set to.

Solution: Call the following procedure from the PRE-FORM trigger in your template. Click on the link for the code.

set_lov_buttons;

Fix the CG$ERRORS Problem for WebServer Generator

Problem: While trying to install a WebServer Generator package from Designer, you get an error that the CG$ERRORS package does not exist.

Solution: You need to install this package in the account in which you want to install the WebServer Generator packages. This is not part of the repository install. Log onto SQL*Plus as the owner of the WebServer package you are truing to install and run the following scripts:

In version 1.3.2, these are located in the Oracle_Home\Cgenw10\cvwetc directory. In version 2.1, they are located in the Oracle_Home\cgens70\sql directory.

Designer v.2 Repository Import Problem

Problem: When upgrading the Designer repository from freeze 9 (and maybe later). IMP80 does not run.

Solution: Had to edit the registry, and modify EXECUTE_GUI_EXPORT, EXECUTE_GUI_EXPORT, and EXECUTE_SQLPLUS to use the 7.3 versions.

Managing Rollback Segments

Submitted by Douglas Scherer (May 1998)

Problem: You run out of rollback segment space when installing the Designer repository or restoring an archived application system.

Solution: Follow the steps below to make your rollback segment tablespace autoextendible. Note: this is not a plug and play solution and assumes some DBA skill/knowledge.

1. Add the init.ora parameter: unlimited_rollback_segments=TRUE
2. Alter your rollback segment tablespace for MAX EXTENTS UNLIMITED.
3. Change the rollback segments data file to turn AUTOEXEND on.

For Oracle8, every thing is the same except you do not need the init.ora parameter. 

A Data-Driven Dynamic Navigation Bar for Forms 4.5

Submitted by Brian Membrey, The PaperBag Software Company Pty Ltd (27 Sep, 1998)

Problem: Recently when working with a client on Forms4.5 design standards, I identified a need for a set of buttons to be positioned on the right hand side of the form to allow navigation to other forms. It was estimated that this navigation bar would be utilized in about 70% of about 70 forms in the application, with an average of about four buttons on each form.

Solution: Download Brian’s Writeup (Zipped Word Document – 18K)

Why is That Form Dirty After Querying?

Submitted by Brian Membrey, The PaperBag Software Company Pty Ltd (27 Sep, 1998)

Problem: A common problem in many Oracle Forms is a query which causes a database item to be modified programmatically as a result of triggers firing as part of the query process. And, of course, as soon as you try to exit or requery, the ubiquitous ‘Do you want to commit changes’ alert appears.

Solution: Download Brian’s Writeup (Zipped Word Document – 7K)

An Easier Solution from Anne Goodwin (2 Feb, 1999): If the following statement is placed as the last statement in the post_query trigger of the block, you will not get the 'Do you wish to save?' message no matter how many items in the block have been inadvertendly marked as 'changed':

I have used this many times, and quite successfully.

De-Restricting Built-in Procedures With a Timer

Submitted by Brian Membrey, The PaperBag Software Company Pty Ltd (27 Sep, 1998)

Problem: Most people who have worked with Oracle Forms of any flavour have probably finished up banging their heads against the wall after writing some clever code to solve a specific problem, and then at run-time getting FRM-40737 Illegal restricted procedure XXXXXX messages, because Oracle Forms can’t handle your cleverness.

I guess I’ve never really seen a logical explanation from Oracle as to why some procedures are still restricted, but at least with Forms 4.5 there is a workaround using the WHEN-TIMER-EXPIRED built-in which does not restrict procedure execution in any way.

Solution: Download Brian’s Writeup (Zipped Word Document – 4K)

A Progress Meter for Forms

Submitted by Brian Membrey, The PaperBag Software Company Pty Ltd (27 Sep, 1998)

Problem: You want to provide your Forms users with a way to visually see the progress of a job.

Solution: Download Brian’s Writeup (Zipped Word Document – 13K)

Note: Be sure you look at the Forms demos for v.5 and v.6. There is a progress meter demo (Usability tab, Highlights and Animation) that you can look at to see how Oracle coded it. With v.6 on the Web, you might want to investigate using a JavaBean. There is a demo bean in the ORACLE_HOME/Forms60/java/oracle/forms directory. You may be able to use that one as is.

Convert Numbers to Words

Submitted by Brian Membrey, The PaperBag Software Company Pty Ltd (27 Sep, 1998)

Problem: You want to spell out a number (for example: "One thousand two hundred and fifty three") but don’t want to write alot of code.

Solution: Brian shows how to do it in one (nested) SQL function. He also speculates as to the birth day of SQL*Plus and the impending year 10,000 problem. Brian’s Writeup (Zipped Word Document – 4K)

Workaround for Sequence Problem in Multi-Part Primary Keys

By Douglas Scherer, Core Paradigm, Inc. (8 Dec, 1998)

Problem: Bug 740027. In this bug, when a Server Model is Designed Captured from database or DDL (and possibly from ODBC although that scenario is untested) the Sequence property in all columns in complex keys are populated with the same number. This causes several problems, including the inability to perform a Table to Entity Retrofit. Table to Entity Retrofit will cause CDA-1305 to occur. This bug exists in v2.1 and v2.1.1 of Designer.

Solution: An API utility to NULL those Sequence values. This program (when run in this SQL*Plus script) will allow the user to set the values to NULL prior to performing a Table to Entity retrofit. It also allows the user to repopulate those Sequence property values after the retrofit has completed. Heed the warnings in the header comments and backup your repository as you would with any API utility.

Douglas' API Utility - 7K

Automatically Add to Designer-Generated DDL Files

By Mary Costello, Ford Motor Company and Peter Koletzke (17 Jan, 1999)

Problem: Your DBAs require that you add spool (and "undefiine") SQL*Plus statements to all DDL scripts that Designer generates. This can get a bit tedious for a number of files.

Solution: Use the attached Windows batch file script to add the required lines to the files. See usage notes in the file headers for details. Run DBACLEAN.BAT which runs ADDLINES.BAT

DBACLEAN and ADDLINES Batch Files - 1K

Fix a Bug with the Application Definition Report

By Douglas Scherer, Core Paradigm, Inc. and Peter Koletzke (17 Jan, 1999)

Problem: Bug #794655 on Designer 2.1.x. The Application System Definition (cdapppt) report does not show the Notes property text written for the application system properties. Note that this report does not show in the Group View or Hierarchy View of the Repository Reports tool, but does show in the Report Name View (select this in the View menu of the Repository Reports tool).

Solution: Open the cdapppt.rdf report in Developer Report Builder (3.0) from the ORACLE_HOME/repadm20\srw directory. Save a copy as a different name before modifying it. Open the Layout Editor, find the F_notes_txt field in the bottom of the report. Select it and press [F4] to open the properties palette. Change the Source property from CF_NOTES_FILTERED to CP_NOTES_FILTERED.

Save the report as cdapppt.rdf. When you run this from the Repository Reports tool, the notes on the application system will display.

Create a Forms Calculator Field

By Brian Membrey (30 Jan, 1999)

Problem: The user wants to enter a number in a Forms application as a formula (for example: 3 * 2 + 7). This is simple if they have a calculator, but it would be nicer if the user could just type the formula into the form and have the form calculate the answer.

Solution: Use Brian's custom-built package. It's a property class that allows a user to type an arithmetic formula into a field. An attached trigger parses the statement, works out precedences, and substitutes the answer for the formula in the same field. Demo form (Forms 4.5 and 5.0) and README included.

Brian's CALCDEMO form (23K)

Change the Default Editor Used for the Design Editor List Actions Area

By Troy Tschauner (2 Feb, 1999) as response to question from lguy@pagedigital.com

Problem: You want to use WordPad as the default editor to show scripts produced by the Oracle Designer Generators. This text displays, by default in Notepad when you click on the Run button in the List Actions area (opened in the Message Window) after generating the scripts.

Solution: Use REGEDIT to change the Windows registry. Be careful when you are editing the registry as a wrong entry could harm your system. Make a backup of the registry before starting. If you have never edited or backed up the registry, think twice before doing it now. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\des2_70\MLT_Editor node. The ASC_EDITOR key will be set to "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE %1". Change it to "C:\PROGRA~1\ACCESS~1\WORDPAD.EXE %1" (or wherever WordPad is located on your machine). Don't forget the %1. Exit and restart the Design Editor if you are running it while editing the registry.

An Idea for WebServer Generator HTML Help for Web Forms

By Sunil Godithi with concept by Peter Koletzke (15 Mar, 1999)

Problem: How to provide a help system using HTML for a Web Forms application.

Solution: This is an idea in its formative stages that uses the Designer WebServer Generator to create HTML help for a Web Form. The idea and approach are written up in the following file. Let me know if you get anywhere with this or have solved this differently/better.

Web Forms Help Idea (3K)

Convert From One File Format to Another (For example, FMB to FMT)

By Igor Petrinjak, IN2 d.o.o (26 Mar, 1999)

Problem: You need to convert all files of a certain type (like .FMB) to files of another type (like .FMT).

Solution: Use Igor's batch files from the command line to convert files of a particular type to another type. This works on all files in a particular directory. Be careful because it deletes or overwrites existing files with the same name and extension. Always do this on backup copies of your files. Included are batch files for INP to FMB (FMBALL.BAT); FMB to FMT (FMTALL.BAT); FMB to FMX (FMTALL.BAT); and RDF to REP (REPALL.BAT). These are written for Forms 4.5 and Reports 2.5, but can easily be modified for Forms 5 and 6.

Conversion Batch files (3K)

Include the Database Name in Your SQL*Plus Prompt

By Kathy Fatica, Conley Canitano (15 Mar, 1999)

Problem: You want to include the name of the current database in your SQL*Plus prompt (not really a "Developer" question, but it is a "developer" question).

Solution: Use Kathy's batch files and follow the instructions in the README file contained in this ZIP file. You will modify your LOGIN.SQL to call the SET_PROMPT.SQL file when SQL*Plus starts. You will also need to use the CONNECT.SQL to log into another database when you are in the same SQL*Plus session.

Set Prompt Files (4K)

Automating Explain Plan in SQL*Plus

By  Dharminder Kumar from an idea by Peter Koletzke (12 Jul, 1999)

Problem: You want to call a SQL command in SQL*Plus that runs an explain plan on a SQL statement in a file.

Solution: Follow the instructions in the EXPSQL file below

ExpSQL (2K)

Sharing Forms Variables

By Peter Koletzke (29 Aug, 1999)

Problem: There are a number of possibilities for how to share variable values in Forms. How do you choose the right one?

Solution: This white paper (an excerpt from the Oracle Developer Advanced Forms and Reports, Oracle Press book) explains these possibilities.

Formsvar(7K)

More on Global Forms Variables

By Stephane Parenteau  (30 Aug, 1999)

Problem: I need more examples and advice on how to use package and shared variables in Forms.

Solution: This white paper (a generous contribution from Stephane Parenteau) discusses this subject further.

Globalvar(6K)

Get Help with the WebDB Install

By Frank Hüther (29 Aug, 1999)

Problem: There are some errors during the WebDB 2.1 install. These errors especially are in finding the temporary and user tablespace. There seems to be a limit of 5 or 6 tablespaces in the dataase and a string with a maximum of 255 chars stores the names. Another problem is on update of WebDB on Oracle 8i. The script uses plus81.exe instead of sqlplus.exe when using Oracle 8i and setting the environment variable ORACLE_HOME.

Solution: Read this document about the install of WebDB 2.1 on WinNT. Other operating systems may work in similar ways during the install, so this document is useful in those situations too.

WebDB21Ins(4K)

Selecting and Deleting Duplicate Rows

By Geronimo Aquino (19 Sep, 1999)

Problem: You want to select or delete duplicate rows in your table.

Solution: This script contains a sample SELECT and DELETE statement that will do the job.

SEL_DUPS (1K)

Emulate the Button Outline Effect

By Brian Membrey (4 Oct 1999)

Problem: You want to display a white outline around the button that the mouse cursor is over. This effect is included as part of the Win 95/97/NT operating systems but is not native to Forms outside of the Form Builder.

Solution: Read Brian's solution and try the form included in this file. The form is written for Forms 4.5 but is readable in 5.0 and 6.0 as well.

COOLBUTTON (15K)

Manipulating Multiline Text

By Peter Koletzke (8 Dec 1999)

Problem: You need to modify or query the notes or descriptions of various repository elements, but there is no property in the API views that stores that text.

Solution: Use the CDI_TEXT table and RMOTEXT package as described in this white paper.

DES_MULTILINE_TEXT(6K)

Forms 4.5 VRAD Template (11/20/96 version)

Developed by Dr. Paul Dorsey and me in support of talks we gave at the ECO '96, OCSIG '96, and Oracle OpenWorld '96 Conferences. This contains the Forms template system we spoke on and that we are using as the basis for a book we are writing on Very Rapid Application Development using Forms. Includes a tutorial. Check back here for updates. This is self-extracting under Windows (3.1 and 95) and works with Forms 4.5.6.5.5 (Developer 1.2) and beyond. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Download TEMPLATE (303K)

Forms v.5 and v.6 templates may be found in the information page for our Oracle Developer Advanced Forms and Reports book.

Forms 4.5 Interface to the Designer/2000 API

Developed in support of a talk I gave at the OCSIG '96 Conferences. This contains the sample form and some SQL scripts that demonstrate manipulating the Designer/2000 repository with PL/SQL in SQL*Plus and in Forms 4.5. This is self-extracting. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Download F4DESAPI (62K)

File Dialog

v.4.5, 16-bit

Display a Windows File Open or File Save As dialog box in your forms applications. Includes sample C code, 16-bit DLL, form to try it out on,and a README file as documentation. This is self-extracting. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Download FILEDLG (61K)

v. 4.5, 32-bit

If you want to do this in 32-bit, look for the D2KWUTIL.PLL file in the tools demo directories (or download the file from Oracle's FTP site). This contains, among others, functions for accessing the file dialog boxes under 32-bit Windows.

v.5 and v.6

The call to the file dialog box is a forms built-in procedure GET_FILE_NAME and there is no FFI needed.

Web Forms

For a possible solution when running forms on the Web, click here.

Running External Programs with Win Exec

Run a Windows program asynchronously in Forms. Normally the Forms HOST() built-in allows you to execute programs that then take control and have to be exited before you can access forms again. This is "synchronous" execution. WinExec solves this limitation.. This handles both 32-bit and 16-bit Developer/2000 applications (the DLL and function are the same in both). This is a self-extracting file. Be sure to always do a virus check

Download WINEXEC (35K)

A Comment From the 'net

Try using the WinExec procedure in the d2kwutil library. The procedure allows for asynchronous execution of programs from Forms. The d2kwutil library can be found in ORACLE_HOME\Tools\devdem20\demo\forms.

Forms-based Help System

A help system using a Forms v.4.5 front-end and a table to store the help text. For a v.6 version, go to the Developer book page and download the sample files. The FORMHELP system is part of that set.This is a self-extracting file. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Download FORMHELP (121K)

WinHelp-based Help System

A help system using Windows Help (WinHelp). Sample code to call help for 16 and 32-bit environments. This is a self-extracting file. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Notes on WinHelp Compiler

There have been questions from visitors about where to download the help compiler. The 16-bit version is available as part of the WHAT6.EXE file distributed by Microsoft. This is a template for Word 6 that assists in creating Help files. Try this site for WHAT6.EXE

Microsoft also distributes a 32-bit compiler in its Help Workshop. This is a comprehensive environment for compiling WinHelp 4.0 files for 32-bit systems. Try this site for that file.

If you want to do HTML help, download the free Microsoft product from this link.

If these links do not work, connect to the Microsoft support site and do a Knowledge Base search for "WinHelp" or "Help Compiler" or "Help Authoring."

Download WINHELP (70K)

32- and 16-bit Foreign Function Interface Calls

Forms PL/SQL packages that demonstrate how to handle both 32- and 16-bit environments with the same code. Samples are given for reading/writing INI files and calling WinHelp. This is a self-extracting file. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Download FFICALLS (38K)

Audit Column Display Form and Library

Developed by Thomas de Groot. This contains the Form and library to display audit column values in a non-base table form. It allows you to remove audit columns from your base table forms. It is offered as a method of avoiding the requery message propagated by modifying audit columns, which are included in a base table form, through a database trigger. The file was bundled using Winzip V6.3. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Download AUDITDSP (49K)

Forms CCMail and Outlook Sample

Peter Koletzke (CCMail, 1996)
Sikandar Hayat Awan (Outlook, 19 Jan 2001) - website

Sample of how to run CCMail and send messages to it from a Forms application. See the README.DOC file in this archive file for details. Just create a directory for the files, unzip them to that directory, make an icon shortcut for Forms Designer with your new directory as the Start In directory (that way you don't have to change the Forms path or anything like that). This is a working version that requires CCMail to run. Be sure to always do a virus check.

There is also a sample for sending email from Forms through Outlook.

F4CCMAIL.ZIP (317K) - CCMail, Forms 4.5

Michael Taylor's web site has another example of sending email from Forms.

OUTLOOK.ZIP (9K) - Outlook, Forms 5

Other tips by Sikandar Hayat Awan including another Outlook mail from Forms solution

Base a Block on a Stored Procedure - Developer v.2 and v.6

This is a sample Forms file (with script to create the procedure and table) that demystifies this magical concept. Thanks to Joe Strano (jstrano@premierdesign.com), who contributed it to the ODTUG list server. Be sure to  always do a virus check.

PROCPLAY contains a sample form and procedure code. PLSQL_TABLE contains a version of the package that uses a PL/SQL table. SUPER_PROCPLAY is a reworking of PROCPLAY that allows array processing and multiple records for each DML statement.

Download PROCPLAY.ZIP (11K)

Download PLSQL_TABLE.ZIP (10K)

Download SUPER_PROCPLAY.ZIP (2K)

There are more examples in the Developer book sample code available on this page.

Toolbar Hints in Motif - Developer v.1

The standard toolbar hints do not in Motif because the Windows DLL needed is not valid for Motif. This file (contributed by Doug Brown) solves the problem for Developer version 1 (it is not needed for Developer version 2). It is in UNIX tar format but can also be opened with WinZip. Be sure to always do a virus check.

Download D2KHINT2.TAR (166K)

Forms 4.5 Sample Toolbar Forms

This is a sample set of Forms 4.5 files used to support a series of articles published in Oracle Developer that describe how to dynamically change the toolbar, how to create a floating toolbar, and how to create a user-configurable toolbar. The articles were condensed into a paper given at a number of user group conferences available on the Conference Papers page.

Download F45TOOLBAR.ZIP (153K) - contains FMT files.

If you have problems with the FMT files, use this:

Download TOOLBAR.ZIP (336K) - Contains FMB files

For Forms 5 and 6, use the menu toolbar (samples available in the Developer book code on this page.) Note that these files do not contain the samples for the dynamic toolbar, etc. mentioned above.

Web Forms File Dialog for a Local Machine

By Peter Koletzke and anonymous donor (31 Mar., 2000)

Problem: While running a form on the Web, you want to display the file dialog to open a file on the client (browser) machine. The problem is that the form is running on the application server and accesses files on that machine.

Solution: Install your own JavaBean (below) that will accomplish the task. Note: This solution has been used successfully by the person who sent it, but does not include full documentation. Read the further disclaimers in the README file.

JAVAFILEDLG(12K)

Web Forms Timer for a Local Machine

By Harlin Setiadarma (2.Jan, 2002)

Problem: You want to use a timer in your web-deployed forms but repeating timers in Forms cause too much network traffic to be useable.

Solution: Install your own JavaBean (below) that will accomplish the task on the local machine which means there will be no network traffic involved. Note: This contains a README file that explains the installation process.

WEBTIMER (12K)

Give Web Forms More Real Estate

By Sailaja Mullangi (19.May, 2000)

Problem: You need to have more room in the browser for your Web-deployed Forms. The Netscape browser takes up space at the top of the window for the menu, toolbar, and location bar. Users running your forms do not need those. In addition, users can get confused and hit the Back button in the Netscape toolbar which will hide your application. How do you solve this?

Solution: You need to run a small Javascript startup routine to remove the extra Netscape items. See this sample by Sailaja for details. This file would be located on your server, have an HTML extension, and contain a link to your normal Forms startup HTML file.

NOTOOLBAR(1K)

Spell Checker for Web Forms

By various (15 Nov, 2000)

Problem: The Internet changes everything including your ability to include a spell checker in your web forms. How do you do this?

Solution: There is a message thread in the file below that tells how to do this using a JavaBean. Haven't tried this so let me know if it works.

JAVASPELL(5K)

Progress Bar, Login Box, Encryption, MDI Icon, MDI Window Size Demo

Sikandar Hayat Awan (18 Jan, 2001) - website

Problem: You need various utilities to create a Progress Bar, Login Box, Encryption, MDI Icon Change, MDI Window Size

Solution: Download and test this form (v.6).

DIFF_FEA(14K)

Leave a Block before all Required Items are Entered

Malcolm Turner (1 Apr, 2001)

Problem: You have required items in a block but the user needs to navigate to another block before all items are filled in.

Solution: The following code sets the required items to a state of "valid" before leaving the block and resets the block to "to be validated" (by copying a NULL value into an item that has no value) upon reentering the block.

SET_REQUIRED_ITEMS (3K)

Learn Some Interesting Forms Techniques

Sikandar Hayat Awan (9 Apr, 2001; updated 21 Apr, 2001) - website

Problem: You want to see a working sample that shows how to use the calendar class or multi-selection LOV class in the Forms demos. You may also want to send email with an attachment using Outlook from forms or read and write to the Windows registry.

Solution: The following file contains a set of forms that demostrate these techniques. Use them as starting points for your own applications and adjust them as needed.

FORMS_TIPS1 (55K)

Michael Taylor's web site has another example of sending email from Forms.

Automatically Name the Export File

Sikandar Hayat Awan (27 Aug 2001) - website

Problem: You need to generate export files on a recurring basis and need different names for each export file.

Solution: This solution names the file automatically based on the date of the export.

BACKUP.ZIP (3K)