Transcript Consolidation / Conversion

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Oracle Application Express
Consolidation / Conversions
MS Access to APEX Migration
Drivers
• Consolidation of departmental applications to centrally managed IT
• Some applications have grown and become mission critical
• Web unfriendly
• Platform dependent
• Poor security
• Limited scalability / excessive network traffic
Challenges
• Effort / business knowledge required to migrate
• Poor data model design
• No documentation
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
MS Access Migration
- SQL Developer and Oracle APEX
• Export MS Access metadata
• Migrate the Microsoft Access
database to Oracle
• Create an Oracle Application
Express Workspace
• Create a migration project
• Analyze the Microsoft Access
application
• Generate the Oracle Application
Express Application
• Customize your Application
Express application
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
Oracle Forms to APEX Conversion
Drivers
• Modernization of software / hardware
• Incorporate Web 2.0 capabilities
• Deliver greater user interactivity
• Utilize existing Database objects
• Can re-use existing IT developer skill-set
• Difficulty finding new Oracle Forms developers
Challenges
• Availability of IT application matter experts
• Conversion is non-trivial, requiring significant effort and resources
• APEX application will not look nor feel like Forms application
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
Forms Conversion
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
Why move off Oracle Forms?
• Oracle Forms is NOT going away!
• Forms is an aging pre-client server technology from mid
80’s. Forms runs a Java applet invoked from a browser,
not HTML
• Forms is not consistent with today’s modern browser apps
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
Why Move to Oracle APEX?
• Moves you to modern Web 2.0 based computing
• Modernizes applications with innovative capabilities
• “Out of the box” Interactive Reporting & Flash Charting…
• Easy skill transition for existing Forms developers
• Both are declarative wizard driven tools with no 3GL compilation
• Both are RAD SQL and PL/SQL centric development tools
• Oracle APEX is a no cost Database feature
• Requires only the Database
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
Oracle APEX Forms Conversion
• Conversion IS
• A way to jumpstart an Oracle Forms to APEX modernization project
• Automatic conversion of Forms components that can be
automatically converted to native APEX components
• An easy way to browse your Forms application logic
• A convenient tool to track manual conversion of Trigger and other
non-convertible logic
• Conversion IS NOT
• A “Silver Bullet”
• A Forms emulator
• Hard to maintain computer-generated code
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
The Forms Conversion Project
• Need to treat as a formal project
• Prototype representative Forms
• Create project plan
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Analysis  Scope
Design  Refine business processes
Convert Iteratively as required
Post-Generation  Build Web components
User Acceptance
Training
• Utilize Application Express Annotations
• Low-level assignment, tracking, progress reports
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
Forms Conversion Script – Page 1
• Login to APEX
• Ensure tables from the Oracle Forms App are avaialable within the workspace
• Click Migrations link from APEX Home
• Create a “Customer Items” project w/ 2 files customers_fmb.xml & orders_fmb.xml
• Edit both Blocks by clicking on the block count, examine the queries and for non-Master
Detail blocks show the Enhanced Query functionality
• From Project Home, click Triggers, and browse triggers (indicate that triggers will not be
migrated)
• Discuss how “Applicability” works – Forms triggers not required in APEX (e.g. KEY-…)
• Filter on ‘Applicable’ = YES - Add annotations to a trigger with business logic
• Create and Run Application, select Theme, etc
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Click “Customers”, and remove extra _ID columns
Filter by “San Francisco”
Highlight credit ratings of “EXCELLENT” in Green
Edit Row, Indicate LOV’s picked up
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
Forms Conversion Script – Page 2
• From the application home page Click Orders
• Click on an order, show master detail – note radio group and checkbox controls are picked
up, note similar navigation to forms applications
• Navigate back to Orders query page, and edit the page. Edit the report region, and paste
in new SQL Query (see next slide)
• Run page, note like forms we have no compilation
• Chart Orders by “City” and then by “sales rep”
• Clean Up Home Page (APEX application page 1)
• Edit list region and change “list template override” use “Horz Images w Label” template
• Edit the list items by clicking on the “list” link corresponding to the Navigation region. Click
on the first list entry, click the up arrow next to the icon, select 128x128 icons, and choose
the following icons for customers, orders, items and inventory
© 2009 Oracle Corporation
New Order SQL Statement
select
o."ID"
as "ID",
o."CUSTOMER_ID"
as "CUSTOMER_ID",
o."DATE_ORDERED" as "DATE_ORDERED",
o."DATE_SHIPPED" as "DATE_SHIPPED",
o."TOTAL"
as "TOTAL",
o."SALES_REP_ID" as "SALES_REP_ID",
o."PAYMENT_TYPE" as "PAYMENT_TYPE",
o."ORDER_FILLED" as "ORDER_FILLED",
c."NAME"
as "NAME",
c."CITY"
as "CITY",
c."STATE"
as "STATE",
c."COUNTRY"
as "COUNTRY",
c."CREDIT_RATING" as "CREDIT_RATING",
e."USERID"
as "SALES_REP"
from S_CUSTOMER c, S_ORD o, S_EMP e
where o.CUSTOMER_ID = c."ID“ and o.SALES_REP_ID = e."ID"
© 2009 Oracle Corporation