What is the ICX: Forms Launcher system profile option for?
This profile option is used by the Self Service Web Applications Personal Home Page (also known as ICX) to determine the base URL needed to launch an application, which in this case is a Forms application.
What should ICX: Forms Launcher be set to?
ICX: Forms Launcher –is set to ?http://machine_name:port/dev60cgi/f60cgi?. In Apps release 11i you can add some parameters to this URL to enable some Forms features like tracing.
What is FORMS60_TIMEOUT?
FORMS60_TIMEOUT is an environment setting that determines the maximum idle time (in minutes) before f60webmx shuts down. Note that it will only terminate an idle middle tier process, i.e. one which is waiting for the "next message" from the client. If the middle tier process is running a transaction or waiting for a query to complete it will not have take effect.
How do you enable Forms Runtime Diagnostics (FRD) in Apps?
To enable Forms Runtime Diagnostics (FRD):
– login to Apps as sysadmin
– click on Profile/System
– query ICX%FORMS%LAUNCHER
– add the following to the end of its value at user level:
Note that like any Apps profiles you can do this on various levels e.g. site, user, etc. so that you target your FRD accordingly. Also be aware that FRD incurs significant overhead to Apps processing so disable it when not in use
How do you generate Apps Forms modules or FMB files?
Oftentimes as part of upgrading Forms or modifying a Form module or applying a patch modifying a Form module, you would encounter an issue that would necessitate manually regenerating the Forms module executable or FMX file. To do this you issue the following command:
f60gen module=form_name.fmb userid=apps/apps output_file=form_name.fmx module_type=form batch=yes compile_all=special
How do you generate Apps Forms library modules or PLL files?
To do this you issue the following command:
f60gen module=library_name.pll userid=apps/apps module_type=library batch=yes compile_all=special
How do you generate Apps Forms menu modules or MMB files?
Note that there is only one menu for Apps so it is rare that you need to regenerate the menu. To do this you issue the following command:
f60gen module=FNDMENU.mmb userid=apps/apps output_file=FNDMENU.mmx module_type=menu batch=yes compile_all=special
What is the sequence in which Forms resolves program unit calls?
Forms will attempt to resolve a program unit call in the following sequence:
Program Units node
Where can you find the source Forms modules for Apps?
Apps places all its source (FMB) files in the $AU_TOP/forms/<language> directory whereas the FMX files reside in their respective $PRODUCT_TOP/forms/<language> directory. On the other hand, all menu (MMB, MMX) and library (PLL and PLX) files are copied to the $AU_TOP/resource directory.
How can you find the version of Forms in Apps?
Once you are in an Apps form …
click on Help
click on About Oracle Applications
information is under the Current Form section. The Form Name corresponds to the FMB and FMX file for that form. The Form Version corresponds to the release level of that form.
How can I open an Apps form in Forms Builder
If you want to open a product specific form, make sure you have all its associated forms and libraries copied over. Since it is quite difficult to pinpoint exactly what this is, its best to just copy over the entire contents of $AU_TOP/forms/<language> and $AU_TOP/resource.
How can you confirm the version of the FMX or FMB file?
Oftentimes, once you determine the version and name of the current form you want to peek into the internal workings of the actual form itself. To ensure that you are peeking at the right release of the FMB file you can do the following:
$adident Header FNDSCSGN.fmb
If you simply copy the form over to a a machine that does not have Apps installed, you will run into is a lot of FRM-18108: "Failed to load the following objects" errors. This is because an Apps form is usually dependent on a host of other forms, libaries and menus.
If you want to open the TEMPLATE.fmb form, make sure you have the following forms, libraries, copied over as well from the $AU_TOP/forms/<language> and $AU_TOP/resource directories:
What is a Forms Builder node?
A Forms Builder node refers to the leaves and branches of its Object Navigator. The Object Navigator provides a hierarchical display of the objects in a Form modules.
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Objects are grouped under their respective nodes. For example, all of the windows defined in a form module appear under the Windows node; all the LOVs defined in the form module appearunder the LOVs node and all the program units appear under the Program Units node. It is important to familiarize yourself with this in case you need to navigate within an Apps form during the course of debugging a problem.