Moving Forward with Oracle Forms What Now? What Next? Mia Urman @miaurman miaurman@oraplayer.com
Who am I Mia Urman CEO, OraPlayer - Oracle Development Expert Oracle Development Geek for 14 years. 7 years at Oracle as a senior support analyst and local product manager of Forms and ADF. CEO and Founder of OraPlayer - Addressing Oracle Forms modernization challenges encountered at blue chip customers. Including: ADF Integration, Forms to Mobile, Cloud and SOA. Leader of the iloug Oracle Developer Group and presenter of Oracle tools at international conferences OOW, Kscope, UKOUG
Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!
NOW Forms Today HUGE Forms investment Trained developer pool Mission critical, complex systems Best development tool for OLTP Systems - Desktop Low maintenance, stable system for over 10 years Mostly undocumented systems VERY fast productive development
State of the Union Oracle has no plan to discontinue support of Oracle Forms. continue to leverage their existing investments for many years while offering a path to incrementally move to Java EE, at their own pace. Oracle Application Development Tools SOD, March 2012 http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/2010/toolssod-3-129969.pdf Oracle Forms remains a viable and valuable technology asset for mainstream IT strategies, but has limited scope in next-generation Gartner: Modernization and Migration Strategies for Oracle Forms Nov. 2011 http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-198ln9p&ct=120208&st=sb
Then Next.
Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!
Clean Up Don t Migrate/Upgrade What you Don t Use 10 Year old system Are any modules obsolete? Review usage of the system What forms are now obsolete? What reports are not run? Do we will use PLL / OLBs? Remove dead code - PITSS Delete multiple copies of same sources Merge forms that perform similar tasks
Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!
Why Upgrade Your Forms? Ensure support (C/S de-supported 2004/10g Dec. 2011) Certification New browsers, O/S, Java versions New features - SOA, REUI, JavaScript Strategic Middleware - Runs on WebLogic Upgrade is Seamless from 10g to 11g
Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!
Forms Look and Feel Modernization Toolbar and navigation Look and Feel Project Color / Font / Size Prompts / Titles Images Frames OLB, templates for visual standards
Yes - Java in Forms! Java Beans Java Bean Area - layout object on canvas Use custom trigger to get and set properties PJC Portable Java Component Change default behavior/properties of objects Java Classes Run webservices Run Java code in forms triggers Java importer PLSQL java wrapper JavaScript Interact with objects in the browser page - Maps
Java Beans & PJCs
Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!
Hybrid Options Living Side By Side Forms running alongside new technologies Visual Integration Create a common UI Forms & ADF/APEX/Java Process / Service Integration Run common business logic DB/Events Innovation Run Forms business process from new environments -OraPlayer
Forms & External Apps Living In Harmony Form System External System Web.show_doc ument web.javascript_ev al_expr AQ Messages Security / Management Common Bus Logic
What is Visual Integration? Portal \ Unified Desktop \ Dashboards Concept Integrating Oracle Forms and Other Technologies Into a single user experience One point of access - SSO Customized based on users business needs Implementation iframes Javascipt
Process / Service Integration Share Forms Business Logic SOA / BPM Concept Reuse the business logic locked inside your Forms Separate GUI from business logic Implementation Decoupling Remove and Centralize bus logic to DB - Pitts Events Use AQ events for messaging
Game Plan: Leverage your EXISTING investment CLEAN UP UPGRADE MODERNIZE INTEGRATE INNOVATE!
Oracle Development Today Web Services Cloud Web Desktop Mobile Office Database Web Services Legacy Systems Applications Unlimited
Exposing Oracle Forms Web Services Cloud Web Desktop Mobile Office Web Services
Understand the Business Proces Record & Deploy Scenario Create ADF Mobile App Define Task Flow Run Your Mobile App!
Don t run Forms on mobile Run your BUSINESS on the mobile See Demo
Same Forms Business Logic Multiple ADF MobileUIs
Innovation By Migration Benefits of Migration No Oracle Forms maintenance/licenses Fully portable system No applet, full HTML client Larger developer pool Things to Consider This is a PROJECT. No silver bullet Need a business reason to redevelop Need thorough understanding of the Forms application No tool can re-write your business logic Need deep knowledge of the new technologies UI implications HTML vs Applet Investigate 3rd party tools for migration assistance
Forms isn t dead it just smells funny Francois Degrelle www.oracleformsinfo.com
Moving Forward Considerations For Modernization Projects Asses Your Requirements What systems do we need to integrate with? UI requirements? What platforms do we need to deploy to? Understand Your Existing System Where does the business logic sit today? What functionality is duplicated in other systems? Do we have documentation? Developer resources? Define Timeline and Budget Decide on Implementation Method Integrate, Migrate, 3 rd party solution
Summary Clean up Forms environment unused, dead code Upgrade to Latest version Forms 11gR2 Modernize Look and Feel - Incorporate Java elements Chose right tool for the job Refactor code to the DB Systems on common infrastructure Weblogic SSO Slowly evolve teams and systems Start thinking about system INNOVATION ADF Mobile Use OraPlayer to move systems to the next
Questions?
Vote on the OTN Oracle forum poll If a mobile option was available for Oracle Forms to ADF Mobile, would you be interested in the solution? https://forums.oracle.com/forums/poll.jspa?pollid=316
More Information Mia Urman (Me ) miaurman@oraplayer.com @miaurman Oracle Forms Homepage Forms Community Blog www.oracleformsinfo.com OraPlayer www.oraplayer.com @oraplayer PJC Master site http://forms.pjc.bean.over-blog.com/ Forms Look and Feel Project http://fdtool.free.fr/laf/doc/oracle_forms_look_and_feel_project.htm PITSS www.pitss.com @pitssamerica