Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP is an industry term for integrated, multi-module application software packages that are designed to serve and support multiple business functions.

ERP applications consist of many modules such as Sales and Marketing, Field Service, Production, Inventory Control(Warehouse), Procurement(Purchase), Distribution, Human Resources(HR), Finance and Accounting.

Some of the very popular ERP packages are SAP, PeopleSoft, Baan and Oracle Applications etc.

Oracle Applications ERP (Oracle Apps) is developed using multi-tier architecture. Though it covers a large no. of functionalities for various functional domains, it also supports customized forms, which user can develop and the same can then be integrated into the Oracle Apps.

To work with Oracle Applicationss, one needs to understand its APIs and Processing logic. API stands for Application Program Interface. Oracle has Provided API in the form of PL/SQL Packages.

So, any developer who needs to develop custom form and integrate it with Oracle Applicationss, it is very important for him to understand these APIs and how they work in the application.

I have developed custom forms in Forms 6i and then integrated these forms with Oracle Applicationss. During this process, I have used some of the APIs as mentioned below:

1. Fnd_File           -        It is PL/SQL package for Input /Output processes.
2. Fnd_set            -        The FND_SET package includes procedures for creating concurrent

program request sets, adding programs to a request set, deleting

programs from a request set.

3. Fnd_program    -        The FND_PROGRAM package includes procedures for creating

concurrent program executables, concurrent programs with parameters

and incompatibility rules, request sets, and request groups.

4. Fnd_request     -        Stored procedure concurrent programs accept input parameters only,

and are submitted with the FND_REQUEST package.

5. Fnd_Submit      -        This package will submit the request sets.

As the Oracle Apps provides menu-driven application, a developer should use Form module of Oracle Forms 6i in his/her custom form. There is no need to use Menu modules in Oracle Applicationss custom form.

The following steps describe how to develop a custom form & integrate it with Oracle Apps:

1) Oracle Apps provides a template form called TEMPLATE.fmb to assist any developer with standard built-in controls & properties. The developer should save this template form as his/her form for ex. FRMMYFORM.fmb
2) Create a new window, by right clicking on Window/new

    Name this window as WIN_TEMP, and assign it Subclass Type “WINDOW”     

    from pick list.
3) Create a new canvas and name it CANC_MAIN, and make sure that its Subclass Type is “Content”.
4) Make the windows property under  reference canvas CANC_MAIN and vice versa make the canvas

    reference to windows WIN_TEMP.
5) Now create a block called CTL_BLOCK. Keep this a control block for simplicity.
6) Go to form level property, and set first navigation block to CTL_BLOCK.
7) Add a label and a field named “HELLO_WORLD” to this block.

8) Compile the form using Control + Shift + K.
9) Generate the form on PC using Control-T keystrokes. This will ensure that nothing turns wrong with the form.

10)  After doing all this process, you should move your form to your server’s directory.

11)  Now logon to your Linux server and do f60gen on FRMMYFORM.fmb

12) This will create a file executable as FRMMYFORM.fmx

13) Go to Administrator responsibility
      Menu /application  / / form and then register the form.

14) Register the Forms Function
      Please visit the following link for more information

http://getappstraining.blogspot.com/2006/10/oracle-forms-functions-menus-and-their.html
Author:

By Dharti Chaudhary

My Name is Dharti Chaudhary, I have experience of 1.5 years in Oracle Forms 6i, Oracle Reports 6i, Oracle 9i, PL/SQL scripting, Visual Basic 6.0. And now I am working on Oracle Apps at Semaphore Infotech Pvt. Ltd, India. You can contact on email: dharti@semaphore-software.com.