1 Why Upgrade?

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 1.1, "Overview"
Section 1.2, "About Upgrading Your Forms Applications to 11g (11.1.1)"
Section 1.3, "Forms 10g Features Removed from Oracle Forms"
Section 1.4, "Forms 6i Features Removed from Oracle Forms"
Section 1.5, "Components of 6i Developer Product Suite Removed"
Section 1.6, "How are Obsolete Item Types Handled when Upgrading Forms 6i Applications?"
Section 1.7, "Are Tools Available to Assist with the Migration of Obsolete Features?"

1.1 Overview

Oracle Forms Builder and Oracle Forms Services have been upgraded to simplify the development and deployment of Forms applications on the Web. A number of features have been added. In restructuring the Oracle Forms product, some legacy features have been dropped or scaled back. The future of Forms includes improving the Java-based Web user interface and extending product "openness" by allowing Java integration on all three tiers.

1.2 About Upgrading Your Forms Applications to 11g (11.1.1)

To upgrade your Oracle Forms applications, open your Forms 6i source files (FMB, MMB, PLL, and so on) in the Oracle Forms 11g (11.1.1) Builder, save them, then compile them. You can also use the Oracle Forms Compiler to upgrade your Forms 6i applications.

You can use the Forms Migration Assistant to perform batch upgrades. For more information, see Chapter 2, "Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant".

Note:

You must compile rp2rro.pll into rp2rro.plx if your Form depends on this library. rp2rro.pll can be found in ORACLE_HOME/forms/rp2rro.pll. The resulting plx should be in your FORMS_PATH.

1.3 Forms 10g Features Removed from Oracle Forms

The following features have been dropped from Oracle Forms 10g and later:

Graphics Integration
Chart Items

1.4 Forms 6i Features Removed from Oracle Forms

The following features have been dropped from Oracle Forms 9.0.2 and later:

Client-server Runtime
Character mode Runtime
Various runform command line options
Character mode properties and logical attributes
Item types that are specific to operating systems
Various Built-ins
Various properties
Various menu features including:
- Character mode menu properties
- Obsolete types from the Menu-Items command type property
- Menu parameters
- Menu Built-ins
- Full screen menu style
- Bar (Lotus) menu style
Forms version 2 style triggers and list of values (LOVs)
Graphics Chart Wizard

In addition, rules enforcing trigger usage have become stricter.

1.5 Components of 6i Developer Product Suite Removed

The following components have been removed.

Table 1-1 Components Removed from the Developer Suite

Obsolete Component	Upgrade Notes
Oracle Graphics	If your applications use the Graphics Web Cartridge or Oracle Graphics Runtime, you should rewrite your applications and redevelop the graphics using other means such as Java, Bi Beans. For more information, see the demos at `http://www.oracle.com/technology/sample_code/products/forms/index.html`.
Oracle Forms Listener and Load Balancing Components	Use the Forms Listener Servlet to manage Forms sessions on the Web. The Forms Listener Servlet provides: Improved security because all traffic is directed through standard Web server HTTP or HTTPS ports, with no extra ports open through the firewall. Compliance with standards that can be used for load balancing techniques. Broader firewall and proxy support. Less administration because the listener and load balancing processes do not need to be managed. Simplified HTTPS support because a separate Web server SSL certificate for the Forms listener is not required.
Oracle Forms Server Cartridge and CGI	Use the Forms Servlet. The functionality available with the Oracle Forms Server cartridge and CGI was incorporated into the Forms Servlet, which was first available in Oracle Forms Release 6i patchset 2.
Oracle Procedure Builder	Use the facilities for editing and debugging local and server-side PL/SQL code in Forms Developer, which has been considerably improved for this release.
Oracle Project Builder	No upgrade path or replacement functionality.
Oracle Translation Builder	Use TranslationHub to translate resource strings in Forms modules to deploy the modules in multiple languages.
Oracle Query Builder/Schema Builder	No upgrade path or replacement functionality.
Oracle Terminal	The resource files used by Web-deployed forms are text based and can be edited using a conventional text editor. As a result, Oracle Terminal is no longer required for the product.
Open Client Adapters (OCA)	In order to provide platform-independent access to a wider range of non-Oracle data sources, use the Oracle Transparent Gateway and Generic Connectivity solutions instead of OCA.
Tuxedo Integration	No upgrade path or replacement functionality.
Performance Event Collection Services (PECS)	No upgrade path. Use Forms Trace and Oracle Trace, which are documented in the book Oracle Fusion Middleware Forms Services Deployment Guide (Part No. E10240-01).

1.6 How are Obsolete Item Types Handled when Upgrading Forms 6i Applications?

When you open a Forms application, obsolete item types are listed after the item-type poplist in the Property Palette. The property values for obsolete items are indicated as obsolete. For example, the property value for VBX would be "VBX Control (Obsolete)".

Note:

If you are upgrading from pre-6i you must upgrade to 10g and then to 11g. If you are upgrading from 6i or later, you can go directly to 11g. See Chapter 16, "Upgrading from Pre-Forms 6i Applications to Oracle Forms" for more information.

You can use the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant, described in Chapter 2, "Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant", to resolve many upgrade issues.

1.7 Are Tools Available to Assist with the Migration of Obsolete Features?

The Oracle Forms Migration Assistant is provided with Oracle Forms to help you upgrade your Forms 6i applications. See Chapter 2, "Using the Oracle Forms Migration Assistant" for details.