3 Introduction to the ADF Mobile Client Sample Application

3.2.1 Mounting the Sample Client Database

In addition to installing the FOD database, you also need to install client databases for both Windows Mobile devices and BlackBerry smartphones. The sample client database is delivered on a simulated SD card that is included in the sample application ZIP file, ADFMCSampleApp.zip. The simulated cards are located within ADFMCSampleApp at WindowsMobileSDCard and BlackBerrySDCard.

3.2.1.2 How to Mount the Sample Client Database on a BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator

Use the BlackBerry smartphone simulator to mount the sample client database that is contained on the simulated SD card, BlackBerrySDCard.

Before you begin:

Create the sample database that represents the database used by the server application as described in Section 3.2, "Installing the Fusion Order Demo Schema," download and extract ADFMCSampleApp.zip on your computer, and install BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE 5.0).

Start the BlackBerry smartphone simulator to the computer as described in Chapter 2, "Setting Up the ADF Mobile Client Environment."

To mount the client database on a BlackBerry Smartphone simulator:

1. On the BlackBerry smartphone simulator, select Simulate > Change SD Card.

2. Click Add Directory and then browse to, and select, the BlackBerrySDCard folder. Click OK.

3. Select BlackBerrySDCard as the current SD card as shown in Figure 3-2. Click Close.

Figure 3-2 Mounting the Simulated SD Card to a BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator

3.4.1 How to Run the Demo Application on a Windows Mobile Device Emulator

You run the demo application after you have deployed it to a Windows Mobile device emulator.

To run the demo application:

1. In JDeveloper, choose Tools the Deploy ADF Mobile Client Runtime then to Windows Mobile.

2. Choose ADF Mobile Client Runtime and then click Deploy.

3. Monitor the deployment progress on the Windows Mobile device emulator. Deployment must complete before you deploy another ADF Mobile client runtime component.

4. Choose Java Virtual Machine and then click Deploy.

5. Click Close. Verify the deployment by viewing JDeveloper's Deployment-Log file.

6. In the Application Navigator, right-click the Mobile Client project.

7. Choose Deploy then choose ADFMCSampleApp_RC1 to Windows Mobile Device.

8. On the Windows Mobile simulator, use the File Explorer utility to navigate to My Device then Program Files and then MobileFOD.

9. Select the MobileFOD executable file, as shown in Figure 3-3.

   Figure 3-3 Selecting the MobileFOD Executable File

   
   

   Figure 3-4 shows the Fusion Order Demo Mobile Client application's Browse page, which appears after you click the MOBILEFOD executable. For more information, see Section 3.5, "Taking a Look at the Fusion Order Demo Mobile Client Application."

   Figure 3-4 The Browse Order Page

   
   

3.4.2 Running the Sample Application on a BlackBerry Smartphone Simulator

Before you run the sample application on a BlackBerry Smartphone or simulator, you must download the BlackBerry Java Development Environment (JDE 5.0), the BlackBerry smartphone simulator, and BlackBerry Desktop Manager from BlackBerry (http://na.blackberry.com).

3.5.1 Design Time Components

After you have opened the projects in Oracle JDeveloper, you can then review the artifacts within each project. The development environment for the Fusion Order Demo Mobile Client application contains a view-controller project named MobileClient and a model project named Model.

3.5.1.1 MobileClient Project

MobileClient project contains the files for the interface, including the backing beans, deployment files, and MCX files (the ADF Mobile client equivalent of the JSPX file).

Figure 3-6 The MobileClient Project

Figure 3-6 shows the MobileClient project and its associated directories. The MobileClient project contains the following directories:

• Application Sources: Contains the code used by the mobile client, including the managed and backing beans, property files used for internationalization, the metadata used by ADF Mobile client to display bound data as well as the MCX files and images. This project also includes MobileClient-task-flow.xml, the source file for the bounded task flow.

• META-INF (subdirectory of Application Sources): includes the following:

  • UiApplication.jad—the Java Application Descriptor file (JAD) that is required by BlackBerry to deploy applications over the air (OTA).

  • adfm.xml—Used at runtime in order to help resolve data bindings.

3.5.1.2 Model Project

The Model project (shown in Figure 3-7) is a data model project that contains the data definitions that allow the product data to be displayed in the sample application.

Figure 3-7 The Model Project

The Model project contains the Application Sources directory, which contains the files used to access the product data. Included are the metadata files used by Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) to bind the data to the view.

3.5.2 Runtime Components

The Fusion Order Demo Mobile Client application displays the following pages at runtime:

• Browse Orders (home.mcx)

• Order Details (details.mcx)

• Edit Order (editorder.mcx)

• Order Items (orderitems.mcx)

3.5.3 Browsing Orders

You start the Fusion Order Demo Mobile Client application by running the home.mcx page. This page, which is the entry point of the application, displays on a BlackBerry smartphone or Windows Mobile device as the Browse Orders page. As shown in Figure 3-8, this page contains a dropdown list of order status codes. You use this list in conjunction with the page's Search button to retrieve a list of customers whose orders belong to the category that you selected. Clicking a customer name opens the Order Details page (shown in Figure 3-12), which displays information about the customer.

Clicking Add Order displays the Add Order page, which is comprised mainly of inputText components. For more information about the Order Details page, see Section 3.5.4, "Viewing Order Details." For more information on the Add Order page, see Section 3.5.5, "Editing or Adding an Order."

Figure 3-8 The Browse Order Page

After you select an order status and click Search (a commandButton component), the application performs a search, executes a query and populates the table. Figure 3-9 shows the results of selecting the Order being picked status. As illustrated in Figure 3-9, the table is populated with a status image, the customer name, and read-only information about the date of the order and its total cost. The name is a commandLink component that enables you to navigate to the details screen.

Figure 3-9 Records Retrieved by Order Status

The images are dynamic, reflecting the status of the order. Note, for example, that the images reflect the Order being picked status in Figure 3-9 and the Order completed status in Figure 3-10.

Figure 3-10 Dynamic Images

Where to Find Implementation Details

Following are the sections of Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework and Oracle Fusion Middleware Mobile Client Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework that describe how to define queries and create query search forms:

• Laying out ADF Mobile Tables

  The Browse Orders page includes a single-column table which uses panelGroupLayout components for the status images and the output text. For more information, see Section 6.8, "Creating and Using Tables."

• Enable navigation through the application

  The demo application provides navigation using commandLink components, In Figure 3-10, Add Order and the customer names (for example, Nancy Greenberg) are commandLink components. For more information, see Section 6.9, "Using Buttons and Links."

• Creating dynamic images

  The page achieves the dynamic, status-related images through an EL expression and a string. For example,

  <amc:image id="image1"source="/statusimages/#{row.OrderStatusCode}.gif"/>
  

  For more information see "Creating EL Expressions" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework and also "Displaying Images."

• Creating a static view object

  In the Browse Orders page, the selectOneChoice component for the order status is backed by a list binding. The Status and StatusDesc attributes of the OrderStatus view object, a static view object, populate the values for the dropdown list. For more information, see "Populating View Object Rows with Static Data" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

• Defining a list of values for selection lists

  Input forms displayed in the user interface can utilize databound ADF Faces selection components to display a list of values (LOV) for individual attributes of the data collection. To facilitate this common design task, Oracle ADF Business Components provides declarative support to specify the LOV usage for attributes in the data model project. For example, in the Fusion Order Demo application, the selectOneChoice component displayed in the Browse Orders page is bound to LOV-enabled attributes configured for the OrderStatus view object. For more information about configuring attributes for LOV usage, see "Working with Lists of Values (LOV) in View Object Attribtutes" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

• Creating menus for Windows Mobile devices and BlackBerry smartphones

  Windows Mobile applications have two types of menus: The Main menu and the ALT menu. The Main menu describes the right Standard menu button for the form (such as the Menu button in Figure 3-10) and the ALT menu is the left Standard menu button for the form. For BlackBerry, the MAIN menu describes the Full menu for the form. The ALT menu is amalgamated into the Full menu for the form. For more information, see Section 6.11, "Creating and Using Menus."

3.5.4 Viewing Order Details

The Order Details page displays information about the customer who placed the order.

Figure 3-11 The Order Details Page

This page contains two navigational links: Back to Order List, which you use to return to the result list shown in Figure 3-10 and Show Order Items. Clicking Edit enables you to edit the order details. For more information, see Section 3.5.5, "Editing or Adding an Order."

Figure 3-12 The Order Items Page

Clicking Show Order Items enables you to drill down to a list of ordered items that match the status that you selected in the Browse Orders page. For example, Figure 3-12 shows customer Nancy Greenberg's items that have the status of Order completed (shown in Figure 3-10). This page also includes a form that enables you to filter order items. For more information, see Section 3.5.6, "Viewing Ordered Items."

3.5.5 Editing or Adding an Order

Clicking Edit opens a read-write form that enables you to modify order details. This page (editorder.mcx) displays as either the Edit Order page or the Add Order page depending on if the user is at the Browse Page (home.mcx) or the Order Details page (details.mcx).

Figure 3-13 The Edit Order Page

Where to Find Implementation Details

Following are sections of the Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework and Oracle Fusion Middleware Mobile Client Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework that describe how to create a task flow and how to create an input form with required values.

• Laying out the ADF Mobile page

  This page, called editorder.mcx, consists primarily of inputText components within panelFormLayout and panelLabelAndMessage components. For more information, see Section 6.4, "Designing the Layout of the Page."

• Grouping activities using a bounded task flow

  ADF Mobile client applications use bounded task flows. As described in "Task Flow Types" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework, a bounded task flow has one point of entry, zero or more exits, and represents the reusable portion of an application. The task flow for the demo application (MobileClient-task-flow.xml) is comprised of view activities (home.mcx, editorder.mcx, details.mcx, and orderitems.mcx), a router activity, a task flow return, and a wildcard control rule. For more information see Section 6.2, "Creating Task Flows."

• Using a router activity

  The conditional routing that enables editorder.mcx page to display as either the Edit Order page or the Add Order page is achieved through a router in the application's task flow that evaluates the applicationScope EL expression for the panelGroupLayout component. If the scope variable for addMode is true (that is, when the user is at the Browse Order page), then the application opens the Add Order page. For more information, see "Using Router Activities" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

• Creating a databound edit form

  When you want to create a basic form that collects values from the user, instead of having to drop individual attributes, JDeveloper allows you to drop all attributes for an object at once as an input form. You can create forms that display values, forms that allow users to edit values, and forms that collect values. For example, in the Fusion Order Demo application, the Order Details displays a form that displays user information and the Add Order and Edit Order forms used for collecting shipping information for the user's order. For more information, see "Creating an Input Form" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework and Section 6.5, "Creating and Using Input Components."

• Creating databound UI controls

  The page's selectOneChoice components are used to filter view accessors and lists of values for status codes and for customer ID. Such selectOneChoice components are created by dragging and dropping the OrderStatus Code and CustomerID attributes of the OrderView data control into the Structure view and then by selecting Select One Choice from the context menu.

• Using commit and rollback functions

  The page's Save and Undo menu functions are standard ADF commit and rollback operations. For more information, see Section 6.11, "Creating and Using Menus."

3.5.6 Viewing Ordered Items

The Order Items page lists the items that the customer has ordered, providing information on the number of units and the price of each item. You can filter the results using the search form, as shown in Figure 3-14.

Figure 3-14 The Order Items Page

Where to Find Implementation Details

• Creating a search form

  You create a query search form by dropping a named view criteria item from the Data Controls panel onto a page. The Order Items page includes a search form, one that JDeveloper creates automatically when you drag a view object in to the Structure view and then select Filtering as the Enable ADF Behavior option in the Edit Table Columns dialog. For more information, see "Creating Query Search Forms" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

• Displaying the results of a query search

  Normally, you drop a query search panel with the results table. JDeveloper automatically wires the results table with the query panel. For more information, see "How to Create a Query Search Form and Add a Results Component Later" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Fusion Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.