Are fmb downward compatible from 11gR2 to 11gR1?

Question

I havn't read anything about fmb compatability. May be I've missed something.
Nevertheless, I have a problem.
I have upgraded part of our development systems to Forms 11gR2 (runs pretty well!).
But, production environment is still 11.1.1.2 and trying to compile an fmb (edted and stored with 11.1.2 on Win7) with 11.1.1.2 (under linux) ends with frm-10043: Cannot open file (not FRM-40012: Form was created by a new version of Oracle Forms).
Tryiing to open the fmb with Builder 11.1.1.3 gives the same error message.
A possible work-around is converting the fmb to xml using frmf2xml and convert it back to fmb before compiling it. But there are forms for which it is not working, at least not with 11.1.1.2 as target platform.
So, here my questions
Should fmb be downward compatible?
If yes, what's going wrong? All forms are using olb, plls und mmb; some of them use webutil, but that not the point to fail.
Is it a question of version and it will work with 11.1.1.4+?
Ideas to the work-aroung with xml? Should this work anyway?
thx
Edited by: KRodler on 23.04.2012 13:30

Answer 1

CraigB wrote:
Typically, Forms are not downward compatible - even within the same release of Forms.
Should fmb be downward compatible?No - because there differences in the binary code written by the Forms Builder.Yes, typically ... and it's mess!!! I have customers still on 10gR1, so I have to keep some devlopment environments on version 9. The rewrite of 9, after 6i not to mention.
But I remember notes of that fact in the doc. I didnot find them this time.
And, I'm confused about the simple frm-10043.
Is it a question of version and it will work with 11.1.1.4+?Yes, within the same Forms release - Forms are upward compatible. In some instances, even older releases are upward compatible. For example, Forms 11g will compile and run a Forms 10g forms binary (.fmb). However, going from Forms 6i to Forms 9i and higher requires the Forms binary to go through an upgrade process.That's not the question.
Upgrade to 11.1.1.4+ is not an option, when I'am on 11.1.1.3 and the last version is 11.1.2. At least not, if there are no mature problems.
The question is, is there donward compatability from 11.1.2 to 11.1.1.4+? Following your explanation, no. Do you know or is it a deduction of your general knowledge?
Because another work-around could be to develop under 11.1.2, just open and save under 11.1.1.4+ (to upgrade a single workstation would not be the problem) and tp deplay under 11.1.1.3.
Ideas to the work-aroung with xml? Should this work anyway?Try converting your Form to an .FMT and see if this will work. Theoretically, it should work since you are working with the same Release of Forms and the "Binary-to-Text" conversion writes the definition of the Form in text and writes the PL/SQL as Hexidecimal. If this doesn't work then try converting to XML and back.I didin't mention that this is not working. I thougt it as obvious, that if you get frm-10043 you can't open the form for fmt conversion either. The only way I found is via xml. With problems, at least when reconverting with 11.1.1.2; 11.1.1.3 seems to be mre robust.
ys kurt