Changing prompt colour in oracle forms 6i to canvas background (solution)

Question

One of the really infuriating things about Oracle Forms 6i (and possibly other versions) is that when you set a visual attribute for a item the prompt, as well ad field, takes that background colour. Seing it is common to have the field background white and the canvas background gray this is a paid. The following procedure sets the background colour for all prompts to the background colour of the canvas the prompts field sites on - i.e. it automaticaly sorts out the problem.
PROCEDURE lp_setup_prompt_colour IS
-- This procedure sets the background colour of all prompts to the
-- items canvas background colour
this_block varchar2(70) :=
get_form_property (name_in ('SYSTEM.CURRENT_FORM'), first_block);
last_blockname constant varchar2 (70) := -- Initialise current block to first block
get_form_property (name_in ('SYSTEM.CURRENT_FORM'), last_block); -- Define the last block
field_name varchar2(70); -- the name of the current item
this_item varchar2(70) := -- Initialise current item to the first item in the form
get_block_property (this_block, first_item);
last_field varchar2 (70) := -- Initialise last item to the last item in the first block
get_block_property (this_block, last_item);
canvas varchar2(70);
begin
loop -- Go through every item in the form
field_name := this_block || '.' || this_item; -- set the current item
canvas := get_item_property( field_name, ITEM_CANVAS );
if canvas is not null then -- don't bother if null canvas item
SET_ITEM_PROPERTY(field_name, PROMPT_BACKGROUND_COLOR,
GET_CANVAS_PROPERTY(canvas ,BACKGROUND_COLOR));
end if;
-- Stop looping once the last item in the form has been added to the list
exit when this_block = last_blockname and this_item = last_field;
if this_item = last_field then -- weve looped round and are back at first field
-- Step into the next block
this_block := get_block_property (this_block, nextblock);
this_item := get_block_property (this_block, first_item);
last_field := get_block_property (this_block, last_item);
else
-- Step to the next item in the block
this_item := get_item_property (field_name, nextitem);
end if;
end loop;
end;
also posted at http://www.gurtlush.org.uk/article.php?story=20040422141050964

Answer 1

Actually, this is a known bug - you should apply the latest patch.
Regards
Grant