Formbuilder where does it work for sure?

Question

I am finding that it is not true that formbuilder (11.1.1.4) is not compatible with 2008 r2 64 bits.... yet.
I fear I will find out why it's not certified... sooner or later... But it is working with everything that should not
work. 2008 r2 64 bits and a 64 bit jre. (but not in the browser. Firefox 32 bits with 32 bit jre).
but one thing for sure if you try to develop on the same machine that also deploys, it is very very confusing!
I was very seriously confounded by what version of fmx got run from the builder. It was finding a way to
get an old one and not the one that just was compiled. How exactly it managed to do that I don't know and it doesn't always do that.
I will say this: you would definitely do well to put the date and time you changed a form on the form and CHECK IT at runtime because there seem to be a lot of ways that you can get an older version of an fmx going. Even if you are
not using a machine that has some old versions deployed, you can have trouble with old fmx's getting executed. Rather mysterious.
A particular issue is if you have a forms_path set in windows the typical way:
start, computer right click, properties, advanced settings environment variables (and you have a choice btw
administrator and system) and there is one in the .env file and they are not the same. What ends up for
forms_path and when does it/can it change?
Also I am finding that it is not possible to get the forms server to change the deployed form without stopping
and starting the forms server (as opposed to weblogic itself. stopping and startting weblogic doesn't do it.)
Edited by: lake on Jun 17, 2011 3:33 PM

Answer 1

Well I can find a lot of support docs that say there is no 64 bit os that formbuilder can exist on.
Oracle Developer Suite For 11g FAQ (Doc ID 886936.1)
"B - Is 64 bit Developer 11g version required for developing 11g forms and reports running on a 64 bit Deployment environment in WebLogic ?
No. Currently, running Forms Builder in 64 bit mode is not supported on any OS."
"Builders (Forms/Reports) will not be supported on 64bit operating systems unless running in 32 bit mode. See Note 1112213.1 "
This is rugged for windows users because most machines shipped now are 64 bit win7. You cannot buy a machine with pre-win7 windows on it now except vista which no one would want.
And further on win7 64 you have to run an emulator:
"This certification is with Windows 7 in XP mode (32bit) only. To configure Windows 7 in XP mode, refer to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx."
I actually don't see that windows7 32 bits is certified. Does that mean it HAS to be 64 bits
plus the emulator stuff?
(I might be better off finding an old xp machine but who had one with 4G of memory?)
I do know that it works well on 2003. (2003 is definitely not shipping any more. It has gone
the way of xp.)
note windows 7 was released to retail on October 22, 2009 ! Windows 8 is likely to be released in 2012!
Ok despite the cert matrix where I did not find 32 bit windows 7 certified but that is unbelievably confusing,
This note says it is:
"Forms / Reports Builder 10gR2 or 11g Certification on MS Windows 7 (Doc ID 1112213.1)
The Forms / Reports Development Environment of release 11.1.1.2+ is supported on Windows 7 (32 bit) for single user only.
(See Certification detailed Access Steps below)."
but if the most memory you can have is 4G which is the case without PAE or 64 bits then I think xp would be a better choice.
Edited by: lake on Jun 16, 2011 4:55 PM