Forms 9i will not support Forms 6i functionality (OLE etc)

Question

Reading the latest "Features obsolescence in Oracle9i.pdf" it appears that Oracle intends to make conventional client-server runtime .fmx obsolete in the 9i release.
Does this mean that it will no longer support key functionality in current Forms6i applications, which in our case run on Windows 2000 workstations accessing central Oracle databases?
Some functions no longer supported appear to be:
- native host commands on the Windows 2000 PC
- use of Oracle Graphics
- OLE2 (links to excel, outlook, word etc)
- OCX/ ACTIVE X controls
- not sure about printing to the Windows 2000 PCs local printers from Forms or Reports.
Does anyone know if this is correct, and if yes how long will Oracle continue to support Forms 6i and Oracle Graphics?
Does this functionality need to be re-written using JAVA ?

Answer 1

Lets try and address your questions.
"native host commands on the Windows 2000 PC " - you can still run host commands but you must remember that in a
3 tier environment the code is being executed on the middle tier application server. So a host command to list the
contents of a directory and output to a file would list the files on the app. server and not the client (although in most cases you can
achieve the same functionaliy using a Java Bean and we have published loads of exampled on the forms samples page
website)
"use of Oracle Graphics " -as per the obs paper you can still achieve this on the web but you are also openning up to
opportunity to use a whole host of charting beans.
"OLE2 (links to excel, outlook, word etc) " - you can still use OLE so long as there is not screen interaction - and
remember the OLE will be running on the app server and not the client. If you want to call word and excel you can simply
use a web.show_document("filename.doc") while will open the document on the browser (if you have the correct MIME
type installed).
"OCX/ ACTIVE X controls" - strictly speaking no since these are platform specific proprietary controls and the Forms UI
is running as a Java UI which is platform agnostic. However, we have proved that you can do this by writing a Java wrapper
around the control and embedding that. The Java equivelant would be a Java Bean or Pluggable Java Component which
are dead easy to integrate into Forms.
"not sure about printing to the Windows 2000 PCs local printers from Forms or Reports. " we have a utility orarrp which
can do this and anyway, if you are viewing reports in a browser you can just print from the browser to the local printer.
"ng will Oracle continue to support Forms 6i " client server Forms are support to 2006/2008.
"Does this functionality need to be re-written using JAVA ?" - you can take a client server for and without having to change
a single line of code or even regenerate, you can deploy on the web - its that simple.
Sure, there are some things you may want to re-write but this is the same with any change of platform (infact most of your
questions about OLE, OCX would be exactly the same for moving to Unix/Motif).
Just think of webdeployed Forms as EXACTLY the same as client server except for the bit which draws the UI is on a
third tier, - all the back end database and business logic etc is exactly the same.
I hope this helps and remember that a huge customer base has already moved to the web with great success .
Please ask if you have any more questions.
Regards
Grant Ronald
Forms Product Management