Bulgarian Oracle Users Group

1
Bulgarian Oracle Users Group www.bgoug.org Ernst
Renner, CEO, Vgo Software
2
Agenda

• Introductions and topic review
• State of the Forms landscape
• Your options
• Upgrade? Modernize? Which is right for you?
• Why Modernize?
• Forms to Fusion Mapping
• ADF v11
• Closing and QA

3
Introduction

• Vgo Software, Inc.
• Software and services to modernize Oracle Forms
  to JEE or upgrade
• Services to modernize PowerBuilder, VB and ASP to
  Oracle ADF
• 1 of 2 global partners certified by Oracle
  product development
• 1st to modernize Forms to ADF v11
• 1st in the world to automate the conversion of
  character-based telnet forms
• Software and services based on 4 years of
  experience in conversions (25 conversions)
• International customers and partners
• Started from NEOS practical consulting

4
The Forms Landscape

• Are Forms going somewhere? No!
• (Well, maybe)
• Oracle Forms 2008 de-support
• v6.0.8.x sustained support ended in January 2008
• 9.0.2.x sustained support ended in July 1 2008
• 10gR2 extended support ends December 2011
• 10gR3 extended support ends December 2011
• http//www.oracle.com/support/collateral/lifetime-
  support-coverage-chart.pdf
• Forms continuing on until at least 2013
• Forms community is alive, well and strong

5
Forms Landscape

• But Oracle is moving to ADF you will too
• Think about it what is Fusion?
• Its important for Oracles continued growth
  strategy its how they will integrate acquired
  products and those theyve grown
• Whats the glue? ADF
• BPM Studio, BPEL, a new (better) Enterprise
  Message Bus (AquaLogic Service Bus), etc.
  

6
Impact

• What does this mean?
• If you are not running Oracle Application Server
  (or Weblogic), you will need to
• Get up to speed now prepare for change
• Oracle Applications users Apps are being
  migrated to ADF now your custom extensions will
  have to move too
• Resources where will all the Forms developers
  be in 2012?
• This may not be a simple change for developers
  it is a paradigm shift

7
Options

• Upgrade to Web Forms
• Modernize, re-engineer evolve
• Re-write
• Buy a commercial package

8
Which Option is Right for You?

• Upgrade Forms when
• The application cannot change at all
• Cost is a huge issue
• You need to stay supported (6i users)
• Modernize to ADF when you require
• Greater ability to integrate with other
  applications
• Greater cross-platform support
• See next slides
• Re-write when..
• Business processes need to dramatically change
• Forms are really old (v3) and code is unclear
• You have unlimited budget

9
Modernization Business Value

• Why Modernize?
• Address tactical challenges while positioning for
  a long-term strategic operations architecture.
  Consider
• Vendor direction
• Availability of skilled resources in legacy
  technology
• Ability to maintain SDLC maturity levels in
  aged and new paradigms
• Greater efficiencies in IT support of business
  changes
• Lower TCO of the enterprise and single LOB
  (line-of-business) applications through common
  architectures and development patterns
• Faster turn-around on functional enhancements
• Greater flexibility to business demands
• Common, flexible, development methodologies and
  processes

10
Modernization Business Value

• Why Modernize? (continued)
• Application and/or data integration
• SOA or EAI
• Integration and cross-application rules sharing
  or re-use
• Consolidation and management of (previously)
  disparate architectures file transfers,
  client/server apps, EDI, etc.

All AD (Application Development) organizations
should plan to migrate away from Oracle Forms
applications during the next 10 years All but
the most-conservative of AD organizations should
plan to migrate during the next five years. Mark
Driver, Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00146666,
July 3, 2007
11
Modernization Business Value

• Why do these efforts fail?
• Under-estimation of effort blown budgets
• Lack of planning
• No business participation
• Blind conversion
• Lack of Experience

12
Pre-Modernization Thoughts

• Prior to any modernization or re-engineering
  project, effort should be extended to

• Consider strategic direction and business value
• Develop your Conversion Framework
• Assessments, domain analysis, function point
  analysis, design, QA, etc.
• Application domains
• Client, Producer, Product, Agent, etc.
• Emphasize re-use and process
• Make High-Leverage Enhancements
• Think ahead where and how does this tie in
  strategically?

13
Typical Forms Architecture
DW or Data
Store
External
DW or Mart
PL
/
SQL
Mgmt Rprts
Reports
,
Data Feeds
,
To DW
Topic
Reporting
Business Rules
14
Typical Architectural View

• Business Rules are all over the place
• Redundant logic, process, data, tight integration
  with DBs

15
Forms to Fusion Mapping
Client Technology Oracle Forms
Forms ADF Mapping Complexity When?
Forms LOVs Query-based blocks Tables (DB) Transactions Triggers Windows Canvases Libraries SQL Task Flows (for Transaction Mgmt) Application Modules (Evo Work Units) Read-only View Objects View Objects Entity Objects Task Flows Java Method (programmatic) or Groovy Expression (declarative) JSPX pages, PanelGroups, Frags Application Modules View Objects, Business rules BPM (ALBPM) High/Medium Specific to app Complexity depends on Forms state
16
Forms to Fusion Mapping
Server-side Technology
Legacy Environment Fusion or ADF Mapping Complexity When?
DB PL/SQL Leave in DB Convert to ADF if needed Simple Medium/Low Specific to app Broader Use
External Calls Business Events, SOA suite BPEL flow, ESB, Mediator, etc. BEA equivs BPM Studio (Fuego), AquaLogic Service Bus (ALSB) Medium Medium/Low Scalable use External use
File processing BPEL ADF Mid/High External parties involved
17
Why ADF v11?

• ADF Business Components
• Data caching
• Transaction handling via Task Flows
• ADF Rich Faces
• Ajax-enabled components
• JSF-based
• JDeveloper
• Lots of wizards
• Less coding

18
Forms to ADF

• Model Layer
• Tables
• Entity Objects 1 per Table
• Can be used to implement validation triggers
• Validation occurs no matter where Entity is used
• View Objects
• View Links and Associations
• Query-based blocks ? View Objects
• Based on one or more entities
• May be linked to other views
• Views may include other views or entities
  description fields and LOVs

19
Forms to ADF

• Model Layer
• LOVs ? read-only View Objects
• Built using SQL statements very much like a
  block in Forms
• Why read-only?
• Performance
• Functionality
• ADF BC Browser
• Test model layer
• Validations and LOVs

20
Forms to ADF

• ViewController Layer
• Forms ? Task flows
• Windows Canvases
• Windows become separate JSPX pages
• Canvases become mutable PanelGroups
• Hide/show each PanelGroup as application
  navigates between canvases (uses Render tag and a
  managed bean)

21
Groovy

• Whats so groovy about
• Based on Java and used in many projects
• Open source expression language
• Competitor is Rails-Grails
• Included in ADF v11
• In ADF, Groovy scripts can be used in any
  application layer
• Validation on the presentation layer (hide/show,
  allow/prevent)
• Foreign key checks on the Entity
• Access Application Modules, views, etc.

22
What Doesnt Map?

• Client-Server ! Web
• Many aspects of a Forms application cant be
  replicated exactly in the web world
• WinAPI Calls
• File-system or Registry access
• Synchronize, etc.
• Many aspects of a Forms application should be
  re-implemented or converted
• Declarative validation
• LOVs

23
ADF in JDeveloper 11g

• Big performance enhancements
• BEA Weblogic in OC4J out
• Look and feel of ADF Faces Rich Client components
  has been updated
• Fixed problems with LOV
• LOV in Create form with Mandatory fields is fixed
• LOV wizards are improved
• Some are not LOV bug re-presenting selected
  value
• Most major issues from TP4 have been resolved
• Such as Oracle Java Platform Security (JPS)
• This is a Jdeveloper release rest of 11g coming
  in January

24
Summary

• Upgrade for safety and ease
• Modernize and evolve when positioning for
  strategic advantage
• Always consider your process in either type of
  project leverage new architectural advantages
• ADF v11 will be the correct go-forward answer for
  Forms modernization and other client/server
  applications
• Think outside of the Forms silo what is the
  value to the business and to the enterprise?

25
Closing Q/A

• Useful resources
• Rob Noceras blog on ADF, Java and web
  application trends www.java-hair.com
• Visit Andrejus Baranovskis blog on ADF and
  Jdeveloper
• andrejusb-samples.blogspot.com
• Vgosoftware.com webinars modernization, ADF,
  JSF, SOA
• www.vgosoftware.com Next webinar is November 12
  on Forms ADF Modernization (detailed and
  technical)
• Contact Info
• Ernst Renner, ernstr_at_vgosoftware.com