Streamlining Oracle Forms

With the move to pervasive Web deployment and the Web-only releases of Oracle Forms, Oracle is simplifying the product set and continuing to optimize the product for building and deploying Internet applications.. This allows Oracle to put all its efforts into improving the already rich Web UI that is based on Java, and to extend the openness of the product by allowing Java integration on all three tiers.
Features being removed:
- Client/server run-time executable
- Character-mode run-time executable
- Operating system-specific item types: OLE container, VBX, OCX, and sound item
- Menu features:
- Plus, Form, and Macro command types
- Menu parameters
Note: Full-screen and bar menus were removed from Forms6i and remain unsupported in Oracle Forms 10g.

• Built-ins and properties that are obsolete and no longer supported:
- Those related to obsolete item types, full-screen menus, and character-mode properties and logical attributes
- BREAK and the DEBUG package
- RUN_PRODUCT built-in (except for integrating graphics)
- RUNTIME_COMPATIBILITY_MODE and DATE_FORMAT_COMPATIBILITY_MODE properties
- Menu built-ins related to obsolete menu features
• Forms version 2-style triggers and lists of values
• Command-line options to Runform that relate to obsolete features
• Use of the database for module storage.

Removed components:
- Oracle Forms Listener and Load Balancing Components
- Oracle Forms Server Cartridge and CGI
- Oracle Procedure Builder
- Oracle Project Builder
- Oracle Translation Builder
- Oracle Graphics
- Oracle Query Builder/Schema Builder(except as used internally, as in LOV Wizard)
- Oracle Terminal
- Open Client Adapters (OCA)
- Tuxedo Integration
- Performance Event Collection Services (PECS)


Stricter usage of triggers and builts-ins:
- Stricter enforcement of defining triggers at levels that make sense:
- Allowed only at block of form level:
- When-Clear-Block
- When_Create-Record
- When-Database-Record
- When-New-Record-Instance
- When-Remove-Record
- Allowed only at form level: When-New-Form-Instance

- Preventing programmatic navigation (GO_ITEM) to nonenabled items, unless FORMS_REJECT_GO_DISABLED_ITEM(new environment variable) is set to FALSE