4.3 Configuring Forms Services

Use the Configuration page in Application Server Control Console to configure Forms Services. This page manages all changes in the formsweb.cfg file for you.

Note:

If you manually edit any of the configuration or environment files, you'll need to restart Enterprise Manager as well as restart all Distributed Configuration Management (DCM) processes so that Enterprise Manager can read all changes. If you do not restart Enterprise Manager as well as DCM processes, any changes that you make through Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g will overwrite any manual changes you've made to these files. These DCM processes include:

emctl stop em
dcmctl stop
opmnctl stopall
opmnctl startall
dcmctl start
emctl start em

Note:

You should backup the formsweb.cfg and default.env files before editing them with Enterprise Manager.

To configure Forms Services:

Start the Application Server Control Console.
From the Application Server Control Console main page, select the link to the OracleAS Forms Services instance that you want to configure.
From the Forms Services instance, select the Configuration tab.

Select Forms Web Configuration from the View pulldown list.

To create a new section in the formsweb.cfg file, click Create New Section and enter a name for this section on the next page

To delete a section in the formsweb.cfg file, click the radio button next to the section to be deleted, then click Delete and confirm the deletion on the next page.

Note:

As with most Web applications, it is easy to lose unsaved changes by switching pages. Be sure to save any changes you make through Application Server Control Console to Forms configuration or environment files before proceeding to other pages.

The length of time it takes for changes to be saved is affected by the number of lines you have changed. For example, an additional fifty lines of comments will take longer to save than just the deletion of a single entry.

4.3.1 Configuring Parameters with Application Server Control Console

For a description and the location of the Forms Servlet configuration file (formsweb.cfg), see Chapter 3, "formsweb.cfg".

4.3.1.1 Parameters that Specify Files

The four baseHTML parameters should point to appropriate files. Typically, the following values and their parameters should appear in the default configuration section, as shown in Table 4-1, "Default Configuration Parameters that Specify Files":

Table 4-1 Default Configuration Parameters that Specify Files

Parameter	Value
baseHTML	base.htm
`baseHTMLJinitiator`	basejini.htm
`baseHTMLjpi`	basejpi.htm
`envFile`	default.env

All of these parameters specify file names. If no paths are given (as in this example), the files are assumed to be in the same directory as the Forms Servlet configuration file (formsweb.cfg), that is ORACLE_HOME/forms/server.

4.3.2 Managing Configuration Sections

You create new configuration sections from the Configuration tab of Application Server Control Console, which creates the named configurations in the formsweb.cfg file. These configurations can be requested in the end-user's query string of the URL that is used to run a form.

To create a new configuration section:

Start the Enterprise Manager Application Server Control Console.
From the Application Server Control Console main page, select the link to the Forms Services instance that you want to configure.
From the Forms Services instance, select the Configuration tab.
Click Create New Section at the top of the Configuration tab.

The Forms New Section Name page appears.
Enter a name for your new configuration and click OK.
If you enter a description of your new section, make sure you save it clicking Apply before editing the section and adding parameters.

For example, to create a configuration to run Forms in a separate browser window with a "generic" look and feel, create a new section and add the following parameters from Table 4-2, "Sample Parameters to Add to a New Configuration Section":

Table 4-2 Sample Parameters to Add to a New Configuration Section

Parameter	Value
forms	<module>
separateFrame	True
lookandfeel	Generic

Your users would type the following URL to launch a form that uses the "sepwin" (or whatever name you applied) configuration:

http://server:port/forms/frmservlet?config=sepwin

See Appendix C, "Default formsweb.cfg File" for other examples of special configurations.

4.3.2.1 Duplicating a Named Configuration

You can make a copy of a named configuration for backup purposes, or create new configuration sections from duplicates.

To duplicate a named configuration:

Select the radio button next to the section to be duplicated.
Click Duplicate.
On the next page enter a new, unique name for the duplicated section and click OK.

A new section with exactly the same parameters, parameter values and comments as the section you are duplicating is created.

4.3.2.2 Deleting Named Configurations

When you delete a named configuration, you delete all the information within it. If you only want to delete specific parameters, see Section 4.3.3, "Managing Parameters".

To delete a named configuration:

Start the Enterprise Manager Application Server Control Console.
From the Application Server Control Console main page, select the link to the Forms Services instance that you want to configure.
From the Configuration, select the radio button next to the configuration section you want to delete.
Click Delete.

The Confirmation page appears.
Click OK.

The configuration section is deleted.

Application Server Control Console returns to the Configuration tab and displays the remaining configurations.

4.3.3 Managing Parameters

Use Application Server Control Console to manage parameters within a named configuration. You can add, edit, or delete parameters from the Edit Section page of Application Server Control Console.

To edit a parameter in a configuration section:

From the Configuration tab of Enterprise Manager Application Server Control Console, select the radio button next to the configuration section that contains the parameter that you want to edit.
Click Edit at the top of this page.

The Edit Section page appears for that selected configuration.
Select the radio button next to the parameter you want to edit.
Make your changes in the text fields.
Click Apply.

Your changes are saved.

To add a parameter to a configuration:

From the Configuration tab of Application Server Control Console, select the radio button next to the configuration section to which you want to add a parameter.
Click Edit at the top of this page.

The Edit Section page appears for that selected configuration.
Enter a name and value for the new parameter and click Add New Parameter.

The Edit Section page refreshes and displays the new parameter.
Add a description for the new parameter, and click Apply.
To return to the Forms page, click Forms in the breadcrumb trail.

To delete a parameter in a configuration:

To edit a configuration section, select the radio button next to it and click Edit at the top of this page.

The Edit Section page appears for the selected configuration.
Select the radio button next to the parameter you want to delete.
Click Delete.
Confirm the deletion on the Confirmation page that appears.

The parameter is deleted from the configuration section.

4.3.4 Default Forms Configuration Parameters

These sections include:

Section 4.3.4.1, "System Default Configuration Parameters"
Section 4.3.4.2, "Runform parameters (serverArgs parameters)"
Section 4.3.4.3, "HTML page title, attributes for the BODY tag and HTML to add before and after the form"
Section 4.3.4.4, "Applet or Object Parameters"
Section 4.3.4.5, "Parameters for JInitiator"
Section 4.3.4.6, "Parameters for the Sun Java Plug-in"
Section 4.3.4.7, "Enterprise Manager Configuration Parameters"
Section 4.3.4.8, "Oracle Internet Directory Configuration Parameters"

4.3.4.1 System Default Configuration Parameters

These parameters control the behavior of the Forms Servlet. They can only be specified in the servlet configuration file (formsweb.cfg) and cannot be specified as URL query parameters.These parameters are described in Table 4-3, "System Default Configuration Parameters":

Table 4-3 System Default Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`baseHTML`	required	The default base HTML file.
`baseHTMLJInitiator`	required	Physical path to HTML file that contains JInitiator tags.
`connectionDisallowedURL`	optional	This is the URL shown in the HTML page that is not allowed to start a new session.
`baseHTMLjpi`	optional	Physical path to HTML file that contains Java Plug-in tags. Used as the baseHTML file if the client browser is not on Windows and the client browser is either Netscape or IE without the IE native settings.
`HTMLdelimiter`	required	Delimiter for variable names. Defaults to %.
`workingDirectory`	required	Defaults to `ORACLE_HOME/forms` if not set.
`envFile`	required	This is set to default.env in the formsweb.cfg file.
`defaultcharset`	optional	Specifies the character set to be used in servlet requests and responses. Defaults to ISO-8859-1 (also known as Latin-1). Ignored if the servlet request specifies a character set (e.g. in the content-type header of a POST). The values of this parameter may be specified either as an IANA character set name (e.g. SHIFT_JIS) or as an Oracle character set name (e.g. JA16SJIS). It should match the character set specified in the NLS_LANG environment variable, and it should also be a character set that the browser is capable of displaying. Also, if the browser allows multibyte characters to be entered directly into a URL, e.g. using the IME, as opposed to URL escape sequences, and if you wish to allow end users to do this, then the value of this parameter should match the character set that the browser uses to convert the entered characters into byte sequences. Note: If your configuration file contains configuration sections with names that contain characters other than 7-bit ASCII characters, then the following rules apply. If a `config` parameter is specified in a URL or in the body of a POST request with no specified character set, and the value contains non-7-bit ASCII characters, then the value is interpreted using a character set whose name is derived from the value of the `defaultcharset` parameter. However, only the language-dependent default section and the language-independent default section of the configuration file is searched for the `defaultcharset` parameter. No other configuration section is searched because the name is not yet known.
`IE`	recommended if there are users with Internet Explorer 5.0 or above browsers	Specifies how to execute the Forms applet under Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or above. If the client is using an Internet Explorer 5.0 or above browser, either the native JVM or JInitiator can be used. A setting of "JInitiator" uses the basejini.htm file and JInitiator. A setting of "Native" uses the browser's native JVM.
`log`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Null`.
`jvmcontroller`	optional	Valid values: See Section 7.5.8.2, "Starting a JVM Controller at the Command Line". In addition, you can specify no JVM. Default value: none This parameter can be set globally in the default section, or any application section can choose to override it. This tells the Forms runtime process which JVM controller to use. It corresponds to the jvmcontroller parameter for the dejvm executable (see section 2.3, table 1). If jvmcontroller does not have a value, then the Oracle Forms Runtime Process will start its own in-process JVM, which means that the Java Importer uses pre-10g behavior.

4.3.4.2 Runform parameters (serverArgs parameters)

All parameters from here on match variables (%parameterName%) in the baseHTML file. These variables are replaced with the parameter values specified in the URL query string, or failing that, in the formsweb.cfg file. See Chapter 3, "Specifying Special Characters in Values of Runform Parameters" for information about how runform handles certain special characters that are specified in runform parameter values. These runform parameters are described in Table 4-4, "Runform Parameters (serverArgs Parameters)":

Table 4-4 Runform Parameters (serverArgs Parameters)

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`clientDPI`	optional	Specifies the dots per inch (DPI) and overrides the DPI setting returned by the JVM, allowing you to manage varying DPI settings per platform. For example, a form developed on the Win32 platform may not display properly on the UNIX platform due to varying DPI values. The clientDPI value can be any positive integer. Oracle recommends that you use an integer between 50 and 200, e.g. `<param name="clientDPI" value="200">`.
`escapeparams`	optional	Set this parameter to `false` if you want runform to treat special characters in runform parameters as it did in releases prior to 9.0.4.
`heartBeat`	optional	Use this parameter to set the frequency at which a client sends a packet to the server to indicate that it is still running. Define this integer value in minutes or in fractions of minutes, for example, 0.5 for 30 seconds. The default is two minutes. If the heartbeat is less than `FORMS_TIMEOUT`, the user's session will be kept alive, even if they are not actively using the form.
`form`	required	Specifies the name of the top level Forms module (fmx file) to run.
`userid`	optional	Login string. For example: `scott/tiger@ORADB`.
`otherparams`	optional	This setting specifies command line parameters to pass to the Forms runtime process in addition to `form` and `userid`. Default is: `otherparams=buffer_records=%buffer% debug_messages=%debug_messages% array=%array% obr=%obr% query_only=%query_only% quiet=%quiet% render=%render% record=%record% tracegroup=%tracegroup% log=%log% term=%term%` Note: Special syntax rules apply to this parameter when it is specified in a URL: a + may be used to separate multiple name=value pairs (see Section 3.3.4, "Specifying Special Characters in Values of Runform Parameters" for more information). For production environments, in order to provide better control over which runform parameters end users can specify in a URL, use the `restrictedURLparams` parameter.
`debug`	optional	Allows running in debug mode. Default value is `No`.
`buffer`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Sub argument for `otherparams` Default value is `No`.
`debug_messages`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Sub argument for `otherparams` Default value is `No`.
`allow_debug`	optional	When set to true, all admin functions from the `forms/frmservlet/admin` screen are activated. `forms/frmservlet/xlate` runs Forms Trace Xlate on a specified trace file. This parameter must be set to `true` before trace logs can be viewed from the User Sessions screen. The default value is `false`; an inline message displays which says that tracing can be viewed only if `allow_debug=true`.
`array`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `No`.
`query_only`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `No`.
`quiet`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Yes`.
`render`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `No`.
`host`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Null`.
`port`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Null`.
`record`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Null`.
`tracegroup`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Null`.
`log`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Null`.
`term`	optional	Supports running and debugging a form from the Builder. Default value is `Null`.
`em_trace`	For internal use only.

4.3.4.3 HTML page title, attributes for the BODY tag and HTML to add before and after the form

For security reasons these parameters may not be set using URL query parameters, as described in Table 4-5, "HTML Page Parameters":

Table 4-5 HTML Page Parameters

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`pageTitle`	optional	HTML page title, attributes for the BODY tag, and HTML to add before and after the form.
`HTMLbodyAttrs`	optional	Attributes for the <BODY> tag of the HTML page.
`HTMLbeforeForm`	optional	HTML content to add to the page above the area where the Forms application will be displayed.
`HTMLafterForm`	optional	HTML content to add to the page below the area where the Forms application will be displayed.

4.3.4.4 Applet or Object Parameters

The following parameters in Table 4-6, "Applet or Object Parameters" are specified in the baseHTML file as values for object or applet parameters. For example: <PARAM NAME="serverURL" VALUE="%serverURL%">

Table 4-6 Applet or Object Parameters

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`serverURL`	required	`/forms/lservlet` (see Chapter 1.5, "Forms Listener Servlet".)
`codebase`	required	Virtual directory you defined to point to the physical directory `ORACLE_HOME/forms/java`, where, by default, the applet JAR files are downloaded from. The default value is `/forms/java`.
`imageBase`	optional	Indicates where icon files are stored. Choose between: `codeBase`, which indicates that the icon search path is relative to the directory that contains the Java classes. Use this value if you store your icons in a JAR file (recommended). `documentBase`, which is the default. In deployments that make use of the Forms Server CGI, you must specify the icon path in a custom application file.
`logo`	optional	Specifies the .GIF file that should appear at the Forms menu bar. Set to NO for no logo. Leave empty to use the default Oracle logo
`restrictedURLparams`	optional	Specified by an administrator to restrict a user from using certain parameters in the URL. If the number of parameters is more than one, then they should be separated by a comma. The `restrictedURLparams` itself cannot be the value of this parameter i.e., `restrictedURLparams`. Default value is `HTMLbodyAttrs`,`HTMLbeforeForm`, `pageTitle`,`HTMLafterForm`,`log`,`allow_debug`,`allowNewConnections`
`formsMessageListener`	optional	Forms applet parameter.
`recordFileName`	optional	Forms applet parameter.
`width`	required	Specifies the width of the form applet, in pixels. Default is 650.
`height`	required	Specifies the height of the form applet, in pixels.Default is 500.
`separateFrame`	optional	Determines whether the applet appears within a separate window. Legal values: True or False.
`splashScreen`	optional	Specifies the .GIF file that should appear before the applet appears. Set to `NO` for no splash. Leave empty to use the default splash image. To set the parameter include the file name (for example, myfile.gif) or the virtual path and file name (for example, images/myfile.gif).
`background`	optional	Specifies the .GIF file that should appear in the background. Set to `NO` for no background. Leave empty to use the default background.
`lookAndFeel`	optional	Determines the applications look-and-feel. Legal values: Oracle or Generic (Windows look-and-feel).
`colorScheme`	optional	Determines the application's color scheme. Legal values: Teal, Titanium, Red, Khaki, Blue, Olive, or Purple. Note: `colorScheme` is ignored if lookAndFeel is set to Generic.
`serverApp`	optional	Replace default with the name of your application file (if any). Use application classes for creating application-specific font mapping and icon path settings. To set the parameter include the file name if file is in `ORACLE_HOME/forms/java/oracle/forms/registry` or include the virtual path and file name.
`archive`	optional	Comma-separated list of archive files that are used when the browser detected is neither Internet Explorer using native JVM nor JInitiator. (The default is frmall.jar.) To set the parameter include the file name if the file is in the codebase directory or include the virtual path and file name.
`archive_jinit`	optional	Comma-separated list of JAR file(s) that is used when the browser detected is JInitiator. (The default is frmall_jinit.jar.) To set the parameter include the file name if the file is in the codebase directory or include the virtual path and file name.
`archive_ie`	optional	Comma-separated list of CAB file(s) that is used when the browser detected is Internet Explorer using native JVM. (The default is `frmall.cab`.)
`networkRetries`	optional	In situations of high load or network failures, you can specify the number of times (up to 10) the client will attempt to send a request to the intended servlet engine. The default setting is 0, in which case the Forms session will terminate after one try.
`mapFonts`	optional	`<PARAM NAME = "mapFonts" VALUE = "yes" >` to trigger font mapping. As a result of some font rendering code changes in JDK 1.3, the font heights set in JDK 1.1 increased in JDK 1.3. As this may cause display issues, you can map the JDK 1.3 fonts so that the font sizes are the same as they were in JDK 1.1.

4.3.4.5 Parameters for JInitiator

The following parameters are specific to JInitiator, as described in Table 4-7, "Parameters for JInitiator":

Table 4-7 Parameters for JInitiator

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`jinit_download_page`	required (Netscape only)	If you create your own version of the Jinitiator download page, set this parameter to point to it. Default is `/forms/jinitiator/us/JInitiator/jinit.download.htm`.
`jinit_classid`	required (IE only)	Default is `clsid:CAFECAFE-0013-0001-0017-ABCDEFABCDEF`
`jinit_exename`	required	Default is `jinit.exe#Version=1.3.1.17`
`jinit_mimetype`	required (Netscape only)	Default is `application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.3.1.17`
`baseHTMLJInitiator`	required	Physical path to HTML file that contains JInitiator tags.

4.3.4.6 Parameters for the Sun Java Plug-in

The following parameters are for use with the Sun Java Plug-in, as described in Table 4-8, "Parameters for Sun's Java Plug-in":

Table 4-8 Parameters for Sun's Java Plug-in

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`jpi_codebase`	required	Sun's Java Plug-in codebase setting
`jpi_classid`	required	Sun's Java Plug-in class id
`jpi_download_page`	required	Sun's Java Plug-in download page

4.3.4.7 Enterprise Manager Configuration Parameters

The following parameters are for configuring Enterprise Manager, as described in Table 4-9, "Enterprise Manager Configuration Parameters":

Table 4-9 Enterprise Manager Configuration Parameters

Parameter Required / Optional Parameter Value and Description

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`em_mode`	required	1 is to enable. 0 is to disable. 1 indicates that all Enterprise Manager information is available, including metrics and servlet status. 0 indicates that only configuration information is available.
EndUserMonitoringEnabled	Optional	Indicates whether End User Monitoring integration is enabled.
EndUserMonitoringURL	Optional	indicates where to record End User Monitoring data.

em_mode

required

1 is to enable. 0 is to disable.

1 indicates that all Enterprise Manager information is available, including metrics and servlet status. 0 indicates that only configuration information is available.

EndUserMonitoringEnabled

Optional

Indicates whether End User Monitoring integration is enabled.

EndUserMonitoringURL

Optional

indicates where to record End User Monitoring data.

4.3.4.8 Oracle Internet Directory Configuration Parameters

The following parameters are for configuring Oracle Internet Directory, as described in Table 4-10, "Oracle Internet Directory Configuration Parameters". You can only configure these parameters if you are using an OracleAS Infrastructure instance.

Table 4-10 Oracle Internet Directory Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Required / Optional	Parameter Value and Description
`oid_formsid`	required	Configured during the OracleAS installation, so you do not need to change this.
`ORACLE_HOME`	required	Configured during the OracleAS installation, so you do not need to change this.