what is fmx file in oracle forms?

Oracle Forms is a 4GL Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment. Forms Builder is used to create applications to enter, access, change, or delete data from Oracle (and other) databases. The Forms Runtime environment is required to execute compiled Forms modules. Forms can also be deployed across the Web using the Oracle ] (iAS) Forms Services.

Oracle Forms is part of Oracle's Internet Developer Suite (iDS). Previous versions of it was called SQL*Forms.

Unfortunately not. One should always backup the FMB files to ensure they are not lost. The best you can do is to open the FMX file in a good text editor and copy most of your SQL out of it. After that, you will have to recreate the form from scratch.

No, FMX files are operating system dependent. On the other hand, FMB's are not. So, you can just copy your FMB files to the new operating system and regenerate them.

PS: You also need to regenerate the FMB files after upgrading to a new Forms version.

Use an Object List Report. File > Administration > Object List Report This generates a text file of the form. Compare these to find the difference easily.

FORMS API Master -- This will help us to compare two Fmbs. in Tools Developer Compare option will be there you can compare two fmbs.

One can use NEXT_FIELD to iterate (loop) through items in a specific block and NEXT_RECORD to iterate through records in a block. Code example:

The first thing that the user sees when using runform is the Oracle logon prompt asking them for their username, password, and database to connect to. You can bypass this screen or customise it by displaying your own logon screen. Eg:

Alternatively, edit the formsweb.cfg file located in ORACLE_HOME/forms/server creating a config like this:

and after that, access the application like this:

On MS-Windows, Forms run inside a Windows Multiple-Document Interface (MDI) window. You can use SET_WINDOW_PROPERTY on the window called FORMS_MDI_WINDOW to resize this MDI (or any other named) window. Examples:

CALL_FORM: start a new form and pass control to it. The parent form will be suspended until the called form is terminated. user can not navigate to parent form until child form is open.

NEW_FORM: terminate the current form and replace it with the indicated new form. The old form's resources (like cursors and locks) will be released. parent form will be closed.

OPEN_FORM: Opens the indicated new form without suspending or replacing the parent form.user can navigate between parent and child forms.

One can either set the message level using the system variable SYSTEM.MESSAGE_LEVEL or trap errors using the ON-ERROR or ON-MESSAGE triggers.

MESSAGE_LEVEL:

Set to 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 to suppress all messages with severity below this level. The default level is 0. Messages with a level higher than 25 cannot be suppressed. See the "Forms Error Messages Manual" for more details about the various MESSAGE_LEVEL's:

Examples:

DDL (Data Definition Language) commands like CREATE, DROP and ALTER are not directly supported from Forms because your Forms are not suppose to manipulate the database structure.

A statement like CREATE TABLE X (A DATE); will result in error:

However, you can use the FORMS_DDL built-in to execute DDL statements. Eg:

FORMS_DDL can also be used to create dynamic SQL statements at runtime. The FORMS_SUCCESS built-in can be used to determine if the last executed built-in was successful.

Yes, use the FORMS_DDL built-in or call the DBMS_SQL database package from Forms. Eg:

Just note that FORMS_DDL will force an implicit COMMIT and may de-synchronize the Oracle Forms COMMIT mechanism.

How to get around the "can't use a restricted built-in in built-in XXX" message:

1. Create a TIMER at the point where you want the navigation to occur. Eg.

2. Code a WHEN-TIMER-EXPIRED trigger to handle the navigation

Dirty but effective (didn't Oracle promise to fix this feature?).

The SET_APPLICATION_PROPERTY build-in in Oracle Forms allows one to change the mouse pointer. Example:

The following cursor styles are supported:

Regardless of whether you call the MESSAGE() built-in with ACKNOWLEDGE, NO_ACKNOWLEDGE, or with no mode specification at all, your message may or may not be displayed. This is because messages are displayed asynchronously. To display messages immediately, use the SYNCHRONIZE build-in:

This can also be used to execute a query while the user is looking at the results of a previous query.

From Forms V4.5, SQL*Menu is fully integrated into Oracle Forms. Application menus can be added to your application by creating Menu Modules (*.MMB) and generate it to Menu Module Executables (*.MMX).

Create a new block, let's name it "TOOLBAR" and a canvas named "C_TOOLBAR" (for ilustration purposes). Put some iconic buttons on your canvas. Use the following properties for these buttons:

Now set the "Canvas Type" in the canvas property palette to "Horizontal Toolbar" and the "Form Horizontal Toolbar Canvas" in the module property palette to your canvas name (C_TOOLBAR in our case).

The Microsoft Help Compiler does not ship with Designer/2000 or Developer/2000, but you can download it from here:

Note: Designer/2000 includes a Help Generator that can generate source files for the Help Compiler.

OS files can be read/written from Forms using the TEXT_IO package in Forms. The TEXT_IO package has a datatype FILE_HANDLE. It also has procedures FCLOSE, GET_LINE, NEW_LINE, PUT, PUT_LINE & PUTF and a function FOPEN. Example:

Look at this DOS Batch file example:

You need to design your form on your workstation. FTP or copy the Forms's FMB file to the Unix box. If you generate for a terminal environment (character based), the syntax is:

File Type: Oracle Executable Form. The Oracle forms access the database and create a form that presents data. These source forms are then compiled into the executable FMX file that can be interpreted by the forms runtime module.