Enhanced Guide to

Oracle10g
Chapter 6:
Creating Custom Forms

Data Block and Custom

Forms

Data block form

Based on data blocks that are

associated with specific database tables
Reflect the structure of the database

Custom form

Based on control blocks that process

data from multiple tables
Reflect business processes rather than
the database structure

Creating a Custom Form

1.
2.

3.

Create the form

Create the form window and canvas
manually
Create a control block

4.

Data block that is not associated with a

specific table
Contains form items that you manually
draw on the canvas

Create form triggers to process data

Form Triggers

Code that is associated with a form

object and an event
Can contain SQL INSERT, UPDATE,
DELETE, and SELECT commands
Referencing form text item values
in triggers:
:block_name.item_name

Program Units

Self-contained programs
Can be called from PL/SQL triggers
Used to make triggers more
modular, and reuse code within
triggers

Practice1

Create a custom form that has:

Employee Name
Employee Salary
Department Name

Create a LOV to retrieve block records

Use triggers to retrieve block records
Create a button that calls a program
unit to clear the block.

Referencing System Date

and Time Values in Forms
System Variable
$$DATE$$

Return Value

$$TIME$$

Current operating system

time

$$DATETIME$$

Current operating system

date & time

$$DBDATE$$

Current DB server date

$$DBTIME$$

Current DB server time

$$DBDATETIME$$

Current DB server date &

time

Current operating system

date

Form Triggers

Categories

Block processing
Interface event
Master-detail processing
Message handling
Navigational
Query time
Transactional
Validation

Trigger Timing

PRE

POST

Fires just before associated event occurs

Fires just after associated event occurs

ON-, WHEN-, KEY

Fires immediately, in response to specific

user actions, such as key presses

Trigger Scope

Defines where an event must occur to

make the trigger fire
Trigger scope includes the object to which
the trigger is attached, as well as all
objects within that object

Form-level: fires when event occurs within any

block or item in the form
Block-level: fires when event occurs within any
item in the form
Item-level: fires only when event occurs within
that item

Trigger Execution
Hierarchy

If 2 related objects have the same

trigger, the lower-level objects
trigger fires instead of the higherlevel one.

Form & block, blocks trigger fires

Block & item, items trigger fires

You can specify a custom execution

order using the Execution Hierarchy
property of the trigger.

Navigational Triggers

External navigation: occurs when

user causes form focus to change
Internal navigation: occurs as a
result of internal form triggers that
fire in response to external
navigation events

Triggers That Fire at

Form Startup
Triggers Fired

User Action
1

2
PRE-FORM
PRE-BLOCK

User starts form

Result on User
Screen Display
3
Form appears,
but with no
data visible

5
WHEN-NEW-FORM-INSTANCE
WHEN-NEW-BLOCK-INSTANCE
WHEN-NEW-RECORD-INSTANCE
WHEN-NEW-ITEM-INSTANCE

Form is
available for use

Triggers That Fire as a

Result Of External
Navigation
User Action
User places the
insertion point
in a text item
User clicks
the Next Record
button

Triggers Fired

WHEN-NEW-ITEM-INSTANCE

WHEN-NEW-RECORD-INSTANCE
WHEN-NEW-ITEM-INSTANCE

Result on User
Screen Display
Insertion point
appears in item

Next record
appears

Triggers That Fire

When a Form Closes

User Action

User closes
the Forms
Runtime window

Triggers Fired

POST-BLOCK
POST-FORM

Result on User
Screen Display

Forms Runtime
window closes

Practice2

Create a department data block.

Create an Update button.
Create a Cancel button that uses a
procedure.

Directing External
Navigation

Form tab
order is
based on
item order in
Object
Navigator
block list

Form
tab
order

Moving to a Specific Form

Item

GO_ITEM(block_name.item_name);
Do not write colon(:) before the
block name in this commnd.
E.g:

GO_ITEM(emp.sal);

Other navigational instructions:

GO_BLOCK(block_name)
GO_FORM(form_name)

Oracle Error Message

Severity Levels

5: informative message
10: informative message advising
user of procedural error
20: condition that keeps trigger
from working correctly
25 condition that keeps form from
working correctly
>25: extreme severity

Suppressing Lower Level

System Messages

Set :SYSTEM.MESSAGE_LEVEL
variable to a higher level in PREFORM trigger

:SYSTEM.MESSAGE_LEVEL := 25;

Providing User
Feedback in Forms

Message

Text in message line at bottom of form

Informational only; user doesn't have to
respond

Alert

Dialog box
Allows user to choose different ways to
proceed

Messages

Syntax:

MESSAGE(message text);

Message

Alerts

Form-level object
Object properties define alert
appearance
Message

Title
Style
icon

Buttons

Code for Displaying an

Alert
DECLARE
alert_button NUMBER;
BEGIN
alert_button := SHOW_ALERT('alert_name');
IF alert_button = ALERT_BUTTON1 THEN
program statements for first button;
ELSE
program statements for second button;
END IF;
END;

Avoiding User Errors

Make primary and foreign key

text items non-navigable
(How?)
When user moves form focus
to primary or foreign key text
item, move focus to alternate
form item (How?)

How to make nonnavigable

item?

Set the text item property

Keyboard Navigable to NO
Use When New Item Instance
or
When Mouse Up triggers to
make internal navigation from
the nonnavigable item.

Trapping Runtime Errors

Create an ON-ERROR event trigger

Form-level trigger
Executes whenever an FRM- or ORAerror occurs

-FRM errors: generated by Forms

Runtime
-ORA errors: generated by
database

Form Procedures That

Return System Error
DBMS_ERROR_CODE: The most recent
Information

-ORA error number. (Negative

Number)
DBMS_ERROR_TEXT: -ORA error
message and number.
ERROR_CODE: The most recent FRM
error number. (Positive Number)
ERROR_TEXT: FRM error message and
number.

Structure of ON-ERROR
Trigger

BEGIN
--trap FRM errors
IF ERROR_CODE = FRM_error_code1 THEN
error handler;
ELSIF ERROR_CODE = FRM_error_code2 THEN
error handler;

ELSE
--trap ORA errors
IF DBMS_ERROR_CODE = -ORA_error_code1 THEN
error handler
ELSIF DBMS_ERROR_CODE = -ORA_error_code2 THEN
error handler

END IF
END IF;
END;

Code to
trap FRM
errors

Code to
trap
ORA
errors

Form Validation

Ensures that form data meets

preset requirements so erroneous
data is not sent to database
Using validation properties or using
validation triggers.

Form Validation Categories

Data

Database

Specifies data types, lengths, and maximum

and minimum values
Specifies which operations a user can
perform on a text item

List of Values

Specifies whether a data value must be

validated against the text items LOV
(Validate From List text item property)

Validation Properties

Validation unit form property:

specifies the largest data chunk that
the user can enter before validation
occurs

Can be performed at the form, block,

record, or item level
Specified in the Validation Unit property
on the form Property Palette
By default, it is set to item level.

Cont.
You should use the item level with the
custom forms, and the record or block
level with the data block forms.
The validation properties that are
checked always and before checking
other properties and triggers are:
format mask, required, datatype,
range, and validate from list

Text Item Validation

Properties

Data Type
Minimum Value
Maximum Value
Validate From List
Insert Allowed
Query Allowed
Required

Questio
n
Why do not we use validation properties
instead of validation triggers?

Answer
We use validation triggers for more
complex validations. (like what?)

Validation
Triggers
When Validate Item

It should be Item level trigger.

Executes when the item validation occurs
depending on Validation Unit property.
E.g. :
IF NOT :student.s_class IN (FR,SO) THEN
Message(Legal Values are FR and SO);
RAISE FORM_TRIGGER_FAILURE;
END IF;

How To Disable Buttons

SET_ITEM_PROPERTY
E.g. :
SET_ITEM_PROPERTY(Control.Delete
, ENABLED, PROPERTY_FALSE);

Data Blocks vs. Control

Blocks

Data block

Control block

Easy to create and use

Is associated with a single table, and reflects
the tables structure
Requires a lot of custom programming
Can contain items from many different tables

You can link data and control blocks to

take advantages of the strengths of each

Linking Data Blocks and

Control Blocks
1.
2.

3.

Create the control block as the master block

Create the data block as the detail block, but
do not create a master-detail relationship
Create a master-detail relationship manually
in the WHERE Clause property of the detail
block:

data_block_field := control_block.text_item

Displaying and Refreshing

the Data Block Values

Create a trigger to:

Place the insertion point in the data
block
GO_BLOCK(block_name);
Flush the data block to make its data
consistent with the master block and
the database:
EXECUTE_QUERY;

Converting a Data Block to

a Control Block

Create a data block and layout that

contains most of the required text
items
Convert the data block to a control
block by changing the following
block properties:

Database Data Block = No

Required = No

Creating a Form with

Multiple Canvases

Users should be able to see all

canvas text items without scrolling
For complex applications with
many text items, divide application
into multiple canvases

Block Navigation Order

First block in Object Navigator Data

Blocks list determines block items
that first appear when form opens
Users can use the Tab key to
navigate among different block
items
Canvas that contains block items
automatically appears

Block Navigation Order

Block order
Canvas order doesnt matter

Controlling Block
Navigation

Block Navigation Style property

Same Record: navigation cycles

through items on same block
Change Data Block: navigation
moves to next data block in list

Canvas

It is the surface that has the form items

on it.
It has many types:

Content (The default)

Tab
Stacked

To display the canvas at runtime, use the

canvas property Window.

Tab Canvases

Multiple-page canvases that allow

users to move among different
canvas surfaces by clicking tabs

Tab Canvas Components

Tab canvas

Tab pages

Surfaces that display form items

Tab labels

Collection of related tab pages

Identifier at top of tab page

A tab canvas lies on top of a

content canvas

Creating a Tab Canvas

Use the Tab Canvas tool

on the
Layout Editor tool palette to draw a
tab canvas on an existing content
canvas

By default, a new tab canvas has 2 tab

pages

Create new tab pages as needed

Adjust tab page properties

Important Tab Page

Properties
Name: how the page
Is referenced in the form

Label: Caption that

appears
on the associated
tab

Adjusting the Tab Page

Order

Tab page that appears first is tab

page whose block items appear
first in the Object Navigator

Block order

Tab page order

doesnt matter

Stacked Canvases

Canvas that appears on an

existing content canvas, and
can be displayed or hidden as
needed
Allows user to configure canvas
items

Stacked Canvas Example

Content
canvas

Stacked
canvas

Creating a Stacked Canvas

Use the Stacked Canvas tool on the

Layout Editor tool palette to draw a
stacked canvas on an existing
content canvas
Create block items on the stacked
canvas
Create buttons and triggers to
display and hide the stacked canvas

Displaying and Hiding a

Stacked Canvas

Displaying a stacked canvas:

GO_BLOCK(stacked_canvas_block);
SHOW_VIEW(stacked_canvas);

Hiding a stacked canvas:

GO_BLOCK(content_canvas_block);
HIDE_VIEW(stacked_canvas);