Migrating Custom Forms--4.5 to 6i

Hi,
Currently i am doing a migration project ..and migrating forms...
But for migrating forms there is oracle standard process to do..but unfortunately many people didn't do that way...But this process is the recommended one.
Currently i am facing some issues with FLint60 utility...i will post them also here

1."ERROR ? Item BLOCKNAME.RADIO_BUTTON81 (Radio Group) requires Hint Text "
"ERROR ? Library Location 'APPCORE.pll' for Attached Library APPCORE must not contain a path or extension
ERROR ? Library Location 'APPDAYPK.pll' for Attached Library APPDAYPK must not contain a path or extension
Any problems like above or with the libraries just delete the libraries in the older version form
and then reattach and use the flint60 untility

2.Error like radio group hint text can be ignored

3.One important thing is check how the forms are desinged and see that they are upgraded to the 11.5.10 feautures like lov and others..This is really important make sure that your custom forms look and feel match with oracle latest apps version standards

Upgrading Custom Forms to Release 11i

This section covers upgrading custom forms built with Oracle Forms 4.5, the Oracle Applications coding standards, and Oracle Application Object Library. It applies to custom forms built to integrate with Releases 10SC, 10.7 NCA, and 11.

Upgrading your custom forms to Release 11i consists of the following basic steps:
1. On your developer client machine convert your Oracle Forms 4.5 forms to Oracle Forms 6i using the Oracle Forms 6i Form Generator and make any required changes related to converting to PL/SQL 8

If you have any library files which you attached to your form you must first convert the library files prior to attempting to upgrade your form module. To convert your 4.5 form to a 6i form load a copy of your 4.5 form into 6i form builder and save 'only', DO NOT re-compile it.
By loading the library or form module the developer will perform a number of steps to prepare the files for the new developer environment once successfully saved you may proceed the the next steps outlined below.

2. Move the newly converted 6i form to the Forms server in the $AU_TOP/forms/US directory. Use the Oracle Applications upgrade utility (flint60) on the Oracle Forms 6i .fmb file to apply changes that help your form conform to Release 11i standards.

Release 11i of applications provides an upgrade utility called flint60 which performs a number changes to custom forms previously developed for Oracle Applications 10.7SC/NCA and 11.0.x. The changes include 11i enhancements and applications coding standards verification. The utility may be run multiple times against the custom developed form during the development process.

**** This utility is only for the form module. There
**** is no such utility provide nor needed for custom
**** developed library files.

NOTE: Flint60 is a 32 bit utility that runs on your forms server tier (i.e. it will not run on any machine that is not certified as a forms server like ... Windows95 or Windows 3.11 )

To successfully run the flint60 utility, the flint60.ora file must be created and contain proper values.


Setting Up the Configuration File

The flint60 utility requires a configuration file, flint60.ora, to hold the database username and password and other information. The flint60.ora file is a simple text file that should have the following information:

server_host=your_web_server_name
message_file=location_of_the_message_help_file_on_web_server
connect=[y|n]
userid=database_username_and_password

The web server host name that will be used to access the .html log files the virtual path and filename of the message descriptions file, fnderr.html boolean that indicates whether to verify blocks against the database if database=y, then this is the ORACLE username and password to use to connect to the database.

Note that when attempting to connect to the database, flint60 uses the table ACCESSIBLE_COLUMNS (actually a public synonym for SYS.ALL_TAB_COLUMNS) to determine the constraints (data type, length, null allowed) for a database item?s column. If ACCESSIBLE_COLUMNS is inaccessible, flint60 will generate multiple fatal errors in the log file (if the option to connect to the database is selected).

Example:

server_host=www-apps.us.oracle.com
message_file=/r115/fnderr.html
connect=y
userid=apps/apps@devdb

You must set an environment variable, FLINT60_CONFIG (for Unix) that points to the flint60.ora configuration file. If the FLINT60_CONFIG environment variable is not set then flint60 will search for the file flint60.ora in the current directory. If you see the message
?LRM-00109: could not open parameter file ?? ? when you try to run flint60, then the configuration file could not be loaded. If you run the flint60 utility without the configuration file, the .html log file will not be able to provide context-sensitive links to the help file that describes each of the messages generated by flint60, and the utility may be unable to connect to the database (which would create additional errors in the log file).


Verify Your Environment

It is important to verify that you are pointing to the correct versions of Oracle Forms and Oracle Applications before running the upgrade utility, or you may get spurious or misleading error messages. For example, your environment must point to the correct versions of APPSTAND.fmb and APPCORE.pll. Ensure that the environment is configured properly and is pointing to an Oracle Forms 6i environment.
Verify that the FORMS60_PATH (Unix environment variable, or NT registry setting) points to the directories that hold the correct versions of APPSTAND.fmb and APPCORE.pll.

Ensure the DISPLAY environment variable is set and valid (for Unix only).



To run flint60 utility the command line execution would look like the
following:

Command line switches

The flint60 utility can accept one, two, or no switches on the command line, as shown:

flint60 -u .fmb .fmb ...
flint60 -uc .fmb .fmb ...
flint60 .fmb .fmb ...

-u Parameter: This is the ?upgrade? mode. Include the -u
(?upgrade?) switch if you want the flint60 utility to write a new .fmb file with any required changes.

-c Parameter: Include the -c switch if you want the flint60 utility to not clear out hint text. Use the -c switch when you are running flint60 again after the initial upgrade and you have added hint text that you do not want the utility to clear out (of the new file written by the utility because of the -u switch). If you have not added hint text manually, you do not need to use this switch. The -c switch is ignored if the -u switch is not present.

If no values or switches are passed to the flint60 ultity then this is the ?standards compliance checker? mode.
If you do not use the -u switch, the flint60 utility simply performs various checks on your form and writes out a log file listing any standards compliance errors or warnings.


Form name arguments
The flint60 utility expects form names on the command line:
flint60 -uc .fmb .fmb ...

The filenames can be fully qualified with paths and/or environment variables (for Unix):

flint60 $fnd/forms/US/.fmb
/custgldev/custgl/11.5/forms/US/.fmb ...

To run flint60 for all forms in the current directory (if using an appropriate Unix shell that expands file wildcards, such as tcsh):

flint60 *.fmb

To run flint60 for all forms in a specific directory (if using an appropriate Unix shell that expands file wildcards, such as tcsh):

flint60 $fnd/forms/US/*.fmb

If you are running the flint60 utility on Windows NT, you may need to create a .bat script to run multiple commands because NT does not support expanding command line wildcards.

Reviewing flint60 Log File Output

The flint60 utility provides a detailed log file of messages as it goes through your form. The log file is called form_filename.fmb.html, and you can read it using any standard browser. The utility provides one log file for each form, located in the current directory.

The message types are:
Status: an informational message
Action: each action taken by the flint60 utility, such as changing a
piece of boilerplate to an associated prompt

3. Correct any errors found by the upgrade utility, and run the utility again to verify your changes

When utilizing the forms upgrade utility an HTML output file is created which provides detail of the changes made to the form module. Additionally, the output file provides warning and suggested changes that should be considered for custom form development which if followed will ensure custom form is 11i Oracle look and feel.

4. Perform any required manual changes that may be necessary, such as changes to internal menu names

Performing Required Manual Changes on Your Forms


Menu calls

If you have hardcoded calls in your form that modify the default
(pulldown) menu, such as calls that enable or disable menu entries, you may need to modify your menu calls because the internal names of the menu names have changed to be consistent with the rearranged menu.
Changes to Internal Menu Names from Release 11 to Release 11i (See page 27 - 42)

You can typically find these calls by using the ?Find and Replace PL/SQL? feature in the Oracle Forms 6i Form Builder (under the Program menu choice) to search for the following strings (do not search as case sensitive):

SET_MENU_ITEM_PROPERTY
GET_MENU_ITEM_PROPERTY
FIND_MENU_ITEM
APP_SPECIAL.ENABLE

These calls must be evaluated and changed if necessary.


Toolbar block calls

If you have code in your form that calls anything in the pre-11i toolbar, such as calls to enable or disable toolbar buttons, you must modify your code. Behind the scenes, the toolbar has been reimplemented to not use a distinct TOOLBAR block. It is now part of the menu, and toolbar icons are now enabled and disabled automatically when you programmatically enable or disable menu entries using the APP_SPECIAL routines.

Changes to Internal Menu Names from Release 11 to Release 11i (See page 27 - 42)

APP_SPECIAL: Menu and Toolbar Control (See page 10 - 15)

You can typically find these calls by using the ?Find and Replace PL/SQL? feature in the Oracle Forms 6i Form Builder (under the Program menu choice) to search for the string (including the single quote and the period):

?TOOLBAR.

Note that the TOOLBAR canvas has not been removed, because it serves as a holding area for certain Oracle Applications fields (such as switcher fields).

5. Perform optional manual changes, such as converting alternative regions to tabbed regions and enhancing special menus, as desired

6. Use the Oracle Forms 6i generator to generate the .fmx file for your upgraded form

Ctrl-T will compile and generate your form. Should first be performed on you development environment to ensure that all the code compiles and has been resolved prior to loading the form into the production environment.

7. Test your upgraded form within Oracle Applications 11i To test your form you will need to run the form within the applications environment only. It is possible to run the form stand alone using the forms server and the static login html file whereas the following line in the html file would initially look like:

serverArgs="module=Q:\oa\appltst\fnd\11.0.28\forms\US\FNDSCSGN
userid=applsyspub/pub@VD11 fndnam=apps"

serverArgs="module=Q:\oa\appltst\fnd\11.0.28\forms\US\FNDSCSGN
userid=apps/apps@VD11"


Note: While it is technically possible to skip the first step and go directly to the Oracle Applications upgrade utility step, we recommend that you do the first step separately to better isolate the changes to your form should there be any problem with either upgrade step.