Oracle9i Forms Developer and Oracle9iAS Forms Services

Addendum to "Migrating Forms Applications from Forms6i" Oracle9i Forms Migration Assistant Wizard

Release 9.0.2 Patch 1 for Windows and UNIX

Part No. B10171-01

December 2002

Oracle9i Forms provides a wizard for the Forms Migration Assistant. The wizard allows you to migrate your Forms6i applications to Oracle9i Forms through a graphical user interface (GUI).

For complete information about the Forms Migration Assistant, see "Migrating Forms Applications from Forms6i" (part number B10171-01)". For updated information about running the Forms Migration Assistant in batch mode, see "Oracle9i Forms Services and Forms Developer Release Notes Addendum". The latest version of the documentation can be found on OTN at http://otn.oracle.com/docs/products/forms/content.html

The latest version of the tool can be found on OTN at http://otn.oracle.com/software/products/forms/content.html.

This document contains the following sections:

1 Functions of the Migration Assistant Wizard

The migration assistant converts all Forms module types:

Forms Builder files (.fmb)
Menu modules (.mmb)
Object libraries (.olb)
PL/SQL libraries (.pll)

Note:

The Forms Migration Assistant will not convert .fmx files. You will first need to convert the .fmb file, and then generate the .fmb to get the .fmx file.

The Migration Assistant will perform the following functions:

Updates PL/SQL code where possible
Updates the RUN_PRODUCT when used to call Reports to the RUN_REPORT_OBJECT Built-in
Updates the CHANGE_ALERT_MESSAGE to SET_ALERT_PROPERTY Built-in
Provides a list of obsolete code usage, including code that the tool cannot change when there is not a straight-forward equivalent for migration
Provides warnings when obsolete functionality is encountered, such as when obsolete item types are included in the code
Provides warnings when specific obsolete item properties are used at runtime.
Replaces simple one-for-one code strings such as OHOST to HOST, MENU_CLEAR_FIELD to CLEAR_ITEM, and MENU_FAILURE to FORM_FAILURE.
Performs more complex substitutions such as CHANGE_ALERT_MESSAGE to SET_ALERT_PROPERTY Built-in, DISABLE_ITEM to SET_MENU_ITEM_PROPERTY Built-in, ITEM_ENABLED to GET_ITEM_PROPERTY Built-in, and ENABLE_ITEM to SET_MENU_ITEM_PROPERTY Built-in.
Raises a warning in the Form module's log if triggers are defined at the incorrect level, for example WHEN-NEW-FORM-INSTANCE can only be defined at the Form level and not at Block or Item level.
Raises a warning in the Form module's log if V2-style triggers are found.
Raises a warning in the Form module's log if Built-ins related to obsolete object types are found such as VBX.FIRE_EVENT, VBX.GET_PROPERTY, and VBX.GET_VALUE_PROPERTY.

1.1 Mutiple Log Support

The Forms Migration Assistant allows you either to write all log information into a single log file or span mutiple log files. If the Forms Migration Assistant spans multiple log files, the Forms Migration Assistant generates individual log files for each module that is processed.

You'll need to specify the directory in which the Forms Migration Assistant writes the log files. The name of the log file which is generated is modulename_moduletype.log.

For example, if you process a module by name, such as test.fmb, the name of the log file is test_fmb.log. If you select test.fmb and test.mmb for migration, the Forms Migration Assistant does not overwrite the log files since the type of log file was specified in the converter.properties. The Forms Migration Assistant generates two log files: test_fmb.log and test_mmb.log.

2 Running the Migration Assistant Wizard

You can run the Migration Assistant Wizard and edit converter options from a graphical user interface (GUI).Starting the Migration Assistant Wizard

To start the Migration Assistant:

From the command line, start the conversion utility by typing ifplsqlconv90 mode=wizard on Windows

or

f90plsqlconv mode=wizard in UNIX.

The Conversion Wizard Welcome dialog displays.

Note:

You can get help by typing -h after the command, for example, ifplsqlconv90 -h.

Click Next.
In the Modules dialog, click the Add Module(s) button.
Select the modules that you want to convert.
Click Next.
In the Converter options dialog, enter the location and name of the log file that will be generated. A browse button is provided to assist in choosing a location.
If you have Forms that include embedded reports, fill in the remaining fields. Otherwise, you may ignore these fields.
For more information about the Reports fields, see Reports Developer Reference. For more information about advanced converter options, see the following section, "Setting Advanced Converter Options".
Click Next.
In the Finish dialog, you will see the modules you selected. Click Finish to start the conversion.

Note:

A dialog window will appear recommending that you backup your files before converting. Select the Show me this again check box to enable this warning in the future.

Progress displays in the Log window. (Log output is written to the log file name(s) that you specify in the Options dialog. See the following section for information about setting options.)
Check the log file(s) for information about required conversion steps that the tool did not modify. Manually make these changes to your application.

2.1 Setting Advanced Converter Options

Note:

For information about setting the search_replace.properties file, see Chapter 2 of "Migrating Forms Applications from Forms6i" (part number B10171-01)".

You can set conversion options before running the Migration Assistant:

In the Converter options dialog (step 2 of the Migration Wizard), click Advanced Options.
Converter properties display in the left column of the dialog. Edit the property values as needed, as described in Table 1:

Table 1 Converter Properties

Display Backup Warning	Determines whether the warning dialog displays to back up files when the application starts.
Log File Name	Specifies the log filename in Single Log mode.
Log Dir	The destination directory to write the log files in multilog mode
Reports Servlet Virtual Directory	Specifies the name that has been defined for the virtual path used to define the Reports Servlet, which is used for running reports on the web. This setting is required when converting Run_Product calls to Run_Report_Object.
Reports Servlet	Specifies the name for the Reports Servlet used for running reports on the web. This setting is required when converting Run_Product calls to Run_Report_Object.
Reports Server	The name or IP address of the machine running the Reports Server. This setting is required when converting Run_Product calls to Run_Report_Object.
Default DESFORMAT	Printer driver to be used when DESTYPE is PRINTER (XML, HTML, HTMLCSS, PDF, RTF, delimited) .
Default DESTYPE	Type of destination device that will receive the report output (cache, printer, file).
Default DESNAME	Name of the file, printer, e-mail ID, or distribution list to which the report output will be sent
Default Browser	This setting is either Netscape or Internet Explorer.

Click OK to save the configuration. The data is saved to the converter.properties file, and the settings you specify will be used in the current session of the utility you are running.

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