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Introduction to Oracle 10gChapter 11Building an Integrated Application

James Perry and Gerald Post

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Chapter Outline

• Designing an Integrated Database Application• Connecting Forms and Reports into an

Application• Creating Menus• Creating Help Files

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Table 11.1 List of Redwood Realty forms

Form Description Layout

AgentContacts Agents and contact list Main/subform

AgentListings Listings by agent with search by agent and date Main/subform

Agents Simple agents form Single row

ContactReason Administration form for ContactReason table Tabular

Customers2 Basic customers form with logo Single row

LicenseStatus Administration form for LicenseStatus table Tabular

ListingActivity Listing data with offers in subform Main/subform

Listings Main listing form with photo upload Single row

Properties Main form for properties Single row

SaleStatus Administrative form for SaleStatus table Tabular

Search Search for listings Main/subform

Search2 Variation of search with Properties on second canvas Main/subform

Search3 Variation of search with Properties on stacked canvas Main/subform

Search4 Variation of search with Properties and Owners on tab canvas Main/subform

Designing an integrated database application

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Table 11.2 List of Redwood Realty reports

Report Description

AgentSales Listings by agent with user parameter form to select year and month

CustomerList Simple list of customers

Listings and Offers Basic listing data with photo and offers

SalesByCityAndAgent Grouped sales listing by city and then agent

SalesByMonthAndAgent Matrix listing comparing sales by agent with user parameter for Sale Status.

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Form Components and Data

Messages

Menu/ToolbarForm TitleLogo CloseClose

11.1 Sample form layout

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11.2 Adding a property to a property class

Creating property classes and visual attributes

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11.3 The new form contains the elements and styles from the template

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11.4 The template version of the Agent Contact form

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Startup

ListingsProperties

Listing Activity

Agent Listings

Agent Contacts

AgentSales

ListingsAnd Offers

Agents

Customers

Search ContactReason

LicenseStatus

SaleStatus

CustomerList

Sales ByCity

And Agent

Sales ByMonth

And Agent

ManagersAgents and Managers

11.5 Forms and reports used by agents and managers

Organizing the forms and reports for the startup menu

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11.6 Initial design of the startup form

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Table 11.3 Desformat parameter options for reports

Desformat parameter Output format

HTML Standard HTML with minimal formatting.

HTMLCSS HTML using a style sheet for some formatting.

PCL The printer language used by Hewlett Packard.

PDF Adobe portable document format.

Postscript The printer language used by many printers.

XML Extensible markup language often used for transferring data to other systems.

Controlling report options

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11.7 A management report created by the application

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Standard menu

11.8 Standard menu

Creating a custom menu

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Menu collection

Main menu

Menu items

11.9 The Menu editor

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11.10 Menu layout

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Table 11.4 Special item formats

Item type Description

Plain Basic text menu entry with trigger code to handle the action.

Check A property that users can toggle to enable or disable conditions, such as boldface.

Radio A set of options where users can select only one, similar to a radio group on a form.

Separator A separator line between entries.

Magic One of the predefined menu items: Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear, Undo, Help, About, Quit, and Window.

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Table 11.5 Common menu items and the PL/SQL replacement commands

Standard Menu Item Command

ActionSaveClear AllPrintExit

Commit_Form;Clear_Form;Print;Exit_Form;

EditCutCopyPaste

Magic: CutMagic: CopyMagic: Paste

QueryEnterExecuteCancelCount Hits

Enter_Query;Execute_Query;Abort_Query;Count_Query;

Standard Menu Item Command

BlockPreviousNextClear

Previous_Block;Next_Block;Clear_Block;

RecordPreviousNextFirstLastInsertRemoveLockDuplicateClearScroll UpScroll Down

Previous_Record;Next_Record;First_Record;Last_Record;Create_Record;Delete_Record;Lock_Record;Duplicate_Record;Clear_Record;Scroll_Up;Scroll_Down;

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Custom menu

11.11 The new menu in the application

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Table 11.6 Files needed in a help system

File Type Structure and Purpose

Topic Files HTML files that contain the content displayed to the user. Put only one topic in a file.

Table of Contents XML files that provide a hierarchical list of topic pages.

Index Files XML files that list key words and the matching topic page.

Search Index Files XML files that contain databases used for text searches.

Link Files XML files that define associative links between topics.

Map Files XML files that associate topic IDs with the topic files so you can refer to any topic by its ID.

Helpset File XML file that defines the appearance and operation of the help system.

OHW Configuration Fileohwconfig.xml

Server file that tells the system where to find your help files.

Creating a custom help file

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11.12 The help file