Oracle Form 6i With Oracle Database 19c

MWaseem

We have some some running in oracle forms 6i. We have recently upgraded database from 11g to 19c.

How, we can connect oracle forms 6i to Oracle Database 19c.

Sir @Michael Ferrante-Oracle Could u Please guide in this regard.

cormaco

If you cannot upgrade your Forms modules, then you can try your luck using theSQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION_SERVER parameter:

https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/19/netrf/parameters-for-the-sqlnet.ora.html#GUID-1FA9D26C-4D97-4D1C-AB47-1EC234D924AA

However I have never used this parameter myself, so I cannot advise you on its correct use.

Michael Ferrante-Oracle

It's time to upgrade your 20+ year old version of Forms to a new version. If you want to use a new DB, a new OS, or a new anything, you need to upgrade. Trying to use old and obsolete software versions against or on top of modern versions of its dependencies is extremely risky and something I would not do with production data. I especially would not do it with mission critical applications.

Nasser_almawali

Finally I made Developer6i with patch 9 working just fine with OracleXE21c. So here what I have done and hope it will work with everyone

on fresh installation

1) Install oracleXE-21c (I Installed it on Windows 10-64 bit)

2) Install Developer6i and you can install patch 19 or lower (I installed patch 9)

3) configure tnsnames.ora in Developer6i (C:\Developer6i\NET80\ADMIN\tnsnames.ora) as same as on tnsnames.ora in OracleXE(C:\oracle\product\21c\homes\OraDB21Home1\network\admin\tnsnames.ora)

4) connect to database AS SYSDBA and run the following commands

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;

STARTUP MOUNT;

ALTER SYSTEM ENABLE RESTRICTED SESSION;

ALTER SYSTEM SET JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES=0;

ALTER SYSTEM SET AQ_TM_PROCESSES=0;

ALTER DATABASE OPEN;

ALTER DATABASE CHARACTER SET INTERNAL_USE UTF8;

SHUTDOWN;

STARTUP RESTRICT;

SHUTDOWN;

STARTUP;

 5) Make changes on sqlnet.ora which belong to the database (C:\oracle\product\21c\homes\OraDB21Home1\network\admin\sqlnet.ora) and add the following

SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES=(NTS)

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH=(TNSNAMES, EZCONNECT)

SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION=8

6) on sqlnet.ora which belong to Developer6i (C:\Developer6i\NET80\ADMIN\SQLNET.ORA) add the following

SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES= (NTS)

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (TNSNAMES, EZCONNECT)

Important Note: if you import data from backup then once completed you may need to alter user account again to make Forms Builder able to connect with OracleXE 21c. Hint: I was trying many times to connect after done all settings above and it was failing stating ORA-01017: invalid username/password; logon denied so I alter user

alter USER HR IDENTIFIED BY HR ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

Hope this work with everyone who is looking for solution

let me know your feedback

Wish everyone good luck

Michael Ferrante-Oracle

Regardless of whether or not this appears it can be made to work, I would strongly discourage attempting to do something like this in a business environment. Further, the idea of continuing to use 20+ year old software in a business is extremely risky, especially when that software is handling company, customer, and possibly employee data (some of which is often sensitive).

Nasser_almawali

Yes I agree dear

but most likely people develop light weight systems using such as Developer6i tool as front end. it's powerful and light. it depends weather you running the system online or internal in small or mid size companies.

User_UIPJL

It would be fair if Oracle made Firms6i_2022 and Reports6i_2022. That would be the best development SW for small or mid size companies as it should have been shameful Power Objects.

Jaber

@Nasser_almawali

I have tried your solution but it's not working, it is taking sometime to get connected but than closing the form without any message

just to give you my feedback

Michael Ferrante-Oracle

@User_UIPJL

For "Forms" 12.2.1.4 you can install what is referred to as Standalone Forms Builder. This option installs essentially the same thing you had in 6i, except its the latest version with the latest features. The one component missing from this install type is the runtime. So although you cannot run the forms you develop directly from this installation, you can work in a v12 design-time environment just as you did in v6.

In future releases, we are planning to offer lighter weight installation options, although any option that includes runtime must include the Fusion Middleware Infrastructure installation. That said, an option to install Infra without a repo DB is also planned.

Check it out and move to the 21st century.

On a different note... Why people are so concerned about using the latest Database versions but not the latest of their application layer is completely a mystery to me. If you think by moving the DB to the latest will magically make your environment more secure, but you've neglected to consider the application layer, then you don't know much about security. It may be time to re-evaluate your plan.

User_UIPJL

QUESTION 1: Standalone Forms Builder is useless to us? (for those of us who are still working on F6i and DB 11g XE client-server SW for small companies, but also for large companies on DB 11g)

There are no reports! What is the Standalone Forms Builder for in practice? - just to save money by not buying a complete installation?

It seems to me that the problem is in "you cannot run the forms you develop directly from this installation" and in the latest WEB Forms and Reports (which now - 2022 - do not work with DB XE !!)

QUESTION 2:

2.1 According to the explanations in the rest of this text, I need simple instructions for installing and working with the latest Oracle DB XE, WEB Forms and Reports (which now - 2022 - do not work with DB XE !!), data pump...

2.2 I repeat that the client-server SW Forms6i_2022 and Reports6i_2022 fully compatible with the ancient abandoned F6i and R6i would be sufficient.

2.3 Oracle APEX is declarative programming by setting the values ​​of properties WHAT to do and not by coding (HOW step by step), everything is in the database, it is unclear how to access it except by setting properties. But an instruction like under 2.1, which I couldn't find, accompanied by an example, for example, would be useful

- blog

- and invoice to the customer,

so APEX would be the solution. I tried to make such a tutorial for myself and wasted too much time as well as for the latest Oracle DB mentioned below. I couldn't find a solution for a lot of details - something doesn't work and I'm blocked there. Examples such as a blog and an invoice to the customer solve the most common cause of the problem.

Without simple but comprehensive enough instructions, I can't trust SW authors who too often claim to have what they don't.

Regarding: "Why people are so concerned about using the latest Database versions but not the latest of their application layer is completely a mystery to me." I think there is no mystery here: plugable DBs and other features of the latest Oracle DBs can be very useful (the latest DB theoretically guarantees non-obsolescence, higher quality...), but the latest WEB Forms and Reports are new SW (practically incompatible with F6i, R6i) which needs

- specialist for installation and maintenance or instruction 2.1 which is not there?

I have not been able to find a guide for us common people to install, operate and maintain the latest Forms and Reports. (although I have 22 years of experience with f6i and r6i) - simple and with all the necessary details.

I think this is the reason why practically no one does new projects with Forms and Reports anymore, and incomprehensible and incompatible Microsoft tools take over the market, as well as PHP, which all the big evil empires unjustifiably (?) underestimate. (Oracle, Mirosoft and all other instructions including PHP are an incomprehensible disaster, honor the exceptions).

To install and use the latest Oracle DB XE (same for the latest

 Forms and Reports that do not work with DB XE ) I managed to find instructions and wrote my own which is quite confused as well as the sources from which it was created. With the help of this instruction, I was able to use data pump to transfer the user, create pluggable DBs and work with them, but

- the details of working with the data pump are unclear to me

- the details of working with plugable DBs are unclear to me

The problem of my company's case is: with DB 11g we use exp.exe and imp.exe (the new way of data pump, although I used it, is unclear, i.e. explained in insufficient detail). We have several dozen users in the DB of each of several dozen companies. Every year we create a new user in the DB for that year's data.

In fact, Oracle abandoned the case I describe in this text. The authors of F and R seem to have drifted into oblivion and are unable to do either 2.1, 2.2 or 2.3 (marketers and developers write disastrously vague instructions, the former for commercial reasons, the latter because they are unaware of the importance of the instructions). This is wrong, as it would give Oracle a much larger share of the tools market.

You're a genius for nothing if no one understands you. Children like to play with programming, but explaining it is much, much more difficult, it is philosophy, the most difficult science for which the ignorant claim that it does not exist or that it is the greatest enemy (as for everything they do not understand).

It is unfortunate that in 2022 there is not a single SW except PHP that would do 2.1. PHP does not have a satisfactory framework (by fw here I mean about a hundred pieces of code that are ctrl+c, v inserted into scripts). As far as I know, I'm the only one who tried to do it (without including dozens of megabytes of external SW and for each .fmb to be in its own folder) and managed to create only a skeleton menu, CRUD code and a Markdown editor on the blog example - for a few dozen more code snippets I would need too much time (https://github.com/slavkoss/fwphp).

Michael Ferrante-Oracle

Clearly you are frustrated and I apologize for that. However, part of source of your issues likely is the result of you (or your org) remaining on the same technology for 2+ decade while the rest of the industry continued to evolve forward. You now are hoping to just 20 years into the future overnight. The Oracle Forms technology is over 40 years old. It has evolved time and time again as the industry has done the same. In today's world, patching regularly and upgrading often is just what is expected. Remaining on the same old software versions for ever just isn't practical (or safe) any more. When Forms first moved away from client/server, which by the way was introduced in 6.0 (which you are using), Oracle intentionally came up with ways to mitigate any complications by ensuring features and functionality would not be lost resulting from the move. But this required that you made the move and didn't remain on the old indefinitely. Further, Oracle did not necessarily "abandon" client/server. At that time (roughly 1998), Oracle saw the future and it was web and web deployment (three tier architecture). This is where Forms evolved and technologies like ADF, HTML-DB (aka Apex) all got started.

Forms (and Reports) remain actively used technologies for developing applications. These declarative tools make developing applications relatively easy, but also offer the power of being able to code to lower levels in order to accomplish more complex and custom tasks. Technologies like Apex are no different in this aspect. Apex also provides a declarative design-time experience, although what it does not include is a WYSIWYG editor. Regardless, Apex is for designing web page, whereas Forms is for designing applications that look, feel, and function more like native applications.

Regarding the lack of support for XE11, Forms/Reports 6 was never certified for use with ANY database newer than Oracle 8.1.6. So even though things may seem to work correctly for you, there is a chance that you will eventually hit that one thing which is not compatible with v6. The result may be minimal or it may be enough to bring your system down. There's really no way to know. Unfortunately, the only way to fix such a problem (in most cases) will be to upgrade the application layer (e.g. Forms/Reports). The problem in this example is that you will be trying to upgrade under the stress of your environment being down. This is why planning and testing is so important.

So again, I am sorry you are frustrated. But please do not throw stones at the products, its developers, or anyone else responsible for the software that you have used for decades, likely at little or no cost. Consider the possibility that you are just not yet familiar enough with the newer software to fully understand its value. Take some time to investigate and you'll be surprised at what you might find.