Month: March 2014

Oracle Reports Developer 10g starts, remains minimized

On By windows7bugsIn Oracle related, Weblogic, Windows 7, Windows 819 Comments

 

(Not tested on Windows XP)

We came across a small annoyance with Oracle product Reports developer 10g. We are yet to pin point the exact reasons, however, if you are experiencing the same issue which is as elaborated below:

Start Reports Developer 10g

Flash Screen appears

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Then gets automatically minimized to the taskbar (Windows 7/8/8.1), and pointing the mouse shows the preview, as in below image.

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However, clicking the preview window doesn’t bring up the Reports Builder 10g to maximized mode and remains unresponsive

What has changed from the last time the software was used?

We uninstalled and re-installed Weblogic Server 10.3.6 & Forms & Reports 11g R2, which has added multiple entries into the PATH environment variable. Order of path variable and pointers towards the java libraries are very sensitive for multiple Oracle products. May this could be a problem? Not sure!

 

Solution:

Right click the Preview window

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and select “Maximize”

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Once maximized, exit the reports developer. Restart to confirm the builder starts in Maximized mode next time.

We hope it helps few out there :)

for Windows7bugs

rajesh

WhatsApp Can you live without it? #Windowsphone8

On By windows7bugsIn Offtopic, Windows PhoneLeave a comment

Update: The “last seen”, the innovative feature what “Whatsapp” protected dearly could be turned off, in case if you are using Android or iPhone. Wait, no party yet. As soon as you start typing or reading a message, you are seen as “online” to your contacts (If you want you can still use Whatsapp, else eff yaselp n die) and the catch is turning off the “last seen” is reciprocating! Less said, if you decided nobody should when you were last seen, you will not able to see that last seen time stamp of others either.

for Windows Phone users, the last update for Whatspp over this platform was by early January 2014 and it looks like the users are going to wait a long long time for the latest “feature”. However we have a hack for you! We transferred the SIM to an Android phone, activated the whatsapp account, turned off the “last seen” feature and transferred it back to the Windows Phone 8 device, activated the account from the device and viola! It did the charm! Remember you can’t turn on the “last seen” feature from the Windows Phone yet, hence you will be forced to go through the method explained above.

Windowsphone Whatsapp
Windowsphone Whatsapp

So hooked to WhatsApp? it is one of the fastest, almost free (0.99$) after the first year as claimed and a nitty-gritty app available across all known mobile platforms

Saudi Arabia had “issues” with how WhatsApp handles the privacy, personally I feel  WhatsApp could and should adopt certain privacy policies based on the user requests, which they were adamant NOT to until date. Seems like enabling the ability to let the users turn of the last seen “feature” breaks down their servers…

Ongoing discussions

http://www.ciol.com/ciol/news/174552/is-whatsapp-seen-functionality-getting-trouble

http://www.times.co.sz/entertainment/90491-that-monster-called-%E2%80%98last-seen%E2%80%99-on-whatsapp.html

and Google/Bing for “Whatsapp breaking relations last seen” bring up hundreds of threads discussing how the “last seen” is clearly causing troubles in relationships

 

The major concerns

As soon as someone installs the software, the entire contact lists are uploaded to WhatsApp servers and thus the software figures out who are you contacts to initiate a chat. Thus anyone happened to have your number could start sending you messages day and night, oh yes, puhless don’t forget you can “block” them

Highly controversial “last seen” feature, which is updated by WhatsApp server(s) allowing your contacts to know when the last time you were active over WhatsApp and thus come to conclusion that you didn’t reply/respond to them on time. How it affects me? Well loads. I manage IT department and there are suppliers who are adopting WhatsApp for anything and everything. Recently I started receiving requests for payments, even copies of invoices through WhatsApp with requests to “Please print and submit to your accounts department”. Then comes complaints from contacts who start feeling I am not responding to few of them purposely even when they saw me online? What the heck?

The alternatives?

Obviously, there are other companies who care and listen to user concerns like the above ones listed and tweak the apps to give what the users demand on the privacy domain

Based on personal usage, I have ranked couple of apps like below

  1. Line Messenger (has desktop client): Until date, no other apps I have tried out comes anywhere closer to line messenger while it is all about privacy. Let us have a look at the application from the privacy prespective
    1. On screen password: Yes, the app has a inbuilt password handler, setting up will request a password to be supplied every time when a user tries to open the application
    2. wp_ss_20140316_0003
    3. wp_ss_20140316_0002
    4. Notifications: You can completely disable the notifications or turn off the preview(which is buggy after the latest release for #wp8)
    5. wp_ss_20140316_0005
    6. Decide how one should add you as a friend
    7. wp_ss_20140316_0004
  2. Viber (has desktop client): A long waited app on #wp8 is slowly making sense (minimum to me) with 4.0.1 update, which allows a #wp8 user the following
    1. Allows users to turn off the “Seen” status completely
    2. wp_ss_20140316_0001
    3. Allows you to turn of the “Online” status completely, however the status could be updated only once in 24 hours
  3. Hike: Is an emerging Indian IM, widely used by Indians as it supports free SMS to India, ie, a user can send free SMS to devices which are not having Hike!, ie, to a regular mobile and receive replies against them and it adds up the free SMS left counter! truly sweet and a better business model. From the privacy perspective Hike supports the following
    1. Turn off Last Seen
    2. Turn of Location
    3. wp_ss_20140316_0006

That’s all folks, regardless the counter arguments about what one should not do online, being a bit careful about what app you use in your mobile phone saves loads of troubles in real life scenarios. We hope that you enjoyed another post from us, which is off-topic this time.

regards,

rajesh

Oracle Applications R12 | Using JRE 7 for application access

On By windows7bugsIn Oracle Applications(R12), Windows 7, Windows 8Leave a comment

Update 18th April 2015: You can use java version “1.8.0_45” (JRE 8 update 45) Using the same hacks mentioned below!

You may have to restart your BOX once after Java Runtime 7 update 51 or later installed. Once the box restarted, JRE should start loading properly with Internet Explorer 11

UPDATE: If your E-Business Suite environment is not updated to Java 7, please do not update your JRE above 51! We tried the latest JRE7 update 55 and found that the applet was not at all loading. Were forced to rollback to the earlier version

Stuck with JRE 6 update 45 and sites like keepvid.com does not work properly without JRE 7?

Well there is a work around, as mentioned with the Oracle blog

https://blogs.oracle.com/ptian/entry/solution_for_error_frm_92095

Which works extremely beautiful with both Internet Explorer 10/11 & Google Chrome once after JRE is upgraded to version 7

Update: if you are using multiple Oracle products, system level variable setting for  JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS could problematic. You can override this issue by changing the run time parameters for JRE like following

Control panel->Java(32-bit)->Click on Java tab->Click View-> Add the following to appropriate Product “Runtime Parameters” column (by pasting, or typing in)

-Djava.vendor="Sun Microsystems Inc."
jre

So what you are waiting for?

Common “errors” and solutions

1. The first error you may receive once after the JRR upgrade should be

“Application Blocked by Security Settings”

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Solution

Go to control panel->Open up Java(32)->Security Tab

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Adding the specific site should override the above Application Blocked lockout

2. Java Security Warning Dialogue windows where you must exclusively accept the security warning twice

“I accept the risk and want to run this application”

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Which is going to be a permanent element with JRE 7 update 10 and later, according to multiple sites for the applications which are not signed. This warning will be issued each and every time (Not for the same session) and until now no hacks are available to suppress it from appearing. If you want to use JRE 7, just live with it.

The same warning will be displayed twice, and you MUST accept the warning both the times in order to let the java to load your forms based application(s)

For Windows7bugs

rajesh

Oracle E-Business Suite R12 | Google Chrome Browser access

On By windows7bugsIn Oracle Applications (R12.0.4), Oracle Applications(R12)Leave a comment

 

So still stuck with no apparent methods to start using Google Chrome for Oracle applications Release 12? Well there is a “possibility”

There is a free extension available with Google Chrome repositories called

Oracle EBS R12&11i Enablement for Chrome 0.1.3

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You can download the same for your computer from here (Search in the extensions page with a string like “Oracle R12” as the link location may change later)

Once the extension is installed, close Chrome and restart and try to access the Application instance.

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That’s it folks

for Windows7bugs

rajesh

Weblogic 10.3.6, Oracle application instance service “Oracle Process Manager (asinst_1)” missing

On By windows7bugsIn Uncategorized, Weblogic, Windows 8Leave a comment

Oracle Process Manager (asinst_1) where asinst_1 is the instance name you chose while configuring the forms & reports 11g. We noticed that once after upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1, almost all the Oracle services (database, weblogic related) were been removed from the windows services database, which forced us to re-create them manually!

Our Weblogic server was installed for the lab, hence none were accessing them once after the first level tests. Thus we were not aware of the issues related to OPMN, which were usually started by Application Instance services during each boot (unless start mode set manual)

Here we are providing you a quick method to create the missing Oracle Process Manager (<instancename_1)” service using Windows command line

from an elevated command window, issue the following command (please alter the paths according to your installation physical locations)

[code language=”text” light=”true”]
C:\WINDOWS\system32>SC CREATE "OracleProcessManager_asinst_1" binPath="D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_FRHome1\opmn\bin\opmn.exe -S -I D:\Weblogic\Middleware\asinst_1" type= own start= auto
[/code]

Note: Optionally you can add DisplayName string for the service you want to create along with the command line.

If the service creation was successful you should receive a confirmation, other hand an error message

“[SC] CreateService SUCCESS” or Error Message

You may stop OPMN manually, and then try to start the newly created service to confirm the service creation was successful.

That’s all folks!

for Windows7bugs

rajesh

Oracle Weblogic Server 10.3.6, Configure Reports 11g(11.1.2) 64Bit

On By windows7bugsIn Oracle related, Weblogic, Windows 8Leave a comment

 

Howdy guys? We were busy upgrading uninstalling Weblogic 10.3.6, Forms & Reports 11g R1 and installing 64bit software throughout last few days.

For the installation part, you are not going to get better write up than one available here

However the installation procedure described there is limited to installing the Weblogic Server. You may refer to our earlier post for a “know how to” install and configure Forms & Reports 11g (both R1 & R2)

We tried the following combinations

Weblogic 10.3.6 64Bit with Forms & Reports 11g R1 32Bit. The results were quite disappointing. Installation and configurations went all fine, however once after a restart, we were not able to start the OPMN, thus all the services depending upon OPMN were failing. Even the uninstallation process was terminating without giving any prompts, forcing us to physically remove dozens of entries from registry and other places

Then we opted for a full 64Bit installation, which went smooth and after a restart everything was in place! intact

Setting up the forms using Oracle Enterprise Manager (R2 sets it up properly, against R1)

Just logon to Oracle EM, go to forms node and make changes and just apply. Many changes may not even require a server restart.

Few examples here

Forms node

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Configuration Options

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Web Configuration for “default”

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Setting up LOV buttons, required field highlighting

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Calling forms based applications once after the above are set is quite easy. Just point your browser to

http://hostname:8888/forms/frmservlet?form=login.fmx&userid=apps/apps@orcl

or

http://hostname:9001/forms/frmservlet?form=login.fmx&userid=apps/apps@orcl

However, calling a report may not be that easy. The report server(s) are pretty much sensitive to your network settings. For example, we are using one Windows 8.1 64Bit machine for the entire testing and on which we have multiple oracle products installed

To make the scenarios once again complex, we have both class C and Public IPs set as static addresses for testing multiple products at the same time and VirtualBox’s own network interface (disable it!)

We will try to analyze the most common errors one may come across while trying to run reports

REP-52005: The specified key <keyname: in our case the key userlogin> does not exist in key map file.

Web.Show_Document(‘/reports/rwservlet?userlogin&server=rep_wls_reports_rt03_prod_instance&desformat=PDF&destype=cache&report=’||:CTRL.REPORT_NAME||’&paramform=Yes’,’_new’);

Solution: http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23943_01/bi.1111/b32121/pbr_run013.htm

Browse and locate file “cgicmd.dat”. You must take a backup and add the keyname and value by the bottom of the .dat file.

Eg: Physical path(Change according to your installation)

D:\Weblogic\Middleware\user_projects\domains\appsdomain\config\fmwconfig\servers\WLS_REPORTS\applications\reports_11.1.2\configuration

image

Save & restart the report server. Make sure you check the OPMN status as well. If required, restart OPMN by issuing opmnctl stopall & opmnctl startall from the application instance bin directory

opmn

The “opmnctl status” will provide you the status of element and make sure “RptSvr_<hostname>_asinst_1 is “Alive”

Go to Weblogic Server console and restart the WLS_REPORTS. Test your report once again.

REP-51002: Bind to Reports Server <servername> failed

This error could be genuinely difficult to address, as the log files will show the report server(s) and up and running, however keeping on failing to bind while trying to print reports.

Reason#1: Binding fails to resolve the hostname where the report server is installed. Mostly happens while the host has more than one static IP assigned

Solution:Edit C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts file and add an entry like following

Your.static.ip.address fqdn hostname

192.168.0.10      myhost.mydomain.com myhost

112.11.10.23      myhost.mydomain.com myhost

Reason #2: Windows firewall is blocking UDP against port 14021.

Solution: Create an exception with the firewall, or disable the firewall completely and try the reports once again. Please note, a restart of the box is always recommended

REP-52266: The in-process Reports Server <server_name> failed to start.oracle…

Solution: This is mostly due to the host resolve issues. Once you resolved the issues as mentioned just above, the in-process server must be running fine after a restart.

Make sure the in-process Report server is up and running.

Update: There are couple of topics discussing about in-process report server, which should give you more details about how the server gets activated and when

https://community.oracle.com/message/9244290

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E12839_01/bi.1111/b32121/pbr_strt006.htm

(We will do more tests and confirm the reasoning with our next update)

 

In-process reports server caters your web.show_document calls without a server parameter call. Let us check, how reports are called from a forms module, attached with a button click

Web.Show_Document(‘/reports/rwservlet?userlogin&server=rep_wls_reports_rt03_prod_instance&desformat=PDF&destype=cache&report=’||:CTRL.REPORT_NAME||’&paramform=Yes’,’_new’);

The first method, we are specifically passing the report instance name, while the below example

Web.Show_Document(‘/reports/rwservlet?userlogin&desformat=PDF&destype=cache&report=’||:CTRL.REPORT_NAME||’&paramform=Yes’,’_new’);

just tries to call the available report instance to cater the report. If you want to know how many reports instances are up and running in your server, you can use the EM or rwdiag.bat –findAll command

 

Common configurations for Reports 11g(11.1.2)

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Leave alone the below

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Additional settings (if required)

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We are hoping to detail this post in near future. Too much typing for a day! Please note, these testing and solutions provided here are coming from novice like you guys, hence if you find anything which is not technically correct, please do let us know through comments section.

for Windows7bugs

admin