Hello guys!
I know, there were NOT much to post throughout last few months about Oracle as I am nose down into one of the development platforms that I hardly desired for developing business applications.
For me, it was always Oracle forms and reports. The easiest, the most robust development tools for BUSINESS applications which is supported by the ease of SQL, PL/SQL
I am doing loads of research with C# & SQL database, which will be the main technologies behind our next proposed ERP suite. After spending almost 15 years with Forms and reports, I don’t see Oracle is too keen about modernizing their most loved development tools & the latest release lacks loads of features those would have helped to reclaim the desktop based business applications.
Wondering whether there is still room for desktop applications, especially for businesses? dude! there is, and there will be!
So stay tuned, I will start posting my “findings” about C#, who knows may be some sample applications using Windows forms or WPF & Oracle database in near future!
regards,
rajesh
Hello Raj,
I think it is useless for me to tell you once again how much I do share your frustration …
As one who is totally devoted to Oracle Forms, I think that we can say definitely that most of the nicest features of Forms were missed by the community that used this product along the years …
Java was a “hot language”, so ADF was suggested as a Forms replacement … with all its complexities …
Yes, the idea of generating tons of Java code without knowing Java at all, let alone mastering it, was probably very appealing to many …
just for saying that “we are modern” …
But, imho, maintaining ANY kind of application without a certain mastery level of the core language(s) used by that application
is a precise receipt for sure failure…
I see the large Oracle Application community around, so many implementers busy with customizing all its bits and bytes,
without a deep enough Oracle Forms knowledge …
Regardless of any opinions about modernity, I can only believe in systems which are supported by people who do possess a strong knowledge of all the technology/ies used by that system.
Otherwise, a system should be a “perfect black-box”, for being able to be used by people lacking the tech knowledge …
and, as we know, perfection does not exist in real life …
Regarding making Oracle Forms mobile … and … yes … “modern” … there exists a product of AuraPlayer which suggests a possibility
for “mobile-izing Forms”.
Basically what they do is to create a (simple) front-end usable
on a mobile device, which can communicate through web services
with the Forms Server and run the same Oracle Forms logic
as the original Form, without any code change.
But, as far as I can understand, this somehow turns the Oracle Forms application into a kind of “batch processor”, suppressing
the bi-directional live/online dialogue with the end-user,
which was the basis of any Forms application …
People want to be modern and mobile at any price …
but, what I effectively saw happening was that an extremely feature-rich Oracle Forms based application ends by being replaced with
a kind of primitive alternative, which does not have even 5%
of the original features … but it is mobile and modern :)
The “new baby” that Oracle seems to cherish as they once did
with Oracle Forms is APEX, which is really nice, and extremely rich in features.
I have heard many developers saying that
“APEX is SIMPLE, not like Oracle Forms !!!”
For me, as an almost 30 years Oracle Forms guru, APEX looks much more complicated than Forms …
So, probably any tool would probably look simple enough for the one who starts learning it from zero, without comparing it with any other tool …
Migrating from one tool to another is much more complicated.
Microsoft is a different world, yes, all those languages (like C# and others ) can access an Oracle database, but this will NEVER be the same as with Oracle Forms …
Those who started to create the ESPERANTO language
for unifying the world also finished with a very small community of “believers” …
Thanks & Best Regards,
Iudith