One of the most complicated “problems” I have had with Windows 10 was, using built-in “Movies & TV” instead of my favorite VLC Player, just because the later “fails” to play 5.1 surround sound, which I love
It looks like Microsoft Windows “Movies & TV” by default enables HDMI audio passthrough, thus surround sound is channeled rightfully.
Let us see a typical scenario:
Your PC is connected to a SmartTV that has Android TV (on HDMI Port 2)
Your TV is connected to AVR on ARC using HDMI (on HDMI Port 3)
Your PC shows your TV as your default “Speaker”
You setup 5.1 surround sound (unfortunately, you cannot test the setup us Windows doesn’t do the HDMI audio passthrough, instead the applications those are equipped with HDMI audio passthrough)
You try to play your video clip that has AC-3 6 channel audio, using VLC. What you hear is stereo only & toggling through the AVR’s different Audio formats do not do anything.
Now, here is the catch. By default VLC doesn’t enable HDMI passthrough. If you are using VLC 3.x.x versions, you can easily turn on the HDMI audio passthrough from Tools ->Preferences -> Audio
Select either “Enabled (AC3/DTS only) or Enabled. Switch to the one works for you.
Try to play the video again. One of the interesting factor I recognized that, once the HDMI/SPDIF audio passthrough enabled, VLC doesn’t care whether your speaker setup is surround (5.1, 7.1, x.x) or not. It just does the audio channel routing.
Please do not try to install Weblogic 14.1.1.0, that supports only JAVA deployments as on date. Oracle says they are committed to release a version that supports Oracle Forms and Reports & the stack is under development.
Last reviewed on: 24th December 2020
Few days back I received an interesting message from one of the visitors, having troubles with their WebLogic installation, inquiring about the frequent crashes. My visitor Mr. Rabin Mitra later figured out it was due to using 32Bit JDK with 64Bit WebLogic infrastructure.
After successfully executing "startnodemanger.cmd" and "startWeblogic.cmd", I am able to start the Weblogic Console UI. However, any action (such as clicking on Server button) within the UI crashes Weblogic! The error is as follows:
# There is insufficient memory for the Java Runtime Environment to continue.
# Native memory allocation (malloc) failed to allocate 1210952 bytes for Chunk::new
Mr. Rabin has confirmed that he had to uninstall the complete WebLogic installation & redo as replacing 32Bit JDK with 64Bit was not sufficient enough to address the continued issues with installation. Please go through the below text and links, incase if you are in the same “soup” ;)
I am happy to report that the 32-bit version of JDK on my 64-bit machine was indeed the problem. However, merely replacing the JDK does not solve the problem. The reason for this is that the jar file for WebLogic was extracted using the 32-bit JDK. This implies that the WebLogic must as well be reinstalled. This again in turn means that the Domain must be re-created and since the domain is associated with a repository, the repository must also be reinstalled. So, it turns out that one must dismantle each piece and reinstall it from scratch!
Installing the JDK is the #1 instruction. So, an incorrect choice here pretty much sets you back completely. You may want to provide this as a caution to your readers.
So here briefly is the sequence of events one must follow if they chose an incorrect version of JDK.
This time we are going to see how we could install and configure Oracle forms & reports 12.2.1.4, the latest version using WebLogic Server 12c 12.2.1.4
The Visual C++ requirements mentioned MUST be met, without which you will NOT able to startup OHS instance.
Prior Installing Oracle Server Software on your computer, please make sure that your computer has a proper name (hostname) like “JOHN-PC, RAJESH-PC, ORACLE-SERVER” etc instead of defaults like ‘DESKTOP-jyyytyuukkyjj’ after an installation of Windows. In addition, please make sure that your laptop/Desktop machine has a Static IP address.
As a rule of thumb, regardless whether you are going to install and configure Oracle software on LINUX or Windows operating systems, always update the OS to latest patch levels, prior you start with the Oracle software installation(s). I strongly recommend using Oracle VirtualBox based Virtual Machines for the lab & later you may move the tried out solution to your preferred environments (TEST, Development). I don’t recommend any of the suggestions I make through my blog posts to be applied to PRODUCTION environments without consulting a Professional support entity.
As per Mr. Rabin Mitra’s suggestion, I am adding a clause. “Please double check whether all the software you have downloaded for the installation is of same architecture. The below instructions are for 64Bit Weblogic installation & starting from JDK all the software downloaded must be 64Bit”
I prefer installing JDK on C: drive & Usually my JDK is installed on C:\Java\JDK folder. The shortest name, the best to handle it later. Once the 64Bit JDK is installed, you need to setup either JAVA_HOME environment variable or add a new entry in to the system path. I prefer a system path modification than user path modification.
Okay, there are hell loads of Oracle software installed on my system. Don’t worry, I manage them. Just make sure the JDK installation path is on top of the list and you are good to go
Install Weblogic Server 12.2.1.4
It may take a while for the jar file to extract and start the installer. Please wait patiently. I was setting up the entire infrastructure using Windows 10 VM & due to the limited resources, hence the entire ordeal was kind of time taking this time for me.
You can safely skip the Auto Update
Naming Oracle installation folders is an art. The complex the folder structures, the complex later configurations would be. I usually prefer to install all my Oracle software on D: drive. Please feel comfortable to format the Oracle home as per your requirements. Maintaining the same format helps me to locate and sometimes replace files from previous installations.
Select “Fusion Middleware Infrastructure”
WebLogic or Middleware installation is NOT complex anymore on Windows 10 OS. There are no special hacks needs to complete the installation.
Install forms & reports 12.2.1.4
Extract the downloaded zip file & you MUST start the installer as “Administrator”.
We’ve to install the Forms and Reports stack on an existing Oracle Home. So please select the Oracle Home where you have installed “WebLogic” Server. Alternatively you can always install the stack on a different Oracle Home, which I never tried earlier.
Select “Forms and Reports Deployment”, as the last two versions of Forms & Reports allow you to install a Standalone Forms Builder.
Select the correct JDK Home
Please make sure that you have Visual C++ libraries pre-installed prior proceeding. If you don’t have the VC++ libraries installed, the OHS instance will not start & you might experience additional problems during installation also.
That completes the Forms & Reports 12.2.1.4 installation.
Create a REPO for the Classic Domain
To create a classic domain, you must have a repository available with the database. Weblogic 12c supports Oracle 11G 11.2.0.4 or later database for the repositories & my pick will be always 12c Database as the 11.2.0.4 is only accessible for customers with valid Oracle support. You may refer this document for a detailed “how to” towards installing Oracle 12c database.
From an elevated command prompt, switch to Oracle Home\oracle_common\bin folder & execute “rcu.bat”
Check the below image for details
Choose the defaults
Provide the connection parameters. If the database is on another server, you don’t have to install additional clients, connection parameters will take care of the connection. Refer the below image for details (Adjust according to your database setup)
My 12c Database already has a repository for Forms & Reports 12c 12.2.1.3, hence I created a new prefix “DEV1”. If you are creating a repo for the first time, you can use “DEV” or any other 3 letter combination (make sure you will able to remember it laters).
Select all the components as seen with the below image. The selected are mandatory, especially the Metadata Services.
Use the same password everywhere! Unless you are setting up a production instance, use the same password everywhere. Example, I use “Abc1234” for the schemas, Weblogic Admin account, node manager etc, which makes the administration much easier. For production, follow the Oracle standards.
That completes the repository creation for a Classic domain.
Create a Classic Domain for deploying forms & reports application
From an elevated command prompt, switch to Oracle Home\oracle_common\common\bin (eg: D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_Home\oracle_common\common\bin) & execute config.cmd, that will kick start the classic domain configuration wizard.
Select the defaults, unless you have specifics. We will be creating a new domain with the following example.
Refer the below images and select the same components for a successful domain creation for forms and reports.
As I mentioned earlier, use the same password here, so that you don’t have to worry about forgetting & recovering it at later stages.
We will setup the domain for production (never tried Development, so don’t know how exactly both differ from each other). Leave the JDK selection as it is.
Now, your earlier created repository will come in act. Refer the below image(s) and adjust as per your environment
Make sure all the Schema validations are successful. Next step select components as per the below image
Make sure the Server Group is filled the value as seen with the below image. Don’t miss it!
We’ll add an instance OHS now. Click on the add button and refer the below images for more details
Fill in the Listen Address with “localhost” and leave rest to defaults
That finishes the creation of your classic domain.
I’m hurrying to publish the POST without further delays, as I am once again caught up with multiple assignments & keeping up with promises are NOT something I look up to at this time. However, I will add up the missing configurations for OHS and setting up the Forms and reports very soon an an annexure as early as possible!
19th June 2020
Today I installed & configured another Weblogic Server environment & realized that I was supposed to amend this post with more details, is a long due!
I chose a Container+PDB 12c database instance for my Weblogic Server this time. It was fun, finally learning few things about Container and pluggable databases & I am hoping to write another post about setting up Weblogic, Forms and Reports with such a setup in near future.
Now without wasting more time, let us see how to finalize the freshly configured classic domain for Oracle Forms and Reports deployment.
Switch to the your newly created domain’s bin folder from an elevated command prompt. Eg:
“D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_Home\user_projects\domains\base_domain\bin”. Usually I always installed Oracle software on D: drive & follow the same naming structure for the folders. It helps me to backup and restore configuration & other files that help me to finish setting up the environments faster.
Start the nodemanger now by issuing the command by executing the command “startnodemanger.cmd”
It may take few seconds to minutes until the node manager starts for the first time. Please remember, you shouldn’t close this command window, which will automatically stop the node manager.
Open another elevated command prompt window and switch to your classic domain’s bin folder. Start the Weblogic admin server by issuing the command “startWeblogic.cmd”
Okay, with node manager, 99.9% chances that you may not bite bullet. With Weblogic Admin server, this is not the case. For number reasons, the Server will try to start and give up in the middle. So don’t panic. If the Weblogic Admin Server is not coming up to a “RUNNING” status after extended period of waiting, go ahead and restart your computer. Start node manager and then try to start the weblogic admin server once again.
The initial startup could take up to 5-6 minutes (depending upon your hardware, this time could vary) & you should see a status like below
Remember not to close the window, which will immediately stop the Weblogic Admin Server. The status of the window will keep on updated against the activities happening at the server side. Once started, you can safely keep both node manager and Weblogic Admin Server CMD windows minimized.
Once after successfully logging in, this is the window you are presented with. We’ve to configure both Forms & Report servers now, by trying to start them. This process will keep on adding many elements to your start menu. Let us see we can start Forms (WLS_FORMS) & Reports (WLS_REPORTS) servers now
Click on the “Control” tab, select both “WLS_FORMS” & “WLS_REPORTS” from servers and press the “Start” button. Once start button clicked, you can press the refresh button to monitor the status of the Servers. Do not forget to click the refresh button again to stop refreshing once after the servers show the status “Running”
It could take minutes for both the servers to reach the “Running” stage. Keep watching the Admin Server command window for unexpected errors. If you have followed all the steps as I’ve instructed throughout my thread, I can confidently say that you shouldn’t have a single hick up until this moment.
Once both servers are running, we can complete the OHS setup finally. Open another elevated command prompt. Switch to Oracle_Common\common\bin folder
Eg: D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_Home\oracle_common\common\bin and start Weblogic Scripting Tool (wlst)
Now you can issue the command “ohs_updateInstances()” at the wlst prompt & once the configuration completed, exit wlst by issuing “exit()”
You can try to logon to Weblogic Enterprise Manager console and start the newly setup OHS instance now.
Logon to Weblogic Enterprise Manager from http://localhost:7001/em & click the carousal menu by the left hand side
and expand HTTP Server to view your newly created OHS instance. In our case “ohs1”. Click on “ohs1” to open the control panel for the instance
Click the Start up button to start the OHS instance & after showing you message window stating you cannot stop the starting/stopping process, OHS will start. It could take few seconds to minutes depending upon your hardware and available resources.
Give special attention to “Machine Name”.
Now we will see how to bring OHS instance in action by setting up the few other factors like node manager security, configuration files.
Lock & Edit the domain security values, please refer the image below for details
Provide a meaningful name for the node manager account and supply a password. I used the same password for the total 12c deployment, unless you are setting up a PRODUCTION instance, you may use the common password across the 12c instances for easy administration of objects when required. Shutdown the services (better). Once the node manager properties are changed, restart the WLS admin server. Please note, always stop all running servers (forms & reports) services prior shutting down the Admin server & I suggest you gracefully shutdown the Admin server by running “StopWeblogic.cmd” instead of using the Weblogic console.
Move to your Oracle Home folder. I have installed Weblogic server in D:\Weblogic\Middleware folder, hence my Oracle home folder is
D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_Home\
(Adjust your paths accordingly)
Edit forms.conf file in the folder D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_Home\forms\templates\config\
By default this template file comes with commented examples, like following
You need to uncomment one of the blocks starting from <Location /forms> until </Location> & add properties specific to your deployment, for example, my computer’s name is “RAJESH-PC” and I am using default ports for both forms and reports applications, hence I have the properties set like following
Now we will edit the configuration file for reports
Switch to “D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_Home\reports\conf” folder & edit “reports_ohs.conf” and add a block like following (alter according to your setup)
Now the OHS instance know about the deployments and once after restarted, you can try to start the forms based application through the OHS instance, rather than calling it against the default port (9001)
Once the OHS instance is updated with the new information, try to start the OHS instance from a command prompt using storeUserConfig parameter
1st run, you will be prompted for node manager password, supply the password you have setup earlier and OHS instance should start without creating a fuzz in usual scenarios
In future if you want to start the OHS instance, unless made changes to the configurations, just run
Above concludes the 1st of level of configurations for Oracle forms based application. You can use Weblogic 12c Enterprise Manager to configure most of the forms environment related parameters like forms path and other, while I am yet to find out relevant configuration areas for reports.
You can manually modify the formsweb.cfg & default.env files to start with as well
Regardless whether you are going to use the in-process report server or a stand alone instance of the reports, many changes should be made to the configuration files, so that you can call the reports server from a Forms module
Generally we will be modifying multiple configuration files, I will try my level best to provide the exact locations for the files which you should change according to your installation preferences
Configuration files path (Please note, through versions, there are minor changes happened to these configuration files. The images below were copied from my previous post about configuring for deployment, however the settings remain the same for 12.2.1.4 (as tested on 19th June 2020))
rwservlet.properties – Servlet specific properties
rwserver.conf – Server properties
cgicmd.dat – key mapping file
1. As far you are using in-process reports server, nothing much to alter with “rwservlet.properties” file. Basically you should see entries like following in the opened file:
2. rwserver.conf (Please check the below image)
3. cgicmd.dat: Many values we supply to call a report using Web.Show_Document method could potentially expose vital information like the database details & many other. “cgicmd.dat” file helps us to map such values to keys and later use them wherever applicable. With this example, I will demonstrate, how the database username, password and service name are mapped using a key. Please check the image attached below
Once these configurations files are altered, we need to create a report instance for the WLS_REPORT server. Open an elevated command prompt and switch to “D:\Weblogic\Middleware\Oracle_Home\oracle_common\common\bin”. Start wlst & connect to the server.
Note, you can choose your own name for the report instance. Once the report instance created, exit wlst and you can try to start the WLS_REPORT server from the weblogic console.
This comprehensive note should help you to quickly start with Oracle Forms & Reports 12c (12.2.1.4)
I am avoiding few elements like publishing a Forms based application for now. If you feel, should be added, please let me know through the comments section.
