Vgo Software Forms to Fusion Bulgarian Oracle Users Group – Ernst Renner, CEO, Vgo Software

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Agenda  Introductions and topic review  State of the Forms landscape  Your options  Upgrade? Modernize? Which is right for you?  Why Modernize?  Forms to Fusion Mapping  ADF v11  Closing and Q&A

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Introduction Vgo Software, Inc.  Software and services to modernize Oracle Forms to JEE or upgrade  Services to modernize PowerBuilder, VB and ASP to Oracle ADF  1 of 2 global partners certified by Oracle product development  1 st to modernize Forms to ADF v11  1st in the world to automate the conversion of character- based telnet forms  Software and services based on 4 years of experience in conversions (25+ conversions)  International customers and partners  Started from NEOS – practical consulting

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com The Forms Landscape Are Forms going somewhere? No! (Well, maybe…)  Oracle Forms 2008 de-support  v6.0.8.x sustained support ended in January 2008  x sustained support ended in July  10gR2 extended support ends December 2011  10gR3 extended support ends December 2011   Forms continuing on until at least 2013  Forms community is alive, well and strong

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Forms Landscape But… Oracle is moving to ADF – you will too  Think about it… what is “Fusion”?  It’s important for Oracle’s continued growth strategy – it’s how they will integrate acquired products and those they’ve grown  What’s the “glue”? ADF –BPM Studio, BPEL, a new (better) Enterprise Message Bus (AquaLogic Service Bus), etc.

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Impact What does this mean?  If you are not running Oracle Application Server (or Weblogic), you will need to  Get up to speed now – prepare for change  Oracle Applications users – Apps are being migrated to ADF now; your custom extensions will have to move too  Resources – where will all the Forms developers be in 2012?  This may not be a “simple” change for developers – it is a paradigm shift

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Options  Upgrade to Web Forms  Modernize, re-engineer… evolve  Re-write  Buy a commercial package

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Which Option is Right for You?  Upgrade Forms when… – The application cannot change at all – Cost is a huge issue – You need to stay supported (6i users)  Modernize to ADF when you require … – Greater ability to integrate with other applications – Greater cross-platform support – See next slides…  Re-write when.. – Business processes need to dramatically change – Forms are really old (v3) and code is unclear – You have unlimited budget

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Modernization & Business Value  Why Modernize?  Address tactical challenges while positioning for a long-term strategic operations architecture. Consider: – Vendor direction – Availability of skilled resources in legacy technology – Ability to maintain SDLC maturity levels in “aged” and “new” paradigms Greater efficiencies in IT support of business changes – Lower TCO of the enterprise and single LOB (line-of-business) applications through common architectures and development patterns – Faster turn-around on functional enhancements – Greater flexibility to business demands – Common, flexible, development methodologies and processes

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Modernization & Business Value  Why Modernize? (continued)  Application and/or data integration – SOA or EAI – Integration and cross-application rules sharing or re-use – Consolidation and management of (previously) disparate architectures – file transfers, client/server apps, EDI, etc. “All AD (Application Development) organizations should plan to migrate away from Oracle Forms applications during the next 10 years… All but the most- conservative of AD organizations should plan to migrate during the next five years.” Mark Driver, Gartner RAS Core Research Note G , July 3, 2007

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Modernization & Business Value  Why do these efforts fail?  Under-estimation of effort – blown budgets  Lack of planning  No business participation  “Blind” conversion  Lack of Experience

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Pre-Modernization Thoughts  Consider strategic direction and business value  Develop your “Conversion Framework”  Assessments, domain analysis, function point analysis, design, QA, etc.  Application “domains”  Client, Producer, Product, Agent, etc.  Emphasize re-use and process  Make “High-Leverage” Enhancements  Think ahead – where and how does this tie in strategically?  Prior to any modernization or re-engineering project, effort should be extended to:

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Typical Forms Architecture Batch Files PL/SQL Reports, Data Feeds, To DW Topic Reporting DW or Data Store 6i Forms Client External DW or Mart Mgmt Rprts Data Model Business Rules

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Typical Architectural View  Business Rules are all over the place  Redundant logic, process, data, tight integration with DB’s

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Forms to Fusion Mapping FormsADF MappingComplexityWhen? Forms LOV’s Query-based blocks Tables (DB) Transactions Triggers Windows & Canvases Libraries SQL Task Flows (for Transaction Mgmt) Application Modules (Evo Work Units) Read-only View Objects View Objects Entity Objects Task Flows Java Method (programmatic) or Groovy Expression (declarative) JSPX pages, PanelGroups, Frags Application Modules View Objects, Business rules – BPM (ALBPM) High/Medium Specific to app Complexity depends on Forms state Client Technology – Oracle Forms

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Forms to Fusion Mapping Legacy Environment Fusion or ADF MappingComplexityWhen? DB PL/SQLLeave in DB Convert to ADF if needed Simple Medium/Low Specific to app Broader Use External CallsBusiness Events, SOA suite – BPEL flow, ESB, Mediator, etc. BEA equivs – BPM Studio (Fuego), AquaLogic Service Bus (ALSB) Medium Medium/Low Scalable use External use File processingBPEL ADF Mid/High External parties involved Server-side Technology

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Why ADF v11?  ADF Business Components – Data caching – Transaction handling via Task Flows  ADF Rich Faces – Ajax-enabled components – JSF-based  JDeveloper – Lots of wizards – Less coding

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Forms to ADF  Model Layer  Tables  Entity Objects – 1 per Table – Can be used to implement validation triggers – Validation occurs no matter where Entity is used  View Objects  View Links and Associations  Query-based blocks  View Objects  Based on one or more entities  May be linked to other views  Views may include other views or entities – description fields and LOVs

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Forms to ADF  Model Layer  LOVs  read-only View Objects – Built using SQL statements – very much like a block in Forms – Why “read-only”?  Performance  Functionality  ADF BC Browser – Test model layer  Validations and LOV’s

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Forms to ADF  ViewController Layer  Forms  Task flows  Windows & Canvases – Windows become separate JSPX pages – Canvases become mutable PanelGroups  Hide/show each PanelGroup as application navigates between canvases (uses Render tag and a managed bean)

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Groovy  What’s so groovy about  Based on Java and used in many projects – Open source expression language – Competitor is Rails-Grails  Included in ADF v11  In ADF, Groovy scripts can be used in any application layer – Validation on the presentation layer (hide/show, allow/prevent) – Foreign key checks on the Entity – Access Application Modules, views, etc.

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com What Doesn’t Map?  Client-Server != Web  Many aspects of a Forms application can’t be replicated exactly in the web world – WinAPI Calls – File-system or Registry access – Synchronize, etc….  Many aspects of a Forms application should be re- implemented or converted – Declarative validation – LOVs

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com ADF in JDeveloper 11g  Big performance enhancements  BEA Weblogic in; OC4J out  Look and feel of ADF Faces Rich Client components has been updated  Fixed problems with LOV  LOV in Create form with Mandatory fields is fixed  LOV wizards are improved  Some are not: LOV bug re-presenting selected value  Most major issues from TP4 have been resolved  Such as Oracle Java Platform Security (JPS)  This is a Jdeveloper release; rest of 11g coming in January

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Summary  Upgrade for safety and ease  Modernize and evolve when positioning for strategic advantage  Always consider your process in either type of project – leverage new architectural advantages  ADF v11 will be the correct go-forward answer for Forms modernization and other client/server applications  Think outside of the Forms silo – what is the value to the business and to the enterprise?

© Vgo Software, Inc. 2008www.vgosoftware.com Closing & Q/A Useful resources: Rob Nocera’s blog on ADF, Java and web application trends Visit Andrejus Baranovskis blog on ADF and Jdeveloper: andrejusb-samples.blogspot.com Vgosoftware.com webinars: modernization, ADF, JSF, SOA Next webinar is November 12 on Forms & ADF Modernization (detailed and technical) Contact Info: Ernst Renner,