February 1998 Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA Release Notes UNIX Server Edition We are pleased to introduce Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA. This NCA release provides a web deployed user interface in place of the earlier character mode and client/server interfaces. Release 10.7 NCA offers improved WAN operation, simplified administration, and easier support and maintenance. These release notes complement the information in the Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA Supplement Installation Manual. These release notes are divided into the following topics: Oracle Consulting Services Installation Manuals Software Requirements Products Included in This Release Product Documentation Product related Notes Server Configuration Client Setup Notes Other Considerations Mandatory Technology Update User Interface Differences from SmartClient Product Limitations Troubleshooting Page 1
Oracle Consulting Services Installation of Release 10.7 NCA, as with any software package, can be complex due to the number of configuration options, network operating systems, and other considerations. We recommend that you engage Oracle Consulting Services to assist with the installation and configuration of this release. Installation Manuals This release includes three installation manuals: the UNIX Server Edition, the Windows NT Server Edition, and the Open VMS Server Edition. Depending on the topography of your installation, you may need to refer to only one manual, or to sections in more than one of these manuals. Although all three manuals are referred to as the Installation Manual in this document, be sure you refer to the correct manual for your installation. In the Release 10.7 NCA architecture, different tiers may be different platforms. For example, the Forms server may be a Windows NT machine, but the Applications database server may be a UNIX machine. In this case, you would follow the instructions for installing and implementing the Forms server from the Windows NT Edition manual, and you would follow the instructions for installing and implementing the Release 10.7 server from the UNIX Server Edition manual. Chapter 1 in the Installation Manual explains the tiers in Release 10.7 NCA, possible ways to deploy this release among various tiers, and requirements for the various servers. Software Requirements The following software versions are required on the Forms server: Oracle Developer/2000 version 1.6 Oracle Web Application Server version 3.0.1.8.0 Note that other versions of Oracle Web Application Server may be components of Developer/2000 and may therefore be included in this release, but you should only install version 3.0.1.8.0. SQL*Net version 2.3.3.0.0 SQL*Plus version 3.3.3.0.0 (recommended) The Installation Manual explains the function of these components. Page 2
Products Included in This Release The CD in this shipment contains the Release 10.7 NCA products listed in this section as well as the runtime version of Oracle Forms certified for this release. Products Oracle Alert Oracle Payables Oracle Application Object Library Oracle Government Payables Oracle Asia/Pacific Globalizations Oracle Project Billing 4.1 Oracle Assets Oracle Project Costing 4.1 Oracle Bills of Material Oracle Projects Oracle Capacity Oracle Purchasing Oracle Cash Management Oracle Government Purchasing Oracle Cost Management Oracle Quality Oracle EDI Gateway Oracle Receivables Oracle Engineering Oracle Government Receivables Oracle European Localizations Oracle Regional Localizations Oracle General Ledger Oracle Sales and Marketing Oracle Government General Ledger Oracle Service Oracle Human Resources Oracle Shipping Oracle Inventory Oracle SSP/SMP (U.K. only) Oracle Latin American Globalizations Oracle Training Administration Oracle Master Scheduling/MRP Oracle Work in Process Oracle Order Entry Controlled Products Global Accounting Engine Oracle Payroll Oracle Product Configurator Oracle Sales Compensation Oracle Supply Chain Planning Oracle Supplier Scheduling Attention: The installation process unloads files for all production and controlled products. Do not use any controlled products without approval from your Oracle Sales Representative. Page 3
Product Documentation The Installation Manual and these release notes are specific to Release 10.7 NCA. Other documentation for Release 10.7 NCA is identical to Release 10SC. When referring to Release 10SC manuals, however, keep in mind that some of the figures and screens will appear differently in Release 10.7 NCA. Product related Notes Special notes apply to some of the products in this release. The products affected are listed alphabetically in this section. Oracle HRMS/Oracle Payroll U.S. installations of Oracle Payroll are supported only on a limited set of server platforms because of a reliance on the third party tax package, Vertex TM. Oracle Quality The View Charts functionality of Oracle Quality that launches Oracle Graphics is not supported in this release. Oracle Sales Compensation If you are using the integration of Accounts Receivables with Oracle Sales Compensation, you should add new salespeople using the Accounts Receivables application. If you are using the open interface to feed transactions to Oracle Sales Compensation, and are not using the AR interface to Oracle Sales Compensation, you should add new salespeople using the Salespeople Workbench form within Oracle Sales Compensation. Oracle Sales and Marketing Letter merge functionality, such as quote letters, event letters, and collateral letters, is not available in this initial release. Page 4
Oracle Self Service Web Applications If you are upgrading your database to Production 16.1/Release 10.7 NCA after installing the Web Employees Expense Entry component (a Beta feature) of Oracle Self Service Web Applications version 1.4, you may encounter an invalid package error when compiling package AP_WEB_EXPENSE_WF. Drop the package body using the following commands. $ sqlplus <apps_user>/<apps_pwd> SQL> DROP PACKAGE BODY AP_WEB_EXPENSE_WF; Oracle Service The Installed Base, Support Services, Service Requests, and Depot Repair modules of Oracle Service have controlled production status in this release. Oracle Supplier Scheduling Oracle Supplier Scheduling is a controlled product in this release. If you use Supplier Scheduling, request patch 601485 from Oracle Support Services. You must apply both the Applications server and Forms server portions of this patch. Follow the instructions included with the patch. Server Configuration This section contains information that supplements the Installation Manual. Forms Server Hardware Requirements Requirements for the forms server vary significantly according to hardware, usage, and networking environments. Release 10.7 NCA for UNIX is supported on HP/UX 10.20, and on Solaris 2.5 and 2.6. Our testing indicates that the forms server can support approximately 20 40 simultaneous users per each 300 MHz UltraSPARC CPU (or equivalent) with 6 10 MB of RAM per user. We recommend a multi processor server with the fastest possible CPU for optimal performance. Page 5 Attention: These figures are only intended to give a rough estimate of the resources required for Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA. We strongly recommend against using these figures to calculate requirements for any production
system without first conducting sufficient benchmark testing in your environment. Please contact Oracle Consulting Services for assistance in determining the specific hardware needs for running Oracle Applications in your organization. Additional Configuration Steps You may need to perform the following tasks in addition to the steps in the Installation Manual: For All UNIX Platforms Apply the Developer/2000 release 1.6 patch This patch is in the /extras/d2k16_p1 directory on the Release 10.7 NCA CD. Follow the instructions in the README.dev2k16_p1 file for applying this patch. Configure the AppletViewer When using certain features such as context sensitive help and web page attachments, the AppletViewer launches a browser to view the files. To configure this, add the following entry to your initial HTML file: <PARAM name= ClientBrowser value= <browser> > Where <browser> is the name of the browser software you wish to use. For example: <PARAM name= ClientBrowser value= netscape > This configuration requires that all clients who access this HTML file use the same browser to view help and web page attachments. Create a Forms Server log file You can use the logging capability provided by Developer/2000 Forms Server to maintain a record of connections to the Forms server. The log file records each connection request, connection, and disconnect, and is a useful way to determine which user is associated with each process on the server. To enable logging, specify a value for the log parameter when starting the Forms server. For example, when you start the Forms server with the following command, Forms will create a log file called mylog.txt in /u01/mydirectory: $ f45ctl start log=/u01/mydirectory/mylog.txt Page 6
For Solaris Set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable in your environment. You must add $ORACLE_HOME/lib to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable path. For example: Page 7 $ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/lib $ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH Set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable in your listener.ora file. If you use the Report Review Agent or the Oracle Order Entry transaction manager, you must add the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable to the ENVS parameter of your listener.ora file for OEORPC or FNDFS. Note for OEORPC, you simply add the variable to the ENVS parameter, but for FNDFS, you must create a new ENVS parameter. For example, to create a new parameter for FNDFS, you would add the following line: (ENVS = LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/openwin/lib:/usr/ucblib:/u6/oracle/lib ) Attention: Replace this value with the correct value of LD_LIBRARY_PATH from your Applications server environment. Additional Information: Chapter 4, Post Install Tasks, and Chapter 5, Administering Oracle Applications NCA Supplement, Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA Installation Manual, UNIX Server Edition. Client Setup Notes This section contains information that supplements the Installation Manual. Client PC Requirements Java is a CPU intensive language. To achieve optimal performance you must have adequate CPU power and memory on the user desktop. We recommend a Pentium (or equivalent) CPU running at 133 MHz or better and 32 MB memory. You should set your color palette to use greater than 256 colors on the client Control Panel. Client Software This version of Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA must be run with the Java Developer Kit AppletViewer included on the Developer/2000 Server CD (version 1.1.4.8o). This AppletViewer
is based on version 1.1.4 from JavaSoft, but includes some fixes found only in the Oracle version. This version of JDK is installed with the Developer/2000 Java Support Files and runs on Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. When released, version 1.1.5 will provide client applet caching and therefore improve starting performance. This release may also fix some user interface issues. Check the Oracle web site at http://www.oracle.com/products/tools/dev2k/index.html for information on availability and compatibility of version 1.1.5. Verify that any new versions of JDK are compatible with Oracle Applications before installing them. We expect that a compatible version of Netscape Communicator 4.0 will be available soon after this release. When using Netscape Communicator, the client installation instructions will differ from the information in this document, and we will update these release notes at that time. Follow these steps to install the client software components on your PC: 1. Installing the AppletViewer The jdkav114.exe file is in the Oracle Home where you installed the Java Support Files from Developer/2000. You must access this file from the client PC to install the JDK. Copy the jdkav114.exe file to the client, and double click the file icon to start the self extracting installation. Choose a directory in which to install, such as C:\jdk. When the extraction finishes, the installation is complete. 2. Installing the Oracle Applications Certificate You install a certificate on each client PC to authorize that client to run Oracle Applications. The javakey executable is located in the bin subdirectory of the jdk directory, such as C:\jdk\bin. Make sure this javakey directory is in your path. To install the certificate, you also need access to two files located in the extras directory on your Release 10.7 NCA CD: OraApps.cer and appscert.bat. When you double click on appscert.bat, it uses the javakey program to install the certificate file, OraApps.cer, which is then used by the AppletViewer. 3. Setting the Browser Path The browser you specified in the HTML file earlier to view context sensitive help and web page attachments must be on each client path before starting the AppletViewer. Verify that the client path includes the directory containing this browser. 4. Starting the AppletViewer To start Oracle Applications using the AppletViewer, type: appletviewer J Djava.compiler=symcjit <URL> Page 8
For example: appletviewer J Djava.compiler=symcjit http://myserver.mydomain.com/oa/us/mydb.htm Note that the directory containing the AppletViewer, such as C:\jdk\bin, must be in your path before starting the AppletViewer. We recommend you create an icon to launch Oracle Applications. To create an icon, use the right mouse button to click on the desktop and then click Shortcut on the New menu. Enter the command to start Oracle Applications on the Command Line. Following the earlier example, you would enter: appletviewer J Djava.compiler=symcjit http://myserver.mydomain.com/oa/us/mydb.htm Click Next and name the shortcut, then click Finish. When the shortcut icon appears on the desktop, use the right mouse button to click this icon and then click Properties. Choose Minimized from the list in the Run area on the Shortcut tab, then click OK. Other Considerations This section contains information on other compatibility issues that may affect your Release 10.7 NCA installation. Using the Report Review Agent In this release, the only report review option is the Report Review form, and all Editor profile options are ignored. Note also that you cannot view postscript files or use the Copy File option on the Special menu in this initial release. Forms Generation Errors When using adadmin or adpatch to generate Forms files, the Forms Generator displays certain warning messages that can be ignored. These acceptable warning messages are listed in Appendix C of the Installation Manual. Even if you verify that the warning messages are acceptable, however, the Forms Generator still exits with an error status condition, which will cause adadmin and adpatch to prompt Do you want to continue with your previous session? when you restart them. If the warning messages in your last session were acceptable, choose No to this question, and then start a new adadmin or adpatch session. Page 9
Patch Sets The Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA Patch Sets CD contains patches you must apply for this release. In addition to the patches on this CD, you may require other patches or versions of these patches from Oracle Support Services. Follow the instructions supplied with these patches. Be sure to apply all patches for your installation before using Oracle Applications in production. APPL_TOP Location Product directories cannot be distributed across file systems, therefore be sure to have enough room for all product files in the file system that contains your APPL_TOP. Interoperability with Release 10SC We strongly recommend that you do not attempt to run both SmartClient and NCA on the same Release 10.7 installation. See Oracle Applications Release 10.7 NCA Migration Strategy for a discussion of interoperability issues between these two releases. Location of Java Files The adamin utility allows you to choose a location to install Java files, but defaults to $ORACLE_HOME/forms45/java. In this release, you must accept this default location and should not install Java files in any other directory. Load Balancing The Installation Manual refers you to the Oracle Developer/2000 Release 1.6: Deploying Applications on the Web manual for information on setting up the dynamic HTML file. While following the instructions in that manual, be sure to base your dynamic HTML file on the sample d.htm file supplied in this release, not on any other sample HTML files described in the Developer/2000 manual. Applications Desktop Integration Applications Desktop Integration products such as GLDI, Report exchange, ADE, and Projects Connect are unique releases separate from SmartClient or the Release 10.7 NCA. ADI products remain Microsoft Windows based products. Page 10
Excel Graphics in Oracle MRP Excel integration with Oracle MRP will remain a Microsoft Windows based feature only. Mandatory Technology Upgrade Oracle plans to provide a technology upgrade after this initial release. All customers running Release 10.7 NCA should apply this upgrade, which will include Oracle Developer/2000 Release 1.6.1, version 1.1.5 of the Java Developer s Kit AppletViewer, and a new version of the Application Object Library. Note that when you apply this upgrade, you will need to regenerate all forms. The technology upgrade will result in significant performance improvements in some areas of Oracle Applications. The following issues will be addressed when you complete the technology upgrade: Type Ahead Between Windows If you raise a window and then quickly type characters that are intended for the new window, some keystrokes may be delivered to the old window. Keystrokes will always be delivered correctly after you apply the upgrade. Menu and Button Access Keys In this release, access keys for activating menu items and buttons from the keyboard are not available. Note that accelerator keys (keyboard shortcuts), are available in this initial release, and these allow you to access most form functions. Menu Flickering Some actions, including opening and closing forms, may cause the toolbar window to resize temporarily as the menu is modified. Incorrect Labels on Menu Bar In this release, if items on the menu bar appear incorrectly labelled, make another form active and then return to the affected form. No Visible Indication of Default Button A default button still exist in most Oracle Applications windows, but is not clearly indicated on the screen in this initial release. Page 11
User Interface Differences from SmartClient If you used Release 10 SmartClient, note that the following implementations are different in Release 10.7 NCA: Function Key Mapping The Developer/2000 version supplied with Release 10.7 NCA provides improved mapping of function keys to actions. We implemented this to more closely match industry standards and to provide key mappings that work on more types of keyboards. If you are familiar with the key mappings provided in Release 10 SmartClient and want to continue using them, copy the fmrpcweb.res from the /extras directory on the Release 10.7 NCA CD to $ORACLE_HOME/forms45/admin/r esource/us/fmrweb.res. Backup the original fmrweb.res file for safekeeping before overwriting it. OLE Attachments The OLE Attachment functionality of Release 10SC has a different implementation in Release 10.7 NCA. The NCA release uses web page data types rather than OLE attachments. You can convert OLE data type attachments, such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word documents, to web page attachments, and you can also configure your browser to handle these file types. To convert the OLE document, launch the attachment from the Release 10SC form and then save the file to a common directory that can be accessed from a browser. For example, if the attachment is a Microsoft Word document, open the document from the Release 10SC form and then save the.doc file to a location you can later access from your Release 10.7 NCA application. To attach the file as a web page attachment, open the corresponding form in the Release 10.7 NCA application and click the attachment button. Then, in the Filename/URL field, enter the URL of the attachment file you saved. Once you save the form, the file is saved as a web page attachment. You can view the attachment with a helper application you configured in your browser. Long text and short text attachments work as they did in earlier releases. In this initial release, you can view attachments that exist on the server, but you cannot upload documents to the server. Page 12
Single Document Interface Release 10.7 NCA uses a Single Document Interface (SDI) presentation. With SDI, each window is separate. Release 10.7 NCA maintains a host window that contains the toolbar, status line, and message line, but it does not contain other windows. Accessing the Menu and Toolbar from Modal Windows When it is necessary to access menu items from within a modal window, a small grey menu button appears in the upper left corner of the window. Toolbar buttons are not available within modal windows. Modal windows require you to act on their contents before you can continue, usually by choosing OK or Cancel. Modal windows include list, error, and message windows. Bubble Help Bubble Help (pop up help windows that indicate the function of icons in the toolbar) is available in Oracle Applications SmartClient versions. Bubble Help is not available in Release 10.7 NCA. Product Limitations The following features of Release 10 SmartClient are not implemented in this release: Interrupting a Query In this release, halting queries requires closing the AppletViewer session. Use the Windows NT task manager or the Windows 95 Close Program dialog box to close the AppletViewer session. The server process will exit after the query completes, but you don t need to wait for this. You can establish a new connection to the server in the meantime without restarting Windows. Export Export of multi line blocks to Excel spreadsheets or to tab delimited files is not supported in this release. Printing from the Action Menu Printing from the Action menu is not supported in this release. To print a screen, capture the screen with the Alt PrintScreen key combination, paste the screen to an application such as Microsoft Word or Paint, and use the application s print command. Page 13
Through the Concurrent Manager, you can print the output from concurrent requests at the submission of the request. You can also print the output from an earlier request, if the Save Output feature was selected. Hierarchy Editors The initial release of Release 10.7 NCA does not support launching hierarchy editors, including the Object Navigator, from Forms. Clipboard Support Cut and paste between fields is not supported in this initial version. Troubleshooting This section explains display errors you may encounter and how to address them. Focus Cursor Lost After performing certain actions that involve selecting an item from the menu or the toolbar, it may not be apparent which field has the focus. Clicking back into the window that had focus before you took the action will usually make the focus cursor visible. Position of Navigator Window When you exit Oracle Applications, the screen coordinates of the Navigator window are stored in the database. When you connect to the same responsibility again, the Navigator window is positioned based on the saved coordinates. If you used the SmartClient release, the coordinates saved in the database may not be appropriate for Java. If your window is not fully visible on the screen, you can resolve it as follows: 1. On the Windows taskbar, right click the item that corresponds to the Navigator window. 2. Select Move from the menu that pops up. 3. Use the keyboard arrow keys to move the window to the desired position. 4. Exit Oracle Applications to save the new coordinates. Windows Appearing Behind Navigator Normally, when you open a form in the Navigator, the main window (results window) of the form appears in front of the Navigator. However, when opening a form causes an Organization LOV or Find window to appear alone before the results window is visible, the Page 14
results window may appear behind the Navigator instead. Clicking on the window will raise it to the front. Cursor in Current Window When Forms sets the mouse cursor to an hourglass, indicating that Forms is processing, the change applies only to the window that was active when the cursor was changed. If you move the mouse over other windows in the application, the mouse cursor appears as a pointer, even though Forms is still processing. Keystrokes in these other windows are not processed while Forms is processing, even though the lack of an hourglass cursor may lead you to think otherwise. Error Messages in MS DOS Window When Forms displays a window containing an error or informative message, the following messages appear in the MS DOS window from which the AppletViewer was started: File not found when looking for: oracle.ewt.alert.resource.alertbundle_en_us File not found when looking for: oracle.ewt.alert.resource.alertbundle_en File not found when looking for: oracle.ewt.alert.resource.alertbundle_en_us File not found when looking for: oracle.ewt.alert.resource.alertbundle_en These messages are harmless and can be ignored. Page 15
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