Forms Personalization

In this article, I would like to explain different possibilities of Forms Personalizations. Surely before explaining what can be done, first we will touch base upon what exactly it is.


Why was forms personalization introduced by Oracle in 11.5.10?
1. CUSTOM.pll is a programmatic methodology for extending Oracle Forms, even for trivial tasks.
2. Multiple developers working on same CUSTOM.pll could cause version related headaches

Does Forms Personalization replace CUSTOM.pll?
Not really, however it does provide an alternative to most common activities for which earlier one would use CUSTOM.pll
Forms personalization is driven by the same set of events as that for CUSTOM.pll.
Keep in mind that Oracle Forms Libraries first invoke the Forms Personalization, and then the CUSTOM.pll too for the same set of events.

How do I enable Forms Personalizations?
Enable the personalizations using the Help/Diagnostics menu.
What are the various components of Forms Personalizations?Different components of Oracle Forms Personalizations are listed below. You begin with recognizing which Triggers/Events that you wish to trap and under what conditions. The condition can be entered using the syntax as defined in the picture below.
What does the Action Tab do?Here you will either change form property, or display messages or enable menu etc.
Can I modify SQL Query behind the LOV using Forms Personalizations?Of course you can. In the below example I am restricting the LOV to less than 3records by introducing where rownum <3
Can I call a PL/SQL Stored procedure passing it form field variables?Yes, using the syntax below.
Note: You can also invoke FORMS_DDL built-in to perform DDL.
Can I call BuiltIn's? Indeed, as shown below, you can pick from all the form built-in's as below.