Oracle Forms

Oracle Forms started as Interactive Application Facility (IAF), which had two main components: the compiler (Interactive Application Generator - IAG) and the runtime interpreter (Interactive Application Processor - IAP). Released with the first Oracle Database version 2 (there was no version 1), IAF provided a character mode interface to allow users to enter and query data from an Oracle database.

It was renamed to FastForms with Oracle Database version 4 and added an additional tool to help generate a default form to edit with IAG, the form editor.

It was renamed a third time to SQL*Forms version 2 along with the Oracle 5 database version.

Forms 2.0 did not have a form editor with a screen painter so forms were maintained by editing the text based *.INP file

Forms 2.3 was a major improvement as it added a screen painter. This release was character-based and the development and runtime was typically in a terminal. The source file was an *.INP ASCII file and was edited using the screen painter, however the file was an ASCII file and editing this file directly in a text editor was a common practise due to the limitations of the form editor.

This version of Forms did not include the PL/SQL language and instead it used its own custom language based on trigger steps. The language was more primitive than the PL/SQL language that was available in SQL*Plus. The limited language was augmented by user exits that compiled language code linked to the binary of the Oracle-provided run-time.

Forms 2.3 was used as the basis for the Oracle Financials accounting package. As a result, 2.3 remained in use long after Forms 3 and 4 became available in order to support customer forms that were created to integrate with Oracle Financials.

Oracle Forms 3 was the first version to allow PL/SQL to be used within Forms triggers and procedures. PL/SQL Functions could also be used as an undocumented feature.

Forms 3 was a character mode application and was primarily used in terminals such as Digital VT220 and PCs running Microsoft DOS. It could run under X but did not support any X interface-specific features such as checkboxes, so it was basically a character mode application running in a GUI window.

Although a mouse could be used to click on fields, there were no mouse specific triggers (such as when-mouse-doubleclick) available in this release

The source file was an *.INP ASCII file. The runtime file was an *.FRM binary file.

The IDE was greatly improved to allow editing of PL/SQL code and this reduced the common practise of editing the INP source file directly.

Forms 3 automatically generated Forms triggers and code to support some database constraints such as primary keys and foreign keys. Constraints could be defined, but not enforced in the Oracle 6 database at this time, so Oracle used Forms 3 to claim that it supported constraints in its technology stack.

Oracle Forms version 4.0 was the first true GUI based version of the product that supported GUI elements such as checkboxes and radio groups in the Forms editor and at runtime.

Although not publicly advertised, a character-based runtime was still available for certain customers on request.

The arrival of Microsoft Windows 3 and competitive products running under Windows forced Oracle to release this GUI version of Forms for commercial reasons. Forms 4.0 accompanied Oracle database version 6 with support for Microsoft Windows and X Windows.

A new IDE was introduced in this version. Each type of object had an editor window that was optimised for it, so the field editor looked quite different to the window editor. These would be abandoned in the next release and replaced with property sheets that were made popular with Visual Basic.

The 4.0 source files were *.FMB for forms, *.PLL for libraries and *.OLB for object libraries The 4.0 runtime files were *.FMX for forms, *.PLX for libraries. *.OLB files were compiled into the FMX.

The Oracle Financials software suite did not use this version of Forms and instead continued to use Forms 2.3.

Oracle Forms version 4.5 was really a major release rather than a "point release" of 4.0 despite its ".5" version number. It was named 4.5 in order to meet contractual obligations to support Forms 4 for a period of time for certain clients so it could market 4.5 as being a patch to 4.0, even though a full install was required, rather than upgrading 4.0 to 4.5 with a patch.

This version contained significant functional changes and a brand new IDE, replacing the IDE that was introduced in 4.0. It added GUI-based triggers, and provided a modern IDE with an object navigator, property sheets and code editor. This design had become popular at the time due to its use by Microsoft Visual Basic.

The development environment has changed very little since this release, so a software developer that is experienced with Forms 4.5 can easily work on any version of Forms up to the latest version.

Oracle Forms version 5 accompanied Oracle database version 7.

Forms 6 was released with Oracle 8.0 database and was rereleased as Forms 6i with Oracle 8i. This version was basically Forms 4.5 with some extra wizards and bug-fixes. It included the facility to run inside a web server. A Forms Server was supplied to solve the problem of adapting Oracle Forms to a three-tier, browser-based delivery, without incurring major changes in its programmatic interface. The complex, highly interactive form interface was provided by a Java applet which communicated directly with the Forms server. However the web version did not work very well over HTTP. A fix from Forms 9i was retrofitted to later versions of 6i to address this.

The naming and numbering system applied to Oracle Forms underwent several changes due to marketing factors, without altering the essential nature of the product. The ability to code in Java, as well as PL/SQL, was added in this period.

The version number jumped straight from 6 to 9 in order to keep the number the same as the Oracle database version released at a similar time.

Forms 9i included many bug fixes to 6i and was known as a good stable version. Support was removed for Windows client-server runtime, character-based interfaces and instead the three-tier, web browser based user interface is the only deployment option. The ability to import java classes means that it can act as a web service client.

Starting with this release the version number of Oracle Forms moving forward would keep in synch with the Oracle database version. As a result, version 8 as skipped and the version number jumped to 9

After this release, there were very few product changes made besides keeping the version number in sync with the Oracle database.

Forms 10g is actually Forms version 9.0.4, so is merely a rebadged Forms 9i.

Forms 11 included some new features, relying on Oracle AQ to allow it to interact with JMS.

Java Web Start allows users to run Oracle Forms applications without having a parent web browser. Although a browser may be used to initially obtain the application's Java Web Start launcher file (.jnlp), the browser is not responsible for hosting the application and can be closed after the application has been started. JWS supports Internet Explorer, Firefox ESR, Chrome, Edge.