Oracle Forms

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Açıklaması şöyle. Oracle Forms yerine APEX kullanılmalı

A Little Bit of History
Oracle Forms is a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool that allows you to create data entry systems that use database objects (mostly information) from the Oracle Database. It uses the popular PL/SQL language. While originally Forms was a standalone product, currently, it’s a component of Oracle Fusion Middleware.

The first version of Oracle Forms was known by a different name — Interactive Application Facility (IAF) — and saw the light of day in 1981 (along with the second iteration of the Oracle Database). IAF was later renamed to FastForms and then SQL*Forms, which is where the current name comes from (it came along with version 4.0). The very first variant of this technology was only comprised of a compiler and a runtime interpreter, but it quickly grew and evolved.

The main reason Forms got popular is the relative simplicity and ease of use. Creating Oracle Forms applications is a very natural process — anyone with basic SQL and PL/SQL knowledge can handle it. The work usually comes down to modifying so-called triggers, which are event-handling functions used to generate specific effects (i.e., opening a form after a button is pressed, etc.). Because of this, many things can be done without or with minimal coding. You can also change the form layouts using object libraries.

The newest “big” version of Oracle Forms was delivered along with Fusion Middleware 12c and was released in October 2015. It’s commonly known as Oracle Forms 12c, but it’s worth pointing out that it has received several updates since its release — the current Forms version is 12.2.1.4.0 (dated September 2019).

In the Oracle Forms Statement of Direction from a year ago, the company openly states it has no plans for completely dropping support for Oracle Forms. However, the level of the provided support is another matter. Premier Support for Fusion Middleware 12c (and, thus, Oracle Forms 12c) will end in December 2023 (and Extended Support is next in line, ending in August 2025).

What’s more, Oracle Forms isn’t a future-proof technology. It won’t provide you with functionalities and features typical for current, cutting-edge web apps. It’s also hard to find people who can work with it effectively since young developers concentrate on other solutions for obvious reasons.

All of the above means that if you want your Oracle Forms-based software to stay stable and useful, you should start thinking about moving to another, more up-to-date technology now.