Handling Date Format and ADF Bindings

There are tips and tricks related to the date format handling and ADF bindings. When Oracle date type attribute is being used through ADF binding expression, it will be converted to String with default format (yyyy-MM-dd), no matter what original format was set. This is described in API for the Oracle date type - Date constructor with String. Below I'm going to explain how it works and how you could optimise ADF application to handle date type attributes from ADF bindings layer.

Sample application (download it here - DateFormatApp.zip) is based on one simple VO with calculated attributes, both oracle.jbo.domain.Date type:

ADF UI implementation is standard - there are ADF Input Date components with regular date converters:

There is a button on UI, it calls custom method implemented in VO and exposed through the bindings. This method accepts two parameters, both oracle.jbo.domain.Date type. I'm using regular binding expression and getting inputValue property (this returns formatted value of the date):

Try to invoke the method, you will get an error about invalid argument - binding expression with date attribute is not accepted. It is trying to use formatted value dd/MM/yyyy and set it for the custom method argument value, but Oracle date accepts only yyyy-MM-dd (I'm using Alta UI skin):

Error message is written in the log:

The workaround is to use attributeValue instead of inputValue in the binding expression. Property attributeValue returns original unformatted date type attribute value:

Do the same test again, type both dates and press Test Dates button - this would work now:

I'm checking out date values in the custom method. Originally it comes unformatted date value, taken from attributeValue property. If we would like to use date value in the certain format (e.g. send to PL/SQL in format dd/MM/yyyy, instead of default yyyy-MM-dd), we should apply DefaultDateFormatter to retrieve the formatted String value for the original date:

Here is the output from the custom method:

ADF BC View Object SQL Query Customization with MDS

This post is based on my previous article about MDS Seeded Customization - MDS Seeded Customization Approach with Empty External Project. Today I will focus on explaining how to customise SQL query for read-only VO. This is not so obvious as it sounds. However, it is doable - I will explain how.

Sample application - MDSCustomizationsApp_v2.zip contains both main and customisation projects. Main project implements read-only VO for Jobs data, it doesn't include Job Title attribute:

This is how SQL query looks for such VO in the wizard:

We should take a look into the source code, SQL query is defined by SQLQuery tag. Tag doesn't have ID, this would disable tag customisation using JDEV MDS wizards:

No matter there is no ID set, we still could customise it - I will show you how. Here is the example of SQL query customisation stored in MDS customisation file. Firstly you should remove SQL query completely from VO and then add it again (this will create two entries in MDS customisation file). Once SQL query is written to the MDS customisation file, we can change it as we would like to - Job Title attribute is added to the SQL statement:

We need to add separately VO attribute for Job Title, this can be done through JDEV MDS customisation wizard. Make sure to set IsSelected=true property, otherwise attribute will not be set from the query:

You should drag and drop Job Title attribute from Data Control into the fragment, this will generate binding entry in the page definition file:

UI component for Job Title will be generated as ADF Faces output text:

You should notice on runtime customised SQL statement executed, this statement would include Job Title added through MDS customisation:

Job Title value is fetched and displayed on UI:

Video and Slides - Data Caching Strategies for Oracle Mobile Application Framework

I have recorded a video tutorial, based on my OOW'14 session - Data Caching Strategies for Oracle Mobile Application Framework. ADF developers who could not attend OOW'14 in San Francisco, this is for you !

Here you can view the slides:

Data Caching Strategies for Oracle Mobile Application Framework

Watch the first part of the tutorial:

Watch the second part of the tutorial:

Described solution is based on the sample application from the blog post - Transactional Data Caching for ADF Mobile MAF Application.

Workaround for ADF 12c Choice List Blank Selection Issue

I would like to share a workaround for Choice List component in ADF 12c. There is specific issue, related to blank selection - as soon as user selects blank selection in the choice list, it starts to invoke value change listener for that list, each time when any other element is selected in the table. This is quite annoying and could lead to unexpected results, especially if you depend on logic implemented in value change listener.

Workaround is implemented in the sample application - ADFChoiceList12cApp.zip. We should take a look first, how it works without workaround applied. Imagine you have a table and one of the columns implements a choice list. Go and select a blank selection for a couple of rows:

Navigate between rows, do couple of clicks - you should notice in the log information about value change listener invoked. This is quite strange, it should not call value change listener each time, just only first time after selection was changed in the list:

Choice list UI component is set with AutoSubmit=true and assigned with value change listener method:

Choice list is configured with blank item selection in ADF BC:

To apply workaround, go and uncheck blank item selection in ADF BC, make sure checkbox for 'Include No Selection Item' is unchecked:

On UI side, provide any value for UnselectedLabel property of the choice list component, this will generate property in the source (alternatively you could just type it manually directly in the source):

Make sure UnselectedLabel property is set to be blank, this will generate blank item on the runtime (it works much better than the one enabled from ADF BC):

User could navigate through the table, there will be no value change listener triggered anymore (besides one time, when value was actually changed):

Exciting as usual - new features and new bugs :)

New Alta UI for ADF UI Shell Application

I have applied new Alta UI for customised ADF UI Shell application. Customised version of ADF UI Shell is taken from my previous blog post - ADF UI Shell Usability Improvement - Tab Contextual Menu. Old application with new Alta UI looks fresh and clean. Runtime performance is improved - ADF transfers less content to the browser, this makes application load and run faster.

Here you can download my sample application with Alta UI applied to ADF UI Shell - MultiTaskFlowApp_v12c.zip.

All three ADF UI Shell tabs are opened and Master-Detail data is displayed in this example:

New style is applied for LOV component and buttons, making all buttons and controls more visible and natural:

Customized ADF UI Shell supports tab menu - user can close current tab or other tabs:

There was a change in 12c related to the tab menu, we need to set align ID property differently. You can see this change in ADF UI Shell template file - Java Script function gets tab ID to align directly from component client ID property:

Alta UI is applied simply by changing a skin name in trinidad file:

This hidden gem was packaged with current JDEV 12.1.3 release, you don't need to download anything extra.

New ADF Alta UI for ADF UI Shell

New skin for ADF in 12c looks great, I have applied it for one of my sample application with ADF UI Shell and it works smoothly. Check Oracle documentation how to apply Alta UI, really easy.

ADF UI Shell with Alta UI - clean and light:

REST Support for ADF BC in 12c

Frank Nimphius have announced REST support for ADF BC feature on OOW today. Probably this functionality will be available in the next JDeveloper 12c update release.

Once REST will be enabled for Application Module, new XML definition file and project will be created. Here you can see how new wizard will look like for REST definition on top of ADF BC: