ADF 12c New Groovy API to Work with View Object Methods

I have interesting topic to share - new Groovy API in ADF to work with View Object, apply View Criteria, execute it. I have discovered it while experimenting with new features and functionality in ADF 12c. Starting from ADF 12.2.1, we have an option to code Groovy in separate file with extension .bcs - ADF BC Groovy Improvements in ADF 12.2.1. This makes sense especially with this new Groovy API - it is more convenient to code/maintain more complex Groovy logic in separate file. As Oracle docs say - Groovy runs faster when it is coded in separate .bcs file, probably there is no need to parse XML to extract and execute expression.

Sample application - GroovyADFApp.zip, contains Groovy implementation for Employees EO:

There is validation rule for Salary attribute coded in Groovy:

Let's take a look into Groovy method, we can open it in .bcs file - for more convenient to review/edit:

1. Method newView gets instance of Jobs VO, within Employees EO context. To get instance of VO with newView, it needs to be defined for programmatic access. This can be done in Model.jpx file, Groovy section.

2. Method copyNamedViewCriteria returns instance of predefined View Criteria. You need to set property ExtAllowUntrustedScriptAccess=true for View Criteria to be accessible in Groovy:

3. Method setViewVariable allows to set value for bind variable from VO. As a rule, bind variable must be assigned with ExtAllowUntrustedScriptAccess=true to be accessible in Groovy.

Let's see how it works on runtime. First it gets VO instance, applies bind variable value and then executes VO. Based on predefined logic, if row is returned - validation is successful:

When validation fails - message is returned:

This Groovy API can be useful when you need to access VO and execute logic directly from Groovy script, without coding Java method.