Running Pre-built Virtual Machine for SOA Suite and BPM Suite 11g PS5 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8)

Actually this is not about Virtual Machine for SOA and BPM Suite 11g PS5 - it works great, but rather about how to run Virtual Box on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Virtual Box grants memory based on host computer settings, this means if host computer is 32-bit - you are not able to grant more than 3.5 GB - this is not enough to run pre-build image.

My MacBook Pro is 64-bit machine, it runs Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8). This OS starts by default in 32-bit mode, even hardware is capable to run in 64-bit mode. If someone runs similar environment, it may confuse you when trying to use Virtual Box - pre-built image will not take more than 3.5 GB memory. But there is a trick, during Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8) booting, press 6 and 4 keyboard buttons - it will load Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8) kernel in 64-bit mode, you will be able to grant much more memory. Read more about this on Apple support site.


From System Software Overview you can check in which mode your MacBook is running, in my case by default 64-bit mode is not enabled:

With default config, Virtual Box is able to access only 3.5 GB memory:

After MacBook reboot with 6 and 4 keys - 64-bit mode becomes enabled:

I'm able to grant required memory - 6 GB:

Troubleshooting ADF Security 11g Login Page Failure

ADF Security 11g login page failure is fairly common problem - I'm getting questions about this time to time and facing it myself from project to project. One of the most common problems - during first page access, ADF Security redirects to login page and it starts infinite redirect loop - login page is not loaded and application is blocked. If you are getting this error, make sure Anonymous application role is granted to login page definition, this means ADF will be able to load it for unauthenticated users. Read more about it here - Things You Must Know About ADF Faces Login Page. But there is something more to this, if you are still getting infinite loop when trying to login into ADF application - I will describe today what else you should check.

ADF 11g login page failure might be happening if page definition files were refactored incorrectly. Specifically, if login page definition property - package, points to the wrong package structure. ADF Security configuration wizard - jazn-data.xml is reading page definition file location by scanning package property, not by real package structure. If this property is set with incorrect value, there are no errors during design time, but there will be runtime errors - login page will not be loaded, protected ADF pages will return unauthorized error. ADF developer may spend quite a lot of time troubleshooting this, reason for such problem is not obvious. I will try to save your time :)

Download sample application where ADF Security works and login page is loading correctly - SecurityFormLogin_v5.zip.

Let's describe it in detail - if you are facing something like this, ADF login page redirect is in infinite loop:

Go to ADF security configuration wizard - jazn-data.xml and first thing make sure Anonymous role is granted to login page:

If Anonymous role is not graned, grant it:

Now double check previous screenshot. Do you see something tricky? Please think 5 minutes and read further if you managed to spot a trick. Just joking - let me describe it.

Take a look into application package structure in the left side. You will see that page definition folder is under folder name - custom. Now take a look and check jazn-data.xml Resources section - you can see there com.redsamurai.view.pageDefs package definition. Same name is available from the source view of jazn-data.xml:

Name - custom is not included and there is no error on design time. But on runtime, login page infinite loop will happen:

In my case, developers were refactoring their project and moving page definitions into different folder - its why package structure was changed. However, not all occurrences of package naming was refactored by JDeveloper automatically - refactoring is always a tough task.

I opened page definition for login page and package property was pointing to the old folder structure without custom folder name:

Fixed it to point to the correct folder structure:

Reopened jazn-data.xml wizard screen - now it shows correct package names for page definition files, because package property was updated:

Before granting permissions, make sure to cleanup previous invalid entries. Open source mode for jazn-data.xml and delete permissions defined based on invalid page definition structure:

Grant required permissions now:

Double check it is granted correctly from the source mode also:

Login page is loaded successfully:

Protected ADF page is loaded for authorized users:

Must-Attend Oracle Event in Europe - Fusion Middleware Summer Camps–advanced partner trainings

Make sure not to miss Fusion Middleware Summer Camps organized by Juergen Kress. I can confirm - Oracle training events organized by Juergen are the best. These training events are typically very well structured and consist lots of technical information. If you are looking for no marketing, but real technical training - go to Fusion Middleware Summer Camps.

More info and registration details read on Juergen's blog - Fusion Middleware Summer Camps & advanced partner trainings.

Available seats are limited - my advice is to register fast.

Design Mode is Broken in JDeveloper 11g R2 IDE (11.1.2.2.0)

If you are using Design mode to edit ADF Faces screens in JDeveloper 11g IDE - keep in mind that Design mode is not functioning properly in the latest JDev 11g R2 (11.1.2.2.0). It breaks when you try to display ADF Faces screen in Design mode - renders blank white. It happens randomly, but quite often. If you are not using Design mode - no problem, but I know some developers who prefer to work in Design mode while editing ADF Faces screens. If so - you should stay on JDev 11g R2 (11.1.2.1.0) or wait for the next version.

Blank screen of the death for Design mode in JDev 11g R2 (11.1.2.2.0):

But there are good news also. Wrong bean scope assignment bug is fixed in JDev 11g R2 (11.1.2.2.0). Read more about it - JDeveloper 11g R2 Bug - Wrong Scope for Managed Bean.

ADF Query Search and Results Form

This post is update for promised additional functionality based on my previous post - CRUD Use Case Implementation and ADF Query Search. I will describe use case to display search results, when ADF Query is implemented together with ADF Form. This is just one of possible implementations, but I believe it can be useful when planning Oracle Forms migration to ADF 11g.

You can download updated sample application - ADFPageOpening_v3.zip.

In previous version of this sample, when searching result was presented in single row. In order to see additional results, user was using Next/Previous buttons to navigate through result set. This is not user friendly:

Much better can be to open popup with multiple results after performing search operation - this will allow user to select required row from the list and see it displayed in the single record form block in the background:

There is Show More button displayed in the form block. User can open same multiple results block later using this button and select another record from the list.

If there is only one result record - popup will not be displayed and Show More button is hidden:

This logic is implemented inside overriden search action listener, where we check how many rows are in result set. If there are more than 1 row found, it will open multiple results popup immediately after search operation is completed:

There is Show More button, it opens same popup and is rendered if there is more than 1 row in result set:

All described enhancements are available with sample application - enjoy!

CRUD Use Case Implementation and ADF Query Search

One of the most important topics to research when rewriting legacy Oracle Forms system into Oracle ADF 11g/Oracle Fusion is how to implement CRUD operations in smooth way for the new system. CRUD operations play one of the central roles for Oracle Forms and Oracle ADF applications, because most of the applications implemented with Oracle Forms and Oracle ADF are designed to process/maintain data. CRUD implementation should be efficient for usability and performance. With today post I will provide updated sample application based on old post from 2009 - Oracle ADF Tuning: Preventing SQL Query Execution on Page Load. I have improved handling of Rollback operation when executing ADF Query search operation.

Download sample application - ADFPageOpening_v2.zip.

Generally I would recommend such flow for CRUD implementation:

1. CRUD screen must have ADF Query block and CRUD operations
2. CRUD screen must be opened with applied executeEmptyRowSet() - to prevent default SQL query
3. On page load CRUD screen must insert new blank record
4. ADF Query must rollback pending changes

Updated sample application implements all 4 recommendations, it handles 4th recommendation in much better way comparing to original from 2009. With my next posts, I will provide more improvements for CRUD use case implementation - stay tuned. Below is description for current updated sample app.

As per original sample app, users would get standard ADF validation errors when hitting Search and having form with newly inserted blank row. This is logical - ADF Query would try to refresh new row and it will fail because of validation errors:

Let's look how we can fix it and implement better user experience for CRUD/Search. There are number of steps to follow how to refactor original application - I will describe now step by step.

Firstly select ADF Query component in Structure window:

With ADF Query component selected - clear ResultComponentId property value. This will prevent declarative refresh of CRUD form and will not trigger early validation for required fields - its what we need for this specific use case:

Refresh for results block will be triggered later - programmatically.

Next make sure we are using CreateInsert operation to insert blank empty row, and now Create operation (original app is using Create). With CreateInsert applied, there will be no validation errors after executing ADF Query:

Once user invokes search operation from ADF Query, we want to intercept this action and call Rollback (to clear inserted blank row). We can do this through ADF Query Listener, it can be overriden in the backing bean:

Here we have overriden ADF Query Listener code in backing bean. It checks if there are any pending transactions available and executes Rollback operation only in the case of dirty data present. Next it calls original ADF Query operation to perform Search action and triggers programmatic refresh for the results block:

It works perfectly now. CRUD screen is opened with blank row - optimized for fast page load:

User press Search button - Rollback operation is called from custom ADF Query Listener, blank row is removed and Search result is displayed:

Oracle OpenWorld 2012 - Accepted Papers

Good news this week - two abstracts are accepted for Oracle OpenWorld 2012.

Session ID: CON2785
Session Title: Oracle ADF Implementations Around the Globe: Best Practices

With this session I will present our ADF 11g projects around the globe and will discuss most common patterns we see for ADF 11g best and bad practices development. It will be mostly technical session, ADF 11g system demo's will be included.

Session ID: CON2787
Session Title: Oracle Business Process Management/Oracle ADF Integration Best Practices

I will be happy to present this session together with my colleague from Opitz Consulting - Danilo Schmiedel. We will be presenting our technical methodology how to plan, structure and implement BPM/ADF projects.

See you in San Francisco this year again :-) Photo of Golden Gate Bridge taken by Juergen Kress - Oracle SOA Community: