Oracle ADF on Docker Container

Want to run Oracle ADF on Docker? This is possible, I will explain how. If you are new to Docker, it may require to spend significant amount of time to get started with all different bits and pieces. I will try to explain all essential steps, so that you will get up to speed quickly.

First of all you need to have DB accessible, check my previous post explaining how to run Oracle DB on Docker - Oracle Database Docker Image in Docker Cloud (Digital Ocean). DB is required to install RCU schema for WebLogic installation with JRF files.

I have built my own Oracle Fusion Middleware Docker image using Oracle Docker images - Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure on Docker.

First step is to build Oracle JDK (Server JRE) image, this is pre-requisite to build Oracle Fusion Middleware Docker image. Read through instructions documented on Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure on Docker GitHub page. You should navigate to Oracle Java folder (download Oracle Docker files from GitHub link mentioned above) and copy there JDK installation file:

Run command to create JDK Docker image:

./build.sh

Command output:

Double check to verify if image was created successfully by running docker images command:

Let's move on to Oracle FMW image creation. Navigate to Oracle FMW folder and copy FMW infrastructure installation file (I'm installing 12.2.1.3):

Move one folder up and run command:

./buildDockerImage.sh -s -v 12.2.1.3

To build Oracle FMW image. I use flag -s to skip checksum verification for installation file. You should run command from this folder:

You will see long output in the log for this command:

It installs WLS into Docker image:

Run docker images command to verify if image was created successfully:

In the next step, we will create FMW domain and extend it with ADF support. But before that we need to make sure DB details are set correctly, to be able to install RCU schema. Oracle provides infraDomain file with DB and WLS properties, make sure to set correct DB details. If properties are not correct, RCU creation will fail:

Execute docker run command to startup WLS Docker container. During first start up it will create and extend WLS domain with ADF support:

docker run -d -p 7001:7001 --name RedSamuraiWLS --env-file ./infraDomain.env.list oracle/fmw-infrastructure:12.2.1.3

Flag -d means container will run in detached mode and we will be able to return to command prompt. Port with name is specified along with environment properties file. Make sure to reference FMW image which was created in the step above. Once control is returned back to the prompt, run docker command to check status of docker container (flag -a means to show all containers):

docker ps -a

Container should be in the running state. First startup takes longer, because it requires to setup and extend WLS domain:

Once domain is extended, you will see WebLogic starting:

Finally WebLogic should be in Running state:

Run again docker ps -a command to verify container state, it should be up and running:

Once WLS machine is up, you can navigate to Enterprise Manager through URL from outside of Docker container, for example from your host. Login to EM and you will see Admin server is up, but Managed Server is down. There is a way to startup Managed Server too, but if you want to run ADF apps for DEV environment, realistically speaking Admin server is more than enough for deployment too:

Simply delete (this cab done from EM) Managed Server and cluster, keep only Admin Server:

I have deployed sample ADF application:

This application is based on ADF BC, data source is defined too:

ADF application runs from WebLogic on Docker:

Now lets see how to push newly created container to Docker registry.

First we need to create new Docker image from Docker container. This can be done with docker commit command (pointing to container ID and specifying Docker repository name and tag):

docker commit da03e52b42a2 abaranovskis/redsamurai-wls:v1

Run docker images command to verify new image is created successfully. Next run docker login to authenticate with Docker repository. Run docker push to write image to Docker repository:

docker push abaranovskis/redsamurai-wls:v1

Commands execution sequence:

Pushed image should appear in docker repository:

Once image is in Docker online repository, we can startup online Docker container, so that WLS will be accessible online. This can be done through command line or using Docker Cloud UI interface. You can create new container by referencing image from Docker repository:

Our WLS docker container with ADF support runs on Digital Ocean:

Logs are accessible from Docker Cloud UI and you can see server status:

Oracle Database Docker Image in Docker Cloud (Digital Ocean)

Red Samurai is using Docker for our internal development environment. We are running Oracle Database and WebLogic server (with ADF support) on Docker Cloud. It is much easier to manager Docker containers than to maintain our own server.

In this post I will describe how to setup Oracle Database in Docker Cloud. Of course you could run Docker container locally on your machine, but main power of Docker comes with the option to be able to run container in the Cloud.

If you are new to Docker and Docker Cloud, it is very easy to be lost - there are so many various blogs and articles, hard to understand from where to start. I would recommend to start from Get Started, Part 1: Orientation and setup tutorial. You will learn most of the important Docker commands and push Docker image to the registry. Next check this tutorial - Create your first service. It describes how to create Cloud Node through Docker Cloud interface. Keep in mind - Docker itself doesn't run Docker Container, it provides connectors to various Cloud providers for Docker - Azure, Amazon, Digital Ocean, etc. I did some research and it looks like Digital Ocean is the best option to run Docker container - pricing model is straightforward, registration and management processes are simple and clear.

First step should be to create Docker Node in Docker Cloud (you must be connected to Cloud provider). Here is the info for our Digital Ocean node instance:

Node creation process is straightforward. Once node is created, it becomes part of Node cluster:

Docker Cloud node creation process triggers droplet (Cloud instance) creation in Digital Ocean. This process takes around 5 minutes in total.

Digital Ocean provides very nice UI to manage and monitor droplet:

Graphs to monitor droplet performance:

Digital Ocean provides option to run administration console directly in the browser, without even using separate SSH connection (this is very convenient for quick administration).

I found it to be the easiest way to create Oracle DB docker image in Digital Cloud droplet by executing docker run command directly in droplet administration console. I'm using official Oracle Database Enterprise Edition Docker image.

With docker run command, i can pull and run Docker image (referencing official Oracle DB Docker registry). Where detach=true means container will run without blocking console:

docker run --detach=true --name RedSamuraiDB -p 1521:1521 -p 5500:5500 -e ORACLE_SID=RedSamuraiDB -e ORACLE_PDB=ORCLPDB1 store/oracle/database-enterprise:12.2.0.1

Command is executed from Digital Ocean droplet console:

Image is downloaded directly from Docker Store into Digital Ocean droplet:

With docker run command, image is not only downloaded, but also container is started. We can execute docker ps -l to see if container was started successfully:

Finally we need to reset default password (Oradoc_db1) set for Oracle DB Docker container. This can be done by logging into sqlplus from Digital Ocean droplet console. First we need to enter into Docker container prompt by executing (use Docker container name):

docker exec -it RedSamuraiDB bash

Execute:

ALTER USER SYS IDENTIFIED BY newpass
ALTER USER SYSTEM IDENTIFIED BY newpass

DB is accessible from outside:

This brings power of Docker - Oracle DB setup in few minutes.

Takeaways from OOW'17

Let's summarise important points from OOW'17 conference. This year conference was a breakthrough for Oracle JET - most of Oracle Cloud UI's were implemented with Oracle JET. Oracle ADF is used for Oracle SaaS (Fusion Middleware) back office applications, same as before. There is often misunderstanding in JET vs. ADF comparison. Keep in mind - JET is only UI layer and it can be compared with ADF Faces only. While ADF is much more than UI - ADF BC Model, ADF Task Flows and ADF Bindings.

1. Use JET for front-end apps, with relatively simple complexity but strong requirement for performance and scalability. Back-end can be implemented with ADF BC REST. Typically it would take longer to implement JET UI comparing to ADF Faces (no drag and drop support, unless using Visual Cloud Builder Service for JET)

2. Use ADF Faces for complex and large back-office applications. Some degree of mix between ADF Faces and JET is possible. Back-end should be done in ADF BC

ADF is stable technology and Oracle is focusing to advertise new things on OOW. Recommended focus for ADF developers was around JCS, DevCS, JET and VBCS:

There was one session about how to move existing ADF app into the cloud with JCS. And session about ADF BC REST, no new features - mainly showing customer system implementation with current features.

JET open source contribution was announced, along with new JET offline support - persistence toolkit (will be available through NPM in next couple of weeks):

Oracle explained why handling offline use case in JET is important:

Persistence toolkit will run on JET hybrid, web and desktop apps (yes you can run JET as desktop app, with 3-rd party Electron plugin):

Here you can read more detail info about persistent toolkit design principles:

JET supports Fetch API (used by persistence toolkit):

Architecture explanation for JET persistence toolkit:

Another hot topic related to JET - Web components. Slots are supported, this allows to build advanced Web components with dedicated facets (ADF Faces terminology):

OOW'17 was packed with chatbot demos. Unfortunately there is no trial access for chatbot cloud yet. There was good session about chatbots from Lyudmil Pelov - he explained how Oracle chatbot service and language processing works:

I was impressed with Oracle Visual Cloud Builder Service progress this year. I really liked this service and I think it will become JET IDE development tool. Is not focused for business users only, but is targeted for JET developers too. It comes with embedded DB or you can call external services too. Next versions will allow direct JET code development, combined with drag and drop:

Develop JET in VBCS using drag and drop where possible and code additional logic in JS/HTML:

VBCS is not targeted for business users anymore, they target it for coders (us) too - thats news I like:

RDK UI is available now for ADF, JET and MAF. ADF RDK was updated to newer version. ADF and JET RDK UI look is identical.

New ADF RDK UI:

JET RDK UI:

Machine Learning was another big thing on OOW and JavaOne. Nice to hear things I was studying in university about neural networks are becoming hype now:

JVM garbage collection tuning. Is better to have objects to be dead young. This means in ADF is better to use Backing Bean Scope where possible, because short scope bean is destroyed after request and this allows VM to clean memory:

ADF BC REST Service from ADF Library JAR

I had assignment to enable ADF BC REST for existing ADF application, which was developed with multiple ADF libraries. ADF BC REST was supposed to be enabled for one of the ADF libraries and then accessed through Master application. All ADF BC REST samples usually show how to enable REST inside Master application itself. I was curious if it will work to enable ADF BC REST and package it into ADF library, which is consumed from Master application. It worked and I would like to share sample app.

Sample app is based on two JDEV projects - library and master applications. Library application contains ADF BC REST implementation for Employees VO:

ADF Library is generated out of ViewController project, ADF BC REST is packaged through dependency:

Model (enabled with ADF BC support) project in Master application imports ADF library:

Run Master application by running REST project. There is improvement in JDEV 12.2.1.3 comparing to 12.2.1.2 - re-deployment works even if dependent ADF library was changed (this is very useful fix - saves a lot of time during development):

REST response is received:

Download sample application - adfbcrest.zip.

Oracle JET List Implementation based on WorkBetter Alta UI

During weekend I was playing with JET WorkBetter sample app. I thought it would be nice to extract People list UI into my own app - so that it will be easy to reuse this UI pattern in our own JET applications. I succeeded to achieve my goal and would like to share WorkBetter Alta UI list sample with you.

This is how my own JET list UI looks like, based on sample app:

Header block is implemented in separate div, this contains title and toolbar for buttons. List content is rendered out of template located in its own div:

Template renders JET list component. List in turn is based based on item template:

Item template defines list row content and structure - through set of JET and custom CSS styles. Data attributes are referenced directly from template structure:

For this sample I'm using basic set of mock data defined in JS module, but obviously it can fetch data from REST service too:

Set of custom styles (created based on WorkBetter example) is located in override.css file within JET application structure:

Sample JET list application can be downloaded from GitHub - jetlistapp.

To build this application, I was using JET CLI commands. Especially useful I found options to strip application leaving only sources and then to restore JET environment - this helps to share code.

Here is the sequence of commands how I was using JET CLI:

ojet create jetlistapp --template=navdrawer (creates JET application)

ojet serve (runs JET application)

ojet strip (removes all files except your sources)

ojet restore (brings back JET environment, after application was stripped)

ojet serve (you can run application again, after it was restored)

Oracle JET Simple Table with Fake JSON Server

What if you want to build JET UI, but there is no back-end REST service ready yet. You could use static JSON data inside JET app and load it from the JSON file. This works, but data retrieval logic will need to be changed after REST service will be ready. This is not productive. Ideally you would like to have fake REST service to simulate REST calls from JET UI, until real REST back-end is ready.

This can be achieved with JSON Server. It provides full fake REST API to be used by front-end client. It is extremely easy to setup JSON Server with NPM. Run npm install to setup JSON Server:

npm install -g json-server

Create simple JSON file with data structure - this will be served from JSON Server:

Run JSON Server with this command, pointing to JSON file:

json-server --watch db.json

You should see REST endpoint URL displayed in the log. Use this URL in JET application to define collection:

JET CollectionTableDataSource can be created on top of collection backed by REST:

JET UI table component renders data directly from CollectionTableDataSource:

Table UI is rendered based on REST call:

To verify REST call, go to developer console and check network request. You should see request executed against fake JSON Server:

Response is visible too:

Download JET sample application with JSON file for JSON Server from my GitHub repository - jetsimplecrud.

ADF 12c Table CRUD Fix for Auto Focus

I had a post about how to improve user data entry for ADF table with auto focus for new row - Improving ADF UI Table CRUD Functionality with Auto Focus. If you follow comments thread for that post - you will see described approach doesn't work exactly as it should in ADF 12c (focus is set for new row but later is lost after tab navigation - it should move focus to another column). Thanks to the community we have simple fix for this issue, read OTN Forum thread - Set Focus on CreateINsert row in ADF Table. I hope Oracle will fix this functionality in the next ADF versions (currently they say it is expected behaviour, and I don't agree with this). But for now - fix does the job.

 Sample app was updated to 12.2.1.3 and it contains fixes described on OTN Forum - ADFTableFocusApp_v2.zip. Focus is set for first column of new row to avoid extra mouse click:

After tab is pressed - focus moves to the next column:

Fix simulates row selection through ADF JS API. After focus was set for the first column in current row - we execute row selection based on active row key. This allows ADF Faces to move focus to the next column on tab, because it knows currently selected row on client side:

Make sure to set active row key in the bean method, same place where focus ID is calculated (otherwise there will be JS error):