Understanding Nested Application Modules in Oracle ADF

Application Module acts as a container for view Object and view Link business components that are used in a specific task. It provides data model and data control to show required information and perform action for the client
An application module represents a single transaction and owns one database connection that's why commit and rollback works for all view Objects inside an application module

Oracle ADF Best Practices, Mistakes and Worst Practices

In this post I am putting some practices and that we should follow while using Oracle Application Development Framework for development

ADF Basics: Iterate over master detail viewObject using view link accessor

Hello All

This post is about iterating over master and it's child view object using view link accessor, this is very basic thing of framework still some find (those who are starting with ADF) it difficult so I thought to write it here

Here I am using Departments and Employees table of HR Schema to create Master-Detail relation and due to view link relation, Department viewObject has view link accessor of Employees viewObject

Create REST Web Service with Application Module declaratively in ADF 12.2.1

REST stands for Representational State Transfer, REST is an architectural style not a protocol as SOAP that's why it can use any other protocol like SOAP, HTTP etc.
REST requires less bandwidth and resources (lighter) than SOAP

New ADF 12.2.1 supports creating RESTful web services directly from Application Module, In previous versions we have to do everything manually
See- Create RESTful services on top of ADF Business Components

Create SOAP Web Service with Application Module quickly in ADF 12.2.1

SOAP stands for Simple Object Access Protocol, a protocol to exchange information in XML format between two applications over HTTP. This protocol is used to create ,access and consume web services.

SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) focuses on re-usability and exposing application module as web service makes it's methods and objects accessible from any device , any platform and these methods and objects can be further used by any other application

Using popupFetchListener to execute method on popup launch in Oracle ADF

Everyone must have used ADF Faces popup component , this is one of most used container to show information on top of page
In this post i am talking about popup fetch event suppose we have to perform some operation before opening popup like filtering data inside popup . We can do this by capturing popup fetch event, if you have checked af:popUp documentation then you must have seen concept of popupFetchListener

From Docs-
The PopupFetchEvent is one of two server-side popup events but doesn't have a corresponding client event. The popup fetch event is invoked during content delivery. This means that the event will only queue for popups that have a contentDelivery type of lazy or lazyUncached. Another caveat is that the event will only work when the launch id is set. This is automatically handled by the af:showPopupBehavior but must be provided as a popup hint if programmatically shown.

So here we will see -

How to use popupFetchListener to filter data inside popup ?
How to execute some operation before opening popup ?
How to call AMImpl method before launching popup?

ADF Basics: How to invoke model layer methods from managed bean (Best Practice to write business logic in ADF)

Again a post about ADF Basics for those who are starting with ADF
This topic is posted multiple times and one of the most asked question on OTN

How to access AM method in bean ?
How to pass parameters to model from managed bean (viewController) ?
How to pass taskFlow parameter to model ?

Or sometimes I have to tell user that you should not access ApplicationModule or not update model from managed bean and then i post a link about this
I often post a link of Frank's blog
Best practice invoking business services methods from JSF beans
It is well explained but still user not able to do because he/she doesn't know about clientInterface, pageDef etc

So i thought to write a step by step implementation of this and if you want to know why it is best to call method through binding layer ?
Then please refer Frank's blog :)

What i am going to explain is How to call a method defined in ApplicationModule Impl class in managed bean ?
So for this first i need to define a method in ApplicationModule Impl class




Here i am using Departments table of HR Schema and i have created a method to create new row in Departments viewObject
See implementation part -

• To create AMImpl class--> Open ApplicationModule in editor--> Goto Java tab--> Click on edit (pencil) icon and check the checkbox to generate class
  
  
  
  
  
  


• Now write your logic and create method here so i have created a method to create department record and this method takes a parameter i;e DepartmentId



    /**
     *Custom Method to create row in departments viewObject
     */
    public void createDepartmentRecord(Integer deptId) {
        ViewObject deptVo = this.getDepartmentsVO1();
        Row newRow=deptVo.createRow();
        newRow.setAttribute("DepartmentId", deptId);
        deptVo.insertRow(newRow);
    }



• Next step is to add this method to client interface so that we can access this , Again open AM in editor -->Go to Java tab--> Click on edit icon of clientInterface--> Shuttle method to selected side





• Now to add this method in pageDef , Open page in editor--> Click on Bindings tab (bottom of editor)--> Click on green plus icon of bindings section--> Select methodAction and click on ok






Now select method name here and click ok





Now you can see this method is added in pageDef





• Now time to call this method in managed bean so for that added a button in page and created actionListener in bean . See the code 



    /**Method to get Binding Container of page
     * @return
     */
    public BindingContainer getBindings(){
        return BindingContext.getCurrent().getCurrentBindingsEntry();
    }

    /**Calling method defined in AMImpl class to create new Department
     * @param actionEvent
     */
    public void callAMMethodToCreateDepartmentAction(ActionEvent actionEvent) {
        //Get OperationBinding of method
        OperationBinding ob=getBindings().getOperationBinding("createDepartmentRecord");
        //Passing parameter to method -Get parameter map and use paramater name as key
        ob.getParamsMap().put("deptId", 9999);
        //Execute this method
        ob.execute();
        //Check for errors
        if(ob.getErrors().isEmpty()){
            // Successfully Executed
        }
    }



• Now run application and check , is it working ? ;)

On click a new row is inserted in table with DepartmentId 9999

All done :)
In same way you can call method defined in any model implementation class, remember don't access ApplicationModule or viewObject directly , make use binding layer

and again why it is best practice ?? to know this read Frank's blog :)

Cheers :) Happy Learning 

Searching pivotTable using dvt:pivotFilterBar in Oracle ADF

dvt:pivotTable-

From Oracle docs- The Pivot Table supports the display of multiple nested attributes on a row and column header. In addition, the Pivot Table supports the ability to dynamically change the layout of the attributes displayed in the row or column headers via drag and drop pivoting.

Framework provides  <dvt:pivotFilterBar>component to perform search operation on pivotTable
The PivotFilterBar component is used to filter data based on the selected criterion belonging to the PivotableQueryDescriptor as specified by the value property



In this example i am using Departments and Employees table of HR Schema, Created a query based viewObject using this query (to show Departments and it's Employees)

SELECT A.DEPARTMENT_ID,  
B.EMPLOYEE_ID, 
A.DEPARTMENT_NAME , 
B.FIRST_NAME||' '||B.LAST_NAME AS NAME,  
B.EMAIL,  
B.PHONE_NUMBER, 
B.HIRE_DATE, 
B.JOB_ID, 
B.SALARY, 
B.COMMISSION_PCT 
FROM DEPARTMENTS A, EMPLOYEES B 
WHERE A.DEPARTMENT_ID=B.DEPARTMENT_ID

Add this viewObject to Application Module and drop on page as pivot table from Data Control

Configuration for pivotTable-

Finally it looks like this-

Now i have dropped <dvt:pivotTable> on page and it automatically sets it's properties that are required for filtering pivotTable

<dvt:pivotFilterBar id="pt1pivotFilterBar" value="#{bindings.DeptEmp1.pivotFilterBarModel}"
                                    modelName="pt1Model"/>

Once check that modelName property should be same for both pivotTable and filterbar
Now run this application and drop any column on filterbar that you want to search

Sample ADF Application-Download
Cheers :) Happy Learning

Executing SQL query in an ADF Application using DBTransaction & JDBC DataSource

hello all,
this post is about executing SQL query in your ADF Application
Sometimes we need to execute some query in our managed bean or any of implementation class of Model, this is quite easy

• I have a fusion web application having connection with hr schema of Oracle DB
• now i have to get Max Department Id of Departments Table using this statement



SELECT max(DEPARTMENT_ID) CODE FROM DEPARTMENTS



• So to execute this query i have created a method in AMImpl class using DBTransaction



    /**Method to Execute DB SQL Query using DBTransaction
     * @param query
     * @return
     */
    protected Integer executeQuery(String query) {
        ResultSet rs;
        Integer code = null;
        try {
            rs = getDBTransaction().createStatement(0).executeQuery(query);
            if (rs.next()) {
                code = ((BigDecimal) rs.getObject(1)).intValue();
            }

            rs.close();
            return code;

        } catch (SQLException e) {
            throw new JboException(e);
        }
    }



• now called this method and passed my SQL statement





        Integer deptID = executeQuery("SELECT max(DEPARTMENT_ID) CODE FROM DEPARTMENTS");
        System.out.println("Department Id-" + deptID);


And Output is-



• Second way is by using JDBC DataSource , for this first we have to get Connection using DataSource Name- see this method



    /**Method to get Connection using JDBC DataSource Name
     * @param dsName
     * @return
     * @throws NamingException
     * @throws SQLException
     */
    public static Connection getConnectionDS(String dsName) throws NamingException, SQLException {
        Connection con = null;
        DataSource datasource = null;

        Context initialContext = new InitialContext();
        if (initialContext == null) {
        }
        datasource = (DataSource) initialContext.lookup(dsName);
        if (datasource != null) {
            con = datasource.getConnection();
        } else {
            System.out.println("Failed to Find JDBC DataSource.");
        }
        return con;
    }



• Now after getting connection , we can execute SQL query using Statement or PreparedStatement
• Go to your ApplicationModule to get DataSource Name, in Configuration tab open AMLocal

•  Copy DataSource Name , and use it to get Connection and to execute query



        Connection con = null;
        try {
            con = getConnectionDS("java:comp/env/jdbc/APPDS");
        } catch (SQLException e) {
        } catch (NamingException e) {
        }
        try {
            PreparedStatement stmt = con.prepareStatement("SELECT * FROM DEPARTMENTS");
            ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery();
            while (rs.next()) {
                System.out.println("Department Id-" + rs.getInt(1) + " and Department Name-" + rs.getString(2));
            }

            rs.close();


        } catch (SQLException e) {
            throw new JboException(e);
        }



• After executing see the output- 

 Cheers :-) happy coding

Checking Transaction Status of DataControl for Dirty/Modified transaction in ADF

Sometimes we need to check status of data control's transaction, when we have any form or table on page ,initially transaction is not dirty (it means there is no pending changes in binding layer)

If user changes any data set on page that is populated from ADF binding layer, status of transaction is modified as now there is pending changes on page .

When user perform commit or rollback operation then again transaction status changes.

So it is necessary to have basic understanding of Transaction Status and using this we can write some better piece of codes.
Example- suppose we have a save button in our Application that performs commit operation, when user clicks on that button, every time commit gets executed but logically if there is no change in binding layer then commit must not be executed.
So we can check transaction status on this button and if there is any pending changes in ADFm binding layer or transaction is dirty only then commit will be executed

• I have created a sample application to check this , there is departments and location ViewObjects are on page and a button to check transaction status
• Code to check transaction status-



public BindingContainer getBindings(){
        return BindingContext.getCurrent().getCurrentBindingsEntry();
    }

DCBindingContainer dcbind =(DCBindingContainer)getBindings();
dcbind.getDataControl().isTransactionModified()


OR





amObject.getDBTransaction().isDirty()



• Initially see page status there is no pending changes so transaction is not dirty

• Now i have changed DepartmentName attribute , then clicked on Check Transaction button

 

• Now when data is committed again status got changed