Developer Server HTML parameters (FORMSWEB.CFG)

There seems to be several HTML parameters that can be used with Developer Server that are either difficult to find in the Oracle documentation or aren't there at all. To try and help answer the question of which parameters are available for use with Developer Server (WebForms), I've included a listing of my formsweb.cfg file (from Developer 6i) and an application-specific HTML file used to launch the WebForms applet (netr_basejini.htm).

There is a brief description of "special" parameters at the end. I've only commented on those used by the HTML page and not those such as MetricsServerPort, etc.:

FORMSWEB.CFG sample following:

; Forms Web CGI Configuration File

; --------------------------------

; This file defines parameter values used by the Forms Web CGI

; ********************************

; PARAMETER VALUES USED BY DEFAULT

; ********************************

; SYSTEM PARAMETERS

; -----------------

; These have fixed names and give information required by the Forms

; Web CGI in order to function. They cannot be specified in the URL query

; string. But they can be overriden in a named configuration (see below).

baseHTML=%FORMS60%\server\base.htm

baseHTMLJInitiator=%FORMS60%\server\basejini.htm

HTMLdelimiter=%

MetricsServerPort=9020

MetricsServerErrorURL=

; The next parameter specifies how to execute the Forms applet under

; Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0. Put IE50=native if you want the

; Forms applet to run in the browser's native JVM.

IE50=JInitiator

;IF YOU WANT TO USE THE IE 5.0 NATIVE VM

;IE50=native

; USER PARAMETERS

; ---------------

; These match variables (e.g. %form%) in the baseHTML file. Their values

; may be overridden by specifying them in the URL query string

; (e.g. "http://myhost.mydomain.com/ifcgi60.exe?form=myform&width=700")

; or by overriding them in a specific, named configuration (see below)

; 1) Runform arguments:

form=test.fmx

userid=

otherparams=

; 2) HTML page title, attributes for the BODY tag, and HTML to add before and

; after the form:

pageTitle=Oracle Forms Server

HTMLbodyAttrs=

HTMLbeforeForm=

HTMLafterForm=

; 3) Values for the Forms applet parameters:

width=650

height=500

separateFrame=false

splashScreen=no

; select default background by not specifying a value

background=

lookAndFeel=Oracle

colorScheme=teal

serverApp=default

serverPort=9000

serverHost=

connectMode=Socket

archive=f60web.jar

; 4) Parameters for JInitiator

; Page displayed to Netscape users to allow them to download JInitiator.

; If you create your own version, set this parameter to point to it.

; Changed this to use Customised JInitiator download page

;jinit_download_page=/jinitiator/us/jinit_download.htm

jinit_download_page=/jinitiator/jinit_download.htm

; Parameters related to the version of JInitiator.

jinit_classid=clsid:093501ce-d290-11d3-a3d6-00c04fa32518

jinit_exename=jinit.exe#Version=1,1,7,27

jinit_mimetype=application/x-jinit-applet;version=1.1.7.27

; ********************************

; SPECIFIC CONFIGURATIONS

; ********************************

; You may define your own specific, named configurations (sets of parameters)

; by adding special sections as illustrated in the following examples.

; Note that you need only specify the parameters you want to change. The

; default values (defined above) will be used for all other parameters.

; Use of a specific configuration can be requested by including the text

; "config=<your_config_name>" in the query string of the URL used to run

; a form. For example, to use the sepwin configuration, your could issue

; a URL like "http://myhost.mydomain.com/ifcgi60.exe?config=sepwin".

; Example 1: configuration to run forms in a separate browser window with

; "generic" look and feel (include "config=sepwin" in the URL)

[sepwin]

separateFrame=True

lookandfeel=Generic

; Example 2: configuration affecting users of MicroSoft Internet Explorer 5.0.

; Forms applet will run under the browser's native JVM rather than

; using Oracle JInitiator.

[ie50native]

IE50=native

; Example 3: configuration forcing use of the base.htm base HTML file in all

; cases (means applet-style tags will always be generated and

; JInitiator will never be used).

[applet]

baseHTMLJInitiator=

; ********************************

; NETR SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION

; ********************************

; These settings will overide the default settings if ?config=netr

; passed with URL

; ********************************

[netr]

; Specifies use of application-specific HTML launch files

baseHTML=%FORMS60%\server\netr_base.htm

baseHTMLJInitiator=%FORMS60%\server\netr_basejini.htm

form=btstart.fmx

userid=scott/tiger@oracle8i

; Do not have spaces in the path or you might see the Oracle error

; stating "FRM-90928: Positional parameter after key on command line"

; May be able to enclose in quotes, but haven't tested

;otherparams=term=E:\Dev6iServer\Deployment\config\fmrpcweb.res

pageTitle=Non-Engineering Time Recording System (NETR)

width=750

height=800

separateFrame=true

; Specifies path to splash screen using relative path within JAR file images.jar

splashScreen=wpimages/wsplogo.gif

; select default background by not specifying a value use JAR file by using wpimages path

;background=wpimages/background.gif

background=

lookAndFeel=oracle

colorScheme=blue

darkLook=true

; Use to specify the use of an application-specific Registry.dat file, in this case

; called workplace.dat located in the virtual directory /wpconfig/

; Used to map non-standard fonts such as Symbol and Verdana for JInitiator

serverApp=/wpconfig/workplace

; Because using a JAR for background and splash images, must include images.jar in archive list

; Couldn't get the JAR to work for button images

archive=f60splash.jar,images.jar

; If a JAR is being used for background and splash images, need to specify imageBase=CodeBase

; as by default it uses the document base. Button images might work if full path specified for

; "default.icons.iconpath=" setting in registry.dat (workplace.dat)?

imageBase=CodeBase

****END OF FORMSWEB.CFG****

NETR_BASEJINI.HTM sample following

(You should find the above specified parameters within the HTML page contained within "%" symbols (can be changed using the HTMLdelimiter parameter above):

<HTML>

<!-- FILE: basejini.htm (Oracle Developer Forms) -->

<!-- This is the default base HTML file for running a form on the -->

<!-- web using JInitiator-style tags to include the Forms applet. -->

<!-- This file will be REPLACED if you reinstall "Forms Web CGI and -->

<!-- cartridge", so you are advised to make your own version if you -->

<!-- want to make any modifications. You should then set the -->

<!-- baseHTML parameter in the Forms web CGI configuration file -->

<!-- (formsweb.cfg) to point to your new file instead of this one. -->

<!-- IMPORTANT NOTE: default values for all the variables which -->

<!-- appear below (delimited by the percent character) are defined -->

<!-- in the formsweb.cfg file. It is preferable to make changes in -->

<!-- that file where possible, and leave this one untouched. -->

<HEAD><TITLE>%pageTitle%</TITLE></HEAD>

<BODY %HTMLbodyAttrs%>

%HTMLbeforeForm%

<!-- Forms applet definition (start) -->

<OBJECT classid="%jinit_classid%"

codebase="/jinitiator/%jinit_exename%"

WIDTH="%Width%"

HEIGHT="%Height%"

HSPACE="0"

VSPACE="0">

<PARAM NAME="TYPE" VALUE="%jinit_mimetype%">

<PARAM NAME="CODEBASE" VALUE="/forms60java/">

<PARAM NAME="CODE" VALUE="oracle.forms.engine.Main" >

<PARAM NAME="ARCHIVE" VALUE="%archive%" >

<PARAM NAME="serverPort" VALUE="%serverPort%">

<PARAM NAME="serverHost" VALUE="%serverHost%">

<PARAM NAME="connectMode" VALUE="%connectMode%">

<PARAM NAME="serverArgs" VALUE="module=%form% userid=%userid%

%otherParams%">

<PARAM NAME="separateFrame" VALUE="%separateFrame%">

<PARAM NAME="splashScreen" VALUE="%splashScreen%">

<PARAM NAME="background" VALUE="%background%">

<PARAM NAME="lookAndFeel" VALUE="%lookAndFeel%">

<PARAM NAME="colorScheme" VALUE="%colorScheme%">

<PARAM NAME="darkLook" VALUE="%darkLook%">

<PARAM NAME="serverApp" VALUE="%serverApp%">

<PARAM NAME="imageBase" VALUE="%imageBase%">

<COMMENT>

<EMBED SRC="" PLUGINSPAGE="%jinit_download_page%"

TYPE="%jinit_mimetype%"

java_codebase="/forms60java/"

java_code="oracle.forms.engine.Main"

java_archive="%archive%"

WIDTH="%Width%"

HEIGHT="%Height%"

HSPACE="0"

VSPACE="0"

serverPort="%serverPort%"

serverHost="%serverHost%"

connectMode="%connectMode%"

serverArgs="module=%form% userid=%userid% %otherparams%"

separateFrame="%separateFrame%"

splashScreen="%splashScreen%"

background="%background%"

lookAndFeel="%lookAndFeel%"

colorScheme="%colorScheme%"

darkLook="%darkLook%"

serverApp="%serverApp%"

imageBase="%imageBase%"

>

<NOEMBED>

</COMMENT>

</NOEMBED></EMBED>

</OBJECT>

<!-- Forms applet definition (end) -->

%HTMLafterForm%

</BODY>

</HTML>

END OF NETR_BASEJINI.HTM

Some "special" parameters of interest from the above:

IE50: (JInitiator/native) - Used to specify whether JInitiator or IE 5's JVM should be used for IE.

HTMLbodyAttrs: - can specify any attributes for the <BODY> HTML tag such as colours, etc.

HTMLbeforeForm and HTMLafterForm - to specify HTML to be added before and after Form applet in launch page.

separateFrame: (true/false) - Whether applet should appear in browser window or it's own separate frame

splashScreen: (no/<image_path_and_name>) - If a splash image is to be displayed as applet loads

lookAndFeel: (oracle/default) - default is like Windows client-server, oracle is a new Web look-and-feel with additional parameters such as colorScheme and darkLook being used.

colorScheme: (teal/titanium/red/khaki/blue/olive/purple) - With oracle lookAndFeel, colours canvases, etc.

darkLook: (true/false) - I think this only works with 6i Production and I haven't really seen it for myself.

According to others, when "true" stacked canvases have a grey background the same as tabs, and when "false" it gives the stacked canvases a dark blue background. Yes, this does sound back-to-front, but this is apparently how it works.

connectMode: (socket/http) - haven't tried http yet, but specifies connection protocol applet uses to communicate with Developer Server (http is to allow comms through firewalls)

width and height: - dimensions of applet in browser window or if a separate frame opened, unless maximised.

serverApp: - used to specify an application-specific registry.dat file such as workplace.dat

imageBase: (CodeBase/<not sure if it's DocBase?>) - used to specify whether splash and background image paths should be searched relative to the HTML documents directory or the Java code base directory as specified by the CODEBASE parameter (not sure, I guess this could also be a parameter as opposed to hard-coded in HTML?)

logo: (no/or you can specify an alternative image) - if set to "no" will get rid of the Oracle logo in the top right corner of the page. Thanks Chris for this one. It's possible to specify an alternative image - thanks Chan

heartbeat: (value in minutes) - time to send heartbeat (keepalive) request to server.

networkStats: (true/false) - By adding this parameter to the HTML file, Forms can be made to report the number of round-trips and the total number of bytes transmitted whilst the form is running. Once the form has started, the network statistics will be shown in the ‘busybar’ component of the status line.

Documentation on this parameter can be found on the Technet site

Note: networkStats is not a supported parameter. Faulty behaviour caused by enabling network statistics that cannot be reproduced when networkStats is not specified cannot be logged as a bug, and will not be treated as such by Oracle.

Well, this is what I've found so far. Thanks to those that have helped me become aware of these parameters, your input is very appreciated.

If anyone has any comments/corrections/additions, I'd welcome your input. Feel free to Email me at the email address on my web page if you have any suggestions.

Regards

Gene